Christmas Cookies and Santa

We did Christmas cookies the other day and let the kids decorate them or at least help, it was lots of fun and is becoming a tradition in our house!

Livvy showing off her pretty cookie!


Me helping Livvy spread the yummy cream cheese frosting!


Okay so Chris wouldn't give me a normal smile so this is what he gets for not smiling nice I'll just post the pictures on the blog!

The kids also got to see Santa at our ward party and I got lucky somehow cause both of my kids love him.


Ryan making sure Santa knows he wants a big Lightening McQueen for Christmas!


Now Livvy looks scared here but that is just cause she knows we are going to make her get off of his lap she kept trying to go back to see him again. She told Santa that she wanted a sucker! (I think we can do that one!)

My Crayon

You Are a Red Crayon

Your world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors. You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself. Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense... and sometimes overwhelming. Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships. Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy.

What Color Crayon Are You?

I found this on a friends blog and I thought it described me pretty well at least it does today I tend to change day to day!

Holiday Card

So since I only got 20 Christmas Cards this year 98% of you all won't be seeing them (we have a lot of family) So I thought I would post it on here so you could see how cute it turned out! Our scanner is having issues so this isn't the best copy but that is all we have!

Christmas Tree

We decorated our Christmas tree tonight! I love having a real Christmas tree this is only our 2nd one since we have been married! I love the smell it is awesome and it is so big. Now I just hope the kids don't ruin it we have had the mantra going all week long, "we don't touch Christmas trees we just look at them" and then I let them decorate there by killing my no touching the tree rule!

Ryan and Olivia helping decorate!


Ryan and Olivia in front of the finished tree!


Mom helping Livvy put on the first ornament!


Dad helping Ryan put the Angel on the top!
So there you have it our pretty tree. We did go buy it this year as Chris ended up sick one of the days we were supposed to go get one and working to make up for the sick day the other day! We could have waited until this weekend but there is no snow so we couldn't even make a sledding day out of it so we just went to Lowes, and really I don't think they grow them like this out in the wild it is so pretty!

Stitches for Livvy

Well we have had our first experience with stitches (crazily enough Ryan hasn't ever needed them) We have a ward play group up at the church building in the nursery and Olivia walked into a table and split open her eye. It was one of those that may or may not have needed stitches but the Doc said that it would heal faster and leave a smaller scar so I decided to do them. The girls at the church let me leave Ryan with them and so I just took Livvy to our pediatrician and he stitched her up the worst part was he didn't want to give her a shot to numb her for only 2 stitches so I had to hold a cotton swab on her cut for 20 min to numb it up a little and she screamed and fought the whole time. To do the actual stitches they wrapped her up in a sheet so she couldn't move and a nurse held her head while I held her body but she actually did really well for that part and even told her doctor thank you when he was done it was super cute! And our Pediatrician's office does stitches so we didn't have to go to the ER thank goodness! Here are some pictures of her "boo boo" as she calls it!

as you can see it looks like she may have already pulled it out a little! Now all I have to do is keep her from walking into stuff for a little while (she is a little bit of a klutz!) just too much else going on to possibly pay attention to where she is walking!

Cheap Christmas Cards

So I got an email the other day with this offer from snapfish:
Get your first set of 20 4" x 8" photo cards for just 20¢ -- that's only a penny each! Choose from over 100 holiday designs that are completely customizable.Just use coupon CARD08 at checkout to save big on your season's greetings. Hurry, this offer ends November 23!*
just go to snapfish.com
I have used them for photos before and they are really great anyways if your like me and don't send out more than a few cards this is a great buy. And since I have finally found my camera (okay so Chris found it) I can take a cute picture of the kids and make some super cute cars! Unfortunately since my camera was gone for a month and a half now I can't find the transfer cord which is completely typical, but we will figure something out and soon I will stop posting boring pictureless posts and get new pics up!
PS Our current tenants are moving out Dec.1 so we need to new tenants so if anyone knows someone that is looking for a place in this area we have an awesome 2 bedroom apt. it is $575 a month and that includes all the utilities and it is a really big apt!

Husband Tag

Okay so I have been tagged for this twice in just the last day so I guess I better do it! Each person answers questions about their husband. At the end of the post, the person then tags 6 people and posts their names; then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged.

What is your husbands name? Christopher Ira Wertz
How long have you guys been married? 4 1/2 years
How long did you date? that depends on what you count from beginning to end about 4 1/2 years but he was on his mission for 2 of those and I did date "a little" when he was gone!
How old is he? just turned 26
Who is taller? him by lots I love it he is the perfect height for a person my height I even read a book that said the same thing!
Who can sing best? Definitely Chris, I have a very hard time carrying a tune and he practically has perfect pitch and an amazing voice to go with it!
Who is smarter? Well if you look at our ACT tests him but I did way better in school than he did! He is definitely smarter if he wants to understand something he just gets it, it is so aggravating!
Who does laundry? All me we have had our washer and dryer for just over a year now and he had used them maybe 3 times combined!
Who pays the bills? Me but it would drive me nuts to let him I have to know exactly how much is coming in and going out!
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you are looking at the bed from the end of it I do!
Who mows the lawn? both, he mows it if he has any time but last summer he was gone all the time with school and work so I did it too!
Who cooks dinner? I would say I do about 75% of the time but he is really good to cook whenever I don't feel good or just am not feeling inspired by the food we have, he is a really good cook!
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Him, I know you are all shocked but I really have a hard time admitting I am wrong (that is what happens when you never are) but I am getting better!
Who kissed who first? Definitely Chris he seriously attacked me I don't think he was positive of what my reaction would be so he just figured I better get a good one in now just in case I don't get the chance again for a while! He shouldn't have worried though I kinda liked him just a little at time!
Who wears the pants? I do unless it is important and then he tries to let me think that I do but it is all him! We really do try to negotiate we have to with 2 people as stubborn as we are!

I think most the people I know have been tagged at one point or another so I tag everyone that has already been tagged and not done it yet!!!

Potty Training!

Well we are finally almost through it! Ryan went one whole week with only one accident and that was during a nap so doesn't really count. That was last Wednesday thru this Wednesday he has had 2 accidents since then but he is doing really well way better than any other time and we are officially out of diapers (for him anyways)! We are so proud of him and so excited to have one down one to go! Olivia is also doing really well she is still in diapers but loves to go on the toilet! Sorry for so much info but to those of you with kids you totally understand and for those of you without kids just wait one day the joy of your day will have to do with bodily functions! Sorry for no pictures I lost my camera a few weeks ago and it just hasn't turned back up, luckily I have good camera happy friends so I will have some of my kids in their costumes but it takes awhile!
One other super exciting thing (at least for me) I found a c-frame bunk bed (meaning the bottom half is a futon) on Craigslist for $55 so we can finally have guests stay at our house we didn't have a lot of room in our spare bedroom so this is the perfect solution. So now our guest don't have to share a twin bed, just ask Jen and Sam not a lot of fun! Anyway that is about it! I just had to share my excitement I love good deal!

My Silly Boy

This is a conversation between Ryan and his daddy.
Ryan comes up with a scowl and says: I'm mad
Dad: why?
Ryan: cause I can't see my forehead
He also likes to pretend like he a super hero and when he is in super hero mode you can't call him anything else. So randomly you will be calling him Superman and then he will just decide he is done with that and say, "You can call me Ryan now."
Also when you call him bud or monster (that's my pet name for both my kids) he just looks at you and says, "no I'm Ryan." I know none of them sound as cute in writing as they do in real life but it is so cute especially if you know he can't say "r" or "l" so it is that much cuter

On another note we are yet again trying to potty train (this is a year in the making) and I told him that if he could go the whole day with no accidents that he could get a Lightning McQueen car well on Friday we were to 4pm and at the store and he was still good so I bought the car just in case, unfortunately he had an accident at about 6:30 and yesterday again about 2 hours before he went to bed. I'm not sure who was sadder me or him, anyways today he made it the whole day even through church. I was so proud of him I am really hoping this is finally the beginning of the end of potty training! Also Olivia is really excited about the whole bathroom thing now too so she has a fun potty chart now too and while she rarely has a dry diaper she goes on the toilet almost every time Ryan does and actually goes so we are close there too. I am really hoping by Thanksgiving we will be out of diapers forever!!! Sorry no pics but do you really want pictures of that. I did want to get one of him finally getting his car but my batteries were
dead. Oh well!
Okay so I did find a fairly recent one this face shows about how excited Ryan is about potty training he just doesn't care! But he is still cute anyways!

Applesauce Man

Okay so everyone needs to go to my mom's blog it has the cutest video of Ryan making applesauce and if you listen in the backdrop you can hear Olivia screaming! Yep that is about how my kids are, one is always being nice and helpful while the other one is screaming, except when we are in the store when they gang up and me and run in 2 different directions. It is a good thing they are so cute definitely a built in defense mechanism.

Girls Night Out

Okay so it looks like Wednesday Oct. 22 is going to be the best day. So we are going to do it then at 7pm at my house. They just got a new mineral make-up line out so that is the type of party I'm doing. So if you live in the area or even close it is going to be a lot of fun and face it we all need a little me time every once in a while. So come if you need the address or info leave me a comment or an e-mail with your e-mail or phone # and I'll give you all the info!

Body Shop Girls Night Out

Okay for all you girls that live in my area I am having a girls night out party for the Body Shop. They just got their new holiday catalog and they have some really cool gift packages and some really yummy new holiday smells. Perfect stuff for the hard to buy for person for Christmas (everyone could use more lotion) they also have stuff for guys now too. Anyways I have a couple of options on days and I wanted to know what would be best for most people I have a poll on the side or you can just leave me a comment telling me what would work best for you all. It is going to be at my house so kids aren't an issue I'll have a movie going in my kids bedroom. Anyways the days I have available are on the poll and you can pick more than one day. Anyway anyone in the area is invited let me know what is best and if someone wants stuff but just isn't available at nights just let me know and I can get a catalog to you. Anyways by this Saturday I need to have a date picked and then I will post the date. Thanks!

New Baby

No not me! Jason and Camille had a beautiful baby girl about an hour ago. She is 7lbs 1oz and 21in long and has no name. I will let them post more! Congrats Jason and Camille!
Update: her name is Mackenzie Catherine (not sure of the spelling)

Politics

Okay so I don't post a lot on politics mostly because I have very strong opinions and strong opinions tend to lead to arguments so I just stay away from it. That being said sometimes there are things that just have to be said or in this case shown. With the economy in the pot and elections coming up and the liberal media siding with obviously the liberals sometimes it is hard to get both sides of a story. I don't know how many watch the Presidential debate last week and how many times Obama said that the economic problems were all the fault of the republicans and them getting rid of all these regulations and that is was caused all of the problems. Since I don't know how to post movies from you tube I'll just give you this link. It is a little long 8 minutes I think but it is really interesting and strait from the mouths of those at fault. There is also another video here that tells a little bit more about Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the companies which caused the major economic problems) and which politicians received substantial monetary benefits from them! I just think it is important that we look into what is going on instead of just believing what we hear on tv. Don't worry I do realize that these are one sided but it is super easy to find the other side.
UPDATE: so you may have realized that the 2nd video was taken off you tube for copyright violations for the music it used (interesting since about 90% of the videos on youtube have the same violations but are never taken off) maybe someone doesn't want you to have the information about who received the most money from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae but here is a link that shows you that #2 on that list is Obama (he has received more contributions in his only 4 years in office than any other member of congress save 1)

Silent Auction for Carol Decker

So check out my sidebar and at the top is the link to a silent auction for the woman that I blogged about a few weeks ago here. Anyway they have a lot of really neat things and if you just click the button on my sidebar it will take you there. Also on that page there is a link to another auction that is benefiting both Carol and another mom that is in need as well, Stephanie Nielson. Anyways go to both sites and pass it on. A lot of the things on these auctions would make great Christmas presents for hard to buy for people!

Happy Birthday Camille!

Since my wonderful sister-in-law Camille decided to let everyone know when I turned 25 I thought I would get a little pay back since she is only 3 months younger than me. So if you know Camille, or even if you don't, head on over to her blog and wish her a happy birthday!

Just so you know this is her at 7 months pregnant water skiing!

We love you Camille have a great day!

Livvy's Birthday Pics

Here are some pics from Olivia's "party" (we don't do real parties until they are older so it is mostly just having a few people over so we don't have too much left over cake)
This one is just showing off Olivia's new shirt I fell in love with it so she had to have it!

Olivia opening her presents

Ryan, Olivia, Trevor, and Olivia Kay inspecting the cake! (yes I know I spelled birthday wrong but no one even said anything about it and I didn't notice until I downloaded the pictures!)

Olivia in her new dress up shoes it was crazy how she just put them on and walked in the with no problem I guess walking in heels just something a girl is born with!

We had a fun day thanks to everyone who called or came to share it with us!

Happy Birthday Livvy!

It is Olivia's 2nd birthday today! I can't believe she is getting so old! Ryan has been so excited about it the first thing he said this morning was it's Olivia's birthday today he wants to celebrate now. Unfortunately for him Chris doesn't get home until after 7 so we will wait until tonight to celebrate! Although I did let Olivia open 1 present this morning so she could wear her cute birthday outfit to playgroup today! We took cupcakes for all her friends and she got to wear a happy birthday crown all during group!




Sept. 11, 2006




Olivia's First Birthday!


Olivia today! I'll have better pictures later, after cake and ice cream! She just wanted to play with the camera earlier so that I used the opportunity to take a picture!


Happy Birthday sweet girl I love you!

A Good Cause

This website has been set up to help raise money for Scott and Carol Decker. Lori Stafford will be running the 26 mile Top of Utah Marathon on September 20th and is looking for pledges per mile or donations. All the proceeds from this fundraiser will go directly to Scott and Carol to help with their accruing expenses.
Carol and Scott currently live in Enumclaw, WA, where Scott recently opened his own dental practice. They have two sweet baby girls Chloe, 1 1/2 yrs. old and Safiya, now 2 months old. Carol is a loving wife, devoted mommy, and a true friend. She has been stricken with a life altering situation. Carol was admitted to Swedish hospital on June 10th and delivered, Safiya Decker permaturely, via emergency C-section. Both Carol and Safiya were in ICU and NICU, respectively, for some time. Safiya is now home and doing quite well. Carol was recently transferred from Sweedish to Harborview. She has had many complications, beginning with strep pneumonia. Due to these problems, she has lost both of her feet, her left hand and her right ring finger. She is currently going through major skin grafts. She has not recovered her sight since her first surgeries. There has been no time line given for Carol's return home, she has a long road of recovery ahead of her. Scott has a blog of her day to day progress which can be viewed at http://www.sccsdecker.blogspot.com/. Thank you for remembering Carol in your thoughts and prayers.
For those of you that don't know Lori I can tell you this isn't a hoax or anything like that. I've known Lori for almost 20 years now, she is really doing all that she can to help this family. Since we are super poor I thought the least I could do is pass this along so maybe people that can afford to donate would be able to see it! All of the donation information is on the first website and the money all goes into a Washington Mutual Charitable bank account!

Good News for Twilight Fans!

Official Press Release:

SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT MOVES UP RELEASE DATE FOR TWILIGHT TO NOVEMBER 21, 2008Los Angeles, CA August 15, 2008 — TWILIGHT, the first film in Summit Entertainment's thriller romance franchise, has moved up its North American release date to Friday, November 21, 2008. The film, which was previously planned to be released on December, 12, 2008, is taking advantage of an opening in the upcoming fall release calendar. The new release date for TWILIGHT allows the studio to both bring the film to the written-series' enormous fan base sooner, and to present the film in more theatres prior to the holiday movie-going season where traditionally screen time for any popular film is limited."When Warner Bros. decided to move HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE to the summer of 2009, we saw a unique opportunity to slot in our film which has been gaining tremendous awareness and momentum over the past several months," said Rob Friedman, Co-Chairman and CEO of Summit Entertainment. "We by no means are trying to fill the shoes of the incredible POTTER franchise for 2008, rather we are just looking to bring the fans of Stephenie Meyer's incredible book series the film as soon possible from a programming perspective."Starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in the thriller-romance based on Stephenie Meyer's publishing phenomenon, the film is directed by Catherine Hardwicke from a script by Melissa Rosenberg (STEP UP). Karen Rosenfelt (DEVIL WEARS PRADA), Greg Mooradian and Wyck Godfrey will produce along with Mark Morgan via his Maverick Films banner.TWILIGHT tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan (Stewart) who moves to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, and becomes drawn to Edward Cullen (Pattinson), a pale, mysterious classmate who seems determined to push her away. But neither can deny the attraction that pulls them together...even when Edward confides that he and his family are vampires. Their unorthodox romance puts her in physical danger when Edward's nemesis comes to town and sets his sights on Bella.

I am really excited! This will put it right at the start of Thanksgiving break giving all of us fans an abundance of time to go and see it. Now we just need to start planning a big party to go!

Michael Phelps

I just had to pay a little tribute to Michael Phelps we just got finished watching his last race and I will have to admit I had tears in my eyes as they won (I know I'm a woos when it comes to sports!). Ryan happened to wake up right before the race so we brought him out to watch. As I was putting him back to bed he told me, "He did it, he's a real good swimmer!" I couldn't put it any better we have watched every race and I almost am sad it is over, it has been fun to watch World History occur and I honestly think it is going to be one of those events that people will tell their kids I saw that happen! Here's to Michael Phelps! Congratulations on making history!

Friends!!!

Okay so since Kyler got married a bunch of my friends from high school decided it would be the perfect opportunity to get together since a lot of us would be in BL for his reception. Anyways so we got together for lunch and just playing and had so much fun. And then we went to the reception and laughed so hard, it was so much fun.

All of us at the park!

Some of the kids we were missing a few but I thought this was pretty cute!

I thought this pic of Ryan and Chris was cute you can also see Olivia's hair!

At the reception we had so much fun!

Kyler acting like Kyler!
I think we realized that we may have gotten older but none of us had grown up pretty scary since we have kids! Maybe we ought to try the growing up thing sometime soon, on the other hand it is just to much fun to be as we are!
ps these pics are all stolen from Carrie's myspace since I am a little slow and forgot my camera!

Memory Game

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on you blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Kyler's Married!!

It's official Kyler is married. Kyler and Kendra got married yesterday in the Idaho Falls Temple. They were both so cute and neither of them could stop smiling the whole time. Anyways here are a few shots from the temple!




See what I said about the smiles. They really are a cute couple!

Cousins

A few weeks ago we went my parents house the night before we went to a big Winward reunion. Jason, Camille and their girls were there too. All the kids and Grandma, (and Jason but I include him in the kids) played on the trampoline with a sprinkler under it they had so much fun. Although we did get a bit sunburned crazy that we never get burned at home I think BL sun is hotter.


Playing ring around the rosies

How cute is this picture all of the grandkids with grandma !

Livvy drinking out of the hose she looks like a puppy to me with her tongue hanging out like that.

Livvy and Grandpa after the sprinkler she was a little cold and apparently Grandpa likes her cause he was will to get wet just to cuddle her.

Anyways we had tons of fun!

Kids picutres

So Christopher and I went to Lewiston in March for a Rad Tech conference and the kids stayed with my parents and Chris's parents for a few days while they were at Chris's his mom took so cute pictures she has a little studio in her basement and I had her take some shots of the kids. So I thought I would post some of the cutest ones!

Doesn't she just look like a cute little princess!


He looks so old in this one my baby is growing up

I just had to add this I am not sure what he was supposed to be doing but he does have a cute little bum!

So most of the ones of the kids didn't turn out you know getting 2 kids to smile at the same time!

This was the trick to getting the kids to sit still they both had cars to play with in most of the pictures.










I love this one of Livvy she just looks like you want me to do what?
So there are my adorable kids now I just need to go get print outs so I can replace the almost 2 year old shots on my wall, pretty sad since Livvy isn't even 2 yet.

Fourth of July

For some reason I didn't get as many pictures as I thought I would we had a really fun day we went to a parade where Ryan got interviewed by some news station. We aren't sure if it actually got on the news cause they did it during the parade and he kept getting side tracked by the candy, but it was cute seeing him hooked up to a microphone and on camera. Jason and Camille and their girls met us at the parade then we all headed back to our house for kids naps and then went to Jacqui and Ryan's for a bbq and played in lots of water. They set up a slip and slide down their big hill and the kids loved it. I didn't get any pictures of that but Erin did and so you can check them out on her page. Then we went to a park to watch the fireworks they were really good but we didn't bring a radio so we missed out on the music part.

This is the only one of all the kids at the parade I tried so hard all day to get a pic of Ryan and Olivia cause they had cute matching outfits but it just never worked out.

I had to post this one of Livvy she looked so cute with her cute sparkly red shoes.

This is all of the kids attacking Rick he had his 2 and our 2 on him and they were having a blast jumping on him.

Daddy and Livvy playing cards I just love how cuddly they look

I had to get one of me in there but since I had the camera all we got was a close up but it wasn't too bad of a shot!

And this last one I just had to add this is Olivia Kay and she was doing kissy lips at the camera I just thought it was a cute shot!

We had so much fun just hanging out and playing with our friends and family thanks everyone!