Goodbye to over 13 inches!!!

So, I've been wanting to cut my hair for a long time now. And now I finally did it! I wasn't going to last through another hot summer of blow drying my hair every few days. I was so ready to have it gone--it was always being pulled by every member of my family (including myself) and a few days before I got it cut, I actually burned it on the stove while I was cooking dinner. We are in Snowflake this weekend so I had someone here cut it for me. I'm still trying to get used to it. I haven't had bangs since my Junior year in high school--so that's a bit different. The after picture isn't real great; you can't really see the layers. The picture makes it kinda look like its all one length, but it's not. Anyway, I had over 13 inches cut off. I'm not sure that I really love it, but I am glad to not have it long anymore.

Before

After

My Beautiful Princess(es)?

So the kids were having fun playing outside today. (For those of you who don't know, Tucson was the hottest spot in the whole nation yesterday-91 degrees! Insanity!) It was pretty hot today too so I realized that my kids probably needed some kind of protection from the sun. (What month is it again? I forget.) Kelton has a really cute U of A baseball cap so I tried to put that on him. He wouldn't have it. It would barely be on his head before he was ripping it off. So I remembered that we had an old flowery hat of Natalie's from when she was a year old--and it has ties. I knew he wouldn't be able to take it off. So without dad here to protect his son's dignity, I won the hat battle. After I got it on him, he just looked so cute that I had to take a picture, especially because he was just smiling away in his girly hat.

Bowling

A few weeks ago Natalie went bowling at her cousin Bryce's birthday party. She had so much fun. Although, after I showed her how to throw the ball down the lane, she immediately proceeded to run down the lane to chase the ball. She actually got about five steps before she slipped and sprawled out on the floor. She was so confused and then she was scared when she realized that it was too slippery to get back up. I felt so bad. I didn't even think about telling her not to cross the line to chase the ball. It just didn't occur to me that she would! (Yes, I admit, I should have known better.) Kelton had a lot of fun too. He loved the ball rack and watching the balls come back. He was entertained with the ball rack for almost the full hour we were there. It wasn't until the very end that he started making a run for the lanes.

These last two pictures I had to put on because I think Natalie just looks so pretty in them. I really love this first one. She just has such a beautiful little face even when she's not smiling. And she is just looking so grown up. I asked her the other day if she could stay little and be 3 forever. She told me, "No, I'm getting bigger. I have to be 4." So sad. But I guess that's the way it goes.

Fun in Primary

So just real quick I wanted to post a conversation I had with Natalie last Sunday after church. Oh, how this little girl keeps life interresting. And just in case you can't figure it out, Edison is a little boy in Natalie's class.

Me: " Hey Natalie did you have fun in Primary today?"

Natalie (not really paying that much attention to me): "Uh-huh"

Me: "What did you do?"

Natalie (looking up at me with a michievious look and sly tone of voice): "I kissed Edison. Right here. (pointing to her cheek) And Edison kissed me right here." (pointing to the other cheek)

WHAT ON EARTH ARE THEY TEACHING THE SUNBEAMS??? :)

Marker Face

As I was waking up this morning, Natalie came and got into bed with me. Then Kelton woke up and started crying. As I was getting up, Natalie said, "Go back to bed momma. I will go get my baby brother. Go back to sleep." Kelton always stops crying when she goes in to play with him. So I figured, why not? Well, I will tell you why not. Because when I got up a few minutes later (because it was much too quiet) and opened Kelton's door, Natalie very rapidly slammed shut a drawer of my craft stuff that she is not supposed to play with. Then I looked at Kelton, smiling a huge smile up at me with black marker on his face. And marker on his hands too. I have to say that the normal reaction would probably be to get mad, but I thought it was pretty funny. I had a hard time not smiling or laughing as I explained to Natalie that we don't color on each other. (She also had marker on the back of her hands.) I also discovered that washable markers are not as washable as I would like them to be. Oh, well. I guess it will all come off eventually--and it could have been much worse (or funnier!).

**Update: Okay, so it was a bit worse. I just discovered that the black marker was actually a Sharpie. (permanent marker, yes.) I got it off of Kelton but have now found that she scribbled all over the crib bumper and a little on the crib slats. I don't think any of that is coming off. Not so funny anymore...

Kelton is 1 year old!

Today is Kelton's birthday. I can't believe that he is already one year old. He is such a happy little thing. He loves being able to walk and loves to laugh at his sister--as long as she isn't making him cry. :) Happy birthday baby!

New toys

Cake

5 Years!

On January 2nd, Nate and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. How time flies. We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate. We did go out to dinner, although we did take the kids too. Pathetic, I know, but I can't bear to spend $20 on a babysitter to then go out and spend $30 on dinner. So this year, just like all the rest, the kids came too. But hey, at least this was one anniversary that I didn't spend being pregnant! (okay so it was technically the 2nd one, but still)

So in our 5 years....

We have moved only once--from Tucson to Sahuarita. One of the best decisions we've made. While it takes Nate longer to get to U of A, we love living here soooo much more.

Nate has been in school and is STILL in school. (1 1/2 years to go and then never again!)
He finished his undergrad at UofA and is now in law school there.

I have done some schooling, worked at Wells Fargo, taught piano lessons, and now have settled into just staying at home with my kids.

We have had the joy of bringing three children into the world; Natalie (3 1/2 yrs), Kelton (almost 1 yr old), and Kaitlin-our angel baby who would be almost 2.

We've purchased three cars--04 Dodge Stratus, 04 Ford Focus, and 07 Dodge Durango. And we sold the Stratus to make way for the Durango.

We haven't traveled much but have sure seen a lot of beaches--Rocky Point, California, Bahamas, and Puerto Rico (technically before we were married)

Christmas

Okay. So here comes the overload of pictures from our Christmas holiday. We spent a week in Snowflake with our families and had a lot of fun. We loved Christmas but were a bit disappointed when Natalie reacted to absolutely NOTHING that we got her. It was really sad. But we woke her up at 7:00 to open presents and I don't think she felt very good. She would just open a present, look at it, and then put it aside with no change in facial expression on every single thing that she opened. Oh well, I guess that's what happens when we massively deprive her of sleep on vacation and then wake her up before she's ready. But, she loves all of her stuff now.

So it managed to snow everywhere in the white mountains except for Snowflake. Show Low got quite a bit so one morning we went up to Melanie's house to play in the snow. Natalie had soooo much fun. She knows what snow is, but being a Tucson baby, she really has never seen or played in it. I thought she would get cold after a few minutes and want to go inside. (This is my child who runs for her blanket when the air conditioner comes on in the summer) But that wasn't the case. Who knows how long she would have stayed out there if the rest of us weren't freezing and wanting to go inside. She was having too much fun throwing snow at grandpa.

This next picture is Kelton and Hudson. I think the idea was "let's get a cute picture of the two boys in the bucket." I don't think the two boys approved very much. But I still think this picture is cute.This is Natalie being waiting to be an angel in the Webb nativity scene.

And here are some random ones of the kids. Natalie wanted a dog and she got the only one I was willing to get her. There are also some pictures of new Christmas outfits.

So this is another thing Natalie got for Christmas although she didn't get it until after we got back because we sure weren't strapping this onto the car. She's totally outgrown her toddler bed so we bought some bunk beds. She was so excited to get a "bigger bed."

And I just really like this picture. Maybe it's just because this is what they both do when I get the camera out--they attack me. I expect it from Natalie, but even Kelton charges when he sees the camera. I don't know if the picture shows up big enough to really see this, but I love to look at their eyes. You have really brown on one side and the bluest of blue on the other. You've got the dominance of both mom and dad showing through. Who would have thought...

Handsome Boy

My sister Christy took these pictures of Kelton. He is just so cute!! I know today is Christmas, but I will delay the actual Christmas post until I have a bit more time--and all of the pictures on my computer. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

So I finally pulled my photos off my camera and put them on my computer. We had a fun Thanksgiving in Snowflake. With law school, Nate gets a whole week off so we spent the entire week in Snowflake. Chad and Erica were there too. Natalie had so much fun playing with Brayden, Trevor, and Callie. So much that she was still talking to them after we got home. (She sat down to paint a picture and was talking to Callie as if she were sitting right there painting too)

I love this next picture. What else can I say? (other than the fact that tears shortly followed this picture for one of the cute little girls and the other cute little girl got in trouble)

Nate was putting Kelton on his brother Tyler's dog Roxy. Kelton thought it was absolutely hillarious. I only wish this was a video instead of pictures. Kelton could not stop laughing-like uncontrollable, out loud, laughing like he was being tickled mercilessly. This only furthers Nate's argument that we need a dog...(uh, no)

New Bicycle Helmet

So Natalie is getting really good at riding her bike. She still tips over though, so we thought it would be a good idea to get her some bike riding gear. I was really excited to find this set on clearance for only $11! That was more than half off. I mostly just wanted her to have elbow and knee pads so she wouldn't get all scraped up. I had no idea that she would be so thrilled about all of it. I thought I might have to convince her to wear them, but as you can see, that wasn't the case. Now every time I ask her if she wants to ride her bike, she takes off and says "I have to get my elbow pads." All the pictures I took of her were just to cute--I couldn't pick only one. So I posted all of them.

Yikes!!

So I finally gave Kelton a much needed haircut today. It was absolutely terrifying! I have never ever cut anyone's hair with scissors before (including Natalie's) with the one exception of my college roommate who put a pair of scissors in my hand one day and told me to trim her hair and wouldn't take no for an answer. (Thanks a lot Elaine--I still don't think I've quite recovered from that.) Oh, the things we do as college students to save money. Anyway, I had so many people tell me not to use clippers to do it, so I used scissors. Next time, I think the clippers are going to get a shot at it. But for now, it's done. Does it look... good? Um, not so much. Does it look better? Definitely. I wish there was some way to keep his hair from growing so I don't have to do this again.

BEFORE

AFTER

AND THIS IS SERIOUSLY HOW

KELTON FELT ABOUT THE WHOLE THING

ME IN ACTION USING JUST ABOUT ANYTHING

I COULD THINK OF TO GET HIM TO HOLD STILL

Halloween Monkey and Banana

Ah, my computer is finally letting me upload photos again! For a while every time I attached a photo, my computer would disconnect from the internet. Very frusterating. But for some magical reason, it is working again tonight. So here are our Halloween pictures!

I happened to be in town on Halloween so I took the kids over to the mall and had their picture taken at The Picture People. The 8x10 print was free, so I figured why not? It turned out really cute and I'm really glad I did it, because we didn't get any other real great pictures of the kids in their costumes.

A few days ago we went to the Halloween story time at the library and I took these pictures there. Natalie had a lot of fun--they told some Halloween stories and then the kids go trick-or-treating through the library for things like stickers and pencils--no candy.

On Halloween itself, we braved the outside world for the first time ever. For silly reasons our ward did not have a trunk-or-treat this year. I, along with many others, was not very happy about this, but oh well. So we went to a town thing where they had some Halloween carnival games and they gave out some prizes and candy. Then we went home and went trick-or-treating. We went up our street and the the street over from us. I was shocked that with only that, Natalie got quite a bit of candy. (We might be visiting Uncle Chad the dentist soon). Poor Kelton didn't get to go trick-or-treating because he was fast asleep. In order to get the cute picture at The Picture People, he kinda had to miss his long afternoon nap.

Natalie was thrilled at getting lots of suckers.