December 27th, 2011

Since this past week included Christmas, Todd's Birthday and our 6th Wedding Anniversary there was much to celebrate and be so very grateful for!

• We started the week off by making cut out cookies and decorating them. I always forget how long this project takes (all day!) but the girls' excitement never gets old. This year Addy really was able to help by using the cookie cutters by herself and putting the cut-outs on the sheet herself. Go Addy!

• On Friday, Todd and I hired a babysitter and we spent the day together. We originally planned on going skiing but Todd wasn't feeling great with a bad cold so we got lots of errands done around town, went shopping at the mall and had lunch together at Brick Oven. 
• On Christmas Eve morning aka Todd's birthday I cooked all the food for our evening meal while Todd took some time to himself. Then he took all of us and his parents out for lunch at one of his favorite restaurants, Japanese Tepanyaki. The girls love Asian food so it was a big hit because our chef was one of the best ones we've ever had. He was so funny and the girls expressions when he lit the fires were priceless. They behaved so well it really was a treat to take them there. Bodee on the other hand is a sixteen month old boy...enough said!

• After lunch we headed up to see the Christmas Lights at the Salt Lake Temple. This has become our tradition the past few years because it really brings the spirit of Christ into our Christmas celebrations. It was cold but the kids did great.

• We then headed home and sang Happy Birthday to Todd and let him open his presents. (A hat washer, a cap rack, and a new sweatshirt). Todd asked if I would make him a Jello cake this year. Happy Birthday to my sweet 34 year old:)

• After cake we started our Christmas traditions. This year we added a new one. A short little movie called "Little One". Great for the kids. It was a perfect Christmas Eve.

• Santa has arrived!!! My favorite line of the morning is when Addy started looking in her stocking and said "Santa is the nicest man." The girls just kept saying "thank you Santa" as they opened their presents.
• Addy's 3 top favorite gifts: American Girl Doll (well, the knock off from Target), singing Ariel, Little Mermaid doll, and remote control car.
• Brynn's 3 top favorite gifts: VTech Camera (really works!), grocery store cash register, and singing Rapunzel Doll.
• Bodee's 3 top favorite gifts: slide, Mickey Mouse stuffed animal, Elephant ball popper

• Originally for our anniversary we thought it would be nice to get away for a night but then we decided not to leave because it is always so busy throughout the holidays but then at about noon on our anniversary Todd called and said to pack everyone up he's taking me to Midway for the night since his mom offered to watch the kids! We sat in the hot tub, went to Dairy Keen for dinner and shakes, went ice skating, and talked and laughed! I'm so glad I married someone that continually makes me a better person. Todd is always making me laugh and I am so grateful that he works so hard to provide for our family so I can stay at home with our children. I truly adore this man!

December 18th, 2011

Like always, December has been a very busy month but also lots of fun. These are some of the highlights from this past week.

• The girls were invited to their friend Aisea's birthday party at Kangaroo Zoo! They had an absolute blast and loved every second of it. They had been asking for weeks to go to Kangaroo Zoo so they were very lucky they got to go for his birthday. Mom loved that they finally got to release some of the winter energy that has been building up.

• A great group of our friends from the University of Utah village got together for an Ugly Sweater/White Elephant/Game Night party! I honestly don't remember the last time I laughed so hard. Tears came to my eyes multiple times. A huge thank you to all the great couples that were there.
• Todd and I won the ugliest sweater contest! Our prizes included a pink nightgown, a sexy John Travolta type shirt via Saturday Night Fever, handcuffs, sparkling juice, a bowtie, gum, apple cider and hot chocolate packets.  

• After our late night on Friday we were hoping to sleep in just a little on Saturday morning. At about 7:30am Brynn comes into our room crying and telling me that she got a bead stuck up her nose. Yes, yes she did. Tweezers did not work so finally I gave Todd a big bobby pin and he was able to dig it out while I held her arms down. Thank goodness for Todd's surgical skills or that would have been a trip to Instacare cause it was pretty far up there. We then had a family meeting about NOT sticking things up our noses. 

• Saturday night we met up with our friends at the Sandy Aquarium. I hadn't been there since Addy was one year old so I had no idea they expanded it so much and there was lots more to see. The kids had a great time. It was especially cute when Bodee kept ohhh and ahhh and ooooo ing at all the fish. He LOVED it! Addy thought touching the stingray was super cool and Brynn liked the penguins. Thanks to the Ross family for a good time. 

December 11th, 2012

I am blogging again...I can't believe it. I stopped blogging when life got really busy and crazy for me but now that life has slowed down, I think I can try again. Here are some highlights from this past week.

• Monday night for our Family Home Evening activity we drove through the Thanksgiving Point lights. We put the kids in the front seats with us and blared our Christmas music. Our kids are at such a great age and the magic of Christmas is everywhere in our house. Bodee LOVED the lights and kept yelling ahhhh! and ohhhh! He was being so silly and climbing on the dash board in the Tahoe and laying down looking at the lights and laughing. Afterwards we went to Arctic Circle for ice cream.
• Addy lost her first tooth this week! The Tooth Fairy came and left her $5 for her first tooth. She was so excited because she got a special badge at school to wear saying she lost her first tooth and her class sang her a special song. At first she didn't want to leave her tooth under her pillow because she wanted to keep it forever. Very sweet.

• Another cute thing about Addy from the past couple of weeks is that she is really starting to read! She can read full books with a little help on certain words from Mom and Dad. We are so proud of her!
• On Saturday we celebrate the Bassett Family Christmas Party! Of course the kids all loved it. Well, Bodee did not love Santa, but that is to be expected for a 16 month old:)

• Another fun thing this week is Addy had her first Daisy Girl Scout Meeting. I started a troop in our neighborhood and I think it is going to be great! I love the Girl Scout program and I hope Addy will too. We learned the GS promise, sat in the friendship circle, and made ornaments for someone special. This mom things is getting really fun!

It's a Boy!

Last week we found out this baby is a BOY! This is very exciting for our family, especially for Todd. He's been waiting for a sidekick. I've been a little nervous since finding out this is a boy because I'm much more comfortable with the "girl thing", but the excitement is growing daily.

Addy's first reaction to the news was "I don't like brothers" but soon that changed to acceptance. I think this little boy is going to have to learn to hold his own with our two tough little girls.

I am so grateful for this child. I am in awe our Heavenly Father trusts Todd and I with another spirit to raise. Having a little boy to be part of our eternal family is simply wonderful. The blessings keep piling up!

Now we just have to think of a name...

Face Painting

This past Saturday Addy was invited to an awesome birthday party. Her friend Faith turned three years old! Lilly the Clown came to the party and painted every one's faces. Then she put on a magic show and made them the balloon of their choice. Addy had a great time!

Here is Lilly the Clown painting Addy's face.

Addy chose to be painted as a princess. I tried to get her to get painted as an animal so her whole face would be painted but she insisted on being a princess. Not really a big surprise!

Here is everyone who got painted up.
Addy chose to Lilly make her a wand balloon. Cute!

Easter 2010

This weekend was great because of General Conference and Easter but also VERY LONG because we barely left the house. Keeping two little girls entertained through hours and hours of General Conference is proving to be very tricky.

-Saturday morning Brynn and I woke up early and heading over to Smith's for the Easter Egg Hunt. Long story, but Addy chose to do another activity and was not able to attend the hunt. I told her it would make her sad not to do the egg hunt, but she said she wouldn't care. Of course, the next morning she was really sad after she saw all the candy Brynn got. Brynn happily shared though so all was right.

-We came home watched morning and afternoon Conference and had a girl night while Dad went to Priesthood session with his brothers. We made dinner and cookies, had a bath and watch a movie. I have the cutest stinkin' girls:)

-Sunday, the girls found their Easter baskets and we made a big breakfast. Then we watched conference, dyed eggs, had nap time and watch more conference. We all had cabin fever by 4pm so Todd took the girls outside for a little while. That helped a ton and we made it through Easter Sunday.

-It was really fun talking to Addy about the real meaning of Easter and reading her the Easter story. I love that she's starting to get some of these things, at least the basic concepts of the holidays. It makes the holidays more meaningful, and not all about candy and presents.

Here is Brynn finding her basket. (Our bunny hides the baskets.)

She is way into this goofy smile with her chin sticking out. It makes me laugh.

Addy found her basket down stairs.

Brynn got a hold of the chocolate before I could even stop her!

Best Friends!

Dying Easter Eggs

Addy got really into it. She did pretty good!

This was Brynn isle at Smith's for the egg hunt. It was only for one and two year olds. It was A LOT of candy for such little kids because there were only 20 kids that age there. It was nice though because they took their time filling their baskets and no one got pushy.

Brynn doing her thing.

After this much candy I thought it was time to go. There was still a bunch of candy on the floor but I figured this was more than enough.

March

Now that it's already April, I thought I'd better catch up on March. Besides the pictures that follow here are some fun things that happened in March.

- The first Sunday in March, Addy bore her testimony all by herself in church. She had been asking to do it for months and so finally we practiced some things that she can say because I refuse to go up to the podium and whisper in her ear and she did it. I did walk up with her and sit behind her in the chair just in case but she did great! She constantly amazes me. Todd and I were both very proud parents.
-Addy and I got to go on a mommy/daughter special this month. We went to see the Chipmunk movie at the dollar theater. We had a great time and I love spending quality time with each child individually. The whole time we go on these specials Addy talks about what a great time she's having. (Don't worry, Brynn got special time with Dad so she wasn't forgotten:)
-Brynn is hilarious. Every day for our morning devotional we only sing one of the girls' five favorite songs. Brynn's favorite song to sing is Book of Mormon Stories. She knows all the actions and requests it daily but sometimes we can get away with Sunbeam or Popcorn Popping. Nursery has really influenced her music choices, but we think it's adorable.

Addy was given a big kid bike this month. She loves it and we can't wait for Spring to really start.
Here are the girls at the annual Grandma Bassett Easter party. They had to eat some of their goodies right away.
Easter party. Ready to start the egg hunt.

Dad and Brynn. LOVE THEM BOTH!

This is Addy playing hide and seek. Either she'll lay down in the middle of the lawn with no covering or else she'll hide in the exact same place that I just hid and tell me she's hiding there. But I still have to count to 10...go figure?

Girls just being silly.

It was beautiful out one day so we took a picnic to the park. It was perfect.

Preschool is killing me! There are all these holidays that I really don't celebrate, like St. Patrick's Day but after a school party Addy is expecting the "sneaky leprechaun" to come and hide something fun in her back yard when she wakes up the next morning. It's actually a fun tradition but, my goodness, another one I'll have to remember. I didn't get a picture of her finding her "gold" because Brynn fell down the stairs the right when Addy was finding the goodies. That's why Brynn is kinda sad!

I turned 28 this month. Late twenties...ahhh! Great birthday weekend. Todd took me to a Japanese steakhouse, my absolute favorite, and then to a movie, which is beyond rare for us. It was a wonderful date!