WV- Pittsburgh Zoo

While visiting Jacob and Julia we took a trip up to the Pittsburgh Zoo for a day.  It was really fun.  I like to go to other zoos to see animals in a different atmosphere.  I LOVED their aquarium and their monkey house was pretty cool too, so cool that we didn't get any pictures while we were in there. The kids loved going around the tunnels of the meerkats and touching the sting rays.

The kids had fun playing fetch with the seals too.

Before we left Pittsburgh we stopped at the famous Primanti Brothers restaurant and had some sandwiches and then we headed back home. 

WV- Valley World of Fun

We decided to take a trip out to West Virginia to visit Jacob & Julia's family.  We weren't sure if we were going to go since I was gone the week before, but when we looked at the schedule and we didn't have anything to do, we thought that we would go and have some fun with family.  We are so grateful that they live "close".  On our drive out there Wednesday I got another phone call from my family saying that my Mom was heading back to the hospital in SL since they found more air in her head then there was before when they released her on Saturday.  So I was very worried the whole trip and kinda felt guilty that I was going on a vacation to have fun while the rest of my family had to go back to the hospital and sit and worry.  This is when it is really hard to live so far from home.  But besides the horrible news on the way there and the random boil water advisory in the town we stopped in to get dinner on our drive shutting all the fast food places down except Arby's, we had a great trip.

One day we took a trip to Valley World of Fun and let the kids play. They played

Arcade Games & Lazer tag

 bowling

 rides

bumper cars

and inflatable bounce house and slide.  They had a blast and loved it. 

Christmas in a nutshell

Christmas was not the same for me this year.  I got a call on Dec 17th (Bryson's b-day) during our ward Christmas party that my Mom was taken to the hospital.  She had passed out and when she awoke she was very confused, not talking much and not very alert.  They took her down to the ER and she was admitted into the ICU right away.  Her sodium levels were deathly high and she had a lot of air in her head.  So after a lot of thinking, crying figuring things out I decided to take a trip out there on Monday afternoon. (thanks to our great friends giving me a buddy pass).  I spent the week at the hospital watching my Mom go up and down, not improving enough to be sent home.  On Friday they decided to put a shunt in her head to help remove the air in her head and immediately following the surgery she was much better.  We were so excited.  They let her go home on Christmas eve and I flew back home on Christmas morning.  Josh was a trooper to take the kids to church and hold the kids off from opening presents until I got home at 4pm.  Once we got home the kids tore through their presents and we had dinner with our good friends.  It was a crazy day.  I was just grateful to be able to see my Mom and Dad in the morning and then my family too.  And while I was with my Mom I didn't take the camera so we didn't take any pictures to document my trip out there.   

Christmas morning & stockings.  And Christmas eve pajamas.

Family presents!  The kids were so excited when they opened the wii.  They have played it nonstop ever since.  It is a great motivator to get their chores done. 

Bryson & his presents

Megan & her presents

Connor & his presents

Connor loved playing in the wrapping paper.  I would have loved to let him play in it all day, but we didn't have all day for him to play in it.  He kept saying FUN! as he would run and jump into it, throw it around and slide.

I was grateful to be with my family for Christmas, and I know that Josh was glad for me to be home too!

Bryson's 5!!!

Bryson turned 5 of Dec 17th!  I took cupcakes in to his preschool on Thursday for his last day of class before break, which just happened to be pajama day.  When we got there they sang happy birthday to Bryson and then they all sat down and ate the cupcakes, Connor joined him too.  Then he got to be a car rider on the way home, extra special!

On his actual birthday we were able to have his birthday party.  We had earlier paid for a pirate party from the young women from a ward auction.  So we had help from the young women to put this together.  It was great.  A party in a bag & it came with a helper.  I didn't have to do much, they supplied all the activities, supplies & party bags.  Bryson wanted a pinata so we had that be the treasure that they found at the end of the treasure hunt.  It was fun to have 9 little pirate boys running around.  We have had a lot of boys move in around here which has been great for Bryson. 

 Here is Bryson and all his pirate friends that came and the loot that they gave to Caption Bryson!

We love Bryson so much.  He is definitely a hand full at times & very difficult to discipline.  But he is also the sweetest boy.  He is very generous and loves to share with his brother and sister (when he's in the mood) He is also very excited to start reading.  He loves to sound out words and tries to read.  He loves to help out in the kitchen.  In our home if it is your birthday you don't have to do any work (doesn't really apply to the adults) and so I kept asking Megan to help clean up.  But every time I asked her to do something Bryson volunteered to do it instead.  Megan was more then willing to let him do it, but that is  just an example of what a great helper he is.  We love Bryson and are so happy to have him in our family!  Happy 5th Birthday!

Nashville

Josh and I took an overnight date to go down to Nashville.  I had won some tickets from the local news station to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes & to the Madagascar ICE.  A wonderful friend & fellow church member treated us to a hotel room and we got our friends to come stay with the kids and we were off once Josh finished his last final. 

We arrived shortly before the Rockette show, checked into our hotel and then headed off to the show.  We couldn't take any pictures during the show but I got this picture of Josh before the show and the picture of the guys head in front... well that was most of our show too.  He made it hard to see the whole stage, Josh and I switched seats during intermission so we could take turns seeing the whole stage.  But we couldn't complain for having free tickets.  They show was still really good.  

The next day we went to see the Madagascar ICE.  It was pretty amazing.  They show you a movie of how they make it all which is pretty amazing and then you go get your parka, cause it is FREEZING in there.  At first we kinda laughed, then about 5 minutes into it we were wishing they gave us gloves too.  The sculptures were pretty amazing.

They even had an ice slide that you could go down.  So Josh and I took turns going down.  That room seemed to be extra freezing.  But still really amazing.

The very last scene they did was the manger scene which was really cool.  It was beautiful!

After we defrosted and looked at the over priced stuff at the gift shop we walked over to the Grand Ole Opry Hotel and walked around the hotel.  That place is amazing.  I forget what the room was called that was our favorite, I think it was the Cascades, but most of our pictures were taken in that room.  So pretty, they had lights hanging everywhere which would make it even more amazing, and romantic at night.

We had a wonderful time on our way to short time away.  But we are so grateful to everyone who helped out and made this trip possible. 

Gingerbread Houses

I was so excited to make gingerbread houses this year.  We got together with some friends and we all bring candy and we have fun seeing who can create the best masterpiece.  This is a tradition with our friends the Gremmert's and I love that they have invited us in to this tradition with them.  I was sad that Josh wasn't going to be there (darn finals), but we still went anyways, cause I didn't want to miss out.  This year the Gremmerts pre-made some of the houses with melted sugar which was a GREAT idea for the kids.  It made it go very quick for the kids and a lot less help from the adults. 

Connor didn't quite get the concept of putting candy on his house.  He just ate the candy the whole time.  I would put candy on his house to show him what to do, but he just ate it all.  I think he ended up with less candy on his house by the end of the night. 

Here are the final looks of our houses.  We entered mine into the ward gingerbread house contest and it won the best log cabin... even though it was the only log cabin looking house.  Everyone is a winner!

Santa Claus

We were able to go see Santa Claus at Connor's speech School this morning.  He was a GREAT Santa and the kids loved him. 

They also had stuff for the kids to do while you waited for your turn with Santa, the kids got to decorate a Christmas tree, decorate (or eat) cookies, eat donuts & hot chocolate & get your face painted. 

 Connor isn't old enough to ask Santa for anything.  He didn't really know what he was suppose to do.  He wouldn't even smile for us, but we were able to take our time & get as many pictures as we could.  These were my favorites.

Bryson asked Santa for a hot wheels set, one that goes around the whole neighborhood like he saw on his Uncle Jacob's computer. (thanks Jacob!) After everyone had a turn Bryson went back up and talked to Santa about our Elf on the Shelf, Buddy.  He asked if he said that he was good and Santa said yes, then he asked if Megan has been good and he said yes, then he asked about Connor and he said that Connor isn't big enough to know good and bad so he is automatically on the good list.  Too bad I didn't slip Santa the list of naughty things the kids had done before so he could tell them to stop doing those things.  I'll have to remember that for next time.  If they won't listen to me then maybe they will listen to Santa.

Megan asked Santa for a My Generation doll & a Bullseye doll for her Jessie doll.  Her list kept changing every time we asked, but that is what she asked for so now it can't change.

I love watching the kids faces as they see Santa, Megan still gets excited, but I'm not sure if Connor really has caught on.  I hope that this can last for a few more years!  Merry Christmas!

Busy December

Probably  not so surprising that December has started off very busy.  Since I have been a little behind on a lot of things, I will give the quick version to get it done. :-)

First off was our cities Lighting up ceremony.  We got there just after they lit up the city, but were still able to enjoy the beautiful light display.  We picked up some free hot chocolate, the kids got a free stuffed animal, listened to the high school band play & walked main street. 

You can almost not believe that the following day was gorgeous outside (mid 60's) and we took advantage of the beautiful weather by taking the kids to the zoo.  I went with some friends while our husbands all studied.  Gotta love finals!

 Next thing we had to do before the season could feel like Christmas was to put up all the decorations including the tree.  I don't know why we have to get pictures of putting up the tree, since no one ever takes pictures of me while I put decorations up during any of the other seasons/holidays, but we have to get the kids decorating the tree, I guess it is tradition and that is why we do it.  So here are the kids decorating the tree.  Connor enjoyed putting all the ornaments in to one spot.  I think that it turned out pretty well, even though the ornaments get moved around almost every day.

And of course we can't forget Josh.  Even though I feel like his birthday gets over looked with all the holiday celebrations, we did still have cake and ice cream.  I made this bunt cake per Josh's request and he decided to top it with some powdered sugar before we put the candles in so when Connor blew the candles before Josh could he got powdered sugar all over him.  You can see it in the bottom left picture.  Kinda funny.  Happy 32nd birthday Josh!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We were so happy when Josh's brother, Jacob and his family decided to come out and spend Thanksgiving with us.  We had a fun time cooking dinner all day and then enjoyed eating it.  The kids enjoyed the rolls, & pretzel jello salad.  Julia & I enjoyed the sweet potato casserole and the boys enjoyed lots of turkey & potatoes.  Later that day we went over to a friends house to enjoy pie together with 3 other families from dental school. 

On black Friday we decided to forgo the early hours, long lines and crazy people and slept in, got a babysitter for 9:30am and went shopping without the kids, went out for lunch & enjoyed our time.  This is what the kids did a part of the time we were gone!  It was SO WORTH the babysitter.

Saturday after Julia & I went to watch Breaking Dawn Part 1 (good, but wish I wouldn't have forgotten my glasses so that I could have seen it all clearly... now I have to go see it again), we took the kids outside to teach them how to ride bikes without training wheels. 

Josh & Jacob got their workout running up & down the street with Isaac & Bryson teaching them how to ride.  Here is a video of Bryson as he was getting a hang of it.

It was fun weekend, we are always sad to see Jacob, Julia, Loraya, Isaac & Macey leave.

Halloween this year

The Costumes:

Morticia & Gomez Addams, Witch, Batman & Dog

The Parties:

We attended the YMCA's Halloween party where the kids played games & got treats, then we also attended the ward trunk or treat where there were more games & treats.

Josh and I went to our annual Halloween party for the grand finale (since the hosts are moving :( ) Here are pictures of some of the winners of the costume contest.  Can you tell what they are dressed as?

The second part of the party is running around town collecting items, information & pictures of us doing crazy things.  (Check out the photos below.)  Lots of fun and we will greatly miss the Langford's when they move (especially around Halloween time).

Halloween day

Then there was trick or treating on Halloween day!  The kids have a TON of candy needless to say. 

Yesterday the kids were going crazy from eating treats all day long that I banned them from having treats today.  I've actually seen a difference.  Now let's just see if we can have all these treats gone before Thanksgiving... or Christmas.