Family Home Evening at the Cox's

We got a call on Monday night and were invited to have family home evening over at the Cox's - my brother and his family. Dallan had called and specifically requested that Daniel come over to help make sugar cookies.

Austin gave the lesson - which was excellent. It was about the Holy Ghost and he used a lot of candles - as you can see in the picture below.

All were very focused and quiet during the lesson - especially when he was lighting the candles!

Afterwards, we made sugar cookies - all kinds of fun Christmas shapes!
(Dallan is adorable in this picture!)

Ruthie and Michelle were working hard to get theirs done.
(I love that she had flour all over her face!)

Then, Daniel took the kids outside and jumped on the trampoline with them!
(To wear them out for the night!)

Michael then shared with us this beautiful rendition of "Frosty the Snowman".
Dallan knew most of the words, too.

Special Visit!

I came home from work on Monday and received a very fun visit. I looked out the window and said to Daniel, "That looks like the Berg's car." He said, "Who's - huh, that's funny." Then these two girls I didn't recognize started walking towards my front door. When I asked who they were here to see, they pointed behind them, and there was Jessie!!! She was in town picking up there stuff so she could drive it to Florida! So fun. We visited and before she left, took a few pictures.

In front of the house.

Showing off my big pregnant belly.

Now these next two I should give a little background. We started talking about "changes" that happen to you when you're pregnant. So, before leaving, Paul's (Jessie's husband) sister grabbed some grapefruit and handed them to Jessie ...

Quite the model, right?

But, this one.... this one shows her true talent - look at her face! Agghhh - I laughed so hard! (Still laughing as I write this!)

Thanks so much for coming by to visit! And to Paul - no - you can never be replaced!

Daniel's Birthday

We celebrated Daniel's 33rd Birthday in

Pinetop, AZ!!!

Daniel loves to go camping! But, with it being cold and me being pregos - camping was not on my list of things to do. My aunt was sweet enough to let us borrow her cabin (it's a little over a 3 hour drive) and I got to surprise him with a super fun getaway trip - his favorite thing. He told me, "This was the best birthday yet! Can we do it again next year?"

So, as you can see, there is some cake missing... yeah - well, Daniel kind of had some before I could sing to him. But that's okay - it was his cake and his birthday. I told him he could just eat the frosting if he wanted to :)

Daniel went for a little drive while I was making dinner. When he got back, he quickly got me in the car and took me to go see these deer! They were about two minutes from the cabin. We counted 11 of them!

This is Woodland Lake!

It's about a five minute walk from the cabin.
It's got this beautiful pave walk all they way around it.

Us right by the lake
- they have this cute little bridge as you arrive.


We also visited Greer, AZ - about a 45 minute drive from the cabin.

There was this little stream going through the town.

My hotty hubby - posing GQ for me :)

An awesome picture - thanks to camera timers!

Plus One - for reals

So the news on the block is that our family is growing by one, again. But this time no animals are involved. Yep - I'm pregnant.

See...

We went to the doctor and he confirmed that I have a little bean inside of me. I'm 11 weeks pregnant now - so that means the baby should be due the very end of May.

The doctor added a little comment on the ultrasound,
"Mom and I are best wombmates!"

I don't know - I don't think this baby likes me very much right now - but hopefully that will change in a few weeks. :)

We are both super excited!
More updates to come!

Halloween

Halloween was celebrated on Saturday. We had some friends come over and carve pumpkins. They seemed to really get into it - but we did run out of time.

Ariana and Tyler Miller - getting out the goup.

Rebecca and Chris Brinkerhoff - letting their creativeness flow.

Chris's turned out pretty crazy! It was all done freehand.

Daniel - getting ready to kill his pumpkin, and me getting out the goupiness.

Our finished pumpkins lit up.
(Daniel's is the left, mine's on the right)

We stopped by our parents house after the ward party to show them our costumes - soo... what do you think?
(We're supposed to be a corpse bride and groom.)

Projects at Home

We love having a garden. However, because of our dogs,

we were trying to figure out what to do.

So Daniel enlisted the help of my dad and the two of them built this awesome fence.

Looks pretty great, right. It's going be be painted white to make it look all homey :)

Thanks hun! I love it!

Toby sleeping?

Plus one

Soooo - some of you know this, but our family grew by one, without me even really knowing about it.

Daniel brought home another puppy who needed a home. After a few weeks of trying to find her a new home, we've decided to keep her. So yes, we have four dogs, one cat and too many chickies.

Tiger and Shanka with Daniel

Shanka lounging on something she shouldn't be.

This is Tessa and Tula- all snuggled up!

They spend a lot of time together

I love when she does this - she puts her little head on the chair and makes really funny noises!

She's a sweetie, super smart and we are happy to give her a loving home.

The Number One Super Mom!

My mom just celebrated her birthday
and I thought I'd like to post a little about her.

Basically, I think my mom is really the best. She's always been an example of love and kindness in my life. Her countless acts of service are inspiring. And she raised, I think, EIGHT wonderful children - along with several other foster children! For anyone who knows her - they'll agree that she is one amazing woman!

(I thought this one was so great -
It looks like she's being sneaky or something!)

Love you tons mom!

Tiger playing fetch

Igor The Bug

WARNING... DO NOT READ OR LOOK AT THIS
IF YOU ARE AS DISGUSTED WITH BUGS AS I AM!

This is the story of the bug our dog Tiger found after one of the rains here.
We named him Igor.

Look at Igor's pinchers - he could hold on to the toothpick without falling!

Daniel decided Igor would be a tasty treat.

But he couldn't do it. So he let his friend Kent have a go at Igor!

Nope - he could do it either. So this is where Igor ended up.

(Disclaimer - no bugs were actually harmed in the making of this blog.)

Tucson

We went to Tucson a few weeks ago and because of the rain, we got stuck inside a little more than we planned. My sister lives there and these are some pics of my nieces!

Lilly figured out a way to keep from being bored. She transported Benny the dog around the house in this basket. He just sat and enjoyed the ride.

This is Miss Pixie - their yorkie - sooo CUTE!

Abigail figured out a new way of dressing like a goddess.

Lilly just joined for the picture. (I love the spoon in the mouth!)

Bathroom Updates

So our bathroom is basically the only thing in the house that hasn't really been updated (our house was built in the 60s). Daniel got the idea and with my parent's help - it's really coming along.

Here's my dad working on the plumbing - we had a few glitches.

The yucky floor after Daniel removed the tile.

My mom grouting the tile! She's a pro at this!

The bathroom now - new paint and new tile!

This is the new vanity! - without the faucet. We have the faucet in now, but we still have a couple of issues with the plumbing my dad is trying to figure out!

We are so excited to have a nice bathroom - especially for our clients!