We're not in Kansas anymore.....

Or California for that matter. We arrived in Idaho last Saturday and fortunately (?) were greeted by SNOW! I may be mistaken but I believe the first snow fell in the Boise area Saturday morning (or at least that was the first we had heard of) and while by Saturday night it had melted it was sure cold. It has since snowed every day we've been here. The boys are actually pretty excited about it. Joel loves to make snowballs whenever he passes any amount of snow that has accumulated. We were also reunited with Pa, Nama and Molly along with some of our Boise cousins. And what trip to Boise would be complete without Chicago Connection Pizza. It's funny now though because we actually had Jay (Cindy's brother-in-law) pick it up and we ate dinner at their house. Now Vance thinks every time we go to their house we're having yummy pizza. :) I guess that's one way to win us over.

Anyhow, for my first post from Idaho here are pictures of the boys, molly and snow.

What they were wearing last week.

Molly and the boys!

Joel's hat kept slipping.
I don't know how he could see!

In Nama's backyard!

Making snowballs.

Busy Manda

So I know there's a bunch that I should have posted about that I haven't but it's been pretty busy around here. With two different play group schedules it seems like I'm often hosting at least one or helping with another. Not that I'm complaining- when I think that in a few short years they'll both be in school I start to panic. No, I am enjoying the busy. I did want to brag though because now that we're settled my creativity and craftiness has kicked back in. So here are my two most recent projects.

We'll be heading to Idaho for the Thanksgiving holiday. With not much keeping us around here (Tj was suppose to be gone for 2 weeks for training but will still be crazy busy with work) we decided to stay for an extended visit. Thus, I would be flying out with the boys by myself and I would be flying home with the boys by myself. Add in other miscellaneous driving trips while we're there and I decided I need a way to keep the boys busy. When one of my friends mentioned "match box car roll ups" inspiration hit. I'm sure many of you have seen the CRAYON ROLLS and basically it's the same idea with cars (and Star Wars figurines in our case) that then are rolled and tossed in the bag. Easy to find and tote around. GENIUS! And even better the tutorial I used had a draw string type closure which is SO handy since the boys don't know how to tie yet.

I did a cars one and a Star Wars one figuring it would keep them TWICE as busy as they can share. Hopefully there will not be TOO many arguments over who gets which car and who gets to be Yoda. But I'm fairly certain that disagreements are inevitable.


My next project I can't take credit for either. I was at our stake's Relief Society Conference a couple months back and one of the classes was about teaching the gospel at home to our children. The teacher had mentioned that one year at Christmas she had gathered up a bunch of pictures of Christ and put them on red and green card stock, laminated them and then used them to talk to her children every day in December leading up to Christmas. I thought this was a PHENOMENAL idea. As I mentioned before we're going to be in Idaho for much of December and so I needed to get it all ready before we left. So after starting it last week, I finally finished today. When I was preparing to do this I really felt like NOW is the time to start meaningful traditions with the boys. They are just starting to get the whole "Santa-brings-presents-reindeer-fly-snowmen-dance-around" and so before they get so wrapped up in the fun and fluff of Christmas I want to start traditions that will ingrain in them the true purpose of the season. I used the new Gospel Art Book (the one that is spiral bound) and tore the pictures out cut the white frame off and mounted them on card stock. On the back I put the corresponding scriptures for each picture and a song. This year I feel like repetition is SO important and so my goal is to start our morning with each picture/scripture/song and then before bed doing the same thing. I used pictures from throughout the Saviors life and not all the songs were Christmas songs but I hope that eventually they'll not only appreciate the season and life of Christ but also try and implement his teachings into their own lives. That's a bit much to ask of 3 and 4 year olds though. But again, I want to start a tradition NOW that we can build and expand upon as they grow and develop. I really feel good about this project and hope that it goes as well in practice as it is in theory. (I also have the information that I put on the back of each picture including which picture I used in electronic format if anyone is interested.)


So there's my brag. I still need to put up some random pictures that I found on the camera of the boys. And we just had family pictures done so look for a sneak peak of those coming soon.

Halloween Party

Our two skeletons before the party. (Vance looks a little Joker-esque, hopefully I'll be able to get the make-up right before trick or treating.)

So my friend Leslie is AMAZING and organized this whole Halloween party for us last night. The boys were so excited! Good friends, fun games, good food, and kids high strung on pop and cupcakes how could it NOT be a great party?! lol But really it was so fun! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

THE CHARACTERS:

The Rosen's
(2 skeletons, a cop and a robber)

The Ladies

The kids
(We only thought to take pictures at the END of the party.
OOPS!)

Mommy and her two cute skeletons

THE GAMES:

Brett Michaels and Madonna were our hosts for the evening.




Okay, have to add a little history behind the boys costumes. Last year the boys were terrified of some of the older kids dressed up as skeletons (like teenaged kids so they were intended to be scary). Then this year when we'd go into stores with decorations they- and especially Vance- were still a little afraid of them. They would tell me "Mommy I'm allergic to skeletons." So when we asked them what they wanted to be for Halloween and Vance said skeleton I was weary. But he insisted and then Joel joined him so we thought "Here goes nothing." But the boys were so excited when they got their costumes from Nama and never looked back. Unfortunately the tables were turned a little last night at the party. Many of the kids were a little weary of them! It just makes me laugh that Vance is so ready to meet his fears head on like that. What a kid!

Our first CA Camping Trip

So last weekend we went camping. I have to say that one of the reasons we were so excited to move back to the West was for the mountain camping. Our experiences with camping in FL usually occurred between December and February and were quite different from what we were used to growing up. I mean we were camping in the swamp for all intents and purposes. While we have fond memories of those trips we were really excited to get in a camping trip before it gets too cold. So Tj took a day off work and we went for a long weekend.
Our camping site was about as idealistic as we could have possibly imagined. There was the perfect tent site right next to a little creek. Up near the road was a picnic table, fire pit and barbecue. And the best part (at least for me) was there was a "real" bathroom on the other side of the camp ground. There were probably about 8 individual camp sites where we were but it wasn't too crowded. Although we were surprised at how busy it was on a random weekend.Anyhow, the camping trip was a HUGE success. The boys spent SO much time playing together in the creek. We went on a couple of small little hikes (in which Vance whined THE ENTIRE time, hence why they were short). We cooked over the fire, roasted marshmallows (or shmarshmellows as the boys called them) and hot dogs- although not at the same time. We told funny stories around the camp fire and slept in the tent. It was a really good time! Here are some pictures from our trip.

The boys playing in the creek.

Joel on our hike

Tj and the boys on our hike.

The boys were so excited to get to use their flashlights!

Mommy and her boys.

Vance on Day 2 Hike
(Doesn't he look so big!)

Joel climbed with daddy to the middle of
the river on the rocks.

The boys playing as we stopped on our hike.
I will admit that I spent most of the trip like this- nose in a book.

Cousins Visit: Vol 2

On Tuesday we braved the heat again and went to a local pumpkin patch. We had so much fun. There was a train that went through a scarecrow alley, hay mazes, a corn maze, hay pyramid, and of course pumpkins. All the kids and the mommies went on the train ride. Matthew and Brody braved the corn maze. Joel and Vance each picked a small pumpkin and the cousins picked one too.

Joel and Matthew at the top of the pyramid.

Vance on the pyramid too.
(Remember a couple of posts ago I mentioned that I can't
get a normally picture of the boys- here's the evidence.)

Vance, Joel, Emma and Matthew
in the Police truck.

Going through the hay maze.

Vance and Mommy on the train.

Matthew, Joel, Emma, Sandy and Corbin
getting ready to tour Scarecrow Alley.

Corbin, Vance, Joel, Emma & Matthew
in the scarecrow cutouts.

When Cousins Visit: Vol 1

We were so excited to have our cousins come and visit for a couple of days. My oldest brother and his family came and stayed with us. We had SO much fun. There were rock climbing and pumpkin patch adventures, playing at the park, video game playing and crafting not to mention playing, playing, playing. I did manage to get some pictures- I know my brother got some better ones. So I'll post what I have now and hopefully put some new ones up later too.

So Monday Tj had the day off from work. We decided to take everyone to the rocks that are nearby and go climbing. We got a bit of a late start because I had also made breakfast for everyone (something I RARELY ever do). It was pretty hot but just about everyone had a good time. The boys all had a fun time climbing (Emma opted out of the climbing as she had recently had a bad experience climbing down from a rock on a camping trip). But besides being a billion degrees we all had a fun time.

Corbin on his perch;
aka Daddy's shoulders.
His favorite method of transportation while visiting.

Vance, Matthew and Joel
The boys just love cousin Matthew
and were so excited to show him the rocks.

A shot of the troops after the hike.

A Fashion Show of Sorts

We are so excited for FALL to finally arrive. While it's suppose to be very mild here in the FALL and WINTER we are excited nonetheless. And what is even better is that if we fail to appreciate the mildness of the weather here, Nama and Pa are a hop, skip and a jump away in Idaho which is definitely NOT as mild! And even more exciting is that we are going to get to go see them for THANKSGIVING! So in preparation for FALL and cooler weather Nama and Pa had sent a gift card for cool weather clothes and since there not here to see them personally here's a sneak peek!







I love these pictures. We had so much fun just because the boys were being SO funny and silly while we took the pictures. Thanks Nama and Pa! We can't wait for you to see these in person!

In other news my brother and his wife are in town this week with their kids and we CAN'T wait to see them!!!! They're on their way over as I write so look for updates with cousins!

Why Why Why?!

Why is it that I have so hard a time "finding" time to read my scriptures but will devour a novel within three days?

Why is it that I will peruse blogs during as much free time as I can afford but never "have time" to update my own?

Why is it that if I'm not home all day I have boundless energy but when I'm home the minute nap times hits I'm exhausted?!

Why is it that I always get craft projects 98% finished and then have them sit on my counter for weeks?

Just a few things running around in my head. I'm off to read scriptures before the boys wake up from naps and maybe even finish the latest craft project so I can FINALLY get it in the mail (as Grandparents Day was practically a month ago and these were suppose to be Grandparent Day gifts). And maybe if I'm doing really good I'll get a real blog post up today too!

Joel the song bird.

Have I mentioned that Joel LOVES to sing?! It is seriously the cutest thing. When Nama was in town she taught Joel and Vance the primary song "Jesus Once Was a Little Child" and they love to sing it with me. Every week Joel comes home singing another snippet of a primary song he learned at church. I am always amazed at how well he remembers them. He usually remembers just enough for me to know which song he's singing. He also loves to sing songs he hears on the radio (which means I have to be A LOT more selective about what we listen to in the car). I do have to laugh every time I hear him singing "Break your heart" by Taio or "Hey Soul Sister" by Train. He was even singing a Black Eyed Peas song today for Vance. He cracks me up. Sometimes when I'm getting ready to sing to him before bed he'll sing me a song first and will tell me "That ones for you mommy." It is SO sweet.

Today he was telling me about a song and was AMAZED that I knew it. All he could remember was treat them kindly. I actually had my camera handy and he was willing to perform so here's a rare sighting of the Joel song bird. (The song is "Jesus Said Love Everyone", the words are almost perfect but the melody is a little off.)

More Pictures of the Boys

Here are a few pictures of the boys from the end of our trip to Sacramento. I don't know why but that day it was nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get a good picture of them. You lose some, you lose some.

Vance on the tractor.
(Warning Tangent!!! If you notice Vance is not wearing any shoes. I cannot get the boys to wear shoes at the park for the life of me. It COMPLETELY grosses me out. But what can I do?! So I figure they'll only have to get some disgusting foot disease and have their feet amputated once before they learn their lesson. Maybe they'll get lucky and only lose one foot. lol)

Joel pausing.
(Notice no shoes!)

This is like the 4th attempt at me trying to get a picture.
He wouldn't stop talking!!!!
(I have NO idea where he gets that characteristic from.)

Little Vance.

The funny thing was that a few days after we got home Vance asked if we could go back to this park. I had to tell him that we would not be going back to that park for a LONG time. (6 hours for a play date is a bit much. lol) Although it was SO fun to meet up with my friend Julie and meet her adorable little boy. So we will go back again sometime just because the company was so fun!