sunshine in December

Only in California would the doors of our candy houses melt in the window sill.

???????

Two Very Exciting Things....

NO,
none of them revolve around us getting a baby....for those curious ones.


Anyway....

1.) I made whipping Cream.
Yes you read that right, I just whipped up some cream.
I have NEVER turned on my Kitchen Aid for whipping cream and by golly I liked it!

2.) After 4.5 years of living in our house I finally used a Pomegranate from our
Pomegranate tree.
We usually ignore the huge red bulbs on the tree.
This tree just came with our house and we let our friends come and take em.
I found a recipe that called for pomegranates.
It was fun to go out and pick a piece of fruit off our tree and actually use it!

and dang it...
It was delicious.

See I told you,
exciting things over here at our house.

I'm thankful for....

1.) My sweet HUSBAND.
Oh how I love Romney. He is good to me and works really hard for us!

2.) My cool SISTER!
Alison is pretty boss.
She taught me to dance for my first dance.
If you have seen the movie HITCH then you can picture my first dance lesson.

3.) Being an AUNTIE.
I love all my little babies.

I loved hiking with them daily

and hearing them laugh all week.

4.) MAGNUS' great behavior this past week.
Magnus did awesome on his dogcation.
He was a hit with all the kids.
They never left him alone!

5.) My loving MOM!
I enjoyed hiking the emerald pools trail in Zion with my mom.
All the little ones ran up the mountain and it was nice to walk and laugh with just her
and take in the beauty.

6.) SURVIVING our spelunking excursion with lots of little kids!
we went deep into the bowels of the earth with glow sticks, and neon light rings.

we went into the pitch black holes of a cave. gulp.

we wiggled our way through tiny holes

and some of the kids crawled right through them.
I'm grateful that Romney welcomed me to the other side of the hole cause he was able to
catch my pants before I was really embarrassed.

and,
7.) CHUBBY CHEEKS to kiss all week long.

What a great thanksgiving week in St. George.
We had a blast exploring the red sand everyday.
Everyday we experienced something new.
It was beautiful and we can NOT wait to go back!
We haven't been together in a very long time.
It was so nice to have all my siblings in one room.
It was fun to hear laughter from all ends of the table.

I am grateful for my family
and so grateful I was able to spend a great week with them!
Happy Thanksgiving!

This is one of my F A V O R I T E preschool items!

Romney thought of and created this brilliant little number.

It's just an ice cube tray with little grooves cut out of the sides.
Paper plates weren't cuttin it anymore!
You should make one too.
You'll love it!

.

BIG PROJECT

It happens to be raining today.
I took Magnus on a walk in between storms while Romney worked on the garage.
This is our BIG project at the moment.
He is building custom cabinets and things are looking awesome!
Romney loves all the fun tools he "had" to buy for this project.
I like the tool that makes all the tiny holes in the wood,
I just love being able to adjust the height of all the shelves.
Pretty soon there will be a place for everything.
and EVERYTHING will be BEHIND doors.

I even have a CRAFT cabinet now with a pretty counter top out there.
It's glorious.

BAT DOG

I'm Magnus,
and I was mature enough
to go to the TRUNK or TREAT at my church.
I did soooo good!
I cuddled next to my mamas feet and let kids jump on me and pet me all night.

Little friends were dressed up funny and they took pictures of me and called me
B A T D O G .
I even snuck some candy that my friends dropped on the ground.

I got sick and tired of "sitting" for the photo shoot.
It was getting pretty pathetic around here.
They really need a real baby to dress up.

But, I really love all the attention,
so I won't complain.

Happy Halloween!
love, Magnus

haPpY HaLlOwEeN!!!

Happy Halloween friends!
We had friends over and we laughed all night.

The costumes this year were A W E S O M E !

Everyone up'd their game this year.

Can't wait to see what next year will bring.

There were great wigs,
FUN games,

and yummy food!!

One Big Year Later...

One Year Ago we brought home Magnus.
It was hard to choose.
There were 7 black great dane puppies running around
and they were adorable!
It was a random day and kind of a random purchase.
We didnt go fill up our gas tank with the intentions of following a man home to see his puppies.
So... we bought Magnus and brought him home in
an adult diaper box.

Magnus is very sweet!
We have worked really hard trying to make him a good dog.
We're all about manners and being pack leaders.
If you don't know what that is ...watch the dog whisper.

Look what one year can do!

Magnus loves kids....
he is getting waaaayyyyy better at not jumping on them!
Yes he has taken out a kid a time or two and
YES,
He gets BUSTED for it!

He loves trying to sit on the couch....trying is the key word.
And he sits on it the way we do.
Just his back side sits on the couch, and its super funny,
but we correct him and off he goes.

He can't relax unless I am relaxed.
He follows me around while I clean.
He goes up every step with me while I vacuum each stair.

He is scared of anything with wheels.
We really have to work with him to NOT be scared.

He has the loudest bark and it makes me jump every time.
He doesn't use his voice very often so when he does, it's a good one.

He thinks every dog is his friend.

He leans all his weight on your legs while you are standing.

He hugs you while on walks.

He gets stopped daily by everyone to be pet while on those walks.


We have thoroughly loved having Magnus.
He is just so sweet.
And I have broken all my promises that I made a year ago ( see here )
I treat him like a kid and I call him baby.
I can't help it.
He is part of the family!

Crafty Time

Yesterday was Super Saturday at our Church.
Every year we sign up for crafty things...because that is what girls do.
We like crafts.
Anyway, I am excited for the
countdown for Christmas that I made

and the Family Rules Board.

Ummmm...remember when our moms used to TOLL PAINT EVERYTHING?
Do you think Vinyl is the "new toll painting"?
and our kids will mock it?
Just a thought.

Amazing Race draft # 3

This year the draft was at Chilis'
We ordered dessert and hashed out this years cast on
T H E A M A Z I N G R A C E.
It was hard because no one is sticking out as
"the winner."

We got to watch the first two episodes to get a feel for the teams.
These are the remaining 9 teams.

We drew numbers off a salad plate...
We got number one BUT we were able to trade with the number two slot.
Thanks Beaulieus.

Beaulieus' got first and eighth pick:
Jeremy and Sandy - dating
Justin and Jennifer -annoying siblings

We got second and seventh pick:
Andy and Tommy-snowboarders
Liz and Marie- twins

Bagleys got third and sixth pick:
Ernie and Cindy-dating
Kaylani and Lisa-showgirls

Williamsons' got fourth and fifth pick:
Marcus and Amani-married
Laurence and Zac- father and son

and lets not leave out the Lauritzens'.
They showed up for dessert and they wanted in...
BUT...
they didn't get to draft, they just got the left over team that
no one wanted.
So our newest draft friends get:
DRUMROLL:
Bill and Cathi-Ma and Pa.

A few disclaimers:
1.) It is stashtober with the fire department and that explains Romney new look.
2.) We didn't dress up for the draft, it was stake conference Saturday night.
3.) I am fully aware that my face is very round.
growing up, I wasn't called me applehead for nothin.

Good luck drafting buddies.

Is there anyone out there voting for our teams?
anyone?

last weekend...

(please ignore magnus' kennel corner in the background)

We babysat our niece and nephews this past weekend.
It was also General Conference weekend.

And this is what our jammie wearing weekend looked like.

Charliee became a fast friend to magnus...

Magnus did A W E S O M E with the kids!
He didn't even get jealous with the baby....
When usually this is what he wants...

ummmm........

Take a Hike

Having a dog makes you get out and move!
We love it!
We take Magnus out a few times a week to explore the great out doors.

He LOVES chasing all rabbits and squirrels.
He's totally getting faster and faster.
Someday he'll catch one and not know what to do with it....

He just runs around and his ears flop.

My favorite is calling him from a distance and he SPRINTS back to us.

Yeah it's good exercise but...

we mostly do it because when we get home Magnus sleeps for HOURS!
We're selfish.

What do you do to wear out your dog?

Sand Dunes

Saint George, Utah,
it's beautiful.
We spent a few days up there.
Mom and I spent some time at Tai Pan for new Halloween decorations,
Dad and Romney installed new cabinets in dads office.
One day we rented some fun little gadgets and headed up to the
Sand Dunes.
We had a blast!
It was gorgeous to see red sand all around us.
No one was out there but us.
So fun.

As mom and dad tried to make their way up the hill

they got stuck....

...so mom got out and Romney started helping...

...and they started to D I G...

...then they hooked both rhinos up with rope...

...mom pushed reverse, dad pushed the gas...

...and B A M... they are ready for more fun!

After getting stuck we set up camp and had an A W E S O M E
picnic .
The C O L D fruit and drinks never tasted so good.

After a great day we drove back to town to return our rentals.

We had such a fun day.
Were ready to play again!