Sledding

This isn't that great of a picture but I thought this outfit of Blake is so cute I thought I would post it. Jared looks pretty good too in his ski hat.




Since I am being lazy and don't feel like getting the Christmas pictures off the camera right now I thought I would post up some pictures of us sledding the day after Christmas. It was a white Christmas for us this year. I don't think Flagstaff has seen that much snow in years. On our way to the sledding hill Blake fell asleep so I stayed in the truck with him while everyone else went and had a pretty good time well that is until the girls crashed and got hurt. Grandma brought hot chocolate to keep everyone warm, it was incredibly cold out. But I think all in all it was a success. We usually like to go out into the woods for sledding and a big fire but with all of the snow this year there was no way we would have been able to get into the woods with all the roads covered in snow.

Kayla's new do

Kayla has been begging me to cut her hair for probably a year now. Here are the before pictures.

















And here are the after shots. I didn't intend to cut it so much but her hair is just so curly it curls up and you are left with really short hair! She absolutely loves it though. She was so excited to go to school today and show everyone. We even put it half up with a pink ribbon.

Spooky

Tonight as we were getting ready for bed Blake turned off the lights and said "spooky". He doesn't say very much so it was really cute to hear him talk. He also learned a new word this week, no. You would think it would have been one of his first words but instead he would usually say uh uh or shake his head no. But all of the sudden the other day he said, "no" and now wont stop saying it.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we were in charge of making the Turkeys. While we knew we were going to smoke a turkey the opportunity for us to throw a turkey into a pit came up and we jumped at the chance. Jared went over and helped rig up all of the turkeys with hooks. When the fire was ready they threw in around thirty turkeys. They then covered the pit with a metal plate and piled on a ton of dirt until no more smoke came out. I think the turkeys were in the pit for around 12 hours. Though the cooking method was pretty cool the pit turkey was not nearly up to par with Jared's smoked turkey. He is getting so good at smoking meats. We had a little problem while smoking the turkey though, it blew out our electricity. Jared had to run to Walmart and get a new plug. He also had to cut down the wires since they became brittle and broke from the blow out. It was really stressful since Jared was leaving as soon as we were done eating to go up to Flagstaff for his Elk hunt. He couldn't just leave us here without the electricity working.


We ate dinner at Papa's house. Mimi, Uncle Mike, Grandma and Grandpa Harris, Rich and Liz, and Bridgit were there. We went to the park and Blake showed no fear climbing up a really tall slide.





Friday night Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to Amazing Jake's. They played video games, lazer tag, goofy golf, rode on rides ect... Apparently Blake loved a little train ride and wouldn't get off. So he just went around and around. Bridgit and I went to go see Twilight and got some dinner afterwards. It was fun to have a girls night out. Apparently she already has a boyfriend up at BYU! I guess I was the last to know no one tells me anything. Well we had a great weekend. Jared is still away right now on his hunt and I am wishing he was home. I'm not used to being apart from him for so long. But, only two more days and he will be back. Well Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Jared's Birthday

Jared turned 29 on Oct. 11th. While we were at a wedding Grandma Dutton and the kids decided to throw Jared a surprise party. Elizabeth had a great idea to have balloons drop on his head when we walked in the door. It didn't go off quite as they planned, for one I came in first and then we lifted the handle upwards instead of downwards making the balloons not fall very well.

They decorated the house in camo and green balloons. It was really cute.

Angie and Steve came over for the surprise party. This is Uncle Steve goofing off with the girls.
Elizabeth even learned how to play Happy Birthday on her violin while we were gone. She did an awesome job.
We had pazookies, I think is what you call them. It seems like almost everyone in our family wants them for their birthday. :) Doesn't Jared look really cute in this picture? :)

more halloween pics

Kayla and I worked together this year and cut out a spooky spider and web on our pumpkin. Blake got on the table the next day and ripped out our spider. That kids gets into everything!



I just got called to be in activity days with Elizabeth's age group. So we had the girls dress up in their Halloween costumes and we frosted cupcakes. I did these before they came as their examples. I think it went really well. When we were done we wrapped the girls like mummies and had an eyeball relay race.

Halloween

This year for Halloween Elizabeth was Gabriella from High School Musical, Kayla was Ariel, and Blake was a lion.

High School Musical

Coming out of the movie here is the conversation I had with Kayla.


Kayla: "What part did you not like the most mom?"

me: "I don't know Kayla I liked the movie. Why what part did you not like the most?"

Kayla : "The part where Troy doesn't kiss Sharpay!"

pictures of disneyland vacation

Disneyland

Jared and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a trip to Disneyland. We used a software called ridemax. You put in the rides you want to go on and it figures out from last years wait time which rides you should go on at what time and when to get fast passes. It was really helpful. We got on so many rides. Usually when we go to Disneyland we do the little kids rides, but since it was just Jared and me we got to do a lot of rides I have never done before like splash mountain. I love that ride I think we went on it 5 times, every time with a fast pass! The very last time we went on it I got stuck in the front! Not a good place to sit. I was drenched from head to toe when we got off. Jared liked Tower of Terror it really surprised us at the first drop, we weren't expecting it. I think I liked California Screamin the best it is the least jerky ride we went on.
We ate dinner at the Blue Bayou which is the restaurant on the water at Pirates of the Caribbean. The atmosphere was fun but the food wasn't that great and was really pricey. The next night we had dinner at Cafe Orleans and had their montey cristo sandwiches. They were pretty good. Saturday we went to Ripley s Believe it of not and saw some crazy stuff. They have one section where they show you a video of people moving their tongues real crazy. There is a mirror there for you to try to replicate what they are doing in the movie. Well as you move in further you see that it is a mirror you can see through in the back! We got to laugh at all the people trying to make funny tongue moves. I wonder if anyone laughed at me while I tried. :) Jared is too smart though, he didn't try, he thought something was up at the beginning.
We had such a fun time but were ready to be home. When we got back Blake woke up from his nap and gave me the best hugs and kisses. He would hug me then look to see if it was me, give me a good kiss on the mouth then do it all over again. But then he saw Jared and went strait to him and wouldn't let Jared go for a whole hour! What is up with that! I'm the mommy!
Grandma Harris stayed with the kids while we went away and they had a great time. They got to eat out every night and go see Papa and Mimi. Grandpa came down Friday and apparently Blake didn't want anything to do with Grandma anymore. I think my mom said today that my dad went and got his back adjusted today.... To much baby holding I guess. Friday night they went to Schnepf Farms and went on a roller coaster! Kayla was so proud of herself. She keeps calling the farm the market for some reason. She keeps asking me if we will take her to the market. Saturday they went to the Science museum and wouldn't you know while eating lunch Kayla lost her second tooth. She didn't realize it until later that day when she felt with her tongue it was missing. What is that you say? Kayla ate her second tooth too?!?! I guess so everyone Kayla must like the way teeth taste. She told us on the phone while we were away and thought she was so crazy. They had such a great time with my parents. Though I think they wore grandma and grandpa out, they said Saturday night they went to bed at 8:30. And when we got home Sunday afternoon they left a few minutes later. :) Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa. We love you.

Blake Sleeping

Here is a video of Blake falling asleep while he was finishing his lunch. The end is really funny.

Labor Day at Lake Powell 2

Elizabeth getting up for the first time on skis! It was incredibly exciting.



We had a great time this year at Lake Powell. We swam a ton, skied, tubed, played on the beach, fished, and had smores every night. Kayla also lost her very first tooth on the first night we were there. She was eating corn on the cob complaining about her loose tooth when Aunt Angie discovered it wasn't in her mouth anymore. We think she swallowed it but she didn't care she lost her tooth! Yay!

Labor Day at Lake Powell 1

Blake did not like to go in the water after the first day. But being the mean parents we are we made him.
Elizabeth caught a few fish, this one is a carp. I think she caught this one with a dough ball. She also caught a few cat fish. Kayla "caught" a fish too because Elizabeth caught it on her pole.
We have an island at Lake Powell we named Dutton Island. Most of it was under water this year. Jared and I had fun jumping off this rock. Elizabeth and Kayla did Ariel shots on the rock. I didn't include Kayla's photo because she way crying because we took E's picture first.
Jared always tries to Slalom but never seems to be able to stay on the one ski. It is really funny watching him face plant into the water. I shouldn't laugh though I can't get up at all.