Snow days and Winter Concert

These two are beyond adorable.  I won't say I can't get enough of them, because by bedtime I'm ready for a break, but they are stinking cute.

 She wasn't happy with the layers.  She couldn't move very well.

 Donovan and his devious little grin.  I'm pretty sure you can guess what he did with his snowball.

 She was okay with the layers once she got her first taste of snow.  It was her first snow experience.  I wish she would have sat still, but she insisted on crawling and getting stuck...then getting upset.





 She is such a monkey.  The little cutie loves to climb, and this is her favorite place to do it.

 I could post multiple pictures from different days with her in the same position.

 Donovan gets a little concerned sometimes and worries about his sister falling and getting hurt, and that aggravates Chamae.

 Lazy afternoon.

 Corbin likes this spot too, but he can't quite climb on the chairs.

 The night we put up our tree, I made some sugar cookies to decorate.  I realized that I don't have Christmas cookie cutters, so I was lazy...er, creative and made different sized balls to make snowmen.  Donovan loved the idea.

 Pretty little princess in her Christmas outfit. 

 Snow fun at the Hiatt's hill.

 The little boys really wanted to copy Bradley, until they got up there and realized it wasn't a very good idea.

She also likes to open, empty, and climb in cupboards...don't mind our overflowing trash.

 Ward Christmas party.  Hannah is in town for a while after finishing finals before she heads back to Utah.

 I made gingerbread for the first time and we had the Hiatt's over to make houses.  It was fun and the little boys had a lot of fun loading their houses with candy...and so did Brad.

 I think Brad's was the most fun and full of candy.

She's just pretty.

Sometimes when she climbs on the table, she gets stuck.

Sometimes they are really sweet to each other.

Little climber. 

Donovan's first school concert.  He knew all the words to 1 out of 3 songs...

Chamae enjoyed watching her brother:)  I took some videos too, but our video files from our camera are too big and it won't let me upload them:(

Grateful

I know I'm due for a post, and I'll try to get pictures uploaded for a long, fun post later, but right now I just have to express my gratitude not only for my family, but for Brad's.  I am so grateful for our families!  I have always known I had a good family, but I never appreciate them as much as I should.  I had a conversation with my good friend whose father in law took his own life this week.  There's a lot more to the story, and it's bizarre, but I won't go into it.  Talking to her about her family helps me realize how lucky I am to have so much love around us.  As crazy as family can be, we know we are loved and we feel it whenever we spend time with members of our families.  I'm so grateful to have the parents we have.  They are all so supportive and want us to succeed and truly want the world for us.  I appreciate all of you!  This includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  We love you all!  Thank you for your continued support and best wishes.  It would be so great to be closer to family, it's hard when you all make our trips back to Utah so great!  Again, we love you all and miss you like crazy!  PS-we are very grateful for our Iowa family too.

A plethora of pictures

I guess since we've been home for almost a week, I should update the blog with pictures from our long trip.
A day or two before we left for Utah, it snowed in CB.  Donovan and I had some fun outside while Chamae napped that afternoon.



He wanted the snowman to wear his hat.  We made his face out of a carrot and Halloween candy.  

My destroying angel.  Love her, but she is a stinker.  



We spent some time down in Springville and Spanish Fork when we went out to Utah.  Brad's mom was getting surgery a few days after we got out there, so we spent some time with her beforehand.



 New baby Gray.  He's so stinking cute and chubby. 

 Chamae, like most of the nieces and nephews, enjoyed playing with Scotty...and his weird hair.

 We had to go down to Provo to get stuff for the wedding from Sam's Club for my mom (they do Costco, but what they wanted wasn't there) and we stopped at ShayLea's apartment.  They had a kitten (which they got rid of later that day) and the kids loved it.  Chamae terrorized the poor thing a little, but it got her back by biting her fingers.

 My sister in law Airen and I threw a bridal shower for ShayLea.  We did TP dresses and Jayla's group won.  Not only did they have the most adorable model, they actually made an awesome dress.  I was impressed with it.

 ShayLea with the TP brides.  It was a good turn out and we had fun.

 Chamae with my mom's best friend, Kathy.  She was nice enough to let us use her house. 

 I took a lot more pictures from the party the night before the wedding, but I didn't want to post all of them, so here's my mom, her sister, and their dad.

 The Newlyweds!  I can't believe my little sis is married!!!

 Sisters, sisters....

 Family oustide the temple...Airen was there too, but she was taking pictures.  I know there is a picture of Shay, me and Airen, but I didn't have it on my camera.

Adorable Chamae.  She was so cute.  I had a headband for her, but it disappeared in the car.  I still haven't found it!  They both look pretty darn good in black.

 Adorable Faye with all of her beads.  The reception was loosely based on Mardi Gras.  We had beads and a photo booth with fun Mardi Gras props.  Faye loved all the beads and was supposed to pass them out...I think she gave away one and put on the rest and then went back for more:)  She's so stinkin cute.

My sister in law, Heather (Brad's oldest brother's wife) made the cake.  It turned out great!  It was so pretty and fit in so well with everything else!  Thank you again Heather, it was perfect!

My Uncle Craig and Uncle Bob provided some of the entertainment.  Donovan liked dancing when Craig played.  They are both so talented, but I didn't get any pictures of Bob:(

 Little Jayla was so cute!  All the little girls were adorable in their tutus and beads.

Chamae with Grandma Mindy

 The only picture of me and the kids.

My dad and Clint's dad.  Aren't they so cute in their matching outfits?

Chamae has become such a little flirt.  She loves attention, and is very good at getting it.

 My mom and her sisters.  Silly Diana.

 The sisters with Becky, a good friend of the family.

 Bill is one of my Grandpa Jean's best friends, and he's also Becky's dad.  Grandpa, Grandma, and my Uncle Kevin are also in the picture.  I don't know why I don't have any pictures of my Goodman grandparents, they weren't mingling as much and I didn't have my camera out the whole time.  Donovan just looked at this picture and pointed to my Grandpa and said, "He calls me Don Corlione."  Grandpa Jean is a tease.  Those two crack me up.  Whenever they talk to anyone, my Grandma says, "Jean!" at least once every few sentences.  They're very entertaining.

 After the wedding stuff was over, we went back down to Springville to spend some time with Tia since she was stuck at home after her surgery.  We tried to let her rest and made her some cookies. 

A week after the wedding, we went down to St George to watch Tyler in the rodeo.  It was fun to see him.  He does team roping and he's the Header.  He caught both days, but his Healer only caught the 2nd day, but it was good enough to get them 3rd place!  He was pretty good, I was pleasantly surprised.

 Tyler and his horse Snake are on the right.

 The kids and I spent the night at my Uncle Gary and Aunt Susan's house.  They basically have the ultimate house for grandkids!  They are fully stocked with everything a child's heart desires.  Donovan didn't want to leave on Saturday.

 My Uncle Gary makes a mouse with his handkerchief and puts a "mouse germ" in it to make it come to life.  I used to love it, and now Donovan loves it!

 Chamae wearing Donovan's cowboy hat.  Donovan was a little jealous of all the little kids wearing hats and boots at the rodeo, so my mom had to get him his own hat.

 Chamae and Grandpa.

Chamae with both of my grandparents.

Adorable little cowboys. 

 Tyler catching.  Like I said, I was pretty impressed.

 More cuteness.

 And more.

Brad joined us the night after we got back from St George.  I picked him up from the airport Sunday night.  The kids were very happy to have their Daddy back and he was happy too!

 We were going to go to the Museum of Natural History, or the Museum of Ancient Life, but Brad's dad told us about the Museum of Paleontology at BYU...and it was free...so we checked it out!  Donovan loved seeing all the dinosaur bones. 

 This was a giant ground sloth, it was huge and looked really weird.

 AHHHH!!!

 An Allosaurus Pelvis.

 We also went to the Bean Museum, and Chamae got weird because she was tired.

 In the car Sunday morning on the way home.