Precious Memories

I have had my father-in-law's old film camera since we visited their home last May.  I hadn't picked it up in a while and was planning on returning it when they came to visit us in February so I thought I should try it out one more time.  So here are some pics of the family on normal days, just doing normal things hanging around the house.  These are memories I will cherish forever, and I love that the pictures look like something from my childhood, and are just so natural.  No editing here, my favorite way ;)

The boys love watching TV together.  I just love Carter's little foot on the chair.  

Silly Preston  moving too fast for the camera.

He and Carter are a little obsessed with stickers.

Carter eating cream of wheat and cheerios for breakfast.

It's his favorite meal of the day, and sometimes the only time he eats anything of value.

I love the blurry tongue.

Of course Preston is still watching TV.  Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the morning.  I'm telling you these kids need to go to Disneyland.  Carter even sings along and repeats words when they tell him to.

They had tons of fun with playdough after Grandma and Grandpa came.  Actually it's moondough, have you ever heard of that stuff?  It doesn't ever dry out, but flakes everywhere and makes a huge mess.

Sometimes the mess is worth it.

We've been sick a lot this winter so we've stayed at home a lot and read a lot of books

No, the book is not upside down it's got two stories in one.  You flip it upside-down to get the next story.  Silly library books.

Grandma loves her new iphone, and watching the boys play.

Of course Grandpa got sucked in to reading books too, and Bentley is always on his lap or at least next to him when he's around.

Carter loves his little bench.

Gabe's been reading books a lot lately too.  I think he finished this one in two days.

The boys love the geotrax they got for Christmas, they are always out.  Don't mind the large spot on the carpet in the upper left corner, we may have spilled some paint there. ;(

He is really a sweet boy.

So is he, even though he's crazy...

Do most dogs do this all the time?  I swear he has issues. ;)

This is my absolute favorite!  Carter saw I had the camera out so he grabbed his bear and found a spot to sit, I haven't taken his picture in a while (like a month) so I was surprised and of course thought it was so cute!  

I love how he thinks he needs his bear in every picture.

He seriously loves that thing.

He still loves Bentley lots too...

and his thumb...

The weird thing is that he only ever sucks his thumb when he has his bear, the two go together...

Another favorite, his little people ark Grandma Becky gave him for Christmas, he loves animals.

Now you get to see Preston eating peanut butter, before his haircut.  His hair was in his eyes like crazy!

He also has a fat lip because he fell off of a big toy ball at playgroup in the church gym and his sharp chipped tooth went right through it.  Don't worry it's all better now.  ;)  Oh, and yes, he does still wear glasses they were just broken in all of these pictures.  We ordered new ones because he has a new prescription anyway, so we should be getting them in a couple of days.  They are cute too!

Did you notice some subtle changes in our house?  Okay, they're big changes, and I love them!  We're still working on it (especially painting but it's slow going.  So please excuse the unmatching wall colors. ;)

Christmas Snow

What's the first sign that I haven't blogged enough on blogger over the last year?  I always dread having to upload each picture individually and how long it takes so I just don't do it.  Then I got on today and realized it will upload everything at once and insert it all right into my post just like wordpress.  So nice!  Maybe I'll have to start getting back to blogging on a more regular basis, that is if I can stay on top of my photo editing...  This pictures were easy because I didn't really have to edit them, which is why you get to see them. ;)  

Anyway, onto the pictures!  We were really able to enjoy the snow while we were visiting my parents in Utah this past December. 

At first Carter wasn't sure what to think of it, so he just hung out on the porch.

 I got to try out my new macro lense Gabe was so nice enough to give me for Christmas!  Actually all of these pictures were taken with it, mostly because I was too lazy to try to change my lense in the snow...

Bryant was so nice to shovel the snow for my mom, even though it was still snowing and more snow was collecting where he shoveled. ;)

Carter did venture off of the porch, but didn't like it one bit, if you couldn't tell...

Preston ran up to me holding something snow-covered in his hands.  Can you guess what it is?

Yep, his glasses.  We're just lucky we didn't lose a lense.

Of course Carter went back to hanging out on the porch.

He just watched Preston roll around in the snow.  No, we didn't bring all of our snow clothes with us, so they're wearing pajamas and the snow stuck right on.  After this day the nice neighbors let Preston borrow they're daughter's pink snow pants she had outgrown, now that was a sight!

This is my favorite little tree in my parent's front yard.  Isn't it pretty?

He was just soooo happy!

Once the driveway was shoveled Carter decided he could venture out to his favorite place, the road, as long as he didn't have to walk in the snow.  Unfortunately I had to keep a closer eye on him when he wasn't on the porch. ;)

Once Bryant was done shoveling he spent a lot of time playing with the boys.  They built an awesome snowman, and he was nice enough to help Preston up to the top for a little rest before he put the second snowball on.

Yep, Carter still doesn't like the snow.

But Preston likes being on top of the world.

Back to the driveway.

Elliott took a bathroom break and then high-tailed it back inside.  He's an old man who enjoys his warm cozy bed.

Carter took up time making circles of footprints on the driveway.

In the meantime Preston and Bryant finished off the snowman with the "hat" Preston made.

No, this is not the snowman they made, and no that U in the window is not in my parent's house.  This is their neighbors house.  When I asked if they were going to spraypaint their snowman he just said "why not?"  Maybe I need to think of things that way more often.  His girls did a great job making their version of a Ute Bob Marley snowman.  I think it's pretty cool that he let them each make their own artwork on the snowman.

The snowman was made by Dave #2.  Dave #1, the neighbor on the other side had this spiderweb up for halloween, and decided he would just decorate it for Christmas.  What do you think, should I have Gabe make one for us next year?

Bryant also made a really cool fort, and for some reason I only have a picture of it partly done, but Preston definitely thought it was pretty cool!

All of this happened the day before I got my appendix taken out, lucky me!  Lucky for me that I was able to have fun in the snow with my boys before I got sick, right?