It's COLD

Well, I've been stuck inside all day because it's simply too cold to take the boys out, even just to go get in the car. It would take me half and hour to bundle them properly. It's so cold that your nostrils stick together when you breathe...and then they don't come apart. If any bit of skin is exposed it burns and can become very painful. I checked the weather on the internet and it said that Ogden is currently 24 degrees (at 8pm), Logan is 16 degrees, and Bozeman is -9 degrees (in Farenheit!!!) The wind is what makes it really miserable. I can't even open my front door because the wind blows snow drifts half way up the door-we're talking as high as my thigh. But on the bright side my front lawn has no snow, it's all piled in front of my door. So I don't want to hear anyone complain about the cold and I can tell you that when I come down for the holidays I will be nothing but grateful for the 24 degrees.

First Words - A Work in Progress

Braden is growing so fast! He has been really trying hard to say some words. Well the other day he started to say ball. It's the cutest thing ever. Today he started crawling and now I'm in trouble because although he's really slow right now, it will only take a little while before he's all over the place and into everything. Dalin and Braden are going to egg each other on when it comes to getting into trouble. I also need to get a gate for the stairs. I've been putting it off as long as I can :( I hate those dumb things. I have a feeling it's going to make Dalin mad too because he's used to being able to go up to his room and get things whenever he wants to. I just can't believe how time flies.

The Holidays

Where does time go? Thanksgiving is already gone and now I'm looking forward to Christmas. I love this time of year. Up here in Montana we have snow, of course. We only actually got snow two days after Thanksgiving which is very odd for this part of the country. The two days before it snowed it rained cats and dogs. That is also very weird. I guess we're in for a very mild winter up here because it's not that cold. Well, at least not as cold as would've expected it to be. Once the sun goes down, it's FREEZING like I've never felt before. It's a cold that bites your skin if it's not covered and leaves it burning for at least half an hour after you come inside. But during the day it's relatively warm and nice enough to take the boys out on occasion. Today the sun is shining and I love that. There's nothing better than a bright winter day after a night of snow and everything sparkles. Up here, unlike in Utah, the snow doesn't melt once it's here. I might melt a little during the day a little but, like I said as soon as that sun starts to go down (around 4:00pm) then it's fridged. Now I'm going to vent for a minute. The great state of Montana has made it a law that no town or city can salt their roads in the winter. Is that not the dumbest thing you've ever heard. There's a bunch of environmentalists up here and they don't want to kill any vegitation with the salt. So we'd rather kill hundreds of motorists instead. The roads are horrible all the time. And like I said the snow doesn't melt so it's like driving on a skating rink no matter where you are. Now I'm done venting and we'll move on. I don't have any pictures today, simply because I'm too lazy to take the time to do it. I'm exhausted lately becaue for two weeks now Braden has decided that he doesn't need to sleep....EVER. So, I guess neither do I. He's been waking up in the middle of the night and then won't go back to sleep. I've let him cry for over half an hour, I've rocked him I've sat in the room with him and nothing works. Finally last night I'd had enough so I just put him in his bed and thought "he'll just have to cry". Well Dan doesn't like that very much so after about 20 minutes or so he goes down and a few minutes later comes back and everything's quiet. Apparently all he did was put a bear in the crib with him and then he was fine. We'll see tonight if that's a fluke or if that will work. It better work because I need to get some ZZZZZ's. Well, that's it for now. See ya'll soon.

Feeding Braden

Dalin loves to help. The other day when I was feeding Braden, Dalin thought it would be fun to help. So I let him. We had food everywhere and after having the spoon shoved clear down his throat a few times Braden had had enough and I had to take over again, but it was a laugh. The problem I have now is that Dalin thinks it's fun to feed Braden anything from strawberries (a big no, no for babies under one year), to chips, crackers, goldfish, or anything else Dalin can find. Of course it wouldn't be a problem if Braden wasn't so inviting. He'll open his mouth to ANYTHING. Dalin was sooooo proud of his success in feeding his brother. Very cute.

Halloween

Dalin showing me his treat. He was so good trick-or-treating. He would knock on the door and say "trick-or-treat" and then when they would give him candy he would say "thank you" and immediately turn to me and Dan and say "come on". He didn't even have a melt down because he wanted to eat a of piece of candy every time he got it like last year. He just had fun running from door to door. Then when we got home he dove into his bag and ate a bunch of it while we played. Now I have hidden the candy and he can have a couple of treats a day or he'd want to eat nothing but candy.

This is Dalin's "fire". It's the light I put inside our pumkins and they flicker like a flame. He thought they were great and called them his "fire" and every now and then he would touch the flame and say "Oo hot!" even though they don't get hot at all.

Dalin was an elephant this year for Halloween. He picked it out himself and loved to look in the mirror at himself.

Braden was my cute little Tiger for Halloween. He just kind of went with the flow this year and loved to just watch all the excitement. He also loved to see himself in the mirror.

He's just so stinkin' cute!

Carving Pumpkins

Checking out the finished product.

Munching on a scooper and after eating a bit of the insides decides that it doesn't taste very good. If you look closely you can see a string of pumpkin on his chin.

Well, I was a little nervous about the whole carving pumpkins with two kids under 3 this year and fully expected that it would try my patients, but it turned out to be just perfect. First Braden helped me while Dalin napped then Dalin helped me while Braden napped. It was nice because I didn't have to worry too much about keeping Dalin from stabbing his brother or Braden fighting with Dalin. Plus, I got a little one-on-one time with each of them. Braden loves pumpkins and thought it was just great that he could stick his hand down into it and pull slimey stuff out. Dalin, of course, wanted to use the knife....much to my dismay. So I had to very carefully supervise him so he could carve his own little hole into the back of the pumpkin. After they were carved I put the candles in them(actually they're fake candles made of plastic that flicker like a real flame would). Dalin loved his "fire" and has now carried one around for two days. In fact he sleeps with it and kisses it good night. I have to sneek in at night and turn it off after he's asleep.

Cattails

So the other day we were out for a walk and found a small stream with cattails growing all around the banks. They were just giving off their seeds and there were hundreds of fluffy, white, cottony, floaties everywhere. If you pick up a cattail that's ready to seed then all you have to do is touch it and it bursts into a huge puff three times as big as the cattail was. And then the slightest little breeze will send them flying. The problem is that once they get on your clothes or in your hair they are impossible to get out. But it sure was fun. Dalin, being the wonderful big brother that he is, came and piled them on Braden's head. Braden thought it was hilarious until they got in his mouth and then he didn't like that too much. It reminded me of "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" when Linus jumps into a pile of leaves with a sucker in his hand and comes out with leaves all over his mouth and sucker. That's what Braden looked like. The pictures just don't do it justice.