The Day Has Finally Come......

I Brian Llewellyn have finally bought a BB gun for my boys. WooHoooooooo! Let the good times begin.

Blog-cation

Still taking a break!

Santa Claus is coming...

Merry Christmas friends and family! We probably won't get around to a Christmas card this year, so go ahead and count this post. There's nothing too exciting going on around here. The two oldest boys are growing and doing great in school. Cameron and Adam keep me company at home. Adam is almost 2, which should speak for itself. Brian travels to Weber once a week for his MBA classes. He's doing well. We still love Logan and hope to stay here forever. We're thankful for kind neighbors and friends, and loving family of course.

















This guy was an awesome Santa. All of my kids liked him - except for Adam (you can see me trying to convince him in the last picture). These pics were actually taken over Thanksgiving break. We had a great time with Brian's sister and family.

Biscuits!

It was a biscuits and gravy morning. Cold outside, toasty inside. My awesome husband put up the Christmas lights yesterday so we're feeling extra festive. Our neighborhood has lots of white lights - I was missing the colorful ones of my childhood, so Brian wrapped the columns in multis (after I put the ribbon on - yes, I'm pretty awesome myself) and it looks so cute!

I promised myself I wouldn't update my blog until our colds were gone. Well I was able to breathe through my nose last night, so I guess I've put it off long enough (almost 4 weeks!) Cameron picked up another virus last week, so he still sounds like he's talking underwater (and he can't hear a thing - it's kind of sad, kind of funny).

Well back to the biscuits...I tried a new recipe this morning and it was FABULOUS. I know biscuits are simple and a little old fashioned, but if you haven't made any in awhile, I recommend these (nothing extraordinary - just light and yummy without the weird aftertaste you usually get from biscuits)...

Sour Cream Drop Biscuits (from a Pillsbury cookbook)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup sour cream

Mix dry ingredients and then cut shortening in with fork or pastry blender. In a different bowl, blend milk and sour cream well. Add all at once to flour mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (will be pretty wet). Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 450 for 10 to 12 minutes.

Crazy tired

This is exactly how I feel today (minus the smile perhaps). We've had colds for over a week and I'd really like to be able to breathe out of my nose again!! I have pretty lame problems - sorry to anyone who has a real problem to sniffle about. (lame puns too) :)

Brian and I got to go to a reunion last night commemorating my Grandma's arrival to Ogden from Holland. Her family joined the LDS church and then immigrated here in the 1920's. My great-grandparents have over 700 descendants now. It struck me that our decisions can have a profound influence on the lives of literally thousands of people - and that's just within the first century of our passing. That's a lot of pressure - humbling but inspiring at the same time. I'm so thankful for all of the good, honest, hard-working people that set the stage for me to be where I am today. Comforting to know we don't have to be famous or do something extraordinary to make a profound contribution to this crazy world we live in.

Well that's my thought for the day...

Boo!

Adam thinks Halloween is the best thing since popcorn. The rest had a great time, too. We went to a neighbor's house for dinner and a fun party (complete with donuts on a string - Tyler was SO fast at that game!) and then went around the neighborhood in a huge group of kids (it's a wonder there was anyone left to answer the doors).

We tried to get the sugar out of their systems this afternoon by going on a hike up Green River canyon with some friends. Tyler still wants to go to Grandma's house for his birthday (next July), but then he wants to go on another hike ("Grandma can help me through the cave if she wants, because mom doesn't like to get dirty" - as if Grandma does!).

Are you ready for some football?!

We went to the USU vs BYU game Friday night. It was nice to be able to root for both teams. BYU did good in the first half, and then played terribly - I mean worse than I've ever seen anyone play. USU got 2 (almost 3) touchdowns in the last half, and played way better than I thought they would, considering their reputation. BYU still won 34 to 14, but they should still be ashamed of themselves! Anyway, the kids had fun, but got bored towards the end (especially Adam, who kept kicking the guy in front of us. Which would have been ok, except he was one of Brian's clients. Oh well...)

Conference was nice this weekend. I love being able to sit for 8 hours without feeling guilty. Two of our boys are sick today, and I'm hoping no one ends up puking in the middle of the night! We're getting flu shots on Wednesday, so hopefully we'll stay relatively healthy this winter. Love you all!

Treasures

I think all boys must do this, but I couldn't help smiling as I changed my laundry tonight. Cameron's "crystals" that he collected, washed and played with all afternoon; Tyler's shiny bead that he found in Mom's jewelry box (that he knows he's not supposed to play in); Adam's penny that he finds no matter how many times I fish it out of his mouth and put it away, and Brian's quarters that he keeps earning and losing over and over again. It's moments like these that make me smile and wish they could stay little forever...

Hi!

Happy Sunday everyone. Brian turned 7 this past week. I love to be able to say my kids are 7, 5, 3, and 1 - it makes tham sound further apart. We celebrated Brian's birthday on two days. On Thursday, I set up a table with balloons in our yard and served cake to all the kids as they came off the school bus. 40 kids and moms in all. We had fun, and Brian loved the attention. We opened presents on Friday, because big Brian has school on Thursdays. Brian got his first bike that wasn't a hand-me-down (though he's already taken a few good falls and scuffed it up a bit.) After presents we went fishing with our wonderful neighbors, the Olsen's, and had a really nice time playing in the sand, chatting, and catching a few fish (luckily it was only the Olsen kids who caught the fish, so I didn't have to cook any!) .

I included this pic of Cameron because it reminded me how much I love to lay in those patches of sunshine on a yucky day...

Back to school

We started the month off right with the reunion, and then we tried to make the most of the rest of the summer. I've got these pictures out of order, but here's Tyler on his first day of kindergarten. As you can see, there are plenty of kids his age in the neighborhood. He's got a crush on the girl standing next to him - yep, he has good taste.We did s'mores and hot dogs at the park a few Mondays ago (since we never got around to it during the reunion). It was a fun family night activity.















We got to go horseback riding with some friends we haven't seen in over 3 years. They live in Newport Beach, so we think we'll go and visit them next! Vanessa is a professional photographer there, and she got me excited about photography again. I've been looking at cameras and saving up for one.
















Brian has a great work party every year at a small amusement park here. We got to rock climb and do bumper cars. I even went on a really scary ride. We had a great time.




















I was the world's best and worst mom all in the same day yesterday. We took the kids to play tennis, I made french bread and cinnamon rolls, and then I got out the slip-and-slide to celebrate the last really hot day of summer (at least that's what the weather man called it). I even braved it a few times (though my arms are paying the price this morning!). Brian sprayed a bunch of wasps while we were outside, and they went everywhere. One even went down my shirt and stung me three times before Brian bear-hugged me (and it) to death. I almost stripped right then and there in our front yard, but I showed a little restraint and waited until I was in the entryway (but I think the door was still open). The kids played on that darn slip-n-slide (actually just a thick, long piece of plastic that Brian staked into the ground) for over 5 hours. They slept SOOO well last night. Here's where the bad mom part comes in. I was too tired to cook last night, so we had cinnamon rolls for dinner. That's all we ate. The boys didn't mind, but I think it was the least nutritious meal I have ever served. So that's about it for now. I better go get those yahoos ready for church (which Tyler just informed me is "WAY, WAY, WAY too wong and borin."