The boys turn two!!

Liam and Luke turned two! Wow, the last two years have gone by incredibly fast. They are definitely not babies anymore. We had such a great time celebrating their 2nd birthday. It turned into a three-day celebration! The boys were so spoiled. :)

Friday afternoon, their little friends came over to help them break open their pinata which I made out of cardboard and tissue paper. We had fruit, veggies, and snickerdoodle cookies. We played games and enjoyed watching the kids run around the backyard.

Carolyn, their Granny Jan and Grandad drove to our house and got here when the boys were already asleep. The next morning the boys had a big surprise waiting for them. We went to the beach in Mayport for a picnic lunch. The boys had fun playing with their new beach toys. We left early because Liam wasn't feeling well and had a fever. That evening we had a Toy Story "Pizza Planet" dinner at our house complete with green alien cupcakes. (I didn't get pictures of those!)

Sunday, their actual birthday, we stayed home from church because the boys were not feeling well. But we got to end the weekend with birthday cake! I made the boys individual mini Buzz and Woody cakes. As you can tell, they are really into the Toy Story movies right now. Then, it was time to say goodbye to our visitors. The boys really enjoyed their special weekend!

Just having fun. . .

I'm finally posting after a long time. The camera we bought in August suddenly stopped working a few months ago so we had no new pictures to put up. But last week we bought a new one! Here are some pictures of the boys at the airplane park on the Navy base. It's one of their favorite places to visit.

Christmas 2011 in Evans, GA

Christmas Eve Baths and Hugs

We set up their gifts from both sets of grandparents the night before. They loved playing with their new train set and table with chairs.

December Update

It's almost Christmas and we're so excited to be spending it with family in Georgia. It's such a blessing for us that even though we moved across the country away from part of our family we are lucky to be close enough to the rest of our family in Georgia. We are really enjoying our new home here in Jacksonville.

Our ward is great! Everyone is so friendly and we feel very much at home. We are excited to have callings already. Daniel is the second counselor in the young men's presidency. He gets to give lessons to the boys on Sunday and go to mutual every Wednesday evening. He says the boys are better behaved than the cub scouts we served with in Provo. I guess they're just a little older and not as rowdy as nine-year-olds. I was called as the nursery leader. They released the previous nursery leader because she just had fraternal twin boys about two months ago. :) I'm excited to serve in the nursery and to start having lessons again seeing that they haven't been very organized in the past few months. The boys love nursery. Liam was a little anxious at first because he has a hard time being away from me. But now he plays on his own and with the other kids. He still keeps an eye on me to make sure I haven't left. :)

On Saturday we went to our ward Christmas party at a member's home. We had such a great time. There was a chili cook-off, hot dog and marshmallow roasting, a hayride through the woods, a playhouse and Santa was there too! The boys loved the hayride and the playhouse. But they weren't very sure what they thought about Santa as the first picture shows.

Liam and Luke have been very talkative lately. They love telling each other "Come on!" And talking about their trucks, cars, trains and airplanes. Luke is beginning to repeat a lot of what we say and read in books. Liam loves pointing out words and letters in everything he sees. He'll just point at random letters and say "Y", "Nine,"T". Some of their favorite words right now are: airplane, sorry, arbol (tree in Spanish), Santa, snowman, cani (for macaroni), cheche (for leche-milk in Spanish), casa (house in Spanish), and 'scuse me OR comper (for con permiso-excuse me in Spanish).

Elf yourself!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/JsGIGiteGYJH8sMY?cmpid=ey_url

Hope this video makes you laugh! Enjoy!

Fun in GA

We had such a great Thanksgiving in Georgia. We loved spending time with family and enjoying a little break. We were so glad Daniel was able to get the day after Thanksgiving off. We were there from Wednesday night to Sunday evening. The boys loved meeting their Granny in Toccoa and all the family they'd never met. We had such a wonderful time. Here are some pictures of one of the many things the boys found to entertain themselves. They are always so curious and love to play together lately. They got together to line up the items in the pantry. The line went from the kitchen to the bench at the kitchen table. They were pretending the macaroni boxes, cans, and soda cans were a "choo choo." :)

The First Two Weeks in Jax

Today we went to get family Christmas pictures taken at the beach. Here is a picture of Luke while we waited for Daniel to get the car.

Here is Liam before the photo shoot at home. He modeled several outfits for me before choosing our favorite.

Yesterday we went to the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens with our friends. The boys loved the penguin exhibit. It was our last outing with my good friend and her family. I have a friend who is moving away from Jax on Monday. We've been friends since we were in high school and we got to see each other for just two weeks before she and her family move to Whidbey Island, Washington where her husband will be stationed. He's in the Navy too!

Liam and Luke seeing the ocean for the first time on 11-11-11. They couldn't believe how much water they were seeing!

Here is my attempt at making our home a little more homey and festive. I made this fall wreath and put it on the front door.

Liam and Luke enjoying a banana. They wanted to sit in this position. They are so cute!

During our first week here we got to see the Blue Angels perform at the air show on the base. My three boys love their airplanes! :)

This was one of the last rooms in our house we organized. It's Liam and Luke's new playroom! We all love it. It keeps them happy and entertained.

This is what I saw on the outside of our kitchen window one of the first mornings I was here. It's a gecko! They live in the cracks of the bricks on the outside of our house. They're so cute. I'm okay with them running around our home as long as they stay outside!