Are you Honest in your dealings?

This is an excerpt from my dad's letter to Shaun:

One quick story. Yesterday, Brooklyn went into Mom with a request for ice cream. Mom asked if her if she had eaten her sandwich and Brooklyn repeatedly told her that she did indeed eat her sandwich. They were arguing back and forth about it. I finally asked Brooklyn to come in and visit with me. I told her that when I interview people for Temple Recommends, I ask them if they are honest in their dealings with their fellow men, she assured me that she was indeed honest. Baylee then walked in the room and I asked her if she had been out on the trampoline (I had seen her out on the tramp) and she told me no. I then reiterated the same situation that I had placed with Brooklyn. I said, "Baylee, are you honest in your dealings  with your fellow man?" to which she responded, "Nope" and tuned and ran off to eat her ice cream. We're not sure what we are going to do with the Bayster.

A fun night out!

A couple of weeks ago we got invited to Jarvis and Kortney's wedding reception. We met Jarvis when we lived in American Falls. His dad is was our bishop and still is our business partner. Jarvis is such a neat guy and Kortney is so cute! Their reception was adorable. They had it at a restaurant in Blackfoot. After we went through the line Brooklyn saw that they had face painting. She had to jump in line for that! After she got her face painted, Baylee and Jaxsen realized they need their faces painted. How neat is that to have a person their to paint faces. Well I didn't get any pictures of the cute couple but got a few cute ones of my adorable kids!

 Brooklyn and her kitty cat

 Jaxsen's DRAGON.

And Miss Bay's unicorn.

Jaxsen turn's 2! Drew is a teenager! 13!

Since Drew and Jaxsen's birthdays are 5 days apart, and usually by the time we get Drew for his birthday it is Jaxsen's birthday, we have decided to celebrate them together. I know Jax loves it because he loves anything that has to do with his big brother. Drew, well I hope he doesn't mind.

We celebrated it at my parent's house this year, cuz we got a big family and my little apartment wasn't going to accommodate all of us!

Jaxsen is in love with Toy Story 3, so needless to say that is what his cake was. I am sad I didn't get a good picture of it. His grandmas and grandpas got him Buzz and Woody! He was quite thrilled with it! He was so cute at showing everyone each of the toys he opened.

Drew got a german chocolate cake (YUM) and money. Teenagers are hard to shop for! He also got gift certificates to DAPCO hobbies, to cover some of the costs to fix up his car he got for Christmas.

Jaxsen:

-Can walk, run, jump, climb with the best of them.

-Can say mom, dad, papa, drew, bubba. Little slower at the talking side.

-Although he can't talk he knows exactly what is going on and will make sure to get his point across!

-Has a love/hate relationship with his sister Baylee. Because they are so close they play pretty well together, until one ticks the other off, then watch out! Full of BRAWL!!

-Watches Toy Story 3 at least 2 times a day.

-Loves the story "GO DOGS GO".

-Still loves that binkie. He can only have at nap time and bed time. So we are slowly getting better.

-Gives the best "FIERCE" look. Would make Shaun proud!

-Still loves his dad and looks just like him!

-Very loving little guy, I still call him my baby and probably will till another baby joins our family!

LOVE YOU BUDDY!

Drew:

-Quite the tall 13 year old and has a low voice to match it!

 -Has already had a few mom's tell us he needs to take their daughters out when they turn 16. Hold on MOM's he is only 13!

-Quite the football player. Last season was one of the captain's!

-Still a pyromaniac! That kid loves fireworks, and anything to do with fire. YIKES!

-Loves his remote control car and his paintball gun!

-Is starting to talk about what car he wants when he turns 16. Is he a really almost that old.

-Loves to play slug-bug with his step-mom! Both of us are quite competitive.

-Best big brother my kids could ever ask for! He is such a helper! Could ask for a better GUY!

LOVE YOU BUD!

Drew reading cards to Jax

Jax showing everyone his gift

Drew's cake and the corner of Jaxsen's

Look at my balloon!

The kids scooping out the cakes!

Colton's HOME!!!

 On the 17th of February Colton got home from serving in Cleveland Ohio. The family was so excited to see him! As he came through the door Val and Jill ran to hug him, but guess who got to him first? Brooklyn! The night before Colton left they came over to my parents house to say good-bye. Colton was trying to tell Brooklyn the next time he saw her she would be five. Brooklyn was really tired that night and just kept saying "I am three not five!" Needless to say Brooklyn was quite excited to see him. Jaxsen had never met Colton so it was neat to see that. Baylee just wasn't sure what to think of all of it. We sat out at the airport for about an hour after he got home. It is also exciting to think that the next time we all head out to the airport it will be for SHAUN! YAY!

Natalie and Jax!

Jill and her best friend Brooklyn!

Nat and Jax! Your shirt is up there a bit bud!

Jerimiah, Camille (the girlfriend), Hannah and Danielle waiting in anticipation

Z-man taking charge

Kirsten, Trent, Heather and Cami waiting for the missionary

Miss Bay's waiting for Colton

The 3 returned missionaries!

Snow-time and Kid-time

I took this picture of my cute girls one day on their way to play outside in the snow, because what else do you do in the winter time in Idaho. They are getting so big! I am thankful for a safe neighborhood, with friendly neighbors that are willing to help or watch out for one another.

The kids one day decided to put the chairs on the top bunk and pretend they were on a train. I love how creative they are.

Out of the mouths of babes (that I want to remember)

I caught Baylee sitting on Brooklyn's face farting. They were both laughing histarically afterwards. I told Baylee she is disgusting and asked her where she learned it. "From Dad" was her reply. When I told Andrew, his comment was "Ya and while I was teaching her that, I also took your bra to work!" Love this family.

Took Brooklyn to the doc and they told me she had croupe. On the the way home she told me she hates having "CROW". Somehow she heard crow instead of croupe.

This one is disgusting but at the same time funny. Last night we are making a little treat and Baylee was sitting next to me on the counter. As I mixing things up I caught her picking her nose (YUCK!!!!). I told her that's disgusting and please don't do it while I am making something. She told me "It's ok mom, I put my finger in my mouth." I think I just threw up a little in the back of my mouth! I told you are going to have bougs growing in your stomach if you don't knock that off. Seriously what makes children think that it is ok to put buggers in your mouth. On every level that is just disgusting and the fact that my child does is even more gross!  

Daddy has it!

Why I am posting this I don't know but here it goes-

So we were getting ready to runs some errands today and for the life of me I couldn't find my bra. (Still can't find it.) Baylee was in the room with me when I was looking, rushing me along. I looked at her and asked if she has seen my bra. The kids think it is funny to walk around the house with it on! (Again why am I writing this?) Baylee looked at me and said "Daddy has it, he needed it!" Really was my response. "YEP!" just as serious as possible. What we would do without this little girl!!

WWF Mortensen style

This is Jax and Andrew's nightly ritual. A little WWF action here. Looks like Jaxs got the upper hand tonight! Love these two!

 That is Jaxsen's "cheese" pose.

"Look MOM, I got him!" 

Jax showing DAD who's boss!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was a busy one and unfortunately I didn't get many photos. One I am so sad I didn't get was the little trick we played on Drew. Drew was for sure that he was getting this really nice remote control car. Andrew and I did our best to convince the 12 year old that it was coming. So Andrew and Santa's idea was to take the car out of the box, hide it and then wrap up a little tiny car inside this huge box. Usually Santa lays out their big gifts but we all decided to pull a quick one on him. As Drew open the big box his eyes lit up. Andrew told him to open the box. As he pulled out the little car you could see the disappointment wash over his face. But in true Drew style, he says "That's OK, this is cool." Then we had Brooklyn go over to the closet and pull out his car. Drew jumped from the couch and in about 2 steps was to his dad in a huge hug! He was trilled!

 The kids coming out Christmas morning

Jaxsen devouring a doughnut. The kid has a thing for doughnuts.

The rest of the day was busy going to my family's house to quickly open gifts and the hurry up to the Mortensen's house for dinner.

We were very blessed this year. To be celebrate the birth of our Savior. To be able to provide a good Christmas for our family in our own home was the biggest blessing for Andrew and I.

Christmas Eve 2010

Our annual tradition for Christmas Eve is to head up to Val and Mike's house have pigs in a blanket, potato salad, jello jigglers, chips, sprite with Christmas shaped kool-aid ice cubes, relish platter, and triffle.

After dinner we always play a few games made up by the fam. Mike this year made up a Christmas Bingo game. But went a step further and had one for the kids and one for the adults. My kids just love looking for the pictures. Baylee especially took it quite serious.

Then it is time for the annual "Nativity". Drew was Joseph, Brooklyn was the inn keeper, Baylee and Jax with shepherds (I think).

Last but not least is opening up the traditional "JAMMIE GIFT." Which the little kids absolutely love. I got the younger ones slippers to go with their jammies. Drew told me he wouldn't ever use them so not to worry.

 The kids table!

 Brooklyn also lost a tooth that night. It was quite the fiasco to get it out that her Papa thought she deserved $5 dollars for all her pain and suffering.

 Joseph a.k.a. Drewbster

 The inn keeper a.k.a. The big B!

 Grandma enjoying the festivities!

 Brooklyn so professionally giving her lines! Future actress here!

 The shepherd a.k.a moody pooper jean! Baylee had no desire to cooperate!

 The other shepherd a.k.a. Big Bubba! Just chillin'!

 Baylee opening up her jammies!

 Brooklyn and her jammies! Grandma decided to rejoin the party!

 Big Bubba giving us his serious look in his new BUZZ jammies!

 The shirt part of Drew's jammies!

 The Z-Man in his reindeer jammies!

 The whole "JAMMIE" clan. Only picture I got that was clear, to bad only Nattie was looking at the camera!

 The original 6!

Overall GREAT NIGHT! ALL IS WELL!

TAVACI 2010

Brooklyn's winter TAVACI concert was on the 11th of December. Can I just say she has improved by leaps and bounds since last time she was in TAVACI (Dec 2008). We were kind of scared to put her back in because she was horrible last time. This time she was so stinkin cute! She loves listening to her TAVACI cd in the car, and even though it drove everyone else in the car nuts, she loved and practiced quite often. So proud of her!

The STAR!!

Where are her shoes?

The gals! Miss Bays being shy.

The only picture I got with Santa, you lucked out this year DREW!

My two sweethearts! Love them!