Year's End

2012 ended well... and fast. Working nights and trying to keep a clean house was proving to be impossible, and seeing my beautiful boys less and my husband only to sleep at night was driving me crazy. I decided that home was where I belong, and my last day was not long after Christmas.

Here are a few pictures and highlights from the last three months of the year.

October was fun. We carved our annual pumpkin - well, Chris did, rather... I mostly sort through the guts to get the seeds out to bake them up and snack on them the rest of the night.

 I'm not sure why I get more than one... perhaps to get cute pictures like this one. And, once again, Jack wasn't even the smallest fan of the guts.

Chris and I made the boys' costumes, and had a blast with that. Jack told us he wanted to be a train conductor, and I discovered a fun train costume to go along with it while I was looking for ideas. It turned out awesome and he was in heaven.

Formula can, shoe and diaper boxes, and a cup. Not surprising, but the cup was the first thing he ripped off when we showed him the finished product.

 

 It was SO fun to see him trick-or-treat. We went to the Highland Care Center and hit up all the elderly men and women... they were just as entertaining as he was, and he got a ton of candy.

 

 I decided early on in the month that I wanted Zy to be an owl, so I asked my crazy talented hubby to make him a little owl hat, and I threw the rest together with my trusty sewing machine.

I may be biased... but I can't say I've seen a cuter owl. Ever.

 

 

These were our costumes this year; my cousin Karson and his wife has an annual Halloween party. We love Halloween and have as much fun dressing up as the kids do - if not more sometimes, I think!

 ...And Chris dressed up as Mario and TJ as Luigi on Halloween for work. Silly guys. He makes a good Mario though, eh?

 Halloween night at my parents' house with Dani and my mom :)

 This was after my birthday lunch at Tucano's earlier in the month. I love my buddy.

Thanksgiving was spent with the Lewis family this year, which worked out nice since it was Chris's birthday. This was the big 3-0 for him; it's crazy to think we are getting this old!

Zy loved the food, of course - it being his first Thanksgiving, and Jack's dinner was spent wanting to get down from the table to play.

Zy is finished here, and that is why he is unhappy. He was messy - and cold, no doubt, covered in jello.

 After dinner fun...

About a week after his birthday, I threw Chris a party and made him a Reese's brownie cake. It was the fanciest, messiest, most rich thing I've ever made. I figured it was a special enough occasion. ;)

December brought LOTS of craziness. I was working five nights per week or more, and as many good intentions as I had, I didn't even decorate my house until the month was half-way over. Even then, I only put up half of what I had.

We did, however, take Jack to the North Pole Express (the Heber Valley Railroad's take on the Polar Express) for an early Christmas present.  He received the movie "Polar Express" from Santa at the Orton Family Christmas party, and had to watch it at least twice a day. He loved it, especially the hot chocolate and cookies, and we had fun seeing his excitement.

... Though, this was him on the way, dead asleep. We hadn't told him where we were going yet.

 

He loved sitting next to the window and seeing the tracks right outside. He was happy to be on the train after waiting outside in the cold with the giant engine behind him and dad. He was surprisingly afraid of it, so he didn't want to be next to it for very long.

Hot chocolate and cookies... his favorite part of the ride! He kept trying to get more from the box behind the seat were were in.

He loved that Santa picked him up and danced with him, though he was a little nervous at first.

Mrs. Clause giving him her famous cookie recipe.

 Jack and dad with his bell he got from Santa, and his cookie recipe (or, "ticket," as he called it).

The kids, sitting with Santa, at the Orton Family Christmas party. Zy had a blast.

My best friends, Nuria and Christy. We try to get together more throughout the year, but Christmas time is the one we know for sure to count on. I love these girls.

Making cookies with Grandma

Zy, enjoying his mini portion.

Christmas day was fun, too. Zy had no interest whatsoever, even less than Jack did at the same age, and Jack wanted every present to be a train.

He did get some Hulk "smash" gloves from his cousin. He loves to smash everyone and everything he can get his hands on.

Though we didn't get him an actual train - because everyone else did, I did make a train quilt for him. It wasn't completely finished, but the top part was. When he opened it and we told him it was to sleep with, he goes, "come on," and had us follow him into his room to put it on the bed. 

I think he likes it.

After opening gifts and having breakfast together, we went to my parents house where we had good food, and we opened more gifts. Jack got mostly superhero stuff, action figures and what not, along with his cousin Trey - so they loved playing together with them. Though, most of Jack's day was spent in the play room, watching the train my dad had set up. That boy is nothing short of obsessed.

We're feeling very blessed at the end of 2012. Here's to hoping I can keep up more on writing down the happenings in our world!