Does anyone else ever feel VERY overwhelmed after reading people's blogs? It is DEFINATELY NOT a good thing for me sometimes...

EARLY CHRISTMAS

Last night we were out and about doing the last bit of Christmas shopping before we head to Louisiana for the holidays. We got Boston this little wagon filled with mega blocks and we knew we weren't going to be able to fit it in our luggage so we decided to give it to him early. I didn't realize how much he was going to LOVE this gift!

He sat for about 20 minutes (could have been longer but I put a halt to put the boy to bed) taking the blocks out and then putting them back in. He was concentrating SO hard and was SOO intrigued that I couldn't get a smile out of him, in fact I couldn't even get him to really look up to the camera! I love this kid! We also bought him those new jammies he's sporting in the picture at Target last night too which I'm proud that I got 2 pairs for $12!!! Anytime I try to buy something clothing wise from Target Kent JUMPS at it and is always pleased that I'm not buying Gap, Gymboree, or Janie & Jack and pretty much never tells me NO! I think also that since they had bugs on them it helped...Kent wants his son to represent what pays the bills! Speaking of which, Kent also informed my last night that when he buys his big truck his license plate is going to say "BUG MAN".......ummmm?


On another note, I'm already getting sick of Utah weather. I've forgotten how much I hate, hate, HATE the cold and all this snow that's occurred yesterday and today has me fit to be tied! It DOES NOT stop! Kent has seriously gone out and shoveled the driveway 4 times today (you'd think this would make him invest in a snow blower but NOPE not yet, he likes the workout)!! Kent went to run some errands today and couldn't make it up the mountain so he had to turn around and go get some snow tires put on! I was hoping he'd come surprise me with an SUV but know such luck! Anyway, I'm sick of this snow and I know it's only the beginning. I told Kent last night I don't know how long I'll be able to take it and that I've officially put the limit to 5 years of stay in Utah. I need warmth. This cold stuff is not made for my blood!!!

AND THE GRADUATE IS.....

NOT Kent (I love you babe!). No worries, he'll get there but in the meantime Mr. Brandon JOseph Jamison was setting the example (2 years ago didn't we think they'd be graduating together around the same time?)...ANYWAY!

We headed up to Rexburg Thursday to support Brandon in his accomplishment. We had a fun weekend together minus the FREEZING cold weather and the semi-disappointing "Four Christmases." We hit up Craigos and Hard Hat which were BOTH SOO good although Hard Hat is STILL struggling on working on that service. It was fun to see how much things have changed up there and yet still how so much is the same. CONGRATS again Brandon! Next goal, find your way down here!!!!!!

We got to have dinner with President Uchtdorf since he was the key speaker at graduation. Some of the messages of the night were to not fear the unknown and to let the Lord guide you and have faith on where he is directing your life. Also, don't set your heart on the things of the world and the job that gives you the most money. True happiness comes from doing something you love doing and keeping your heart focused on the important things in life: the Lord, family and the gospel. I LOVED these messages!

I LOVE MY HUSBAND!

So the other night, I was in the mood for movie and a snack. It was about 9:30 at night and I was surprised at Kent's response to leaving the house that time of night and head down the mountain to get a movie and some yummy snacks! If you know my husband, one of the things he hates to do the most is leave late at night and get ANYTHING! Our whole marriage I've tried and tried to get him to leave and get me a "midnight snack" and 95% of the time the answer is, "NO! If you want it, YOU go get it!" For some reason, this is one thing Kent STRONGLY does NOT like to do! Even when I was pregnant and sick it was like pulling teeth to get him to do this, although yes, most of the time he gave in and helped out his horribly sick wife at that time!

Anyway, so before I realized what was happening, Kent had gone and come back with a movie and snacks. He's pulling out the goodies....

10, YES 10, KING size candy bars-I guess it was 10 for $10 at Albertsons. I was semi-bummed about this but tried to act happy because of his efforts (I'm not a sweets fan) and I knew this was mainly for him and secretly hoping more was in the bag. Then he pulls out the ingredients for his bruschetta that he's absolutely AMAZING at making (by the way it's pronounced "broo-SKEH-tah" not "broo-SHEH-tah" for all you Americans out there) thanks to hit Italian mission roots. He was SOO sweet to remember my crave for SALTS and not SWEETS and even better he decided to whip something up at nearly 11 at night (yes, that's about how long our "quick" trips to the grocery store and back usually are...the life of mountain men). Gotta LOVE this man!

Since we started the movie at 11 pm, we quickly fell asleep minutes into the movie but thankfully we had full, happy bellies and even better an EXTREMELY happy wife! Thanks babe, I LOVE YOU!

GINGERBREAD HOUSE HORROR!

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT NOR NEVER WILL BE OR EVER PLAN ON BEING A CREATIVE, CRAFTY PERSON!!!!

Last week my mom sent me this little gingerbread house to make. I was SOO excited because last year I saw many of you blogging about your little gingerbread house you made as a family. I thought "What a cute tradition! Maybe we'll start that! I could do that!" So we decided we'd have a nice little family night on Monday, make our little house and then watch The Nativity. Sometimes what we envision in our head doesn't come out the way we expected....

Already that day, Boston had thrown up and had a fever. I thought he'd sit just fine on the table while we decorated....WRONG! He refused to be put down and just wanted to be held (what else do you expect from a sick 18 month old?) which left my hands full! Finally, we just decided to watch The Nativity, put Boston to bed and then complete this little project. I search for The Nativity and sure enough I can't find it! In fact, now that I think about it, I don't even believe we own it so why I thought we did I have NO IDEA! So that failed and my idea of the perfect FHE slowly began to fade. We decided to put Boston to bed a 7 pm and on we went to complete our house...

Kent made the "mortar" and I kept telling him to make it just right and to add water if needed. I doubted his final product but he assured me it was okay....until he started trying to put up the walls. Yep, sure enough the frosting was too hard! I laughed and gave him a hard time when all the sudden a whole busted in the side of the bag where frosting was just seeping out! All this just made Kent's blood boil and stress levels rise (I'm sure my laughter wasn't helping either). At this point, I'm doing okay and just trying to stay calm about it.

... That is until we got to the windows! I was reading the directions and telling Kent the windows had to be put together PRIOR to being put on the house but Kent said, "Karlee TRUST ME, it'll be okay!" I let him mess up his window because we all know he should havefollowed the directions! I decided the second window would be mine to put together the RIGHT way (which in turn started to make MY stress levels rise)!

We put green frosting on the roof and I thought, okay this is going to go smoothly now that the house is put together. My blood pressure lowers and I'm thinking, maybe this WILL work out...

That's until I worked on the front of the house and decided I have NO creativity and I have no idea why I even continue to attempt things like this over and over. My door knob must have been too heavy or something because it slipped to the ground and my "wreath" slowly started to allow gravity to take control as well! Since the white frosting was ruined I was unable to attempt any detailings and on top of that, I was too stressed to try! Kent was sitting back eating all the candy which for some reason bothered me even more so once I stuck some lame windows on the front I said, "WE'RE DONE!"

Kent then insisted on eatting it to which I said, "NO WAY!" I don't think you're supposed to eat them anyway....are you? Even if you are supposed to, that was NOT the time to try!

My side of the house vs. Kent's side of the house

My idea was for our finished product to look somewhat like this. I guess I should have listened to Kent in the beginning when he said not to have such high hopes! I've decided that we'll probably NEVER attempt this again and if my kids want a gingerbread house I'll do what I do best and just BUY ONE!!!!!

COME AND KNOCK ON MY DOOR....WE'LL BE WAITING FOR YOU!!!

Ever since we've moved to Utah, we've had a NON STOP flow of visitors. Someone has been here EVERY weekend since we've moved in. When we moved here we didn't think we'd have many visitors since EVERYONE knows someone in Utah and they'd probably stay some place else. But surprisingly we've been totally occupied! We have LOVED IT! So who has been keeping our guest bedroom warm?

Mimi has come to visit!!!!! We've been able to see her TWICE since our move here....and you thought you'd never see us when we moved so far away mom!!!!

THE JAMISONS!!! I think Amanda has been here every weekend SINCE we moved in! What a great friend! We also have another date this weekend when we go up to cheer Brandon on at his graduation up in "The Burg." Hard Hat, Wingers, Bajios HERE WE COME (okay, we don't have to go to ALL of those...).

Last but not least...KARI & BRANDON! You might be thinking to yourself, "Well don't they live like 35 minutes from you?" To which I would say, "YES!" But if you don't know already, Kari is officially 11 weeks pregnant (YES we are VERY excited about this!) and unfortunately for her she has been having a VERY tough pregnancy so far but FORTUNATELY for us we get to hang out with them MUCH more!! Her next scheduled stay with us is tonight while Brandon goes out of town. We LOVE having Auntie Kari around!!!

Anyone else need a place to stay? Come on down (okay I guess more like UP since we live up here so high)!!!!

OPRAH'S...I MEAN BOSTON'S FAVORITE THINGS!

I was TOTALLY disappointed in Oprah's Favorite Things show this year! I mean I know the economy is struggling but that doesn't mean she had to avoid giving away nice presents. She didn't even really give alot of good inexpensive gifts out!! Scandalous Oprah!!!

Anyway, so speaking of favorite things, since Boston is now 18 months (I can't BELIEVE IT!) I thought I'd post some of his favorite things at this stage in his life!

FAVORITE WORD: Chicken & Ball. Hearing him say either of these words makes me laugh. He puts SOO much emphasis on "CHICKEN" and then he stresses the "l" sound on ball for like a minute of time! He is finally saying words like crazy now and can repeat most of the words we ask him to. The only problem is that he would rather say "uh, uh, uh" when he wants something instead of using the word! Lazy boy!!!!

FAVORITE TOY:

Boston could throw a ball for HOURS around the house! He LOVES throwing his football around and alot of the times it actually gets thrown in a spiral unless of course he holds the ball like he is in this picture AND with his right hand. We think he's right handed but he throws MUCH better with his left hand. QB or pitcher one day? We'll see!

The other day I heard Boston screaming in his room so I ran to see what had happened. He was stuck in his laundry basket in his closet and was struggling to get out. I had no idea why he would've even THOUGHT to have been in there in the 1st place and then when I picked up all the clothes and put them in the basket, I noticed THIS sitting at the bottom..

Like father, like son! He is COMPLETELY obsesses with these xbox controllers! I would say one of the first things he does every morning is go after this! This could be a serious issue one day!=)

FAVORITE TV SHOW: BACKYARDIGANS! He gets SOO excited and dances everytime they sing in this show. Anytime he hears this theme song he lets out a GASP and gets right in front of the TV to dance. I think he's trying to mimic their dance! Sorry this video is so dark!

FAVORITE FOOD: Chicken Nuggets or more specifically Dino Nuggets from Costco. Lately that's all that boy will eat!!! If you even mention the word "chicken" when he's eating something besides that he freaks out, points to the fridge wanting CHICKEN! I wonder why this is his favorite word too?

THE CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES BEGIN!

One thing I was excited about moving to Utah was to go to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights! At the first chance we got, we bundled up (we still need to invest in some gloves) and went up to check them out! Boston LOVED just having the freedom to walk around and explore. He was REFUSING to look at the camera and smile for pictures. As soon as he'd see the camera he'd purposely turn the other way! I think that was his way of saying "Mom, just let me explore and have fun...LOSE THE CAMERA!" I'm thinking that this little activity will become a tradition of ours. I tried to convince Kent on the way home to sing Christmas carols but he wasn't down for that...

This is the only glimpse of a smile we got out of the little man...

Yes, I know that the tip of my nose gets red whenever I start to get even the slightest bit cold and yes, it is also a trait that I have passed down to my son, as Kent likes to point out.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! The Season BEGINS!!!

IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!

I have been listening to Christmas music since we moved to Utah and I found the nonstop Christmas music station and I have been in the Christmas spirit ever since (poor Thanksgiving never gets the credit..)! I tried and tried to get Kent to let me start decorating for Christmas early but he put his foot down and stuck up for the Thanksgiving holiday. So as soon as Thanksgiving day hit, the Christmas decor came out and Kent was on the roof hanging our lights! So here's what the finished product looks like:

Okay, okay I AM excited about the holidays but luckily for Kent, I'm not THAT extreme like the neighbor up the road from us (there is even Christmas music playing when you drive by!) This house always makes us laugh though and I SWEAR you can see his lights from outer space! Can you say Christmas spirit?

We did get all of our decorations up and this is the first year Boston actually finds interest in the tree. That interest being pulling off all the bulbs and thinking that they are balls that he can throw! It has been a task trying to teach him they stay on the tree and ARE NOT for seeing how far they can be thrown!

Like I said, Kent got up on the roof and put up our lights. I think at first he was a little reluctant but honestly, after it was all done I think he actually enjoyed it and is proud of his accomplishment. We're beginners this year but I'd still vouch and say he did a GREAT job!

200 lights and 100+ clips later, our house was finished! Next year I want to get the big bulbs because Kent made me settle for the mini lights this year. It's all good though because I still think it looks good for the first try. Oh, and above our garage it really doesn't say "Hooper's"...I photo shopped that in to avoid displaying our address for the world to see!