Twas' the night before Christmas...

This year we spent the night at my parents house and opened presents all together Christmas morn. We actually all slept in until about 9, which was unexpected but not unappreciated. THE kids..even slept in.mmm it was nice! OK, not ALL of us slept in. My dear mother didn't even go to bed to begin with. She didn't sleep at all. She just stayed up ALL night christmas-ing, then all day and didn't go to sleep until Christmas was almost over. That there would have most certainly killed an average bean. But not Jewels Bateman. .. . I love you mom, but you worry me.



It was a blast to sleep over and the kids loved every minute of it. They were spoiled rotten and so were we. Thankyou mom and dad for a great time as always.

Winter Wonderland.

Lynne's tree along with the presents are always so picture perfect. It makes it hard to see them get ripped apart.



Grandma's and Grandpa's are so special and I'm glad that my kids are able to have them! Especially the Great grandparents! What a treat.! I absolutely Love this picture of g.grandpa Carter and Roma. So sweet.


I have to give a shout out to Ann and Chris because we unfortunately didn't get to see them this Christmas. Because of the MAD weather Chris was called out to work. (he's a linesman for the power company) He ended up working through christmas night and into the morning. Big bummer! We were snowed into Ogden and ended up spending another night away from home and this time at Dave's parents. It was definitely a white Christmas and kind of a long one.

Santa came to our house early..

Due to a big snow storm approaching we're taking off tonight to spend the eve safe and sound with the folks.

Bike trainer for Bre

Thomas mat, gator golf,toy story..

Binkies, books, baby doll.

Shoes and stuff for big D.
See ya on the Morrow. With more family and another Christmas! Drive safe.

Let's go Ballistic!

Dave helped me dip these babies! We got 3 trays full of sticks..

..and a tray of these lil guys. I'm loving the candy creations this year. But up till 1 am is not happening again. Cheers.

Poor Pilsbury Doughboy....died.

A day of mourning
A sad passing indeed:

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours.

Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded. Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.

The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

Just a little something that made me giggle. . Don't be a Crusty buns this Holiday.

My winter music

This year I bought some great winter/Christmas songs on Itunes and made CD's for aunts and uncles, cousins, Gram and Gramps, My Fam and some random friends. I am loving the CD myself so I thought I would share the Track list. You should definitely check them out.

*Winter Song 4:27 Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson
*I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day3:37 Sarah McLachlan
*Frosty the Snowman 2:11 Fiona Apple
*No Christmas for Me 2:41 Zee Avi
*Song for a winter night 3:49 Sarah Mclachlan
*O Come, O Come Emmanuel 3:40 Enya
*A Holly Jolly Christmas 2:16 Burl Ives
*Happy Xmas (War Is Over) 3:31 Sarah McLachlan
*Someday At Christmas 2:11 Jack Johnson
*Twelve Days of Christmas 4:24 John Denver & The Muppets
*Track 14 5:10 Ray Charles ??
*We Three Kings 3:48 Royce
*Be Still My Soul 4:57 Kalai

Of course Sarah McLachlan is a champ but my favorite song on the list is the 1st-Winter Song.
Merry Christmas to you!

Tis the Season...for sweets!

December is busy for everyone I'm sure! Just the thinking that goes into parties, gifts, cards, postage, decorations and staying warm is A LOT to handle. This past week I have been baking with one of my friends here in town that is also from Centerville. We have good times talking about crazy small town living and the things we miss. But that is beyond the point.. back to the treats.
We dipped pretzels in homemade caramel and chocolate

Then she taught me how to make butter mints, which was so fun. They are very temperamental, in that the consistency is very hard to get right. You pull them like taffy, add flavoring and cut them with scissors then they have to "cure". It's interesting. If they turn out..they are "melt in your mouth" addicting.


I made some Pretzel munchies at home and then spent time putting all of this in cute little bags to share.



Like I said, Tis the Season!

Annual cookie night.

Each year, usually the first weekend in December, my mom's side of the family gets together at Grandma and Grandpa's house for some major cookie decorating. It's always been such a fun tradition to look forward to. Grandma spends A lot of time and powdered sugar to make everyones frosting. She had some help coloring it this year so we had a few new colors. mmmm. That frosting is THEE best. I ended up 3x-ing grandma's cookie recipe which made 40 or so cookies.? I never ended up counting them.

Josh and Anna came over for a bit and helped cut the cookies


The Trujillo/Turner Clan

Bateman/Carter Clan w/Grammy Grams

Baby, its cold outside!

Ok so, I have a lot of pics to put on this blog and stories to be had BUT... I am just out of time lately or too dang tired. I'm actually 'working' at the moment and blogging from my phone. Working you ask? Well if you don't know already, pumping IS indeed my part time job! Baby milk pumping that is. 17 hours a week is no joke. And I want christmas vacation time in the worst way. (big sigh)
Anyways, until I get to the computer, I'll leave you with this quote from Davey baby.
As he walks in the house from tithing settlement-'Brr! It is COLD outside! And just getting colder!'
Me, over the loud breathing of my pump-'oh ya?'
Dave-'In fact, It is cut your cow open and sleep inside of it cold!'
Then he lays on the heater with a blankie and falls asleep in point 5 seconds.

Last night I had twins..

I thought it was cool.

Happy Birthday little Brother!

This ones for you! Thanks for always being there for me!


Here are a few things that I think about on this special day.
-How fast time flies and how I can't believe that I would have a 23 year old brother.
-My sweet parents and their incredible strength over the years. Especially now that I am a parent, I have a different perspective.
-I wonder if Jay really knows how much he's helped me and motivated me in my life decisions.
-How blessed I am to have the gospel in my life and to have that knowledge that I will see him agian.
-Life is definitely a blessing and to Love love love those that are important in our lives...Now.

How bout NO diapers for Christmas?

What a day for you my little Beck man! First time going in the potty. WOOOO hoo. You were so proud of yourself...as was I. We called dad at work and left him a message of accomplishment. "I did it! Yay! New Thomas!" I don't remember a previous "you go pee, you get a new Thomas the train" conversation between us...but BY GOLLY, you can have that Thomas. Nice job. This could be the beginning of the end?. I'm hoping anyways.

Cuddle Bugs

Cold Turkey anyone?

This year our Thanksgiving feast took place at the Carter's home. It was most excellent as always to see family and eat delicious food. My favorite is always candied yams and Dave loved his mom's new stuffing recipe. Luckily we had an afternoon feast because the power went out just as we were all dishing up and it was off for almost 2 hours. One of their neighbors came by to see if our power was off as well and said that he was going to fire up the grill and have to finish the turkey there. We all had a laugh but mostly because our food was done.

Gramma Lynne reading the grans some stories

Finding the best Deal.

puzzles

play-doh

And...then of course to make the day complete, we needed to see the Bateman/Trujillo side as well. So, we ventured down to my Grandma's and had 3rds on the food and more dessert. yikes. What's bad is that I think I ate even more today with all the left overs than I did yesterday.

I didn't take as many pics but the party was alive and kickin. Roma had a thanksgiving poop-splosion which sounds not so good but with a once a week record, we are now semi-warped and grateful for these things!
*Finally got home and in bed around 1 in the morn. We probably should've just waited in lines with all you crazies and gone straight to shopping.?

Is that you dad?

Hey did you guys know that Dave, my sweet husband was a singer/songwriter with a few recorded CD's? For most of you, this is not new info. and I'm not trying to toot his horn too much But lil' Beckham here just realized that his dad's music and voice can come out of our CD player and our computer. He's heard Dave sing and play plenty of times and even heard his CD's since...well I guess the womb. . But being so little hasn't really understood until recently. It was so cute! I had one of Dave's CD's in Beckham's room next to his other favorite music and would play it for him every so often. This time, while it was playing Beckham kept coming up to me and saying "dad?" while pointing at the player. I explained to him that "ya, that's dad singing and can you hear his guitar?" He was glued to that thing. He sat in front of the player for 2 or 3 songs just staring at it. I thought it was too dang cute.


Now here's my plug?...If you didn't know that Dave Carter could be found on itunes...then get on that....check it out. He also has 3 other CDs under the band name Royce. These CDS are with the ever so talented Adam Record and also have some real favorites.!
I also found some old recordings on Youtube that were making me laugh right out loud. Just cause... for instance, in the video posted Dave has his "record length hair growth" which is not so long and well, he just makes me smile every time I see him sing!! He is the one that is too dang cute! Love you babes...you're a Rockstar!

royce - Snake Charmer

Roma..you like?

Can you say "old school"? haha I pulled these bad boys out of big brothers baby stuff.


1st time in the saucer. I know this will be a favorite.