So so thankful for family!!

Being so far away from my family has been REALLY hard. I especially missed my family on Thanksgiving since my family has always had a big get together on Thanksgiving. That is why I am so so thankful to have family on the East coast with us!! My brother and sister-in-law from Boston (Jillyn and Chad) were kind enough to invite us to their home for Thanksgiving. It was SOO nice to be with family over the holiday. They all went out of their way to make us feel at home and welcome. They are the sweetest little family in the world and we had a blast with them :)

Jillyn was so sweet and let me copy about a million recipes and Olivia was sweet enough to help me do it!!
Here is Jillyn with Beckham on Thanksgiving day. She was busy busy making us all the MOST delicious Thanksgiving dinner ever :) Thanks Jillyn!
Here's the whole gang minus Chad at awaiting the fabulous feast!!
And this is what most everyone did after dinner...Ry likes his naps...
The basement was the main gathering area. It had a whole closet full of toys and my kids thought they had died and gone to heaven!
The next day, they were nice enough to take us into Boston and show us some very cool spots (even though this was not the kids' first choice for an activity :)) They took us to Faneuil Hall where many speeches were given, town meeting were held and Presidential debates were held...(I am pretty sure :) It was a beautiful building!!
The kids were all so well behaved and patient!
Here's Jane in front of a harbor in Boston!!
We got to stop at Paul Revere's house. We didn't get to go inside but it was so old and beautiful. It was so cool knowing that so much history had occured there!
Here are Olivia, Andrew and Jane by the Old North Church. This had to be my favorite stop. I love old churches and this one was especially unique!
All the pews were closed off little rooms. I wish I had that in Sacrament meeting sometimes...:)

The next day was Olivia's birthday and it was so fun that we could be there for it!! She turned 11- I cannot believe how grown up these kids are getting. Olivia got a large bean bag chair...which ended up being a favorite of all the kids...
Then we went bowling. Jane and Beckham had a blast bowling for the very first time! They weren't half bad either :(

Then we had cake...a yummy cupcake cake!
We had such a wonderful time with the Colman family this weekend! There is nothing better than family! Thanks so much for the lovely weekend and for all you did for us, Chad and Jillyn!!

Birthday Boy Beckham!!

Our big boy Beckham is now officially 2 years old!! He is growing up way way way too fast and I hate it. However, we just HAD to have a big celebration for the occasion! After checking out rental prices for bouncy house...we opted just to buy. We got a great deal on this fabulous bouncy house and our kids absolutely LOVE it!! It fits right in our play area without getting in the way of our tv, couch or entrance!! PERFECT!!
It even has a ball pit...the kids favorite feature :)
The little slide is fun too!
Beckham LOVES choo choo trains lately so we had a train themed party!


Here is Beckham taking refuge in the ball pit...
I made a choo choo train cake...of course.
We were so grateful to Matthew, Courtney, Charlotte, Edward and Harry for coming to Beckham's party.
They all had a blast in the bouncy house...I can tell this thing is going to come in handy during the cold, wintery months :)
Harry was so smiley and patient and just darling the whole time.
Don't look too close...it looks much better from far away...haha!
Beckham loved opening his presents; while Jane and Charlotte loved helping him! He got so many wonderful BOY toys. They have kept him sooooo entertained, every day!!! Thanks to everyone who was so sweet to think of Beckham on his big day and for all the presents and birthday wishes!!
Here are a few fun facts about Beckham on his second birthday...
*He is amazingly smart! He can speak in 3-4 word sentences and loves to count with Jane.
*He is a fabulous singer! He has amazing pitch and recognizes nearly all Disney songs...thanks to
Jane.
*He has such a creative imagination. He love to play make believe with Jane. Their most recent favorite is- Jane will be the princess and Beckham is the night in shining armor who rescues her from the dragons :)
*He weighs only 8 pounds less than Jane. He is our BIG BIG boy, indeed!
*Beckham is such a sweetheart. He loves to cuddle, hug and give great big kisses which his momma just can't get enough of:)
*Though he occasionally likes to dress up with Jane...Beckham truly loves cars, trucks, trains and anything with wheels.
* He can recognize the big airplanes that constantly fly over our house every time he hears one :)
*Though he can talk REALLY well his communication of choice when angry is to simply scream at the very top of his lungs as LOUD as he can...it drives us crazy :)
* He is my very best helper. He will grab things for me, put things away, recycle items for me, grab Jane's shoes for her, throw things in the garbage cans, close doors, help clean up and he LOVES to help me with the laundry!!

We love our Beckham and are so proud of him!!

Love/Hate relationship with Delaware...

I love living in Delaware because we are so close to NYC, Virginia, Maryland Pennsylvania...just so many wonderful places to go and things to see!!
However, Dover itself...tolerable...but slightly underwhelming.

I love living near the beach...5 minutes away that is :) Hooray!!But, I hate hate hate how the humidity messes up my hair...every single time I attempt to straighten it...
I love living in Delaware and on base because we had nearly instant friends when we got here. Everyone was so sweet and welcoming and we have already made very close friends :)

On the other hand, we live very near the ocean and are right in the outskirts of a swampy marshy area and therefore...the bugs are CAAARAZYY!! Here is our fruit fly trap...with about 100 fruit flies in there...Yuck!
And here are our very loaded bug traps in the garage...oh so nasty!!

NASTY STORY:
I noticed a HUGE brown spider on one of these traps one morning as I was taking Jane to school and thought..."gross...but at least it's not in my house..." However, when I came back I noticed it was gone...I freaked out. Upon a reluctant closer inspection, I noticed that the beastly spider had sacrificed two of his legs in order to escape from the trap...they were left behind on the trap. Then I just about FAINTED and ran for cover in my house...YIKES RIGHT?!!

We are having a great time here despite missing fam and friends in Utah and the few other down sides I mentioned. We are loving our East Coast adventure :)

A whole new Halloween!!

Halloween this year was...different for us. Everything is just a little...different when you live on base. On base, trick-or-treating was scheduled for the Saturday before Halloween. And Saturday just happened to be the rainiest, most bitter freezing day so far. Amazingly, we still had several people brave the awful weather (and the ominous marching soldiers patrolling the base for Halloween) to go trick-or-treating. We, on the other hand, decided to go trick-or-treating at the old folks home earlier in the day. We had gotten a special invitation from Jane's school. Jane and Beckham were both doggies for the occassion:)
All the darling old folks were eagerly sitting outside their doors with buckets of candy...it was so darn cute :)
Everyone got a smile and a few good laughs about the two sweet little puppies wandering around :) It made us feel good to see them smile, too!!
Jane and Beckham became experts by the end of the route at saying "trick-or-treat" and "Thanks, happy Halloween!" It was sooooo much fun!! This cute guy gave our kids double treats for being so cute :)
There was clown there as well who made AMAZING balloon creations. Beckham and Jane both got to pick their own colors.
They loved their wands. You can't see it, but Beckham's has a pumpkin on top and Jane's has a heart!!
Jane decided she wanted to wear her new Ariel dress to school on Halloween/Monday for her party and parade!!
Beckham and I were there front and center for Jane in her Halloween parade for school. She was darling :)
After the parade we were able to meet all the kids by the school playground for pictures. Here's Beckham sitting in a swing...aka giving his mama a break from holding him...he is soooooo hefty!!
Here's Beckham hugging his big sis :) such a sweet moment!!! I love my kids!!
Another Halloween come and gone...the first of our Dover Halloween memories!! Life is good!

Halloween...Dover 1st Ward Style!!

One thing I LOOOOOOVE about the church is that it is constant...the same wherever you go. Its nice to know that no matter where you go in the world, there will always be a ward you belong to, people to help you and to be friends with, unchanging gospel principles taught, and most of all...fabulous ward activities to make holidays that much more special!! :)

The Dover 1st Ward threw a mean Halloween Party tonight...Beckham dressed as Frankenstein! He was so cute for the whole 5 seconds he wore his costume...
Jane was THRILLED to finally be able to dress as Snow White...and even wear a little make-up (A rare and special treat!)!!
Here is Jane and her good friend, Brielle, dressed as Ariel and Snow White :)
Ryan and I whipped out our trusty fish hats for costumes. I know, wholeheartedly unexciting, right? Well, we matched our VERY COOL trunk for the "trunk or treat" so our lack of effort in the costume area is forgiven...
The young men and women did the thriller for us!! It was darling :)
They even had various games for the kids. Here is Jane doing a doughnut eating contest. I knew she would be good at this...she is an expert treat eater ;)
Here is the inside of our "under the sea" themed trunk...to match our hats!
This was what the kids had to walk behind in order to get to the TREATS!! Everyone loved it :)
This was my favorite trunk. The van was the "Monstro, the whale" and they were Gepetto, the good fairy, and their baby boy was Pinocchio...so cute!!
We had ALOT of fun tonight!! Thankyou Dover 1st Ward, thankyou!!

If You Give Ryan a Rope...

...he may want to start some mischief. He might even decide it would be funny to tie his two kids together...just to see what happens.
They may try to go in different directions and start pulling each other around.
At first, they might think this is fun and hilarious.
However eventually the kids might start to get frustrated and mad.
They may even start to scream...
So, Ryan will probably have to untie his kids and let them go. However, once Ryan has a free rope, he's probably going to use it again to make some more mischeif...

Never a dull moment... :)