A not very merry Christmas for Knox

I know it is just part of the deal when you have boys to have them always get hurt, but man...We have averaged an emergency room visit every six months.  Knox was there four months ago.  It started with Holden swallowing a thumbtack when he was little.  We didn't know he did, we just knew he was choking.  The x-ray was the funniest thing every, it looked like a cartoon.  There was just the most perfect little thumbtack floating in his belly.  And yes he had to poop it out (I kept it)  But we were at our ward party which we both really needed to be there!!! But we have a great ward.  Someone slammed his little finger in the door.  Rye said he had to tear his finger off the hinge.  The door completely shut!  The picture does it no justice.  From the cut down was flat.  But he was fine.  The PA met us at the clinic and tried to make it as easy as possible on the poor little guy, he was in so much pain =(  He decided not to stitch around his finger and just glued and the x-ray looked ok, thank heavens for moldable little baby fingers.   His joints were not even formed yet.  They were only really concerned with his ligaments but he is moving it fine, just mainly sad!
Oh, and I might add this was the second trip for him to see the dr that day!! SAD.

I had my camera to take pictures of santa but got these instead.

Rye kept looking like he was going to cry. 

 I am always the one to take them in, so it was no big deal for me, haha!

 look at that sad swollen face.

 When we got home I layed him on the couch, and went to get his jammies and came back and he was out!

 Rye tried to change him and he was so exhausted he would just keep turning around into the stinkbug!

Holden with santa, someone emailed this to me, happy guy!  We have such a geat ward They took care of him for us.

Rather then that,  things are good.  Thank Heavens for pinterest I got all my gift ideas from there and am done.  Made about two dozen of these bad boys!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

My Cutie'pies

We got our family pictures back, and I quite love them.   I love pictures that show peoples true personalities not just the posed stuff, So I was really exited about these.   I had a hard time choosing my favorites to share, so I am sharing a LOT.  Thanks again Heather Cram =) 

We are dong good. We had a decent thanksgiving considering we were apart. Rye worked and me and the boys went to Rye's aunts and uncles. Everyone was there it was fun! We went to Utah that weekend. Rye's family had a not very good thanksgiving so we went home to have a Re-do thanksgiving with them. I sure love them! And was glad to get to spend a redo thanksgiving with them. I forgot my camera though.

Good news.... We are all the way done Christmas shopping!! Cool, Right? I LOVE Christmas!!

Holden's latest good stuff: Mom: Holden do you want some oatmeal for breakfast?? Holden: Ya, You got it Girlfriend! (He picked that up from Rye)

Deer are "Donkeys"

Jerky is "turkey"

He asked if Rye could be his mom because Rye has boobies to....(rye really liked that one haha)

He tells us all the time he loves us. The most common thing that comes out of his mouth is...."I sure love you mom/Knoxy/dad! I'm gonna keep you forever."

Knox is doing good, he is so handsome and has a huge personality!

Good Investment???

Were the Living scriptures a good investment???

I Think so!!

Before we even had Holden we got a knock at the door from a Living Scriptures salesmen. (you remember those??)  The church history movies.  Anyways, we had them growing up.  We were not aloud to watch TV until 6 pm on Sundays, but we could watch living scriptures.  So I can honestly say I learned and knew these amazing stories from watching these movies, and trust me we all watched them until we moved out!! Last time I went home my 18 year old brother was watching "He has Risen" haha!  So we of course had to purchase them from the salesman.  Rye was a little iffy....But he loves them. Our kids love them.  We have gotten one  a month for 4 years  now!!!  I remember thinking "Oh my gosh, we are going to be paying for these until Holden is 4 years old, what are we getting our selves into!!"  But time flys...holy cow....We have two left!!  People think they are a rip off, but when a  man is talking in your ward and tells about Nephi and your three year old is so exited telling the story to you as the  men tells it, or when you hear him tell a two year old he has a uncle Austin that is a missionary like Ammon, you are so grateful that it ended up being worth it!!  Cuz, them bad boys are pricey.  They wanted to watch one today, and I walked and saw them like this....Which is a huge NoNo.  (sitting on thee table)

So go and get them.  We use them for family home evening all the time.  Tonight we are using the one on pilgrams (William Bradford)

Good Daddy...

About a week ago Rye let us stay home (utah) for a few days.  He had told us he had a surprise for us when we got home.  Rye was at work everyday we were gone (15 hour days) and managed to build a huge sandbox for the boys.  So, if you do the math, he had to drive an hour to get railroad ties from the ranch, build the frame, go out into the middle of nowhere to find sand, shovel it into his truck. (he did have some guys help with that part) and finish the whole thing......He did all this in the nights while we were gone....and I should add he only gets from 4-5 hours of sleep every night, not to mention I know he has a lot going on in his life anyways. Can you say,

good daddy!!

The sand is wet in this picture but when we got home is looked perfect! It is the perfect sandbox sand, and the track hoe riding thing was given to Rye from a nice guy at work, and it is so neat!

We love you Rye. I hope these boys always know how much you love them too.  (Holden is rocking knox, haha even though Knox is almost his size!)

A Sneak peek!

I Love getting my kids' Pictures taken!  Believe it or not so does Rye, I think he likes scrapbooks, blogs, and family pictures more then I do.....or at least he is just super sweet =)  But Heather Cram (Giggles & Grins)  Took our family pictures, she does so good.  And posted our sneek peek, and I am SO exited to see the rest.  You can tell how hectic the shoot was (with my boys) by how spastic they look in the family picture. Heather is a trooper, cuz she made spastic look "GooD"  HAHA!  I think it will make for some good pictures.  I will post the rest when we get them.

October fun!

This was a fun day!  Rye took us on a good ride up the mountain behind their ranch, and it was so PRETTY! Holden rode the whole time by himself.  It was pretty scary a few times to.  But his little horse (cupcake) did so good!  She jumped over 3 or more banks and kept up with the big boys.  She is such a neat horse.  Knox rode by himself a few times to.  He is fearless!  BEAUTIFUL weather lately.  We had 6 inches of snow a few weeks ago to.  We have been good.  It seams as though life can get pretty hard and stressful but it can be so good all at the same time. 

We are exited for the coming Holidays!  What a fun time of year!

 Knox has been a little crazy lately.  His teeth are just coming in and making him miserable!  He has been so clingy.  He actually makes me swaddle him and hold him like a baby.  He never did that even when he was a little baby!  He makes us rap blankets around his head.  We will go all day like that!!  He will find jammies in the clothes hamper and make me tie them snugly around his head!! weirdo!

Holden had a a cookie decorating party.  He is quite the event planner.  He loves having friends.  He has been getting confused with words lately.  For example this morning he came and hopped in bed with us and says  " mom, I hu'wake!  Lets go into the......in the???.....um ....Chicken? and  get some breakfast!!"  (kitchen)  The strangest things come out of his  mouth!                                                                        

Family Trip

We had a great time in Salt Lake.  We  had been wanting to take the kids on a little trip for a while. We headed there on Thursday.  Thursday we stayed in down down salt lake so the boys could ride the train to temple square.  Then Friday we went to the zoo and of course did some shopping!  Saturday we met

Rye's whole family at lagoon.  I loved spending the whole day with them, we had so much fun!!  and of course got our Western picture! I think those outlaws are the cutest boys I have ever seen!  I wanted to be a cow girl but Rye MADE me be the saloon girl....not my chose.  Knox even got to ride a few rides.  Sunday we attended Rye's cousins homecoming (Bronson woods) Then headed to my brothers baby blessing, he lives in down town Salt Lake.  It was great to see everyone from both our families. 

The trip was fun. We bought a new SUV (new to us), and a day before we left we ended up having to take it in to fix something.  So we were stuck in a rental car.  I cant seem to pack anything less then EVERYTHING I think I may need, including two different strollers!! So we literally had stuff stacked on top of us on the way home. And the best part of it all was Holden's  and Knox's singing the whole way there and home.  Knox sang Twinkle twinkle little star, perfectly....with out actually saying one real word!!! it gets old fast, but it's so sweet.  Holden sings songs he thinks he knows....For example, this was probably our favorite.

(Sung in the tune of Mary had a little lamb)

"Mary had a little dinosaur,

Dinosaur, DINOSAUR!

Mary had a little Dinosaur,

Christmas white as snoooowwwww!"

Haha!! I will just leave it at that we will never drive far in a car again, we have out grown it, and we will invest in entertainment for the boys....Holy cow.

I love my family, and am so thankful we get to have each other. Wouldn't change them for anything.

Ryes sister Emily son Kyson, Cassie's little boys, Issac and Noah, Knox, Rye and Ryes mom Deb.

Deb and her littlest babies. Knox, Issac and Holden.

Rye and is brother Zack, doing the...scary ride.

At every Hotel we stayed at Knox had to drive the luggage deal everywhere it went.

Knox, Ashton, Holden, and Brady riding Knox's first ride, it was the only one he cried on.

US lately

I thought I better do a general update of our lives  these days...

-We got a cat...I know I never like them either.  But  our boys LOVE animals and it is better then having to worry about a dog.  Her name is Nana, because that is the only word Knox says, haha.  She has been a really a joy, she even killed a mouse in the garage today!
-Knox feeds himself every meal...He wont even eat a piece of peanut butter bread with out a fork.  He yells "mama!!"  as he points at the fork drawer with a "du" luck on his face.
-Holden is a sweetheart.  He takes such good care of Knox.
-Holden changed his name to Sam...we cant figure out why.   We will ask him something and he will snap at you and say "you mean SAM!"
-Knox still only has 5 teeth. And the fifth comes and goes, it is really weird.  I am glad, I have read that it is healthier to get them later.
-He still wont talk!
-Knox loves to read stories, and I love to read them to him.
-Holden gags at the smell of anything.  DO NOT ever fart in front of him, he will vomit on the spot.  The nicest old lady came by to visit the other day, and she picked him up, and he caught a whiff of her breath.....Talk about embarrassing!! He started gagging and dry heaving right in front of her!  Luckily he didn't say anything.
-We have become faithful family home evening doers, now that Holden is old enough, and it has been so fun.  We have been learning lots.
-We recently had our 4th anniversary!!! I love him more every year....I think that is a great sign!
-Rye turned 24, and has a gray beard, I find it handsome, he HATES it.
-We moved cows with most of Rye's whole family a bit ago.  It was a blast!!!  I got to ride with Knox, and Holden rode all by himself.
-Young men's and women's is going great, we are having a blast.
-We have been enjoying going to town events like football games.
-We have been four wheeling.
-We all had the flu yesterday.....ugh..It's times like those where motherhood is unbearable!! especially when one kid starts vomiting in the kitchen as the other falls and splits his head open (2 inches long) and I cant even stand up without wanting to cry! ....I SURVIVED though, and so did they...rye had it at work =(
-I deleted my facebook and haven't even noticed.  I thought I would miss it.  It's been almost two months.
-I have been obsessed with growing my hair out and I have not touched it for a year!!  I love short hair but I always feel old ladyish when I cut mine.  I grow it out and then I always cut it and hate it!! I have been strong though!!  Rye loves long hair so hopefully I can keep it up.
-I think everyone needs to start blogging more...-Does anybody else love the Allstate commercial with the "mayhem" raccoon guy in the attic, haha! rye and I watch it over and over again!
-We walked outside the other day and both the boys were standing on the tops of their bikes, talk about a proud daddy!

Hope everyone is doing good!

Lets hug

Knox loves to get his hair done. Holden always gets a Mohawk, and Knox usually just gets a comb over, or something, haha. So I gave Knox a mohawk yesterday, and that kid just stared and smiled and kissed himself in the mirror for 10 minutes strait. He kept saying "ew ha la" (ew lala!)

Holden was waking up from his nap, and Knox ran into the room to show off the new dew. Holden is always so sweet and makes a big deal of things Knox is exited about. So I waited around the corner to hear how Holden would react. Then I hear......."Ew Knoxy boey, You Hook so Toot! Aww, you are so cool........Come here......Hets Hug." (lets hug)

Kinda made me laugh! It's always nice when they get along.

24th in Utah!

We had such a GREAT time going to Enterprise for the 24th. What a fun town! My parents knew we would all be home, so they planned a whole week of fun for us. My moms only sister was up with her whole family, and so it was even better. It started friday. We all went on a family date (no kids!) we had a great diner and then hit a movie. Saturday I got up early an ran in the fun run, which went good. I took first in my division. The best part was that my whole family was waiting at the finish line for me. I felt really special! We then went to the parade. The boys loved it!! I love that we get to always sit at my grandma Rhodes house every year. I will miss that some day.
The races went great, the boys loved it! Holden did the money swimming deal to. He thought it was so awesome! I love having Rye at these kinds of events. It is not the same with out him......I love how much he loves those little boys.
After that some of my family went cliff jumping, and then we had a huge barbecue! My mom had a whole swim land set up for the kids, and they loved it!!
The night was still not over. My dad bought a huge amount of HUGE fireworks. So we (and half the town) headed out to our farm to set them off. FUN!
After that Monday we headed out on our annual moyle mammoth (cedar mountain) camping` trip. It rained and rained!! But everyone went but my brother and his wife. They just had a new baby. It was still fun though. Rye and I had to leave early because of work. They are still all up there! What a fun week with the fam though!
This is the most pictures I have ever posted!
Races

The Parade (morning of the 24th)

The Fun Run...

Barbecue with all the family

Rye an Carson thought it would be fun to see who could throw their kid down the slide the fastest!! It was so funny! and the boys loved it!


Doofus's....the things men do to be entertained.

Camping

Rye taking the boys and my cousins on a ride.

Hoager's first fish!! He went fishing with all the men, and Rye said he had never been more proud of Holden. He was such a little trooper!

Holden and sams little girl Bentley. So CUTE!