Temple Square Lights...

So for FHE (Family Home Evening), we went to see the lights on Temple Square and boy were they pretty. Ashlyn loved the lights and the pretty Christmas trees. But her favorite part, the Nativity scene - especially when they talked about baby Jesus. She didn't want to leave "baby Jesus" so we told her that we would be back - and much more prepared for the cold and I'm not talking about the kiddies (they were very well bundled up), I'm talking about Todd and I. We at least had coats but no gloves and our hands were freezing (thank you Utah winter). Afterwards, we had a little dinner at JB's. It was a nice way to get warmed up and enjoy some family time.

Pretzel Makers!!!

So last year, we had this fabulous idea to do dipped pretzels for Christmas - ya know, the ones that are dipped in caramel and chocolate and more chocolate and more yummy stuff? Well, we were hooked. They were so darn good that we decided to do them again this year. Can I say YUMMO!! And it was so much fun for us girls to get together AGAIN over food.


We dipped the long pretzel sticks in caramel, then chocolate and then we sprinkled some with nuts and with others, we drizzled white chocolate. We also dipped the traditional twisted ones just in chocolate and then drizzled them with butterscotch - VERY, VERY GOOD!! It seems like this will be a tradition of ours - Corrine even commented that maybe we should do 10 lb of caramel rather than the 5 lb we did - all I can say is...that's a whole lotta caramel and a whole lotta pretzels to be made and given away!!

So, to the lucky people that live around me - you'll get to have some and I do hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making AND sampling them!

Just for fun!!

Girls Outing

So my sister-in-laws and I (plus 2 kiddies) went out for lunch - just us girls and it was great fun! I have to say that this was the first time we've done this since babies started coming into the family and it may become a regular occurance. There's something very theraputic about "girl talk" especially when it involves your "sisters." I'm ever grateful for the diversity and positive influence that Alice, Corrine and Stephanie bring to my life. Thank you Alice for getting us all together - let's do lunch again!

Traditions

I've always looked forward to establishing our own family traditions. When I asked Todd what he remembered about his mom during the holidays, he said that his mom always began the Christmas season AFTER Thanksgiving...so after Thanksgiving, we're going to being our Christmas holiday with the placing of a wreath on Grandma Ginny's gravesite. Ashlyn thought this was great fun and I think she sensed the importance of what we were doing. Afterwards, we got our little tree out and Ashlyn helped decorate it with "crackernuts" (nutcrackers) and "star of Bethlehems" as she calls them. She LOVES to sit by the Christmas tree and I can't blame her...I, myself, still find a decorated and lighted Christmas tree fascinating and special.

Are you Blue or are you Red?...

..Todd is "blue" and I'm "crimson red" and I'm not talking about the personality test. I'm talking about the age old rivalry between BYU and Utah Utes (p.s...go Utes!). As always, my family AGAIN got together, this time at my brother's house, to watch the rivalry game held in Provo. And poor Todd, he's the lone BYU fan among us "Utes." But he's a trouper and will stand by his team through thick and thin and that's how the game seemed to be. Well in the end (sadly), BYU won with a last minute (literally speaking) touchdown. But that's o.k., at least I didn't have to go home with a crabby husband....Regardless, next year's game is in Salt Lake and the Utes better win!

So tell me, are you Blue or are you Red?

I am glad for many things....

...anyone know that Primary song? Just learned it last Sunday. Well Thanksgiving was just great! Todd was wonderful to make breakfast for all of us, with a little help from Ashlyn.

And then we packed up the green bean casserole and cranberry-pear chutney and headed off to my parents for a wonderful and very bountiful Thanksgiving dinner. My favorite part is always the bonding we do as a family after such a big meal. The kiddies play, the guys have a hayday with the Wii and XBox 360..we even got the kiddies to play some bowliing on the wii. My cousin Devan would say "Here comes Devan" every time he would throw the bowling bowl down the stretch - too cute!!



The kiddies also had a great time playing "Ring Around The Rosies" with "Uncle Todd" and then hammered on the piano singing Christmas Songs or whatever came into their little minds.




All in all, Thanksgiving was great and I truly am glad for many, many things. We have been given so much and we hope that we as a family will remember all the tender mercies the Lord has shown us.

Shannon Hatch's Bridal Shower

Well a couple of weeks ago, I had quite a surprise when a very dear friend of mine emailed me that I had not heard from in awhile. I got to know Shannon when I was RS Pres in the student ward she was a part of. It was so great to go to her shower and see other "35th Warders" and to remember all the crazy stuff we did. That was an amazing ward and we had such a great group of friends. We could have talked all night about all of the things we did together. Well, congrats Shannon and can't wait to go to your reception!!

(L to R) Robyn (Hostess), Haas with her 2 kids (Lucy, Jade), Rui, Shannon (bride to be), Sherlyn, Myself with my 2 kids.

Such a busy weekend, it was...

Ashlyn and her friend McKenna cooking

I'm so tired. It was a pretty busy weekend...which is pretty abnormal in the Todd and Hyo household. We like our weekends to be low key where we just hang out and take it easy. It all started last Friday. We had our friend's daughter, McKenna, over for a playdate while her mom manned a booth at the Christmas Gift Show held at the Southtowne expo. Ashlyn had so much fun with her. It was great! Later that afternoon, I packed the kids up and headed to the Gift show to meet up with her mom, Marcella, and to just walk around and see what was there. I really thought that I could handle a 6 month old in a bjorn and keep up with 2 girls. Right...McKenna had all the energy in the world and would be running ahead of me while my daughter (who refused to take a nap that day) was DRAGGING her feet 10 feet behind me and all the while she would say "I'm not tired." Oh dear. Well, we finally made it home from the show just in time to get dinner ready.

When Todd came home, I told him that I wanted to go back to the show with my SILs (Sister-in-Laws) the following morning since Marcella would be able to get us all in for free (gotta love that!..thanks Marcella). To my surprise Todd actually wanted to come along (I was planning on taking the kiddies with me so that I can give him some R&R). So off we all went Saturday morning to the Expo center to meet up with Alice, her son Devin and my other SIL Stephanie. It was fun and tiring at the same time. THEN, the DirectTV guy came that afternoon and he didn't leave until 7-ish so Todd stayed home with him while I again packed the kiddies up and headed off to my mom's for a family dinner. Todd later told me what a horrible experience it was to get DirectTV installed downstairs...poor honey...oh, and all the while, we had Melanie (my SIL on Todd's side of the fam) and the kids come for the weekend from WY.

Then on Sunday, we had the Primary Program (I'm the 2nd Counselor). That's always a little stressful but the children were amazing and I was very proud that my daughter of 2 years knew all of the songs to the program - way to go Ashlyn!!..oh..and did I mention that my kids are sick too, especially Ethan-poor dude, he's so miserable. So that's my story. As I'm writing all this, I'm wondering if I'm just being a whimp but really, the weekend was crazy. It was just nonstop. Todd did give me a break Sunday after dinner so that I could take a little nap - thanks honeybuns (hee, hee!!). So that's my story. I'm sure you all probably had a great weekend full of...funn-ness?!?! I guess at the end of the day, it's nice to know that moms are needed everywhere and that our job covers just about every aspect of our kiddies/family's life. I must agree with my SIL Melanie when she says that Heavenly Father has a great appreciation for Mothers. I really needed to hear that.

Pics of Ashlyn and Kyle (sorry Elise and Dallin that I didn't get you in the pics)

Trick or Treat!!

Well this year, we invited my brothers and their fam to go trick or treating with us and the other kiddies in our playgroup. It was fun!! I got Ethan a little something to wear but it got too cold too fast and so he just ended up being bundled up. Ashlyn had a great time going up and knocking on the door with her cousin Devan (dressed as a pirate). But there were a few times when the decorations were all to real and Ashlyn would NOT go anywhere near the door, let alone the house. Thank goodness for a dad that was willing to carry her to the door so that he can have some candy - thanks honey! Afterwards, we went to grandpa and Myrna's home to showoff the costume and to trick or treat :) THEN went to my parents to trick or treat and have pizza. The whole thing was fun but so exhausting. I was totally feeing it today..actually, all of us were feeling it today. Now onto Thanksgiving and Christmas...

The costume is actually a 4T..so she gets to wear it for a couple more years!

Dad carrying Ashlyn because she's scared


Ethan with Aunt Steph

7 Random Things About Me..

..well, my dear friend Erika posted 7 random things about herself on her blogspot and tagged me to do the same...so here I go!

1. I'm a popsicle freak. Love em, especially the blue ones!

2. One of my favorite movies: My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It reminds me of my fam.
3. I can seriously watch the Food Network channel ALL day.
4. I always order chili oil on the side at Chinese Restaurants.
5. I've got 2 toe rings
6. I have Christmas music playing as early as October, my fav: Kurt Bestor Christmas CD's
7. I don't get morning sickness when I'm pregnant.

So now I'm tagging Leslie, Emily, Sarah W. AND Sarah P., Erica J., Lynnsey

It's official...

...we're now a 2 car fam!! But getting to that point was horrendous!!..we walked into the dealership at 3:00 and didn't leave until after 7:00. Ashlyn was very good...so long as she got to sit in the stroller. Poor Ethan was either strapped to his car seat or held by me. But he finally had had it and was just screaching because he was so tired. I almost walked into the sales office with him just to see if it would speed up the whole process. Ashlyn was busy playing in their kiddie play room and had a GREAT time with the toy animals (Note the zebras). Well, we won't be going through the process of buying another car for a LONG, LONG time!

Happy Birthday Dad....from all your kids and grandkids

We just want you to know that your simply amazing. You are always making sure that we're o.k. and always willing to help out with whatever we may be going through. Thank you for your love and for being the best dad ever.

We love you!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

From The Mouth of Babes...

..well, more specifically, from the mouth of Ashlyn. We go through the following dialogue about everyday (note: A is Ashlyn and M is mom):
A) Where's Jesus?
M) In Heaven.
A) Where's Heavenly Father?
M) In Heaven with Jesus.
A) Where's Grandma Ginny?
M) In Heaven.
A) Where's Heaven?

Alright, so she got me there. How am I to explain where heaven is without going into deep doctrine??..SO, the clever mom that I am (not always)I just said: Where Jesus is. Hah!

What Kind of Monster Are You???..

...it's almost Halloween..so..what kind of monster are you?? Apparently, I'm a "witch."

You Are a Witch (or Warlock)

You are deviously brilliant and a perfect manipulator. You somehow always end up getting what you want - without anyone knowing you're working behind the scenes. Crafty and cunning, you can work your way out of any jam. And it's easy for you to get people to do what you want, whether you're working for good or evil. Your greatest power: Mind control Your greatest weakness: Making people your puppets You play well with: Ghosts

What Kind of Monster Are You?

TraskBritt

Good news, good news!! Todd got a call from TraskBritt, an Intellectual Property Law Firm in Salt Lake, with an offer. We are so excited! Up to this point, Todd has been working on Engineering Patents, but now, he'll be able to start doing Biotech/Life Science Patents, which is what his degrees are in. We've waited so long for a break and it has finally come. Thanks to all our friends and family who have helped us along. We couldn't have done it without you and we are truly grateful for such a blessing as this to finally come. Your amazing, dear husband...best wishes!

My daughter...the mother

Ashlyn (my daughter)seriously cracks me up. She is my pride and joy as well as my greatest challenge...and it doesn't help that she's going through the precocious 2's...ugh!! Lately, she's been fascinated with the adult world...."mom's and dad's world." She cleans house (and even asks if she can clean the house), helps change Ethan, cooks (not really), puts her "baby doll" in time out and even "goes to work." She tries to feed me, but I've put my foot down on that one....seriously, how do you tell a 2 year old that she's not 16??? Anyway, here are some pics of her changing her baby doll's poopy (not really) diaper and her taking her baby doll on a walk in her strawberry stroller. I love her!

To blog or not to blog...what a question!!..

After some gentle prodding from a good friend of mine who is a "professional blogger" (thanks Leslie), I have decided to take our family to a more global level by creating a blog page. Hopefully, this will be a way of simply letting you know of "our world": what's up, what's down, what we like, what we don't like and what our hopes and dreams are.