{..we've been good but we can't last..}

Santa Claus is anyone who loves another

and seeks to make them happy; who gives

himself by thought or word or deed in every gift

that he bestows; who shares his joys with those

who are sad; whose hand is never closed against

the needy; whose arm is ever outstretched to aid

the week; whose sympathy is quick and genuine

in time of trouble; who recognizes a comrade

and brother in every man he meets upon life's

common road; who lives his life throughout

the entire year in the Christmas spirit.

EDWIN OSGOOD GROVER

Last night we wrote letters to Santa. Jared thought we were crazy for doing so. "well...we can just call him..." He is SO his father's child. I'm sure there is some hotline you can call, I know for sure you can just email him or stop by the mall..but I like to do things the old fashioned way..the way I did it as a child. Jared wanted to mail him a page from his favorite toy catalog with his selections circled. Again, so his father.

I had him dictate to me what he wanted the letter to say...then helped him write his cute little name.

Ashton got away with just drawing a picture. When I asked what it was the reply came, "a trampoline!". I had no idea.

Christmas is exciting again. I get so much more joy out of watching them light up...their imaginations flourishing..than I ever could fathom. That's all I want for Christmas. Ever.

{The DAM Tour}

Dave and I went to Las Vegas for a business trip last weekend..

{I'm in LOVE...}

With the way my house smells that is! My favorite candle company here in Logan just came out with their own version of warmers and scents to rival Scentsy and I have to say I love it! I got that whole tube for about $5 and I've had that wonderful tube of "Russian Fir and Tangerine" for 3 weeks now, melting in my warmer 24/7 and it's still half full. My house smells SOOOO good!! They are beads instead of bars and if you still want to use a wick you can. For $26 you can get two tubes and a warmer in black, white, or brown. The only drawback is that they don't have nearly as much selection of warmers or scents as Scentsy but I love that it's local and I get to buy directly from the outlet and sometimes the OWNER! You gotta love THAT! I do anyways. Well, 'nuff said. Ashley, OUT!

{I could do this all day}

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{we ELFED ourself}

AHH this made my day..

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{so blessed..}

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,

And you will keep singing as the days go by.

At times I get so caught up in my troubles. I carry the bricks of negativity upon my back.

That's why I'm so grateful for this holiday, not only Thanksgiving, but the entire season that follows. It snaps us out of that mode we all seem to slowly drift into. Our hearts turn towards charity and we begin to see how many others there are that have nothing, and how so very blessed we really are.

I am so blessed.

Not only with the shirt on my back and the roof over my head, but blessed with intangible evidence that I have a purpose, and I don't have to serve it alone.

I am blessed with forgiveness and the Love of Christ.

I am blessed with two little angels who sprinkle my life with love, purity and laughter. dirty faces.

An honorable man by my side, showing me more love than I could ever possibly be worthy of.

freedom.beauty.progression

family. friends. strangers

health. passion. belief

LIFE.

{go, dog, go}

"Grandpas are just antique little boys" ~author unknown

I walked in on this the other day. My heart just about melted.

Words can't even describe how much it means to me that my children get to spend so much one on one time with my Dad.

Leaving behind his legacy. My house is full of empty bullet shells and old metal toolboxes. They tell a story of two boys and their grandpa. It doesn't bother me because I know the stories behind the rusty metal. The tractor rides and the canyon adventures..burning weeds in the backyard and finding treasures in the garage. These are the moments. This is what my boys will remember about their Grandpa. I wouldn't change a thing.

Nope. I wouldn't change a thing.

{3 years ago..something amazing happened}

3 years ago..on November 7th 2006.. Ashton David Hawkes blessed our lives.

7 weeks early, Ashton couldn't wait to grace us with his little presence..and now we can't imagine a day without his spunk and personality sprinkled throughout it. If you don't know Ashton, you are missing out. This kid is insane. He has an imaginary monkey (or is it? some days I wonder) that gets him through every difficult situation, takes the blame, and often causes chaos of mass proportions in our home. What would we do without "Baby Monkey"?

I took Ashton to the doctor for a check up and catch-up on his inoculations last week. WOW. His answer to every question he was asked was either "red" or "blue". "Ashton, how old are you?" "UMM..blue!" "Ashton, what shape is this?" "UMM..RED!" Then when it came time for shots, and the candy that distracts from the shots, he requested a sucker for Baby Monkey. Explain THAT to a nurse.

We love Ashton so much. He keeps us laughing during rougher times, and always has something profound to say. He's smart, he's a genius, he takes EVERYTHING apart and puts it back together again. He WILL NOT be ignored. You ignore him and he will make you regret it with a very loud broken record.

His Birthday party was a lot of fun. He sat in the corner with my Dad (who smuggled in a Mountain Dew specially for Ashton) and ate candy and drank much caffeine. We had a great turnout and he got way too many presents! How did everybody know that he loves monster trucks?

{Halloween}

Halloween weekend was awesome. Friday night we took the boys to a HAUNTED corn maze. Before we went in I explained to Jared that there would be people in there trying to scare him with fake blood and masks and chainsaws but that it is all fake and they can't scare us if we don't let them. It was SO fun! Jared only screamed a few times but once we finally made it out (17 acres!!) he was so proud of himself and let out a big "WOOHOO!!" We're not really sure if Ashton was scared, he had a sucker in his mouth the entire time. After the maze we got brownies and chocolate milk and went home and watched Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed on our 100 inch projector screen. (dave. ya gotta love him)

On Halloween day we went to the mall and trick or treat-ed. Lame. We felt like we were in a herd of cattle and all we got out of it was a handful of tootsie rolls. Seriously. But I think the boys enjoyed seeing all the other kids costumes.

Then we went to my parents house in Portage and the boys played. I cooked hot dogs over a fire for dinner (the kind with cheese in them YUM) and Dave once again worked on his four wheeler.

I took these pictures before we headed out at dusk.

The boys absolutely refused to wear their masks which I was more than ok with. I painted their faces instead, although I'm no Rick Baker!

So my Dad offered to let us take his heated Yamaha Rhino (like a golf cart with 4 wheel drive) out for trick or treating in the sparsely populated town, but I thought we were too tough for that so we put the kids in the stroller instead. We got to the corner and we were already so flippin cold! Needless to say we went back and took my Dad up on his offer! We spent about 2 hours going door to door and got a TON of candy!! Most everybody knows us, since that's the town David grew up in and it's also where we met and lived for a while. Everybody was just dumping candy into the boys bags, inviting us in, we got homemade rootbeer and full sized candy bars. Jared was begging to go home but Ashton couldn't get enough. If sugar's involved, he's all over it. Anyways, it was a blast!

{punkins}

EUW BRAINS!!

{mummies}

Dave had a really bad cold the other day and we needed to give him time to rest and in order to keep the boys quiet I got them into a craft. We cut out little cardboard people and ripped up an old pillow case and made mummies.

{creepy crawly}

Took this picture out at my Dad's house..very halloween appropriate:)

{good times}

Here's a little recap of what we've been up to the last week or so..

The boys and I made cookies together. Let me correct that. The boys made a mess while I made cookies. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Dave and I headed out to Salt Lake for a photoshoot last weekend and alas, the client never showed up. So we had our own little practice session, played around with light..and Dave got sneaky with the camera while I was "reflecting". I look really ticked but I promise I was just contemplative at that moment:)

After that we stopped at my sister Becky's house to say hi and then off to the movies we went. We went to "Paranormal Activity". Dave has been sleeping with the tv on ever since. Wuss.

~

We spent the day out at my parents house in Portage last week. The boys are in heaven at "grandpa with the hummer"s house. We raked funky yellow and green leaves and jumped in them, David worked on his new blue four wheeler and grandma gave wheelbarrow rides. She wouldn't give me one:(

All that beastly hair you see on him is now gone. The man has since shaved his head. It's a little early for midlife crisis if you ask me;)

~

The best thing of all was that Grandpa let Jared drive his tractor and they hauled dirt..just to haul dirt.

~

This is my Dad's precious. He named him/her (I haven't checked) "Meowy". I thought my Dad hated cats until this cutie wandered into his life. Sweetest cat I've ever met.

what are you going as for halloween?

While on a search for an original halloween costume idea, I ran across some pretty funny stuff..

I've seen adult Napoleon and Pedro's but this just brings it to a new level of funny-ness..

And I don't even know what to say about this one..it's almost creepy. My first thought was "wow that's a lot of paint!"

taking a craft break.

It's been a long time since I did a craft so I bought this paper mache pumpkin at Michaels for like $2 and painted it to look vintage. Then I rubbed a light stain over it to give it that old distressed appeal. Isn't it kinda creepy?