Halloween 2010

We had a fun Halloween this year. As usual we all got done up in costumes to celebrate. Brenna was Sleeping Beauty this year. I decided to curl her hair so she would look a little different than she does everyday. You see she wears her princess dress ups most of the day, everyday. She was very excited to so trick or treating, even though it was rainy.



Matthew was a monkey this year. A few weeks ago we asked Brenna what she wanted to be for Halloween and she said she wanted to be Dora the Explorer. We weren't too excited to figure out that costume so we suggested she be princess Dora instead. She was excited about that, but wanted Matthew to be Boots the monkey (Dora's sidekick). So we found a monkey costume for him. He was adorable! He got a sucker while we were out trick or treating and he got it all over, but he loved every bit of it.

Brandon was a clown this year. Matthew loved the squeaker on his nose and the bright colors. Mandee was a witch. Matthew kept saying "He he he" whenever he saw my witch hat.



We had fun carving our pumpkins we grew in our garden. They never turned orange so we carved them green. They turned out pretty cute.



Matthew also had a birthday since we last posted. He turned one! We had a fun time celebrating with him. We decorated the kitchen with an "Old McDonald had a Farm" theme. Mandee made a fun cake that everyone had fun eating. Then we played a cute Farm Sound Bingo with everyone. Happy Birthday Matthew!

Summer Highlights

I'm sorry to say that I seem to only get around to updating our blog when my camera gets full of pictures. It is sad but true....so sorry for the long lapse since our last post. I'll work on being better at keeping things up to date. We have had a really fun summer and the kids have had all kinds of adventures and accomplishments. Here is a quick recap of some of our family's summer memories:


This has been what Brenna has looked like (plus or minus the hat) most of the summer. She wears her snow white dress up clothes all day every day. It is hilarious how she has to be wearing every detailed accessory from the earrings to the shoes. She is all girl! She calls her dad "Prince Daddy" and waits with anticipation for him to come home from work every day.


Matthew is growing up so fast. Over the summer he has learned to be on the move! From rolling to scooting and now he manuvers a very fast army crawl. He is all over the place and he is so proud of himself when he can get from room to room.


I taught an art workshop for kids earlier in the summer and we had an art show at the end where all the kids in the class could show their work and have their families come see it. It was really fun. We turned our living room into an art gallery for the afternoon. The students were so proud of all their work.


Every day, without fail, Brenna will ask me "Mommy, can we have a picnic?" It is one of her favorite summer pastimes. We have been going on picnics a lot this summer. I'm not sure why she loves them so much. I have a hunch it has something to do with an episode of Dora the Explorer she watched.


While Brandon was on a big campout with the Young Men in our ward, I took the kids up to Idaho for a quick trip to see Grandma. We had lots of fun looking at the horses and helping Grandma in her garden. We even went to Shoshone Falls for....you guessed it, a picnic! It was a fun trip, although I don't think I will try driving 4 hours with two toddlers on my own again. It was pretty crazy.



We spent the 4th of July watching fireworks at the USU stadium. Brandon's parents came up to visit and then we went down to their house the next day. At the stadium there was a big airplane that did a fly over before the fireworks show and it really made an impression on Brenna. She has been talking about airplanes all summer long. She even prays for airplanes and fireworks in her prayers. Matthew handled his first fireworks show pretty well. He loved it for the first 5 minutes and then he fell asleep through the rest of the show. We couldn't believe he could sleep through all the noise.



Here are some pics of a quick day trip we took up to Bear Lake with our family. Brenna loved playing in the sand and Matthew got so excited bouncing in the shallow water in his inner tube. It was a fun day at the beach. We love the lake.



We took a trip up to Idaho Falls to visit Brandon's sister, Krystal, and her family. Brenna had a blast with her cousin Rachel and it was a fun getaway for us. While we were there we went to BEAR WORLD! It is the place outside of Rexburg where they have bears that roam free around your cars as you drive through the park, kinda like Yellowstone used to be I guess. It was amazing. They also had an area with children's rides and a petting zoo with goats and deer. When Brenna saw the goats she walked up to one and said, "Hello Billy Goat's Gruff!" We had a fun time.

Top 10 Things We've Done in 2010 So Far

Sorry that it has been forever since our last post. Life has been very full for us lately. Day after day I think to myself, "I am going to put that on the blog today," and then I never get to it and suddenly it has been five months. Wow! Time is such a crazy thing. We have had one thing after another, project after project, and I am ready for the summer to come and all these big projects to be done. So to give a recap of the year so far here is a top ten list of what has been happening here at the Monsons!

#10 SWINGING INTO SPRING
We are so glad the weather is getting slightly warmer. Every chance we get we are outside in the sunshine. We have a swing set in our backyard and both Brenna and Matthew love to swing on it.



#9 ART CLASSES
I have been teaching a weekly art class to some little girls in my neighborhood since January. It has been so fun to plan art projects for them and see their creativity blossom. It is nice to be able to use my college degree a little bit. I am planning on teaching some art workshops this summer too.

#8 WORKING OUT MY GREEN THUMB
So I have this dream of becoming a master gardener someday. This is my first year really jumping into gardening and it has been really fun so far. We have an area in our backyard that used to be a dog run that we decided to turn into a garden. My dad came down and helped us put in some garden boxes and till up everything. I have planted our early crops out there and just pray that something will grow successfully. I also have started some flower seeds indoors to put in the yard later in the spring. It has been fun watching them all peak up through the dirt and grow. I am gaining new appreciation of the "faith is like a seed" idea. What a miracle life is, even in the smallest seed.


#7 EASTER AT CEDAR HILLS
We went down to spend Easter with Brandon's whole family. We enjoyed watching General Conference together and we dyed some Easter eggs and sent Brenna and her cousin Rachel on an Easter egg hunt outside. It was lots of fun.



#6 EXTREME HOME MAKEOVER
Probably the biggest thing that we have had going on is home improvements. We put our homebuyer tax credit to good use and gave our house a makeover. We had vinyl siding put up on the entire outside and replaced the old rickety garage door with a new white one. We put in a new white vinyl fence in the yard and we got the city to come and fix our sidewalk too. We also got new countertops in the kitchen and bathroom. It has been crazy around here, but it is so wonderful to have the house so improved. We love it! Home sweet home is even sweeter! After almost a solid year of projects we are finally done with all the big ones for awhile.



#5 PLAY, PLAY, DANCE, PLAY
Brenna spends her days constantly singing and dancing. She has a keyboard that you can set to play piano renditions of popular songs. Brenna has figured it all out and turns it on and off at least 10 times a day. The keyboard music seems to have become the soundtrack to our lives lately. The first song that comes on is "How deep is your love" by the Beegees. Who knew I would come to know that song so well?




#4 BIG BABY BOY
Matthew has reached some milestones in the past few months. He can roll over really well and is eating solid foods now like cereal and baby food. He loves to eat. People keep joking with me asking "Aren't you feeding that boy? He looks like he is starving!" Haha! He is as cute and chubby as can be and we are so happy that he is so healthy. Now if only his hunger for constant undivided attention could be quenched life would be great!



#3 GO AGGIES!
We took the family to an Aggie Basketball Game. It was so fun to be back in the Spectrum. There is nothing else in the world like those games. Brenna loved it. She cheered and put her hands up in the air for the free throws and would say "Whoosh" along with the thousands of other fans. Matthew on the other hand did not have a good time. He hated the noise and would cry every time it got loud. We will bring ear plugs next time for him.


#2 VALENTINES DAY GETAWAY
We took a trip up to Idaho for Valentines Day. Brandon and I went up to Boise for a getaway and left Brenna and Matthew at my mom's house overnight. We stayed in a really nice suite and went to this amazing Italian restaurant and a movie. It was just what we needed. We felt so relaxed and rejuvinated and l loved spending a little time away from the kids with my sweetheart. Brenna had fun making sugar cookies with her Grandma Nilson.



#1 SLEDDING 101
We took Brenna sledding for the first time for my birthday back in January. We all laughed and giggled every time we went down the hill. Brenna would say "Again, again..." every time we reached to bottom. It was nice to enjoy the snow for a change. Winter just never seemed to end up here.

Happy Birthday Brenna!

Hooray! Brenna is two today! We love her so much and can't believe how much she has grown up! We are excited to celebrate today with her. We started the day out with some birthday Mickey Mouse pancakes and plan on playing with her new kitchen playset and going out for pizza tonight! Brenna's new favorite movie is Finding Nemo so we made her a Nemo cake. She loves it!!!
Happy Birthday Sweetheart! We love you!




Here is a look at our Christmas! We enjoyed the holiday here at home this year. Grandma Nilson, Grandpa Nilson, and Aunt Kati spent Christmas here with us. Brenna was excited for Santa to come. I don't know if she fully understood who he was but she says "presents, candy, and toys" whenever we talk about Santa Claus.
It was fun to see the wonder in Brenna's eyes on Christmas morning. She was so cute as she opened each present. Her unwrapping skills have improved greatly from last year so she had a blast tearing paper and discovering what was inside. She was so excited by each gift and we all were very entertained by her all morning.



It was a very Merry Christmas!