Holiday Cookies

I've really been looking forward to the Christmas season this year because Jovin is now old enough to understand (to and extent) what is going on with the birth of Jesus, giving presents, Christmas lights, and Santa Claus.
One of my favorite things I loved doing with my mom during the holiday season was making Christmas sugar cookies. We'd roll out the dough and cut out the shapes of snowmen, candy canes, and Christmas trees. Then we'd decorate them with frosting and sprinkles. That is a memory I wanted my boys to have during the Christmas season too.


So the other night I got ambitious and we made some dough and I taught Jovin how to roll the dough with a rolling pin and to use the flour so it won't stick to the table or rolling pin. He really enjoyed using the cookie cutters. And got carried way with the flour.


When I turned my back to put another batch in the oven Jovin was going to town with the dough. He was also really sneaky at eating the dough. Little stinker... :)
It was a lot of fun, for me at least, and I hope that it is a tradition that I can keep doing every year.

Christmas Decorations

Well last night we finally got out the Christmas decorations. We put the tree in an area where Jovin can't knock it over and also can't pull everything off of it. It was also the only place we could fit it in our living room without it taking up the open area for the boys to play.

Jovin was a little scared at first to put the ornaments on the tree.

Jovin did finally get the idea of what was going on so he then got excited to put the ornaments on. Mayer is just watching from a distance.

Jovin doing the ornament all by himself.

Mayer and Jovin in Mickey Santa hats being cute!

What decade is it??

I never thought I'd see the day when my husband would sport a 3 inch fro, and my son a 2 inch fro.

Apparently last night while I was at a youth conference fireside Jovin got a hold of my hair brush and both him and Cory brushed their hair out... nice huh?

Autumn Camping

We went to Tonto National Forest Friday and went camping with our friends. We got there around 5:30pm and set up camp. We ate dinner and played games. On our last camping trip we shared a bed with Jovin. Since I didn't sleep well then I decided that it was time for Jovin to have his own bed and sleeping bag. Well it got really cold at night, the boys were layered up in pajamas, but by morning Jovin was in the sleeping bag with Cory, and I was in Jovin's sleeping bag with Mayer.



In the morning we had breakfast and Jovin decided that he just wanted to play in the dirt and get really dirty.


We went on little hikes and saw all the beautiful colors on the trees. It was great, we don't see the leaves change colors in Phoenix... everything is brown and green all year round.

Halloween 2007

Well Happy Halloween everyone!! It was a crazy day yesterday, but we survived! This year Jovin was Woody from Toy Story, and Mayer was Eeyore... I love recycling costumes!!!



Jovin really enjoyed carving the pumpkin... sorry no pictures of that. I then made a chili for dinner that night in which only one person ate. That was okay cause I put the beans in too soon and they were really mushy.
We got to the "trunk-or-treat" early to help set up since I am now on the activities committee. I had two booths to help set up since I am also in the Young Women's. Jovin basically ran around the softball field, and Cory pushed Mayer in the stroller while I helped set up. Things were kind of nuts after that. I really didn't get to do much with Cory and the boys since I was helping with all the booths. Cory and I didn't even get a chance to eat dinner. Well the boys at some point got really fussy so Cory threw them in the van and drove around the block until it was about time for the actual "trunk-or-treat".


Since the back of our van is still smashed and we can't open our trunk. Cory and Mayer stood next to our friends at their van with our candy to pass out.(btw: Cory was rear ended about 2 weeks ago. He's okay but our van is smashed in the back and we are still waiting to get it fixed!)


I took Jovin around and he was SO cute! He said "Trick-or-Treat" at every trunk, and told them "Thank You" before we would move on to the next. He really didn't need much prompting from me. Once his pumpkin was getting full of candy he wanted more... We finally helped clean up and headed home. It was a long 2 hours for me. Jovin had a lot of fun, I'm not so sure about Cory and Mayer...


OH! Jovin also won the ward for Best Classic Costume!

The Ways of a Toddler

So last night we were having frozen pizza and garlic bread for dinner. A meal that we have at least once a week. Jovin is a very picky eater. It drives me crazy! So this time just like other nights Jovin picked at his food, not eating a bite, and was ready to skip dinner again until Cory brought the warm garlic bread over. Jovin got all excited and was reaching across the table to snag a slice of garlic bread, while yelling, “Garick Bread!”, over and over.
Now Jovin knows the word “please”. He knows how and when to use it. Believe me I know he knows how to use it properly. But, I usually tell him as a reminder “How do you ask nicely?” and that will usually prompt him to say “please” or in Jovin’s slur it sounds like “cheese” or “pees”. Well this time it was not working. He then proceeded to say “I NEED THAT!!” Jovin has NEVER said the word need or want. So we were taken aback just a little and laughed at his demand.
So Cory tried, “Say the magic word…”,so Jovin looked at Cory and said “magic word” and held his hand out for a slice of garlic bread. Cory then jokingly replied “Okay smart butt, how do you ask for something nicely?” I then proceeded, while laughing, to help Jovin more by actually saying the word “please” out loud. Which in turn got the correct answer from Jovin and he then got his much desired slice of warm garlic bread. Although, after that when Jovin would hold out his hand reaching for another slice of garlic bread either Cory or I would say “what do you say?” and Jovin would reply with “I NEED THAT!” or “magic word”.
He’s still learning and so are we…

The Killllpaaaacks...

We have joined in and Simpsonized our faimly. I've wanted a new family picture... I guess this will have to do for now. :^)

Thanks Holly and Chad for the idea.

Man at Work

So, two Friday's ago our toilet decided to break! (Crap!) So we went the weekend having to manually flush the toilet... (Nice, right?) Luckily Cory has some great connections at work and got us a new, free, efficient toilet. So, last Monday he put on his "Mr. Fix-it" hat and put in a new toilet! He did a GREAT job. The new toilet is pretty cool there are two buttons on the top to flush the toilet. One flush for a light duty, and another flush for a heavy duty.

Cory and the broken toilet.
Cory with a hole in the floor. (the broken toilet is in the tub in the back ground)
Cory showing me how to use the new toilet. (Just kidding, he is putting pressure on the seat so the plumber putty will seal the toilet to the tile.)
Cory laughing at my joke in the previous picture about to use the toilet that way.
A proud Cory standing next to the done deal! And it only took about 6 hours to do.

Nothing Much

Well it has been a long while since we have posted anything. That might just be because not a whole lot has been going on with us.

Although, about a week ago Cory went on a business trip to Wisconsin for 3 days. Man, those were a long three days for me. The whole time Jovin kept crying for Cory, I couldn't sleep without Cory there, and the boys woke up at 5 am both mornings that he was gone. Let's just say we were VERY happy to have Cory come home on Friday. Cory had a lot of fun on his trip though, steak dinners, golfing, a room and bed to himself... you know fun!

I have been playing on our ward softball team. It has been a lot of fun. I'm not the best player, as in I can't hit the ball, but I can throw and catch. At practice the other night I caught the softball with my face. My chin was only bruised for a few days. We had a game the other night and Cory came with the boys to watch and support me, but we had a really bad wind and rain storm so the game was cancelled half way through. It is fun to play down here. We play in the evenings so it is cooler, you know 90 degrees instead of 100, and we play under the lights. It's a lot of fun. It's nice of the Elders to let the Sisters play with them even though we aren't the best.

Well, here are some pictures from the past few weeks of some things that have been happening with our little family...

Mayer was a little put off that I was interrupting his phone call the other day.

This is what happens when you leave a two year old alone for two minutes to go change another siblings diaper.

Two cute boys playing peak-a-boo before bath time.

Picture Time

We went to go and get the boys pictures taken today. Yea! Exciting huh?!?! (Yeah, right!) We just wanted one photo with both of the boys. So we bought matching shirts and we were all ready to go and as soon as we put Mayer in Jovin's lap he freaked out! We tried sitting Mayer next to Jovin and he wouldn't have anything to do with it. So we then decided to have their pictures taken separately. Not what I wanted, but as I am quickly and still learning... I'm NOT the boss. They boys are. We had a pretty hard time just getting Jovin to take a good picture. He was obviously not in the mood to do this today. Mayer did okay. I think the guy that took the pictures wasn't in the mood for two moody little boys today either... He kind of had an attitude. But it's done! We finally have updated pictures of the boys and LUCKILY they are both smiling in the pictures.

Ward Campout

Friday and Saturday we went on our ward camp out. It was a lot of fun. Frustrating at times, but fun. We went to Payson, Arizona. It was about a 2 hour drive to get to the campsite from our house. When we got there the other families came and helped set up our tent. Then Jovin decorated a "family flag".

The Family Flag
Jovin took Cory on a nice little hike up the nearest hill/mountain. (in flip-flops) It got dark and the kids were entertaining Jovin with all their flashlights. They thought it was fun because Jovin would chases the light on the ground like a cat does. Cory made a fire and I got the boys to bed and we stayed up talking with our ward. We have some pretty funny people in our ward.

The sun and the boys were up pretty early Saturday. We did breakfast and then we broke camp and headed on our 2 hour drive home.

Mayer bright eyed at 6 am
Cory & Jovin at 6 am

Cuteness

So not a lot is going on with us lately. It is monsoon season here and it is pretty humid outside. After not watering the lawn for a week and a half while we were on vacation our lawn literally died. But with all the rain from the monsoons it is nice and green again.


Jovin playing in the sprinkler with his golf club the one night we have had to water the lawn in two weeks.

Mayer laughing and being cute as ever.
Jovin spinning around to "ring around the rosie"

Summer Utah Trip (post 3)

The last part of our Utah trip was the 4th of July and spending time with my family.

Fireworks
Jovin & Ang doing crafts at Sandy City's 4th of July activities.
Jovin, Cory, Mayer(in stroller), Mom, Dad, (front) Kaylie, and Makayla waiting for the parade to start.
Jovin waiting for the parade.
Mayer asleep during the parade.
Jovin waving the flag at the people in the parade.
We had a very enjoyable trip to Utah. We miss everyone and hope to see you all soon.

Summer Utah Trip (post 2)

Well my next post is about Mayer's blessing. Cory did a great job and it was nice to have family and friends there to share that with us.

Ang, Cory & Mayer (Jovin was taking a much needed nap)
Gracie and Mayer having a baby conversation.
Ryan and Mayer
Joe, Chad, Cory, & Kip enjoying a animated conversation.

Summer Utah Trip (post 1)

Well we've been back for a while but I have been sick so that is why it has taken a while to get things posted. (By-the-way I am feeling MUCH better now.) I'm really not in the mood to journal every day and event so this will be just a lot of pictures.
We went up to Utah mainly for the Killpack Family Reunion.

Anna holding Mayer.
Jovin (2), Mayer (3mo), Abby (3mo), Anna (2) & William (4)
Kristin, Mum, Kip & William eating dinner at the camp out.
Chad playing with his new camera.
Tasha roasting a hot dog.
Preston, Orson & Clayton playing at the campground.
Jovin using the light saber to stab a chipmunk in the bushes...

Well I'm pretty tired now so I'll post the rest of the trip tomorrow or the next day depending on when I get around to it...