Happy Birthday Jeff!

Happy Birthday to my sweetheart!
xoxox

Christmas Day

The kids got up at a very decent time, 7:30 am, which allowed me time to get the cinnamon rolls and breakfast pizza made before things got crazy.  The kids waited very patiently for Grandma and Grandpa Litton and Jill and Justin to arrive.

The present opening frenzy begins!

Madison was so happy to get a sleep mask.

Aunt Jill entertained us with live music.

Jill and Justin made good use of Ashton's new quilt.

Grandpa Kenny and Grandma Jeanne (who unfortunately we didn't get a picture of) visited us that afternoon.  We had a great Christmas!

Madison's tent

Bailee's tent

The girls have really enjoyed the tents and toys they received.

Ash and I playing with his new toys.

Rockin' around the Christmas tree.

Christmas Weekend

 Grandpa Rust was the only one paying any attention to the camera.

This was the beginning of our Christmas weekend, The Rust Family Christmas Party.  Ashton and I almost didn't make it.  He had vomited a few times Friday morning, I thought for sure he had a stomach virus.  After his nap he felt much better and we were able to go.  We went to Falcon's Ledge this year.  Although, I kept wanting to call it Pelican Brief, which is a movie starring Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts.  Jeff was excited that they might be there.  Much to his dismay, they weren't. ;)

Ashton was the youngest child and therefore the first one to get to open the "kids" gifts.  He had fun shaking the maraca!  We really liked the lodge other than it being fffreezing cold there and having to hike to the parking area, brrrr!

We had dinner on Christmas Eve with my parents.  I made Stromboli and EVERYONE liked it, yay!

The 3 amigos in their brand new Christmas pj's.

Madison read us Twas the Night Before Christmas and The Christmas Story.  She did a great job!

Ashton's Birthday Party

We went to Chili's for Ashton's birthday lunch.  He had a grand time there.  He was in a great mood!

Jill, Bailee, and Jeff = part of the lunch birthday party, party.

Carrie, Madison, Susan and Bob = the rest of the lunch birthday party, party.

The Birthday Boy and his daddy!

Opening his gifts

Chewing on his gifts,

and now, chewing on his cake, it was yummy!

Madison and Bailee enjoyed it.  Finger-licking good!

Ashton playing with a new toy with Grandma and Grandpa.  I must say it is fun playing with boy toys. Trucks and cars and all that fun stuff!

It's About Time

My cute little reindeer boy.

Yippy, I finally figured out how to upload our photos from the camera.  It was really tough, ;)  I plugged the camera into the tower via the usb cord and viola, an uploading we went.  It was the cameras photo viewing program that had been causing all the problems, so I bypassed it.  Pretty boring eh? Let's move on.

Here we were, way back on Dec. 10th (2011).  We had a family Christmas party at Jeff's parents house and a little party for Ashton too.  He's enjoying his cake in this photo, he sure has a sweet tooth.  Too bad my hand is blocking the birthday boys face.

I just love the gift bag on Jeff's dad's (Ken's) head! 

After the party, we headed down to Riverwoods in Provo to see Santa.  He's a sweet Santa.

This was Ashton's first time seeing Old St. Nick, and he wasn't scared a bit.  Yay!

Kisses of Christmas Past?

Three days till our annual Rust family Christmas party.  This dandy of a photo was taken a few years ago by my cousin, Daisy.  It's a picture of Bailee on the right, being smooched by my cousin Brynlee at the Christmas party.  Wowza!! I love how my aunt Ginger is assisting in the smooch :-O  (There must be some mistletoe hung above them!)



(Sorry for the small photo, I lose picture quality when I enlarge it) :)

Dashboard Confessionals

Isn't it nice when a pretty little rock ballad has a pretty little lead singer to go along with it? 

(Stolen)

I'm Obsessed...

with the scent of pine, real pine.

We went to Lowes yesterday and I bought this wreath and the garland above.  Love em!  They smell wonderful!  And the bonus was, they were on sale plus I got an additional 30% off. 

Our three trees.  We've had some issues this year with lights not working as you can see on the tree on the left, half the strand works and half doesn't.  Sorry folks, I'm not restringing new lights and redecorating the tree (again).  We also had some falling trees, timber!  The red and white one fell over at least 4 or 5 times, due to children and wobbliness.  We shifted the trees around and solved the problems, whew!

Ashton is One!

Happy Birthday Ashton!
(12-15-2010)

 About this time,

 one year ago today,

 you came into this world,

 and joined our family.

 You're been a joy ever since.  We all love you sooo much!!  Happy first birthday!

My Favorite Time of Year

We had a nice family home evening lesson last week.  The only bad part was that Jeff wasn't here with us, he was away working.  We missed him, as always.  He works so hard for our family.  We are very blessed to have such a wonderful father and husband to take care of us.  We watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas, which I haven't seen in years.  The movie captured Madison's attention (Bailee's not so much, but a little bit :).  After the movie we bore our testimonies.  Madison went first and began bearing her testimony, she got emotional right away, saying that she misses Jesus and wants to see him again.  She cried for a little bit so I hugged her until she calmed down.  I explained to her that we'll see him again one day, but right now is our time to be on earth to learn and grow.  I told her that's why we read the scriptures, go to church & the temple and pray, so that we can feel close to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  I'm thankful that Madison, at this young age, already has a testimony of and love for our Redeemer, Jesus Christ and for our Father in Heaven. 

Tonight for fhe, I'm hoping we're able to reenact The Nativity, as a family.  Madison had requested this, and this thought had already crossed my mind.  I'd better go get working on it. 

~~

There are so many Christmas songs I love.  I especially love the last verse of this song.

Away In a Manger

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.
I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle til morning is nigh.

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
And take us to heaven, to live with Thee there.

Silly Kids

Ashton's cute little teeth remind me of Santa's.-->

Earlier today, Bailee told us she'd styled Ashton's hair. We noticed there was something in it, like hair gel, but she wouldn't tell us what she'd used.  Jeff smelled it and exclaimed, "It smells like Christmas!"  Hmmm, I thought, what could it be and we'd better get it washed out quickly so it doesn't harm Ash.  I smelled Ashton's hair and discovered it was peppermint lotion from Avon.  We were glad that's all it was. 

I remember when I was little and my cousins were over at our house.  We were playing in my bedroom and we (mostly me)decided to have some fun with my cousin's hair.  We put lotion and powder in Brandt's hair.  He had curly hair, which made it even more fun to moosh the products into.  He was such a good sport, as were our parents.  My aunt and uncle handled it well, but I doubt they were thrilled to have to go home and try to wash that out.  I guess Bailee comes by it naturally!

The Coo Coo Clock

Bailee loves coo coo clocks.  I decided to order this one from Avon.  She likes it when the bird, or Santa in this case, pops out and says, "Coo coo, coo coo!"  She told me she likes it when it scares her.  Well, that it did, it made all of us jump.  I haven't figured out yet what Santa is saying as he peeps out, I've been too startled to pay attention.  Last night when I was in bed I heard a noise, I thought it was one of the kids coughing or talking (they'd been asleep for a little bit) but no, it was the clock going off on the other side of the house.  I grudgingly got out of bed, sad to leave my warm flannel sheets, and moved the clock into the bathroom and closed the door.  I think the clock must be mad or pouting today because it hasn't gone off on the hours.  It will be 10 o'clock here in about 15 minutes.  I wonder if it will coo coo this time?  I'll have to play mama fix-it if it doesn't. 

Mr. Darcy

Jeff's been asking me what I want for Christmas.  We're just doing stockings for each other, as usual, since we don't need much.  I told him I'd like the movie Pride & Prejudice.  We saw it on tv over Thanksgiving break when we were at my parents home.  I sat on his lap in the recliner and we watched the last 20 minutes of it.  Great movie! 

One of my favorite scenes.  Isn't he romantic?!  hee hee!

Mom Jeans!

We were recently boxing and bagging up some items to take to Deseret Industries.  Jeff saw a pair of my jeans in the pile and asked why I was giving them away.  I apologetically told him that they were a pair that he'd given to me (yikes!) a few years ago.  I told him they were "mom jeans" and put them on so he could see what I was talking about.  I modeled the mom jeans for him and we had a good laugh!  "Mom jeans, mom jeans."

When The Stars Go Blue

Great Song!!

She Blinded Me with Science....

Well, not really science, more like technology.  Bad news...there might not be any family photos on this post. ;)  We got us a new computer, yippy yay yay yahoooo!  It's so much faster and cooler, I love it!  I'm still setting it up how we like it, which includes reinstalling the photo stuff.  I'm the geek at our house, I get to set up most of the electronics.  I'm also pretty good with directions (my nickname in the car is Navigator) and I don't enjoy endless shopping (in other words I'm a man!!) .  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy getting new things, clothes, jewelry, etc., within reason, but too much browsing/shopping wears me out!  There's me in a nutshell! ;)  Well, some of me.  It's weird talking about myself.  Enough.

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(I found a family photo) Us playing in the snow a couple of winters ago.  Jeff made the snow cave, Madison's in the cave and I'm on it. 

What's going on around the Redford home???  Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!  Ashton's 1st Birthday is also coming up on the 15th and Jeff's Birthday is on the 29th.  December is a very busy month!

I L-O-V-E my snowflake flannel sheets!  I can't wait for bedtime.

Thanksgiving Part Deux

This photo was taken in June, 2008

The morning after Thanksgiving (black Friday, blah!), Jeff and I went to the temple.  I renamed it "White Friday" for us.  I love the Timpanogos Temple.  It was the temple we were sealed in and the one we've frequented the most.  I was so tired, Ashton does not sleep well away from home, we're up 3-5 times every night, thankfully he's goes back to sleep quickly.  Anyway, so I was tired and when we got to the temple Jeff realized he'd forgotten his wallet which contains his temple recommend.  Thankfully the temple workers help out forgetful souls and we were able to go in.  We had a wonderful time there!  I love the temple!!! 

After the temple, we went back to my parents house and picked up the kids.  We were so grateful to my family for watching the kids so we could go.  We picked up the kids and went to eat lunch at Macaroni Grill.  I really like the food and atmosphere there.  Unfortunately, the items I order  keep getting changed or removed from the menu, it was still good though.  Bailee loved the chicken, which was awesome!  And Jeff ordered his usual, Chicken Marsala.  We had a great time there!

After lunch we went to the Provo Beach Resort, which is lots of fun!  It's located in Riverwoods along with Macaroni Grill (and lots of other places), very convenient!  The girls love riding the carousel, it's so pretty! 

Like I said, so pretty!

There are lots of activities and things to do at the beach resort.  Jeff and Madison, the brave souls they are, went on this ropes course.  They did sooo good, especially Madison!  I'm glad she didn't inherit my fear of heights.  It was so neat to watch them.

Ashton looking up at Jeff while he was on the ropes.

He was right above us.  His legs were sure shimmyin' and shakin' on parts of the course.  If it were me up there, I would have been crying. 

Our annual gingerbread houses.  This year we opted for the pre assembled ones!

We didn't participate in Black Friday in the wee morning hours but we did go later that evening after Ashton and I got refreshed with a nap.  We upgraded a few of our electronics.