Happy Birthday Jacob!

We celebrated Jacob's 2nd birthday yesterday. And there are a lot of pictures because I wanted to show my mom/family who couldn't make it. We had a great time. We love having Jacob in our family and we can't believe that he is 2! He loves Elmo a lot so I decided to do a Sesame Street party. I didn't start working on it until Friday morning (actually working on it, I had been thinking about it for about a week)...I really need to learn how to not procrastinate :). Jeana was my right hand lady and I couldn't have pulled the party off without her. Thanks for ALL your help! We had a small friends & cousins party to start the afternoon off with the Miles, Murphys, Birds, and Williams. Following that we had a family dinner with Papa Kim, Grandma Cyndi, Grandpa Brad, Shawn & Jackson, Heath, Brittiani, Rob, Jeana, Brooke, Kate, and Halle (I am lacking in pictures with everyone.)

Uncle Heath loves Utah, and is starting Jacob out early on the right track. We will have to remedy that before to long :).
(Just kidding, I think Utah is great...as well as BYU.)

Here is a picture of Jacob blowing out his candles. Jeana and I attempted our first fondant cake...and this is what we ended up with! (It was really fun to work with marshmallow fondant...we need a lot more practice but it turned out so-so...nothing like the picture I had that we were trying to mimic (I had really high expectations for us) ...but it was okay.)

All the cousins...(minus Halle)

Kate and Jake eating the marshmallow fondant circles. These two are such good buddies.

A family picture.

Jacob opening up his presents with his brother's help.
A group shot of the friends & cousins party!
All the kids playing with balloons at the very end of the party.

The following pictures are of the decorations. It was a lot of fun making these things. If you are ever in the need for some Sesame Street themed decorations let me know, I have some :).
A picture of the cake table.

I made some Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes. I loved how they turned out! I should have just made these and forgone the cake :).
Nick was such a trooper...he colored the posters that are on this back wall. They turned out fantastic! A lot of people might not know this, but Nick is great at coloring.
We played 4 different games around the characters...
Cookie Monster--We helped him find all of his cookies (like an Easter egg hunt, and then the kids could eat the cookies.)

Elmo--We pinned the nose on Elmo.
And I just deleted a picture of Big Bird...Big Bird was sitting on a bunch of pillows and we played musical chairs with all his pillows (feathers). I foresaw this going one of two ways...perfect or kids running into each other and getting hurt. It went more of the later way).
And last but not least we threw trash at Oscar...(like a bean bag toss.)
Here is a sign that you saw as you came in to our house. The poster on the adjacent wall said "this party was sponsored by the letter "J" and the number "2".
We brought the characters upstairs for the dinner.
The taco bar...
And this awesome Elmo veggie platter (thanks Jeana for making it.) Jacob wasn't feeling well until about 7 pm...but it was such a fun night, thanks for everyone coming!
Here are a couple things about Jacob --
* He loves Elmo.
* He loves Thomas the train
* He won't sit down at the table, he always is standing up to eat. This is something we are working on.
* He is a very independent boy...he favorite phrase is "I got it!" (he says it in such a cute way.)
*He loves his older brother, Trevor. They are such good friends! (for the most part.)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Oh wait, is Christmas over?!
I didn't get Christmas cards out this year (I didn't do it last year either, I see a trend!) I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas...

and has a happy, awesome, amazing, wonderful 2012!

Love, The Williams

Better Late then Never Part 3...

And finally what we have been up to this month, December...

Dave Ramsey--I was introduced to Dave Ramsey at the beginning of this last year...I had never heard of him, nor what he taught. Then a book club that I am in, decided to read his book, and that is where it all started. My sister told me that she was going to do his 13 week course called "Financial Peace University" and I wanted to do it as well. I signed up and then spent the next 13 Fridays learning how to get financial peace. I loved every minute of it!

When I heard this class was going to be taught, I told a friend in my ward about it. She loves him, and she has always wanted to take his class, so she signed up as well. And if you ever have any questions about Dave Ramsey or what he is teaching, just ask her...it is almost as good as talking to Dave himself!
I just love what Dave Ramsey teaches because it isn't anything new, he jut takes good solid financial principles and puts them into easy baby steps! (The pictures were taking from this blog...thanks Kristy.)

My sister Jeana did an advent calender where she had a different activity for each day in December. One of the activities was a tea party and she invited us. We got spiffed up and headed over to her house for a delightful time!

Trevor and Brooke

Jacob

On December 2nd this year, I got a huge surprise... Here is the set-up..Kristy and I carpooled to Financial Peace University every Friday. On this particular Friday, she was driving. On the way home from the class she wondered if we could stop by a friends house and see some of their home improvements...I said sure, that would be great (I just loved seeing their new wood floors.) We got to their door and I knocked, when the door was opened we just kind of stood their and then I heard "surprise!" It was a surprise birthday party for me! I was 100% surprised, I had no idea! As I stood there shocked, amazing, overwhelmed...I got another surprise--

this toy kitchen!!!! I was screaming, amazed, in awe, shocked...I had talked about this toy kitchen for a couple of years, about how I always wanted it--and there it was!!! It was such a fun night of surprises, talking, and fondue! It will be a birthday I always remember!

And the birthday surprises didn't end there...on my actual birthday Jeana came over for dinner and about 5 minutes after they had got there we heard this knock on the door, and when Jeana and I went to get it, this is who was there....

My parents!!! Nick and Rob surprised Jeana and I by flying them into town for dinner! It was such a wonderful surprise to have them here. I hadn't celebrated a birthday with them in over 10 years (I think)!

Here are Jeana and I getting ready to blow out our candles! It is great to be 30!

A couple of days before Christmas we had a kids Christmas party with the Miles and the Murphys! We had such a fun time, we exchanged presents, colored ornaments, and played! Thanks for coming over!

On Christmas Eve morning Papa Kim was visiting and he had to head back to Burley early (he threw out his back) so we opened gifts. He got the boys some sleds...they love them! Now all we need is snow.

He is a picture Christmas morning!

We had a wonderful Christmas. My brother Josh came up from Provo Christmas Eve. And then we had a roast for dinner, read the Christmas story in Luke, and Trevor and Jake got to open one present, a book. Then off to bed it was. Then Christmas morning we woke up, opened presents, had breakfast (monkey bread), went to church, then headed to Provo to spend time with Nick's Family. (The only thing that we couldn't do this year was have Christmas morning breakfast with the Bird's, Jeana had the stomach flu.) I love this time of year and for what the true meaning of Christmas is all about.

Here are two projects I accomplished this December...in about a week (I hate that I procrastinate!) I made Jeana a t-shirt quilt for her birthday (and Christmas).

and I painted these wood pieces for my mom for her Christmas present. The funny story is that I had these in my basement for two years thinking I would do them for myself. Then I decided to give them to my mom for Christmas and I did them in three days...funny what a little motivation can do for a person!

Better Late then Never Part 2....

More posts (still in no particle order, and from very long ago.)

Here is a picture of me headed out the door to go run at Wheeler Farm in the "Kiss Me Dirty" running series...I was excited to go run.

Here is my return picture...I am not that dirty! I was in the first heat and there wasn't much mud yet. I had a friend that was in a later heat and she was covered. I actually tired to get dirty, but this was it!

At the beginning of July, I had a couple of my nieces come to our house for a few days. (Their parents were on trek at Martin's Cove.) We had such a great time, we went to the Church History Museum and then went to a park for a picnic, went to a splash pad, the "Up" house, the aquarium, and had a sleepover in our basement! It was a fun packed couple of days.

We signed Trevor up for his first soccer season this fall! He had a great time, the first game he was following the ball and was really into it. Then he got a little more wandering the next few games, but he still loved every minute and he was on a team with his buddy Max, and one of Jeana's neighbors was his coach. He is looking forward to next time. This is a picture after his first game.

And last, but not least, his first day of preschool picture. He has Ms. Jennifer again, and he loves it!

Better Late then Never...

Here is a blog post, in no particle order, of what we have been up to the last few months....

In October, I took the boys and went up to Idaho for a week. We had a lot of fun hanging out with the cousins. Here we are at a movie, we saw Cars 2. (Well, they did, Jake and I hung out in the foyer.)

We went to a jump house also. With four boys ,who have lots of energy, this place was perfect!

At the end of October, we raked a few leaves in our backyard. Funny story, we didn't have a yard rake so I went to Lowe's to buy one, I came home with 3! I text my sister Jeana (that I bought three) and she replied, you only have one tree! I took two back! I just love this picture of Trev and Jake.

Happy Halloween! This year, we all dressed up as super heroes. It was fun to make these costumes. As I was making them my sewing machine wasn't cooperating so I went to the trusty glue gun (it worked perfectly and was so much faster.) Our shoes/socks are the work of duck tape...you can use it for anything (which you can't see in this picture)!

At the very beginning of December all of my siblings(with some of their spouses) got together at the Twin Falls temple. It was such a neat experience being there with all my family!

Home for Sale in West Jordan...(but not mine.)

My sister who also lives in West Jordan has put her house up for sale. So if anyone knows of someone looking for a great house in a great location tell them to look up this website for more information www.westjordanutahhome.blogspot.com

Family Picture Time!!!

We had family pictures taken last weekend. It was such a fun time. We went up to the mountains, played in the dirt, and roasted marshmallows! Jeana my sister took them! See does such a great job, and I love the pictures she took! Head over to her website to check them out http://www.jeanabirdphotography-blog.com/ . I am also sporting a new hairdo; I cut off about 14 inches a month ago!