"Love" Day

For Valentines Day my sweet husband took me on a trip...we went to Idaho Falls (hahah). Actually we went and stayed in the Destinations Inn theme suites motel. We stayed in the Thailand room and it was so beautiful!! It had a king size bed, chromatherapy champagne bubbler tub, aromatherapy steam shower, and stereo projection screen TV. It was beautiful, check it out here. We met up in Idaho Falls and picked up food from The Hong Kong. It was so yummy. When we got checked in we received sparkling cider and cheescake--yum! We enjoyed the night ALONE! :) The next morning we woke up to cinnomon rolls, yogurt parfaits and juice.

Thank you , thank you to My wonderful parents who came and stayed at our house overnight. I loved every minute of it, but I did miss my kids. It was the first time to ever go away and be alone in 3 years. We watched Fireproof (click here for the trailer). It was such a good show and made me appreciate so many things in my life, especially my husband.

Ben is such a wonderful man and I am so lucky to be is "bride". He always thinks of me and wants the best for our family. Not only did he take me overnight somewhere, but he also did everything for me all weekend long. He cleaned, took care of the kids, let me sleep in and take naps and so much more. He is so sweet and is everything I ever wanted....Love you babe! (sorry for the mush)

I had to throw these in because my mom made these cute hats and helped Emily decorate the cute cookies...what a great grandma!!

All canned out!

Oh my husband....period! Last weekend our local grocery store had a sale on strawberries. Well Ben decided to can strawberry jam. Although canning is not in season for everyone else, it is for Ben. We ended up canning 60 full pints and 23- 1/2 pints/. We will have jam for several years to come. The jam is delicious and well worth the 11 hours we put in. Here are some pictures.

And then....Ben decided we needed soup in our storage. Ben wanted to go to the cannery, but my Mom convinced me otherwise (thanks Mom!). Instead Ben decided to can our own soup. He chose Split Pea Soup (most likely the hardest and longest!) We spent over 8 hours canning. Luckily we had help from Ben's sister courtney (thank you!!! We love you Courtie!) We ended up with 23 quarts of Split Pea Soup and all together we had 3 sets of sore feet!

I had to throw in this picture of Caleb because his hair is out of this world!! He had it all spiked and cute for church and then came nap time!! This is how he woke up....crazy hair boy! Cute huh!!

What a weekend!

This weekend was so much fun!! Maybe it wasn't as much fun as I make it sound, but compared to last weekend it was gobbs of entertainment. FYI: Last weekend my family was all very sick and we spent the weekend either at the Dr. or in bed (well some of us were in bed) ;) . Anyway we got tired of sitting around so here are some of the things we did...

Binky Fairy:
I got this idea from Chelsea--thanks Chels, it worked great! We told Emily that since she was grown-up now she needed to get rid of her binkies for good. So we put them in a bag and the binky fairy came and took them away. In return the Binky fairy would leave her a prize. And since it happened to be really nice outside (at the time...uggh!) The Binky fairy brought her a new princess bike. She is still learning to ride it, but I sure summer will be alot of fun. I can't wait!


Bowling:
There is a bowling alley right by our house and it is for the most part really nice. It is smoke free so you don't leave feeling all stinky. Anyway we took our kids and they had alot of fun. Emily wanted to do it "All by myself" and at times we weren't sure whether the ball would make it to the pins, but lo and behold it always did. It was fun! Look at Emily's shoes...gotta love those bowling shoes.




Snow and more snow.....:
I am not a fan of the snow, mainly because I wanted spring to come. But what can we do other than just enoy the cold before we complain about the heat...right? So we built a family of Snowmen. Only Mom and Dad snowmen have noses but oh well. It was fun and they have lasted since it is what....7 degrees outside?

It has been awhile...

The Holidays were fabulous and so much fun! It was fun to have Ben home for 10 days of vacation, but nice to get back in the routine of things (no offense Honey!) Here are some pictures from the holidays:

This is a picture of my little Santa!! He is so chubby and cute, I had to capture it for blackmail!

My mom makes Christmas pjs every year for the grandkids and they are always so cuddly and cute. Thanks Mom!!!

Lo and Behold, Emily got a kitchen and a dollhouse from Santa. She was so excited. I truly believe having kids makes Christmas so much more fun! I loved to capture this sweet suprised face of total believement (if that is even a word).

Caleb's first Christmas...he is just wondering where these toys had been all along...Emily of course loves his toys as much as her own, if not more (of course).

The weekend after Christmas my parents were so nice (more brave than anything) and took all of the grandkids (except Caleb...stinker still nurses) for the weekend. They had so much fun, Emily still talks about it EVERY day!

MORE:

Caleb will be 10 months old on the 17th of January and I can't believe how fast time flies! He is a busy boy and it so dang cute. He recently discovered stairs and I am now constantly chasing him away from them.

Emily has just accomplished the most amazing thing....she no longer has a binki!!!! Hallefreakinlueia!!!! We tried the "dip the binki in vinegar" trick, by telling her that as she gets older her binki starts to taste yucky and it totally worked. SHE HATES IT and has not wanted it since. If I would have known that it was going to be that easy, I would have done it MONTHS ago!!! But oh well! She sleeps better and is just so sweet (mostly)! Below are some pictures from Emily's first night EVER without a binki. I am so proud of her!

I just started doing pre-preschool with Emily and this was the first day. This is a picture she drew of herself, it is so cute and so funny!

Here comes Santa Clause...

Last Saturday we took Emily and Caleb to see Santa. The picture doesn't tell the whole story though. Initially Caleb was smiling and laughing at Santa, but the lady taking the picture was too busy chit chatting with a co-worker to get that picture. So we ended up with the classic picture of crying kid on Santa's lap...oh well it is way cute anyway! Emily was a little nervous because she is so shy normally but I was proud of her effort!!!

Also for those of you who live around here...how do you like all the snow? I think we got somewhere around 8 inches-WOW! Last night we decided our driveway needed a 2nd (yes a 2nd-Earlier that day I went out in Ben's boots all ridiculous looking-Sammi can testify to that and scraped the first 6 inches of snowfall) scraping and so Ben started scraping it and 3 hours later him and the neighbors had scraped 3 other driveways in the neighborhood. It was cool to see all the neighbors working together to help each other out (they seriously had shovels, blowers, 4-wheelers and who knows what else)....that is truly what Christmas is all about!

Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

I love this time of year!! I love the snow (at least to look at), I love the music, the lights and decorations, the time-off Ben has from work, I love seeing children get excited for Santa, (I love using Santa as bribery) but mainly I love that everyone is focused on the Savior and Redeemer of the World. I love how everyone’s attention changes from themselves to being kind to others. Like many others always say, I too wish this feeling would last all year long.

This year has been busy and has taken us on quite the fun ride!

One of the most eventful happenings of this year was our sweet little son, Caleb that was born in March, He is such an adorable little guy (of course because he looks just like Ben.) This month he turned 9 months old. He has 7 teeth, crawls (almost fast enough to keep up with his sister) and has already had 5 haircuts. We love him and are so blessed to have him in our family.

Our rambunctious Emily is turning 3 in March and is so much fun! She is so smart and observant. Emily loves to sing and dance! She recently learned most of her letters and loves to color and draw. I have so much fun with her and it is so much fun to watch her grow and learn new things. She is such a sweetheart and is the best sister a boy could ask for and by far the best daughter parents can ask for!!

As for Ben and I, we are doing great. Life is busy with our 2 small children, but it full of adventure! We never know what the next day will be like. We had a wonderful summer and had the chance to go to Nauvoo with Ben’s family. It was such a wonderful experience, one in which we will never forget. We loved the simply life they lived without so much hustle and bustle. We left feeling very grateful for so many things we enjoy, especially the freedoms we have. (I left feeling lucky to have disposable diapers and microwaves!!) Christmas brings back all of those feelings for us because we have the freedom to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. We feel blessed to be able to spend time together this Christmas, and will greatly miss those of you who are far away!

We want to tell each of you how much we love you all and hope all is well in your families. We are enjoying this Christmas season and I love to sit and daydream of all the fun things that next year has in store for us. Until next year….Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year

With Love,
Ben, Jessica, Emily and Caleb Willoughby

Christmas Tag

So Elisa tagged me a few days ago, but my kids have been really sick and today they are just getting around to feeling better. So here you go....


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I will qrap anything just to put it under the tree...dumb I know.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Pre-lit Artificial
3. When do you put up the tree? After Thanksgiving. We watch Elf while putting up our tree.
4. When do you take the tree down? After New Years
5. Do you like eggnog? Yummo!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? BIG box full of stuff to make crafts
7. Hardest person to buy for? Brother
8. Easiest person to buy for? Emily
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, I have 2. My mom made one for me and my mother-in-law bought us a little porcelain one.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, I love sending and recieving them.
11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Ear muffs
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christmas
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Late november...I am a procrastinator!
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Who would admit to this??
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Everything, maily fudge!
16. Lights on the tree? Yep!
17. Favorite Christmas song? Traditional: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day---Other:My Grown-up Christmas Wish
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I love to do both. I wish we didn't have to travel, I wish we could all just be together.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yes...it is easy when you sing the song to a 2 year old 80 times a day!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?Both
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The competition
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Silver and Red or Red and Gold
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? New slippers...I love slippers!!

I tag Amber, Tracy and Valerie

Our Acting Debut

Above is a video I took of Emily singing Santa Clause is Coming to Town, she is so excited for Santa to Come. When asked what she wants Santa to bring her, she says "A kitchen AND a doll house." Not one or the other she wants BOTH....of course she does. :) Christmas is so much more fun when you have kids! Below is a picture from last year.


So for those of you who do not already know, me and my kids helped my Sister out by appearing in a Mystery Diagnosis Episode on my neice Averi. Averi was born with a disease called Osteopetrosis (a rare bone disease). Mystery Diagnosis comes on the Discovery Health Channel and is pretty interesting.

So the episode on Averi is going to broadcast on December 8, it is called The Baby Who Won't Stop Crying (dorky I know). Caleb played the part of Averi (poor guy played a baby girl, but did a great job!!!) and Emily played Taylor-Averi's sister (after all Emily does idolize Taylor). We recieved the DVD the other day and it was fun to watch. Amber and James (Sis and Bro-in-law) did awesome!! I helped them for 2 days and was totally exausted! The story was only 1/8 of what happened, but as a whole the production is interesting and very tear jerking! My face even appears in the show for a brief moment--lucky me I had just had a C-section 3 weeks earlier.
Anyway if you have the chance or the channel, watch, it is pretty interesting.

http://health.discovery.com/fansites/mystery-diagnosis/mystery-diagnosis.html

A Thankful Heart and a Big Appetite!

Like most people I spent most of the day cooking up pies, rolls, salads and just simply trying to stay sane through it all. Luckily I have 3 wonderful people to walk me through my day...My Mom, my Sister and on of my BFF's Lisa. Speaking of lucky or should I say blessing because of the time of year, I have so much to be grateful for.

For FHE this week I made a box and we (meaning Emily and Mom-mostly Mom) went through a magazine and found pictures and cut them out and glued them onto a box. The purpose of the box is for us to write things we are grateful for throughout the week and put them in the box. I think we have done fairly well and it has brought on a lot of thought. I had to ask Emily what things made her happy instead of what are your blessing, obviously because she is 2 and the answer was simply "Cabie" (meaning Caleb). It was so cute. They are top on my list for the things I am grateful for!!! Man, they can make me mad one minute and then have me rolling on the floor the next. We were driving in the car a few days ago and they were in the back seat cracking up at each other, it was so funny! I wanted to jump back there and join them!!!

Next or equally on my list would be my sweet hubby! He amazes me! He also can make me mad one minute and them make me smile from ear to ear the next! I love that man, more than I can express!! He is so thoughtful and is so willing to help me with the kids. He works 10 hour days and usually only gets 4-5 hours of sleep at night and is always willing to get up in the middle of the night with either of our kids. He has taught me so much over the past 4 years of our marriage. Mainly to laugh, I think I inherited my dad's dry sense of humor (sorry dad)--I honestly have a hard time laughing, but Ben has showed me how easy it is and there is more to life than living and dying.

Also on the top of my list would be The Gospel. That includes our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. What comfort I receive from praying and attending the temple and learning more and more each day of how I need to be living my life. I love President Monson as well. He is so wise!! Period! He speaks and I know I need to listen...carefully! What a great man!!

I guess I shouldn't say also on the top of my list anymore because everything on my list is number one, including my next blessing...my family and friends! My mom and sister and friends (especially Lisa) listen to me and help me through my day. I love them so much and feel so blessed to have their love and friendship in my life.

Anyway this became a really long post, but I could go on and on with the things I am grateful for. We truly are blessed. I can't wait for Christmas, it will be so much fun this year.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I hope you each eat wonderful food and are surrounded by the people you love.

Twilight...ho hum!!!

So on Thursday me and some of my friends went to the midnight showing of Twilight. I haved so many mixed feelings about the movie. It was good, it really was...BUT it was also so cheesy!! There was of few really good scenes, like the running scenes were done really good. There was also some beautiful shots. Edward's hair was tacky, but his voice and smile fit to a T. I love most of the other characters except Carlisle. He totally looked make-up caked! Yuck! Anyway overall, it was alright, I am glad I read the book first. I will go see the next movie. AND the best part I had alot of fun with my girlfriends!