Blaine and Erin + 2 kids = one sweet minivan

Well, we finally broke down and bought ourselves a minivan last night. We traded in our 2009 Nissan Murano for a more "family friendly" 2008 Honda Odyssey. I joked with Blaine that I never thought I would own a minivan, mostly because they aren't the most attractive means of transportation. Even though I grew up with minivans, I never liked them and swore I would never own one. However, now that I am older and by all means, more mature :), I see the benefits that only a minivan can bring. :) If nothing else, I am really loving the extra cargo space for groceries and strollers! I'm also loving the fact that it came with only 15,000 miles! Do we miss our Murano? Sadly, not really. We miss how smooth it drove, but not much more than that. Dear neighborhood carpools, count us in!

Check out our sweet new ride below (the pictures aren't the best because it was raining outside and I took the pictures from inside the garage)...

Random

It feels like I have been out of the blogging world for awhile. However, just because I haven't been a blog poster, does not mean that I haven't been a blog stalker. Blog stalking is my favorite past time activity. :) Anyway, since I enjoy looking at pictures to see what people have been up to more than reading about it, I've decided to post some random, new camera, practice pictures. Ever heard the phrase, "A picture is worth a thousand words"? Well, I guess we can test that phrase out with the pictures posted below.

Even though I REALLY love my new fancy camera Blaine got me for Christmas, I've only managed to take pictures over a period of two days. Why? Well, let's just say this camera comes with some baggage. It's not like our old camera where you can just whip it out and start shooting. Taking pictures with my new camera requires some prep (i.e. taking off protective coverings and attaching the lens). I know this is not much prep involved, but when you have kids who are being super cute one minute, you might miss your picture capturing moment if you are busy fiddling with your camera. Oh well, I'm sure I will become much quicker at assembling the camera with additional practice and taking the photography lessons Blaine included with the gift. Anyway, until I become a picture taking pro, please enjoy these lower quality shots...


















See if you can guess what's going on here:

Christmas

Our family spent Christmas in Colville, Washington this year. Since I had to work until 1am on Christmas day, we decided to have our own little Christmas first, before flying out to see Blaine's family later in the day. It was so nice not having to pack ALL of our Christmas presents in addition to everything else. Packing for kids is RIDICULOUS! Even though the kids traveled pretty well, Blaine and I both agreed to not fly again anytime in the near future. :)

We all had a fun time in Colville. All of Blaine's siblings were there, except for his brother Phil, who is currently serving a LDS mission in Brazil. We enjoyed seeing family and meeting some of Blaine's high school friends while visiting Washington. Cannon especially enjoyed the SNOW! Utah has had a little bit of snow this winter, but not enough to play in quite yet...I'm definitely okay with this! Blaine and I also celebrated our 4th anniversary while visiting...I can't believe it has been four years already! Love you honey!

Here are some pictures of Cannon on Christmas morning playing with his kitchen from Santa(which he has played with non-stop since Christmas), and some pictures of our trip. FYI: You will notice that Cannon is wearing a head lamp in most of the pictures. Once Blaine opened this gift from his parents, Cannon was all over it and wouldn't take it off!















One week later and still cooking up a storm...

A New Christmas Tradition

Blaine and I talked about starting the "Elf on the Shelf" Christmas tradition before we had kids. We thought we would start this year since Cannon is old enough to understand that the elf is watching his every move and will tell Santa if he has been good or bad. So far, Hermy (the name we have chosen for the elf), has become very helpful in ending Cannon's terrible two tantrums! Cannon has also enjoyed looking for the elf each day, as he moves to a different location every night. If you have never heard of the Elf on the Shelf, google it! It really is the cutest tradition to start with a family of young kids.

Chuck E Cheese?...Yes Please!

Whenever my parents are in town, they like to take Cannon to Chuck E Cheese. Since I had not been there in years, I thought it would be fun to take Cannon there this weekend. We met up with Cannon and Riley's Aunt Haley, who brought Blaine's Aunt Mo's kids with her since she was watching them for the weekend. I think Cannon and his second cousins had a lot of fun! Even though Cannon was much too short to play most of the games there, he sure did love the basketball hoop game and got creative in getting the ball into the hoop...


When not playing the basketball hoop game, Cannon had fun riding the rides by himself and with his cousins, Jack and Cory.





Cannon, after his fun-filled afternoon at Chuck E Cheese's, watching his favorite movie, Mulan (he has been singing the lyrics from the song, "Be a Man", for the passed few weeks now from watching the movie so much). He had a great day!


I also wanted to add a couple pictures of my little three month old. She is growing too fast!