"Magic Word"

Grayson is quite the funny kid.  I love his little voice.  Here are some funny things he says on a regular basis.

Sometimes he can be a little demanding on asking for something, like a drink or a snack.  I will say to him, "You need to ask nicely."
He then will cuddle up next me and say, "Nicely."

The other day he asked Grandma Little if he could play on her iPad.  She said to him, "What's the magic word?" and he leans into her and said, "Magic word."

He will also do this when asked "What's the password?"  "Password"  It always makes us laugh.


Every time it is his turn to pray, we always ask who is going to help him.  He will look at the picture above the dining table of all his brothers and say, "hmmmm..."  Then he will turn to where our family pictures are and point to one and say, "Momma!"  Its always me, he very very rarely changes it up.  One time Damon was complaining about how he never picks him and right as Damon was saying that Grayson picks him and then changes his mind back to picking me.  Every time and it always makes us laugh.


Probably my favorite story about Grayson, one time he wasn't acting his best, in fact he was being a BRAT!  I said to him, "Wow, you are awesome."  He yelled back, "I not awesome, you awesome!"  Like it was insult.  So funny!

Books of 2013

Here are the books I read this last year.  I feel like there were some I read on my kindle app as well but my iPad is a sad broken mess so I don't know for sure...

Something Missing
This was an ok book, took a little while to get going.  Honestly, I think it would be a great movie.   The author had to write so many details for you too really understand how complex the main character was, but a movie could easily show the details that were necessary.

Far From the Tree
I did a whole blog post on this book.  I still think of this book often, it was fascinating.

The Go Giver
I loved this book.  I'm so glad I read after starting my skirt business.  It game me lots of good ideas.  I plan on reading other books by the author.

Bloom
Oh my goodness...this is a WONDERFUL book.  It is so beautiful.  But you can't read it electronically.  You need to get the physical book.  Its to pretty to just read on a  device.  Beautiful book, seriously read it now!

The Favored Daughter
I found her story fascinating and it really opened my mind to the middle east.  I believe she is running for president of Afghanistan.

90 Minutes in Heaven
This was about a man who had passed away for 90 minutes and he shares his experience of what he believes was heaven.  It was interesting but a little too preachy for me.

The Healing
I liked this book, it was a very interesting premise about slavery from a young girls perspective.

My Sister's Keeper
I was really enjoying this book until I got to the end.  I seriously wanted to throw it across the room it pissed me off!  I will never read another book by this author.

Sparkly Green Earrings
I read the author's blog and really enjoy her with and fun stories.  The book is just an extension of that.

The War of Art
Adam brought this home and I really enjoyed it too.  I've been planning a blog post on it, but haven't done it.  Its a good one about business and focus.

The Nine Rooms of Happiness
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would.  I really liked the idea behind it.  Basically that every part of our lives is represented by a room.  My main problem with it is it seemed to blame most of your problems on the basement, which represents your childhood.  I just don't always agree with that, more often I believe people need to grow up and realize they are adults and quit blaming their mommy and daddy for everything wrong in there lives.  I did like this quote about raising teenagers, I need to have it posted so I can see if daily as we are starting the preteen phase, "if you become too identified with the drama of the preteen social scene, you allow that mentality to extend into your home."

The Happiness Project
I blogged about this book too.  I really liked it.  It makes me want to purge and do new things.

Happier at Home
This is the follow up book to The Happiness Project.  I've been meaning to blog about this one too.  Its a good one as well.

Man Up
We are big Ross Matthew fans.  Although there are some details I could have done with out knowing....

The Hypnotist's Love Story
It hit me this year that I loved "What Alice Forgot" so much I should look up the author and see what else she has written.  I now have read everything she has wrote and I love them all. These are my reasons for liking her books so much: the characters are so real, I can really identify with how they feel, how they react to things.  There is always some question (or two) that will come up and I just have to know what the answer is so it keeps me wanting to read it.  It never ends the way I think it will end but I always love the ending.  And the ending is always happy.  I love happy endings (hence why I HATED "My Sister's Keeper".   Also, she always writes an epilogue and I just love that.  I love a follow up.   She also has books for girls...I'll have to start stocking up on them for Adley.

The Last Anniversary

The Husband's Secret
This isn't really a happy ending but I think it ended perfectly.

(I love Liane Moriarty's books so much that Kelly got me her first one, "Three Wishes" for Christmas and I finished it on the 2nd.  But it was a start of a new year so you will have to wait until the end of 2014 for that list.)

Damon turns 12

Damon turned 12 on the 18th but we waited to have his birthday party until after the holidays.  He did have some friends over earlier to watch a movie and eat a bunch of junk food.

But on Sunday, we first went to church and he was able to get the Aaronic Priesthood.  Adam ordained him in his office after sacrament meeting with Ben and Grandpa Little.

We then had a family party with a lunch.

Kelly did an amazing job at decorating his cake...I wish she would come to every party!

 He was so excited for a new white shirt!

 New dolphin football gloves

And he was most excited for the chance to cut his cake.  I don't know why 12 became the age of "cutting cake" but it did and he was so happy.  He seems to like growing up...I'm not such a big fan.  

Because this guy, will always be my baby boy...

even though I'm pretty sure he will be taller then me on his next birthday.  

Adley Lynn - 10 months

Little Miss is now 10 months old.  I don't think a year could go by faster then the year of a newborn.  I just can't believe she is almost 1!  

She is a sweet little thing.  She loves to be held and cuddled with.  She really enjoys attention and gets it practically every where we go.  She loves to crawl around on the floor, she is very busy and squirmy.  She likes to be apart of things.  Adley can pull herself up on furniture and is starting to cruise a little bit.  Her balance is starting to get better...but I think she still has a ways to go for walking.  

My friend Diane gave her this necklace at our church Christmas party, she loved it.  This girl loves bling.  She is always looking at my wedding ring, running her fingers through my necklaces, she loves glittery, shiny things.

 Diane also gave her a santa hat and she loved it.

The other day Grayson was wanting to take a nap with Adley.  It lasted about 30 seconds, but it was a cute 30 seconds.

 She got this super cute jean jacket from our friends the Wallentines.  I'm planning on her wearing it every day until its just threads.  I think its the cutest thing ever!

Love her! 

Little Miss also LOVES peek-a-boo.  If there is anything around that she can play peek-a-boo with, she will find it...blankets, stockings, skirts, laundry.  Her favorite game.  She loves it!

She also got her first doll for Christmas.  I was going to hold off and give her a doll for her first birthday but this little doll was so cute I couldn't wait.  Its a baby snow white doll.  I love it.  And Adley got the biggest grin when she opened it.  I hope she will love playing with dolls as she grows up!



The past couple of days, Adley has not been the best baby.  She is a whiney, crying mess!  She has a little bit of a cold and I'm assuming she's teething as well.  I'm hoping her misery will end soon because none of us are happy.  Adam keeps saying she is like me when she is sick (I don't handle illness well!)  And he might be right.  This morning she was coughing and when she stopped she let out this little pathetic cry.

Post Christmas Day

The day after Christmas, I took the boys to Target and to Dick's Sporting Goods to spend their Christmas money.  Legos was the theme of the shopping spree.  Adam had a work for a little bit in the morning.  And then we headed over to the Littles for our traditional Christmas dinner.  Kelly and Ben and the boys were there, which worked out well since Kelly made most of the meal!

After lunch we did a little bit of gift exchanging and then visited and played games the rest of the day.

Sad attempt of a cousin picture....

My little tradition to take pictures of the kids with their stockings.  We started this with Damon's first Christmas because he was just a week old and was the size of the stocking (maybe even smaller?!) and have just continued it.

 Adley just wanted to play with her's, she was not happy with me.  And she kept getting into the chocolate candy and covered herself in it which is why she is naked girl.

 I have to turn off my flash to keep Aiden from blinking, the color in this picture was so weird, it only looked remotely good in black and white.

Christmas Day

This was our first Christmas at our house and it was so nice to just be together and not to have to hurry from one thing to the next.  

Of course the boys got up early and were all ready to go.  Grayson was still out of it and we couldn't get him to wake up.  So Damon, Xavier and Aiden did their stockings first.  Then Grayson came down a little bit later and then pretty soon Miss Adley woke up to join the party too.  

 

Lockett liked his new toys from Santa too

 My Christmas Miracle...all 5 together and happy!!

 Miss loves playing peek-a-boo

 Playing the Ninja Turtle game



Adam took Damon, Xavier and Aiden sledding at the school.

While they were sledding, Grayson, Adley and I were busy building forts.

Presents for this year:

Adam: Socks and Ties 

Me: 2 Necklaces

Damon: Blanket, Nike hoodie, Book

Xavier: Blanket, Bugs, Shark Wars Books

Aiden: Blanket, Lego table, Hoodie

Grayson: Blanket, U-Build Fort Kit, PJs

Adley: Blanket, Baby Snow White

I made all the boys a fleece blanket with fabrics that they picked out.  I made Adley a flannel tag blanket.

We had the best Christmas lunch.  A friend of our makes awesome tamales so we had those, cilantro rice, fresh salsa and guacamole with chips.  It was all so good!