Curt's Mission Reunion

On Friday, April 2nd, we went to Curt's mission reunion which was the Dresden/Liepzig Germany Mission. We always have a great time there, especially Curt. We eat traditional German food like Rye bread, potato salad (which was REALLY good...mine had dill in it and I love dill) and then of course you have to have bratwurst and sauerkraut or Rotkraut (the red cabbage type of sauerkraut). Then they also had homemade root beer...so yummy! We had a great time reminiscing with old friends...well Curt did. I just enjoyed the stories and the laughter that usually followed.

Here is Curt's Mission President, President and Sister Johnson

This is Elder Bowden, the one who was with Curt when that infamous Nazi incident occurred. Curt was pinned down by a Rottweiler on one side and a Pit Bull on the other while a huge Nazi guy was going to beat him up. Then he decided to let him go and while he was walking past him to leave the guy punched him in the back of the head. They had to call the cops and Elder Bowden had to testify at the guy's trial because Curt only had two weeks left of his mission when this happened. Great story!!!

This is Elder Bowden with Elder Baetan. We just took this because of the obvious size difference. They were laughing so hard!

This is Elder Higby. He and Curt had the same companion and they reminisced about him. Elder Higby had a story about getting in a fight with some Nazis, too. That must have happened a lot there!


This is Elder Gerhetsen (I know I didn't spell that right). We've known them for the longest at these reunions. He worked with my mom and that's how I got to know him and then it all came out that he went to the same mission that Curt did. They were never companions but it's always good to see a familiar face. They will be moving to Ohio next month so this might be their last one for awhile.

This is Elder Riggs. Curt said that he hasn't really changed all that much. He was always the laid back, California, surfer-type guy who always had a great time. He was so funny and really easy to get along with. This was the first time I've seen him and Curt was excited to see him again.

This is Elder Weidaur. He was fun to talk with, too. I don't think they were ever companions but they knew a lot of the same people and told stories of a certain sister that was famous for completely STUFFING the missionaries when they came to eat so that they either had to go lay down and sleep it off or throw up. They all knew her and had that experience. They talked fondly of her.

These are guys are Elder Keele (the taller one) and Elder Allen (the shorter one). They were fun to get to know as well.

Austin...the Great Destructor!

So from the looks of this cute, adorable, sweet, mild-mannered (well that might be pushing it) child you'd never think that he could find or create as much trouble as he actually does.

This is what my kitchen looked like a couple of days ago. He gets into the drawers all the time. The Tupperware drawer we've always let him get into since there really isn't much he can destroy except the cleanliness (ha-ha) of my kitchen but now he gets into the top drawer that has baggies, aluminum foil and yes, that's my plastic wrap and wax paper strewn all over the floor. The other day he got into my cookbooks and completely ripped one out of the cover. I think we've managed to get it back in but I don't know if it will last long the way he destroys things.

Then later on during nap time you could just see how pleased he was with himself. Sweet dreams, baby! You've earned it!!!

April Fool's Day

So today is April 1st which everyone knows is April Fool's Day. In the past we really haven't taken the opportunity to really "get" our kids but if you know Curt at all you know it was only a matter of time. So last night he comes home with this idea to make his own "special" Oreo cookies for the kids. He bought the mint Oreos and scraped out the yummy insides and put toothpaste in the middle. He did a couple of green "mint" ones but he could only find gel toothpaste so they didn't look exactly like it. Then we had some white toothpaste and he tried a couple of those and they looked like the real things. So he set them out on a plate and the kids were so anxious to eat a cookie this morning it was almost funny. So he told them that we were all going to have a cookie eating race because these were the last of his cookies. They were ready to go. We counted to three and all of them stuffed the whole cookie inside their mouths.

It took awhile for it to hit them that these didn't taste like real Oreos. But as you can see from the picture I think Kaylee was getting it by this time. Look at her face!

Then Shelby goes, "It tastes like toothpaste!" We busted up laughing and the kids were spitting chewed up Oreos into the garbage and gagging at the same time. It was hilarious!!!!

You couldn't ask for a better picture than this of Carson!


Austin was just taking it all in thankful that he got to eat his waffle and Fruit Loops and enjoy the show. He's waving to the camera!

Carson's 6th Birthday

On December 29th Carson turned 6 years old. Normally we have a big family party since Carson and two of his cousins all have birthdays in the last week of December, but this year we opted to do our thing. So we decided to give Carson his first birthday party with friends. He was so excited. Lately he's been really into dinosaurs so he wanted to have a dinosaur themed party. He's so smart and knows a lot of the names of the dinosaurs (don't ask me...I'm just the Mom). We were going to have it at our house but the day before his birthday Austin got sick and was throwing up so we made a change and had it at our church so the germs wouldn't spread. We played all kinds of games like "Sit on the Dinosaur Egg until it hatches" which is sit on a balloon and pop it, "Hot Dinosaur Egg" or Hot Potato and Pin the Skull on the Triceratops. Mostly they all had fun just running around the gym. It was crazy but fun! Then we opened presents and had cupcakes and ice cream.

For our family gifts he got three Transformers...

A Nerf gun, which is good because at Grandma and Grandpa Nye's they have Nerf Gun wars...

His own scooter so he doesn't have to ride his sister's purple and pink one anymore...

And then finally clothes, but who wants to see clothes? It was a good birthday for him and he said he couldn't wait until his next one!

Tub Time!

For Christmas Grandma Moon gave Austin some tub toys. Here he is enjoying them and having a grand ol' time in the tub. He loves bath time!

Christmas

So on Christmas Eve we went to Grandma and Grandpa Nye's house for our traditional Nativity party. While all the kids were downstairs playing and the grown-ups were in the kitchen talking I soon realized that there were little clinking noises over in the TV room and suddenly realized that there were bowls of M&Ms on the tables that I forgot to sit up. I told Curt to go get Austin and as soon as he walked around the table there was Austin with a mouthful of M&Ms and chocolate and "hard, candy shell" all over the carpet and his clothes. As soon as Austin saw Curt he spit them all out on the carpet which just added to the mess. Isn't he lovely?

I was in charge of the Nativity this year. I can't remember who everybody was (simply because I said, "Whatever you want to be you can be as long as there are no fights.") In our family Kaylee was Mary, Shelby was the Angel, Carson was a sheep, Austin was a camel and Curt and I were shepherds. Do we look like we stepped out of Bible times?

For Christmas the girls got some Heely's from Santa and Carson got Optimus Prime.

I got some work out stuff for my Wii Fit Plus that I got for my birthday.

Curt got a new watch.

The family got a tether ball pole and Kaylee was so excited because she has wanted one since the school year began.

Austin got a ball since his last ball, the one he got for his birthday got popped by his older brother.

After all the presents Grandma Moon came over and had breakfast with us. Then later on Grandma and Grandpa Nye came over, too. I forgot to take pictures of them with the kids but I promise they were here. It's always fun to have the grandparents over.

Curt's Birthday

Two days later it was Curt's 35th birthday. His favorite cake is cheesecake so we had cheesecake with raspberry topping. We were going to go out that night but our babysitter (Grandma Nye) got really sick with bronchitis. So we stayed home with the kids and enjoyed the night with them. If you notice I got him back with the candles on his cake!