Gingerbread House

We love making gingerbread houses for Christmas.  In years past Grant hasn't been so willing to participate in the decorating part.  When he was younger he hated sticky things on his fingers.  Now he still doesn't care for sticky things like frosting on his fingers, but he will tolerate it for a few minutes.  I was informed that blue is a real Christmas color and it was very necessary for part of the house to be blue.  He wanted me to take pictures of each side of the house so we never forget how cool his house was.  I am mostly impressed by the fact he did the whole thing by himself.  I helped spread the frosting a little bit, but other than that he made this all by himself. 

Ward Party

Our ward has a Christmas breakfast every year!  This year the kids got to wear their pajamas.  Grant thought that was the best part!  We have some amazing cooks in our ward and the food was delicious!  

Buddy the Elf even came and gave all the kids a bag of candy!  There was a fun program for the adults and the kids got to play games and make a gingerbread cookie.  

Our bishop, Bishop Ahlquist, got up at the end and wished the ward a Merry Christmas.  He is such a wonderful bishop.  He is one of the big reasons Kyle has come back to church.  Bishop Ahlquist is very sincere and truly cares about the members.  I am very grateful to have such a wonderful bishop. 

Elf on the Shelf

 I love holiday traditions.  Especially having a child of my own.  This past year Grant has really been into the holidays and it is fun to do things with him.  My mom helped us start the tradition of the Elf on the Shelf this year.  I know some people who think this is the dumbest thing on the planet, but we have found it to be fun.  I really enjoy using it for discipline, by saying, "the elf is watching and he will tell Santa."

Grant named our elf Cookie.  The Elf on the Shelf the rules are you first have to name your elf and then  he starts hiding around your house and every night he flies back to the North Pole to tell Santa if you have been naughty or nice.   You can't touch him because then he will lose his magic and on Christmas Eve when Santa comes the Elf will go back home with Santa.

Some people have naughty elves who do naughty or silly things.  Our elf is nice and he just sits on the fan blade, the cupboards, or the curtain rod and watches.  Cookie is a magic elf and when we came down to Utah for Christmas the next morning he was here at Grandma's house.  Grant was excited to find him at his Grandma's house.  We will all miss Cookie after Christmas.

This is one of my favorite pictures!  Grant loves his cousin Preston and tries to get Preston to do big boy things.  Preston is only 17 months old and can't quite do all the things a 4 year old can do.  Grant is so sweet though and is very kind to his cousin.  They are reading a book together in this picture.

Christmas Tree

My family has the tradition of going up to a Christmas tree farm in Morgan to cut down a real Christmas tree.  Kyle and I used to go with my family and get our tree, but we haven't since we moved.  Grant was 3 when we moved and so he doesn't remember getting a real tree.  My parents took him with them to get their Christmas tree.  He thought it was a riot!  He found a little branch while they were walking around and decided it would be his little Christmas tree.  

Here is Grant with his little branch slash Christmas tree.

Grant his helping his Uncle Blair saw down the tree.  When Blair slowed down Grant said, "Blair, saw that tree like a man!"  Blair got to laughing so hard he could hardly saw at all.

Grant helped the boys carry the tree down the mountain.

Grant and Granny with his little Christmas tree all decorated.

I love Christmas traditions!  It is one thing I don't like about living so far away from family.  We don't get to be a part of some of our family's traditions.  On the other hand it has giving us the chance to start some of our own.

Thanksgiving

We were blessed to be able to get some time off work and go to Utah this year for Thanksgiving.  Kyle's brother Lee recently moved to Arizona and wasn't able to go to Utah for actual Thanksgiving.  Instead, we celebrated Thanksgiving the weekend before.  It worked out perfectly!  We had so much fun I completely forgot to take pictures.  It was nice to spend a few days with Kyle's family.

One of my favorite traditions Kyle's family does is go around the table and everyone says what they are thankful for.  Kyle's dad started it the year he passed away.  I am grateful for the tradition.  It is nice to hear how much we all have to be grateful for.  Family, the gospel, friends, good health, our children, and so much more.

After celebrating with Kyle's family we spent the rest of Thanksgiving weekend with my side of the family.  The holiday was wonderful!  For the first time in a long time all of my siblings were together for dinner!

The only side part is the week went way too fast!  Grant wanted to stay for 100 more days.

Working on This

I appreciate your comments about the problem with blogger not letting you load pictures.  I have noticed other fellow bloggers also having some issues.  I am currently working on publishing my blog, but I have been so busy the blog has been put on the back burner.  I have so many cute pictures I can't wait to post, but it is just taking a long time.  Please be patient with me.  I am working on this annoying picture problem.

Tragedy!

I went to upload some photos for some blog posts and I have used my free 1 GB.  Sad!  I tried deleting a couple of old pictures, but it still didn't work.  I am now putting some of my posts into a book so I can completely delete them. That should work, right?  I am really sad because I have some adorable pictures I want to share.  If anyone knows of another to fix this problem please let me know!

No Good Deed

No Good Deed: Book One of the Mark Taylor Series by M.P. McDonald
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is such a well written book.  The plot of a man being arrested because his camera can predict the future and he tries to change it for the better is quite outlandish.  However, the story is so well written I could hardly put the book down.  I haven't read a book that kept me so captivated in quite a while. I loved it!
The book has no swearing and no sex scenes.


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Like Father Like Son

 One Sunday Grant insisted that he and Kyle dress alike for church.  I thought they looked handsome. We can all agree that Grant and Kyle look alike.  Here is just more evidence...

This is their tough guy look.

I am so blessed!

Rubber Band Fly Shooters

Here is an interesting fact about the Maybury family.  All of the boys can shoot flies with rubber bands.    I am talking about traditional house flies and just regular rubber bands.  All of the boys can do it.  They learned from Grandpa Grant.  Grant could shoot the flies in mid air.  It was really cool!  People don't believe it when I tell them about the rubber band fly shooting boys.  But, I have never owned a fly swatter since being married to Kyle. There was never a need for one.  

Now that Grant is getting old enough Kyle has started teaching him how to shoot flies with rubber bands.  There is an art to being able to shoot so accurately.  The first important detail is how the rubber band sits at the end of your finger.  Second, you have to pull the band straight back and at max capacity.    I don't know the rest and don't need to because I already have one great fly shooter and I have another in training!  

Football Game

A few weeks ago we went to a Boise State football game.  We had so much fun! The crowd was wild and the game was fun to watch.  It was "black out" day and so all the fans had to wear black.  

Here we are before the game in our matching sweatshirts!

On this special day...

I want to wish you all a very

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so many things to be grateful for!  I didn't do my traditional 30 days of gratitude this year, but that doesn't mean I don't have so many things to be thankful for.

I am so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know my Savior loves me and is aware of my needs.   I don't know what I would do with out my testimony.
I am also grateful to be married to Kyle. He is a wonderful husband and my best friend.  We have been together for 13 years!  It was love at first sight and we have only fallen more in love over the years.
Grant is also such a blessing in my life.  He is such a great boy and brings so much joy into our lives.  
I am also so very grateful to be able to spend this wonderful holiday with my extended family I love so much. 

Mattress

To make a long story short Kyle and I have our really nice king size mattress in storage.  We have been suffering with this piece of crap mattress for a year now.  Not only did we down size to a queen, but it was a terrible mattress when we bought it. 

I recently decided that enough was enough and I was going to get a better mattress.  I ordered one online and have been impressed with it so far.  Grant thought he died and gone to heaven because I let him jump on our old mattress.  We kept it in our front room for more than a week because it kept Grant so entertained.  He cried when we threw it away.  I would highly recommend buying a new mattress and using the old one for cheap entertainment.  

Halloween 2012

A few days before Halloween we carved our pumpkins.  I was proud of Grant for at least putting his hand in the pumpkin.  He really didn't want to.  He doesn't enjoy his hands being sticky and gross.

Grant wanted a bat on his pumpkin.  At preschool he learned the word "spooky" and has successfully applied to about everything imaginable.  I helped him... oh wait let me rephrase that...I carved his pumpkin for him. You might not be able to tell but the bat is flying in front of the moon.

Here is all of our pumpkins.  Yes, there is 6 pumpkins.  No we are not expecting triplets.  Kyle picked out the green one at the pumpkin patch, but it was to soft to carve so he bought a different pumpkin to carve.  Grant painted the one on the left with fake blood so it can be spooky! 

Here we are on Halloween all dressed up!  I was Corpse Bride and Grant was a banana.  The banana was completely his idea. I don't know where he got the idea of being a banana, but that is what he wanted to be.  Kyle didn't dress up.

Here is a close up of that spooky pumpkin.

Crisis

Crisis by Robin Cook
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I just found out that this is book #6 in a series.  I am really mad at myself for not reading the first 5 books first.  On the other hand you can read this book with out reading the first 5 and not get lost what so ever!  I really enjoyed this book!  It was an absolute pleasure to read.  The author got the book up and going within the first chapter.
I love Jack's character.  He reminds me a lot of my own brother.  The author did an excellent job keeping all the characters interesting and engaging.
The twist at the end was the best part!  I couldn't believe how fast the author was able to twist the ending! I was engaged to the very last sentence.  I was disappointed the book ended.  I wanted to keep reading.  This was a great book!  No sex and no swearing.


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Fall Festivities

The weekend before Halloween we went to a local corn maze.  It was more than a corn maze because it had lots of other fun activities for families.  

Grant liked the corn maze until about 15 minutes into when he suddenly had to pee.  We have been working on standing up to pee, but so far we have been unsuccessful.  Kyle and I tried to find the way out of the corn maze quickly, but that didn't go so well.  Finally we just cut through a roped off area and we were out.  No accidents and no more corn maze!  I didn't get any pictures because we stopped having fun.

After we went to the bathroom we had a great time.  

Grant really enjoyed the "corn box" the best.  He could have played there for hours.  

There was this cool creature you could walk through.  Grant didn't want to walk through, but he did touch it.  He also wanted his picture by it.  I am glad we didn't go through because a neighbor told me it was kind of creepy.

Grant also loved the cow train.  He said it was loads of fun, but he was glad it was over because his bum hurt.  He said it was really bumpy.

We also got to watch a few pig races.  I had never seen pig race before.  Grant thought the pigs were cute.  It was a ton of fun and we will definitely go again next year.  

Pumpkin Patch

Grant has been going to a new preschool for about two months now.  Because it is a private preschool the teacher can focus on the holidays.  The center where he was at before didn't get do a lot of holiday activities, but Miss Kathy does.
The whole month of October she talked about Halloween.  Grant made a bat out of a clothespin, made a Frankenstein out of a paint swatch, had a special witch visitor, painted a pumpkin, played Halloween Bingo, and lots of other fun crafts, songs and activities.   He has been completely absorbed in the holiday.  When we go to the store we have to walk through all the seasonal items at the front every single time!  The words: spooky, creepy, fake blood, zombies, are now a regular part of our vocabulary.
I have honestly loved it!  It makes the holiday so much more fun when he is so excited.  I feel bad that all of my fun Halloween stuff is packed in storage shed.  He would actually have enjoyed it all this year, oh well.
As part of the fall excitement we decided to go to an actual pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins this year.  It was so much fun!  We got a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch.  We walked around trying to pick the best pumpkins.  Grant's goal was to find the biggest pumpkin.
It was a perfect fall day to go to the pumpkin patch.  We had a great time!

Grant and Mom on the hayride

Grant found the biggest pumpkin in the patch!

Grant thought the hayride part was so cool.

Primary Program

(The plant is his very own flower he planted during Activity Days.  He often gets to participate in the 10 and 11 year old girl activities.)

At the end of September our ward had the annual Primary program.  We were excited to see how Grant did in his first Primary program.  He did awesome!  He sang the songs and said his part perfectly.  His line was, "I know Heavenly Father loves me because I choose the right way."  It really doesn't make complete sense, but the Sunbeams were given the line "I know Heavenly Father loves me because ___" and Grant completed the sentence all by himself.  We didn't have the heart to change it.
The theme this year for the Primary was Choose the Right (I think he got that down) and the whole Primary learned the entire hymn "Choose the Right."  It was so stinking adorable I just had to video it!  He was a little nervous and so he sways back and forth, but at least it is documented that at 4 years old he knew the entire hymn!
When the Primary children sang the song at the end of the program he kept putting his hands over his eyes.  Kyle and I couldn't figure out why he kept covering his face.  Later we asked him what he was doing and he said, "I know all the words and I  don't have to look at the pictures.  I was covering my face because I knew all the words."  We were so proud!

And They Were Not Ashamed: Strengthening Marriage Through Sexual Fulfillment

And They Were Not Ashamed: Strengthening Marriage Through Sexual Fulfillment by Laura M. Brotherson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am so grateful I found this book.  About 6 months ago I was really frustrated with my relationship with my spouse.  We weren't on the verge of divorce or anything, but our relationship just wasn't what I felt like it could be.   I went online to look for some sort of self help books when I came across this book.  I read the other book reviews for the book and I knew it was exactly what I needed.
I read the first few chapters in a day or two.  All I could do was cry!  I cried for many reasons, peace at knowing someone understood how I felt.  I cried for joy to find something to really help me.  I cried out of frustration that I hadn't found the book sooner.
It has been 6 months and I just finished the whole book.  It has taken me a long time because I have been doing the "homework" assignments at the end of each chapter.  I still have a lot of progress to make, but I have made so many improvements I am so happy!
Our relationship is better now than ever!  I am so grateful Laura Brotherson took the time to write this book.  I highly recommend this book if you would like to improve your sexual relationship.  I also would recommend this book if you would like to be able to teach your children how to have a concrete understanding of the law of chastity.  
This book has been one of the most influential books I have ever read!


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Elizabeth Street

Elizabeth Street: A Novel Based On True Events by Laurie Fabiano
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book because it was so different from the other books I have read lately.  It was a breath of fresh air.
The story moves a little slow in the middle and it took me a while to get enough motivation to finish the book.  The end of the story moved quickly and I was able to finish the book quickly.   I got a little lost in all the Italian gang stuff.  I thought it was a little bit of a drag.
I loved Giovanna! The heart ache she suffered throughout her life brought tears to my eyes more than once.  I can see how the author wanted to document her great grandmother's and grandmother's story! It is truly inspiring!
I would recommend this book.  No explicit sex scenes and little to no swearing.


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Hour Game

Hour Game by David Baldacci
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this book because it gets moving really fast!  I think the first murder happens in the first chapter! I enjoyed the characters and the story.  It was predictable.  I am not good at predicting books so if I can figure out who the killer is I consider the book predictable!  There are some nice twists at the end and so even though I figured out who the killer was the story kept me engaged.  I would highly recommend this book!  No swearing and no explicit sex scenes.


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Brigham City Temple

We were so blessed to get the opportunity to tour the Brigham City Temple while we were in Utah.  The temple was beautiful!  We still feel like the Brigham City Temple is a part of us because it was announced while we were living in the Brigham City Temple district.  Our friends and neighbors are so lucky to have such a beautiful temple so close!  

I love the spirit of the temple.  I have tried to teach Grant the importance of the temple.  I was really excited for him to see the temple.

Grant liked the bus ride to the temple the best.

If the bus ride was the best part than the water fountain was the second favorite part.

Grant was a bit of a pill during the temple tour.  His face in the picture about does his attitude justice.  

My Birthday!

Every so often my birthday falls on Labor Day!  I have always loved my birthday falling on first weekend in September.  It is so much fun.  This year since we were in Utah we went on a hike in the morning.  

My in-laws took me out to lunch.  I love my in-laws.  I forgot to bring my camera so I didn't get any pictures.

Later during the day we had a picnic in my parents' back yard.  My parents' have the coolest back yard.  Years ago their raunchy neighbors thought my parents' yard was cutting into their property.  The neighbors paid for a surveyor to come and check the property lines.  Turns out my parents actually owned about 35 more feet at the end of their lot.  My parents decided to make their own little woods and picnic area.  Grant and Kyle were actually planning to camp in my parents' backyard, but the weather didn't cooperate.

Grant thought it was so fun to cook a hot dog in fire!  Oh!  I am in for it!  This was his first real experience with open flames and Grant was in heaven.  After everyone was done cooking hot dogs and marshmallows Grant threw some sticks and paper into the fire.  Grant was so amazed that a napkin turned all black!

The kids sat at the little picnic table!  Preston had to sit on the table because his little booster seat would stay on the bench.  Grant and Evelyn didn't mind.

Look at this cute boy! He loves his Auntie!

Here is Grant swinging on the swing set.  He was so proud because he could hang on with his big muscles and swing from his arms.

I love Preston's face in this picture!

Evelyn got this crazy idea to try and pick the leaves off of Granny's tree with her mouth.  We were all laughing because she could actually get the leaves with her teeth!

We had cake and ice cream for dessert!  It was so much fun celebrating with our family!  I had a fantastic birthday!