Boys

I had a little more time on my hands so I decided to make another post since most of you are to scared to comment on my other post. I have no idea who professor howdy is but hopefully I have gotten rid of the problem. Otherwise I will have to go private and I am not sure I want to do that. Anyways here are some fun pictures of the boys playing pirates together. I love that Karsten is finally getting old enough to play with Brecken. They love to play pirates and knights. I especially love when Karsten dresses up in his pirate hat and sword and goes after Brecken. It is not always fun and games though. Brecken thinks it is fun to tease his little brother. Little does he know that Karsten will one day beat up on him.

Ps. Brecken is doing great at going on the potty. Now we only have Karsten!

Update

This weekend Tom and I watched Elise's kids. We went from 2-5 kids. Brecken loved staying the night at his cousins. We had a few trips to the park. Here are some pics from one of our trips. Here is Brecken and cousin Zo
Karsten loves going down the slides. He thinks he is so big.
Having fun driving the bus.
I also finished reading the fourth Harry Potter. I never really got into the first book because I saw the movie. By Elise's advice I read book 3 and now 4. They are great. If you haven't read Harry Potter yet, you should!

This is Tom's last week at UPS. We are so excited to have our Dad and Husband back. We are not sure what is ahead of us yet but we will figure it out. At least we will get to spend more time together as a family!

Spiderman Goes Potty!

Since Brecken turned 3 we have been trying to get him to go on the potty. He went for one full day about six months ago then wanted nothing to do with it. I guess I needed to find his "currency." While we were at his cousin Kylie's house, she was starting to try the potty. She had a neat little doll that went potty on a toilet. Brecken of course wanted one. So we went to the store in such of a doll. I knew Tom would never let Brecken have a doll. I told Brecken he could find a toy but he only could have it if he went on the potty. After searching and searching he found this Spiderman costume. When we got home he wanted to wear it but he couldn't unless he went potty. He said, "He couldn't. He didn't know how." After an hour of not letting him wear Spiderman he decided he would go on the potty. He knew that if he wanted to wear Spiderman he needed to keep it dry. He was dry all day. Saturday he had one accident and even pooped on the potty. This may seem silly but this brings great joy to my heart. I love seeing his little underwear in the laundry! He has only been potty trained for a few days but no more diapers!
I love this little boy. He is so loving and funny.

Hats, Hats, Hats!

Karsten is almost 17mths and loves to wear hats. Any hat lying around he will get and put on. I thought I would show you the few he choose this week!
A little construction while he rides his bike.
He love this hat. This is Grampy's hat. Grampy is always leaving it out and Karsten is always wearing it. Here he is enjoying Curious George while wearing Grampy's hat.
This is one of his favorites too. I love when Karsten wears his pirate hat. He usually has his pirate hat on and a play baseball bat in his hand. He pretends he is a pirate and runs and hits you with his bat. (We have swords too but for some reason he prefers the bat.)
Hats are not only his favorite. He also enjoys wearing these googles. He is so cute. He brings them to me several times a day to put on him. I love Karsten so much. He has so much personality. He is, as his 4 yrs old friend Tatum, called him "Brave." He loves climbing to the highest slide at the park and going down all by himself. Over Christmas break in one week he had two bloody noses, a bloody lip, and a burned wrist. I know before he is two he will probably have broken something. I love this little boy. His life will always be exciting!

Merry Christmas

Christmas time has been great. Since living with the Bogles we have accomplished many things this year that we have not in the past. Bob and Betty went on a Hawaiin cruise from Dec. 3-Dec. 18. We were able to put up the lights on the house, which we have never done since we have been married. I have always wanted to but we did not have lights for some years and the years that we did it seemed like we never got the time. We also got to go out and buy a real Christmas tree. We have had a fake Christmas tree for some years. I actually like having a fake Christmas tree because you can leave it up as long as you want even through Valentines!! This year we bought an 8ft tree and even put it on top of a table! (We didn't want Nana B's Christmas ornaments to get broken by our little 1 yr old!) Also if you notice there are no Christmas presents under the tree. This was taken on Christmas Eve. We had to hide all the presents in a different room so our little Karsten would not open them all. Here is Karsten possing for the picture. He is so cute. He says "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeese" whenever he sees a camera.
Tom's sister Megan and Rueben had their first baby on Dec. 20th. Who knew he would be 9lbs 15oz, 22.5 inches long! We thought since we had a brand new baby we would have the kids and Megan and Rueben and baby Catcher dress up as Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Angles and Shepherds. We even had a sheep dog!
Here is Brecken taking a time out from all the seriousness of the picture!
Christmas was great. The boys made out like bandits. My favorite part was watching the boys open their presents and play with their toys. They sure enjoyed everything they got. Brecken got an awesome pirate ship that he played with all afternoon. Karsten got a school bus and a huge candy cane. He loved his candy cane.
This year was yet another great Christmas!

Hulk Hogan?!

Who knew I had a future Hulk Hogan on my hand?!

Yesterday in the rain storm a big branch from Nana B's tree fell off and landed on Ty's (Tom's brother) car. Luckily there was no one in it and this is not the car that Ty is currently driving. Ty recently got married and currently lives in Flagstaff. This car has bald tires and needs a few repairs so Ty is currently driving Nana B's Mazada.

Here are the three buffest people in our compound. Some are strong of body and some are strong of spirit. We'll let you decide who's who.

Luckily it looks like there is only damage to the windshield and minor, minor damage on the car. I hope everyone enjoyed the rain. We especially did! It is always fun to get poured on when you live in Arizona. It seems like we are never prepared.

My turn!

So, Natalie got to tell you all about moving and all about our anniversary. Well, now it's my turn to tell you all how it actually happened...

Natalie packed up the entire house with no help from me (due to my work schedule). It was all I could do to get off of work the day that we actually moved. My boss had me scheduled and I told him the he would have to pay for the moving company if he expected me to come in. Anyway, we moved in with my parents. Not ideal, but it is only temporary. If we could build a house out here, I would in a heartbeat. Anyway, I felt bad about Natalie having to do all the hard work and not moving her into a nice new house as we had planned, so I thought I'd take her out for the weekend. I made all the arrangements and told Natalie what we were doing, but not where we were going. One of my drivers hooked me up with a room at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. He got me a patio suite comped, but when I made the reservations, there were no more patio suites avaliable, so I upgraded us to a balcony suite. It was really nice with a fireplace and stuff. The temple was Natalie's idea, and it was a good one. It was good to remember the day we were married by doing sealings, and then seeing all the new couples who just got married was pretty fun too. Our dinner was really nice as well. If any of you want a nice Tuscan-style Italian restaurant, Sassi is excellent. It is nestled between the peaks at Reata Pass. It was really the nicest place I'd ever eaten. As soon as we got back to our hotel, I passed out, so Natalie had to watch movies by herself. The next day we did a little shopping in Scottsdale. Fortunately, most of the shops at the Borgatta were closed. It was good just to get away for awhile (although I am"away" quite a bit).

So, after 6 years, Natalie and I are still in love. Like I said, you got to hear her side of the story, so now here's mine:

I love Natalie for always believing in me, while helping me recognize the difference between goals and fantasies.

I love Natalie for the way she takes such good care of me and the little boys. Honestly, I'd be living in a van down by the river if it weren't for her.

I love Natalie for putting up with all my crap. She rarely complains about practically being a single mom. She is the best.

I love Natalie for the way she giggles all funny when she is really happy. Trust me, if you've ever heard it, you know what I'm talking about.

That is just a sample. I can't tell you everything or you'd fall in love with her too, and then we would have to duel. And honestly, it's been a while since I've won anything, so I'm not taking any chances.