Random Thoughts...

Words of wisdom from a 4 year old....

"If you love your wife then don't divorce yourself."

Perhaps Brinley is picking up on more than we think.

Today in the car Matthew and Brinley had M&M's that they got from Katie, who is Brian's Dad's new wife. They really like her but aren't quite sure who is who and how everyone is connected. When Brian asked Matthew if he knew who Katie was he said, "Papa Stanton's friend!"

Last month when we went out to Utah the kids also got to meet Brian's Mom's new "flavor" :) also known as Bob aka Bobbers. Karen watched the kids with Bob while we stayed overnight in Park City. My Mom got the kids from Karen and brought them to us so we could go swimming. On the way there Brinley said to my Mom, "Did you know Grandma K has 2 Dads?!"

Another thought...
Do you think men would still leave their wives if, when they left, they had to take all the kids with them and care for them alone (break up fights, brush their teeth, clean the house, etc)...

I think not!

If they had their kids it wouldn't be a free ride to enjoy all the so called "pleasures" they were "deprived" of while married.

Sometimes I think the commitment of marriage and family is given up on too easily for greener grass. Driving through Dinosaur, Colorado we came across this sign at a local church:

"The grass may be greener on the other side but the water bill is more expensive."

Matthew crawled up on Brinley's dresser yesterday and was looking at his lips in the mirror.

He said, "Mom, come here. Look at these 2 circles on my lips."

I went over and looked with him.

Then he said very thoughtfully, "I fink (think) I'm dying."

I said, "I think that just means your lips are dry."

He smiled and said, "ooohh."

To say 2009 was a rough year would definitely be an understatement...

After all the death, divorce and discouragement I hope 2010 brings some much needed hope and happiness.

A whole lot bigger...

This post is partly for my friend Emmalee who couldn't believe Brian really had a pet caiman (she doesn't know that he also has 2 spiders, 1 piranha, 1 caiman, 3 hermit crabs, 12 snakes and 1 turtle)....and partly because it is fun to see how much this little spider has grown.

These first pictures were taken last August. We had a hard time finding the spider in the little cage he was in.

Now, thousands of crickets later...

We have no problem finding him.

Hot Tamales

Need I Say More....

Watching the Christmas Devotional....

Someday we will watch it as well as General Conference on T.V. instead of Brian's laptop!

Brian's New Pet...

This is Brian's "favorite" pet at the moment. It is a baby caiman. Brinley calls it the German because she thought that is what Brian called it...german...caiman...sounds the same right?

Cutest Kids

Matthew
3 years old

Addison
2 months old

The Christmas Tree...

Over Thanksgiving we went back to Utah for a couple of weeks to visit family. We had not been back to Utah for Thanksgiving since we moved here so it was fun to go back and especially to go and eat my Grandma's homemade rolls! Every year Brian's family goes up to his parents cabin and there is a big sleepover. We also take the snowmobiles out and cut down our own Christmas tree. It was quite eventful but that is a whole other post.

We wanted to get a big tree because we have vaulted ceilings in our living room. We cut one down that was about 12 ft. It sounded small and looked small until we brought it into the living room! It almost touched the ceiling....but I wasn't going to cut it any because we hauled that thing on top of the roof of our van for over 500 miles!!

Leaning up against the wall...figuring out where it will fit.

Jami getting the tree stand ready.

We had to climb up on the wall that separates the front room and the kitchen to hang the lights on the tree. Of course both kids wanted to help with that!

We usually wrap the tree with lights but it was way to big of a task for the amount of time we would have the tree so we just hung them going down the tree.

I just realized that we don't have any pictures of the tree all decorated and set up. Sad! As you can see I had a hard time getting the whole tree in the picture.

We set up the Christmas stuff as well. The kids had a blast picking which things they wanted in their room.
Brinley wearing a stocking on her head.
Daddy, Matt and Brinley excited for the Christmas holiday.