Happy Holidays

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Brandon's Work Party

Bran was SOOOOO EXCITED to see Santa at Brandon's work party.

As Santa was talking to all the kids, Bran kept shouting out things like...
"Santa, I did be a good boy this year."
&
"Santa, I did pee in the toilet!"
It was pretty funny.
As you can see from the pictures, Brandon was pretty excited to see Santa, too!

I also thought you might enjoy some "out takes" from our family Christmas card picture.

If you're lucky, you'll actually get a card from us and get to see the award winning picture!
If you don't get a card from us...don't worry, we didn't end up with any pictures of us all looking at the camera...and knowing me, I'll probably post the picture some other time!

TAGGED

Tagged by Tiff Burris (I seem to know a lot of Tiffs!)

Eight is Great

8 TV Shows I Watch
1. OPRAH (I'm pretty much in love with her!)
2. Desperate Housewives (it's my guilty pleasure)
3. Friday Night Lights (Hey Julie, it starts back up in January...I know you can't wait!)
4. Days of Our Lives (I know, I'm bad)
5. The View
6. How I Met Your Mother
7. 90210
8. The Hills

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
1. I went shopping
2. I took a bath
3. I prepared my YW lesson
4. I ate taco bell for dinner
5. I wore my robe around the house until about 2pm
6. I sat around and relaxed
7. I ate some yummy chocolate
8. I explained to Bran for about the 200millionth time why he shouldn't hit or throw things at Trey!

8 Favorite Places to Eat
1. La Frontera
2. El Toro Viejo
3. Cafe Rio (I really should of been born Mexican)
4. Fire House Pizzeria
5. Hot Dog on a Stick (I love cheese on a stick...what a great invention!)
6. My mother in law's (she makes the best pork chops EVER!)
7. Chili's (Thanks for introducing me to those mini burgers, Ashley)
8. Olive Garden (love their black tie mousse cake)

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To
1. Christmas
2. Disneyland
3. Barack Obama as President
4. Going to a Murder Mystery Party at Julie's house!
5. being 40 (isn't that the new 20!...can't wait)
6. Bran going to preschool
7. Hugs and Kisses from my kids
8. Getting my hair done this Friday

8 Things On My Wishlist
1. A mustard yellow purse (not just any mustard yellow purse, but the one I saw in Park City!)
2. Bran being nice to Trey
3. A vacation for just me and Brandon
4. World peace (I have to say that, right?!)
5. A normal period! (sorry guys)
6. Financial stability
7. A job (preferably a bank teller job)
8. New valentine's day decorations for my seasonal shelf.

8 People I Tag
1. Julie
2. Laci
3. Ashley
4. Tiff C.
5. Tiff K.
6. Julia (I know Tiff tagged you too...this is just to enforce it!)
7. Jen
8. Brandon (he's always my go to guy when I run out of girlfriends!)

THIS AND THAT

THIS...

is the reason I haven't blogged for a while. My mom and dad came to visit us from Ohio. They stayed for about 2 weeks and we had lots of fun, it was a great time for them to come for a visit.

THAT...

is what my husband was sportin' when they came. I'm sure there's nothing more comforting than to see than your daughter married to a guy with a mohawk (for real, this time!) Luckily, my parents already knew Brandon was an outstanding guy. And besides, I'm the one who gave him that mohawk. Don't worry, I only let him have it for the week of Halloween and I made him cut it before church!

THIS...

is obviously Halloween! Mario, Witch, Gorilla, and Pumpkin. Maybe one year we'll all follow some sort of theme.

THAT...
that's right "That One" won! Congrats to Barack Obama who will be our new president in January. I won't say who I voted for...but I am excited for some "Change" is this country. I am happy the election is over and proud to have been part of this historical moment in the great USA.

THIS...

is what 6 years of marriage look like. While my parents were here Brandon and I got to go to Bear Lake for a night (thanks for the hook up Marianne and Darrell...we stayed at their timeshare and it was waaaaay nice). It was so nice to get away from everything and have a night just to ourselves. It's crazy Brandon and I have been married for 6 years now...it's more crazy to think about all the things we've done in that 6 years. It's been a good ride so far, can't wait to see what the future has in store for us.
We were also lucky enough to meet up with the girls of Brandon's family in Park City for some good food and shopping on our way home from Bear Lake. It is a tradition in the Buttars' family for the girls to go on a shopping trip in Nov. It is a fun time for us to get together and leave the boys at home. And after bringing Brandon with me this year, I think he is soooo glad I leave him home for all that shopping!!! I must say, I'm bummed I missed out on all the hotel fun. That's actually my favorite part of the shopping trip, playing games, caramel apples, and the girl chats.

THAT...

is the Wii Fit. Brandon and I were pretty excited when my parents gave us our Christmas money. We went right out and got us a Wii Fit. I hope my parents aren't mad, but we couldn't wait for Christmas and I must say it is soooo fun! Who knows, maybe this will be my weight loss life saver!!!

THIS...

is my mom and dad with Bran on a very special day. You see, they told Bran if he would go potty in the toilet 15 times, they would take him to Chuck E. Cheese. Funny what a little mouse will encourage a 3 yr old to do!! No worries though...he still isn't really potty trained...maybe by the time he's 4! (I can't wait to bribe Bran one day with this blog!!)

THAT...

and finally THAT is what we look like now! All alone...my parents left on Friday morning and I got a call early today that they made it home safely(they always drive). Anyway, I'm sure Bran will miss not having someone make him scrambled eggs at his beckon call and not having someone to make cars and forts with him all day long. Trey will miss not having someone feed him treats just because he's so cute. I will miss not being able to go run errands during the day without my kids. Brandon will miss having leftovers turned into yummy omelets in the morning for him!
THANKS for all you did for us mom and dad....We sure appreciated EVERYTHING.

TAGGED

TAGGED by Ashely (whose 4th folder, 4th pic. was of me right after coming home from the hospital with Trey and it was UGLY!!! I wish I could have paid her back but there were two problems...1. I followed the rules of this tag and 2. I don't have an ugly picture of her!)
Rules
1. Go to your pictures
2. Go to your 4th folder and upload your 4th picture
3.Post

This is a picture of Bran and Alivia....so cute! I wish it wasn't blurry.

I tag anyone who wants to post a random picture....like Julie and Tiff C.

Why all this torture!

Let me preface this story with "I know I'm a sucky mom!"
Every morning I get Trey out of his crib and let him crawl around and play while I go back to bed. Well, this morning, after I got Trey out of his crib, I swore I could hear him upstairs, which I thought was really odd because he has only ever gone up one or two steps, anyway, I decided to get my butt out of bed and go check on him. Sure enough he was all the way up stairs and playing in the kitchen! The torture came when I brought him back down stairs and he turned around and went right back up...that was pretty much how my whole day went. I guess it's time to invest in a gate!
Oh yeah, and I almost forgot...Trey is WALKING! Sure, he is falling down alot too...but he has been known to take about 20 or more consecutive steps!!! Way to go Trey, I'm sure that will only add to my torture!!!

Hee Haw Farms

This is a great place for a three year old. They had so many fun things to do. Bran could not get enough of the slides and the animal train ride. And what made it a little extra special...Nate & Laci! They came to visit us for the weekend.
I swear, Friday was a PERFECT day...we slept in, Brandon made us French Toast for breakfast, we went to Hee Haw Farms, topped that off with a little Toys R Us, Los Hermanos for dinner, and then we all headed home for some Wii game competitions.
Did I just say, Wii game competitions...that's right folks, we are happy owners of a Nintendo Wii. Brandon's work bonus this quarter came in the form of a Wii. Our whole family is pretty excited about this. So come on over people...we don't mind being used for our Wii!!!

Another Family Tradition in the Making!

WE LOVE FALL!
What a perfect time of year to have lots of family traditions.
We decided last Friday to take the kiddies to South Ridge Farms for a hayride (which didn't include any hay) and to a pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins for Halloween. We had tons of fun and think it will make a great tradition. I'm already dreading the day when the kids start to think they are too old and cool to go to the pumpkin patch with mom and dad!

(p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM...WE HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY!)

This ones for YOU, Dad!

I just thought you might want to see how those WILDFLOWERS I planted this summer turned out...

Individually and up close , they were so pretty...

All together, well, not so pretty! They kind-of took over our house! And they didn't even sprout their flowers until the end of August, which by then the stems were so big and tall they were falling over.

You see, I had to plant flowers this year, because last year when my parents were visiting they planted flowers all around our house for us...not to mention, they planted us a garden, too. My Dad kind-of has a HUGE green thumb! Well, I didn't want to let him down so I decided to plant some flowers this summer. As I was shopping for some I thought, they're so expensive, (at least for something I was pretty sure I was going to kill)! Then I thought, why not just buy some seeds, they are a lot less expensive, however, seeds need a lot of care and watering. So I decided, why waste the dollar. Just as I thought that, I saw it, a beautiful picture on a package of seeds, a beautiful picture of WILDFLOWERS and even better than the picture, they didn't need to be watered!!! I fell in love right there and then. Not only was I going to make my Dad proud, I was going to have beautiful flowers that I didn't need to water. I suppose it's true that "a picture paints a thousand words" ... and you see the picture!!! We finally pulled those monsters out and we now have our house back! I'm no green thumb, so take this advice for what it's worth, DO NOT PLANT WILDFLOWERS! Maybe next year I'll make you proud, Dad...better yet, what are you doing next spring, maybe a visit to Utah would be a good idea!

oh, and one more thing...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

Other than the flowers, I thought you would also like to know that my kids are paying me back for all the things I did when I was little...I'm sure that puts a little smile on your face!

They keep me busy wanting to eat ALL the time
(Bran told me the other day that he hadn't eaten forever and ever....he had just eaten a bowl of cereal like an hour before!)

They rough house...I swear I can't let those two near each other!

They steal my stuff (and then hide it!)

They pout...does that remind you of anyone...I'm sure not me!!

They get into my stuff and throw it all over the floor.
And this is all in just ONE DAY!!!

But most of all...

They LOVE you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA KETTERMAN! Love, BranBran & Trey Bug

[TAG] LET'S SEE JUST HOW QUIRKY I AM....

I was TAGGED by "Tiff the Sniff" ....so here it is....I'm a QUIRK!

[TAG] Let's See Just How Quirky I Am . . .
tell about 5 unspectacular quirks of yours:

Quirk #1. I love to people watch, and yes, that includes me (I am a people, right)! Anyway, when I talk on the phone I like to look in the mirror (not because I'm amazingly beautiful...but you can think that if you would like!) but because I like to watch my expressions and hand gestures...it's just something I've done since I was young! WEIRD, I know.

Quirk #2. I have a SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS t-shirt...and I LOVE IT! It is the best fitting t-shirt I've ever owned. I haven't worn it out in public YET...but my time is coming!!! (Just in case you are wondering, I bought it to wear at my son's SpongeBob b-day party).

Quirk #3.

I love this poster. I made back in my college days. I have yet to find someone to share my love of it with me....but really guys....IT IS SOOOO COOL...just look at all those totally rad pictures. Ever since I've made this poster it has been displayed where ever I've lived, unfortunately it's usually behind a door, in a closet, or currently in my laundry room. WAKE UP PEOPLE, this poster is the BOMB! or am I just quirky?

Quirk #4. Sometimes when I walk around my house, doing housework or whatever, I RUN WAY WALK! Yeah, I'm a dork...but hey, I"m Bringing Sexy Back!!!

Quirk #5. I was diagnosed with TONE DEAFNESS, by my husband!
For example: Worm & Warm...they sound the same.
Dole, Dull, Doll...they sound the same.
He has even gone so far as to tell me I can't sing "I am a Child of God" right!
(Seriously, who does he think he is?!)...oh wait, anyone who knows me would probably agree...I just blame it on growing up in Ohio.

I tag...Brandon...why don't you share your quirks with the world now!

home photo shoot...

I found these totally cute hats at Old Navy and just had to buy them for my boys.

I also thought I could take some professional looking pictures at home of my boys in their cute hats...yeah, professional photographer will NOT be going on my resume. I think I'm going to have to break down and get a pro to take my boys 3 yr and 1 yr pictures in January. It's hard to make them sit still and smile...but even so, they sure are cute!

This is MY man!

I know I've been such a blogaholic this week, but I can't help it, I guess I have a lot on my mind that I just need to say.

So today, me, Brandon, Bran and Trey go to Chili's for lunch...I think we look like your average family...Mom and Dad with 2 kids......WELL....

Ladies (especially waitresses at Chili's), I know my husband is HOT, he's lookin' good! But, he's MINE...back off! He doesn't need your smiles and your flirty little looks and we certainly DO NOT NEED SEPARATE CHECKS! What the crap! The waitress asked us if we needed separate checks, REALLY! What do you think Brandon is...my brother, my nephew, my co-worker, my WHAT?...He is my HUSBAND. Granted, he lost his wedding ring, but he didn't lose his wife...I'M RIGHT HERE! I was willing to ignore the smiles and flirts...but separate checks? As we were walking out I totally expected some ABC/CBS/NBC reporter to come and ask me why I didn't say anything about the flirty waitress...but no, nothing, we weren't even on hidden camera! Is our age difference becoming so apparent, that no one would think Brandon is my husband? That's it!...Botox, Plastic Surgery, Personal Trainer...here I come!!!!

Here's to you "MR. HOTTY PANTS"!

Farewell WAMU

I will miss you WAMU...you provided me with lots of good times, like do you remember...

1. That silly guy who yelled at me when I wouldn't refund his fees, and I told him why, because he was mean...and then the next day he sent me flowers! (and he got his fee's refunded!)
2. All those college students who just couldn't understand why they went negative in their checking accounts and when I would ask to see their check registers, they would ask, "what's that?".
3. Those few dates I got asked out on...they were all very interesting!
4. Dillon...he's in a category all of his own!!!
5. All those moves...Salt Lake, Logan, North Logan, Provo.
6. Passing our audit with a higher score than my rival branch...aahhh sweet revenge!
7. All those many gay parades you TRIED to get us to participate in.
8. Those few customers that made me cry because they were just THAT mean (or I was probably just PMSing)!
9. Brandon...if it weren't for you WAMU I may never have gotten married.
10. When I had Bran and only had to pay $200.00 for the whole pregnancy and delivery...yes, I still do miss that insurance plan I had with you.
11. You're the reason I have a cell phone...getting stranded in the snowy canyon driving back from one of my many meetings in Salt Lake was no fun, luckily Becky was with me and she had a cell phone.
12. My retirement account I have (or had) with you...Please don't let me down, I need that money!

Thanks for all the memories, I truly will miss you.

100 Things You May Not Know About Me!

Alright...I'm a copy cat. A few of my friends did this and it looked kind-of fun, so here we go.

I LOVE...

1. playing board games
2. watching MTV and Comedy Central late at night and even a little CNN
3. making up bed time stories for Bran
4. LOVE, LOVE Oprah
5. sleeping in
6. LDS romance novels
7. coloring in Bran's coloring books
8. to dance (I secretly want to be a dancer in music videos!!!)
9. murder mystery parties
10. big, chunky jewelry
11. numbers
12. Bear Lake, UT
13. Desperate Housewives (yay for this Sunday...the new season starts)
14. thunderstorms
15. smothered burritos from La Frontera (I crave them)
16. fall time
17. my maiden name, Ketterman
18. purses
19. shopping
20. sleeping at hotels
21. "to do" lists (I make one everyday)
22. pillows
23. going all out for holidays and birthdays

I WISH I...
24. was a better cook
25. was more out going
26. had pretty finger nails
27. was more bold with my make-up
28. knew more about computers
29. spoke Spanish
30. was a runner
31. had more money
32. was a better neighbor
33. was more unique

I USED TO...
34. take tap dance classes
35. be afraid to wear sunglasses in public
36. use cloth diapers on Trey
37. play intermural basketball in college
38. played softball (for 8 years)
39. smoked herbal cigarettes (only like once or twice)
40. take zoloft for depression and anxiety (I still should)
41. steal quarters from my mom and dad
42. have a poo pencil instead of a plunger!
43. have braces
44. wear glasses
45. play the clarinet
46. get offered money to swear (but I never did)

I DON'T LIKE...
47. watching movies
48. riding horses
49. that I gained 60 lbs. when pregnant...both times!
50. watching cartoons with my kids
51. spiders
52. commercials (I always mute them...that provides quiet moments in my life that I need)
53. that my house only has 2 closets

I HAVE...
54. two private blogs
55. two tattoos
56. always had awesome roommates
57. miscarried
58. driven and operated a back hoe
59. dreamed about Stephen Colbert (it was only a little inappropriate!)
60. ridden an elephant
61. been proposed to three times...ring and all!
62. almost drowned...I was 5 months pregnant snorkeling in Mexico...SCARY

I AM...
63. very open minded
64. very loyal
65. a blue belt in karate
66. trying to grow my hair long
67. afraid of natural disasters
68. in a Youtube video
69. a published poet (have you ever heard of the Mini Page?!)
70. amazed by the women around me

I...
71. don't take the word FRIEND lightly
72. served a LDS mission to Fresno California
73. grew up in Ohio
74. graduated from Utah State University
75. worked as a banker for five years
76. change my outfit at least twice before going out
77. think my husband is HOT
78. talk to myself...all the time!
79. only dated Brandon 5 months before we married
80. smell like a pork chop right now!
81. crack my knuckles
82. lock myself in my room quite often
83. always burn myself when I iron and bake...I have the scars to prove it
84. miss who I used to be
85. dig in the Doritos bag to find the chips with the most seasoning
86. own two houses (or at least I have two mortgages!)
87. will watch the new season of 90210
88. always buy yogurt and never eat it
89. would love to have a little girl

RANDOM (it's hard to come up with 100!)...
90. I used to dye my hair with kool aid
91. in college I rollerbladed EVERYWHERE
92. my middle name really is Sue
93. my older sister died when she was 21 (I was 14)
94. my family brings me the most joy in my life
95. and the most frustration
96. all my family is from West Virginia
97. I sometimes hula hoop for exercise
98. I amaze my husband by how many nursery rhymes I DON'T know!
99. I make up songs all the time and sing them to my family
100. I'm looking for a job

Family Traditions

This weekend we went to Logan and had a great time...we got our hair done, did some shopping, visited with family, ate great food, and went up to Utah State University to walk around and go to the book store for some USU apparel. While up at USU we decided on a family tradition....every year we will go to the bookstore and buy USU shirts (which will be Christmas presents), then we will walk around and see what's new on campus and go to an Aggies football game. I can't wait till next year to put our tradition in place. I figure we should get our kids well acquainted with USU since that is obviously were they will go to college!
I think family traditions are so important and I want my kids to have wonderful memories of great traditions.

The Prince and the Princess

Alivia and Branson

Today my friend Janeece was playing Cinderella at a birthday party, so I watched her kids while she was gone. Her little girl, Alivia, of course wanted in on the action and dressed up as Sleeping Beauty. Well, Branson decided she needed a Prince Charming so he put on his little suit to play the part. Don't they look cute together!

And what did they do after they got all dressed up...build their castle!

Cinderella and Trey
It's not everyday Cinderella comes to your house, so I had to snag a picture of her too!

cute boys

I just had to post these cute pics of my boys.

I love the little yellow jammies Trey has on in these pics...when I had Branson, my mom brought me a box of my baby things and in the box was these yellow pj's....they survived me, my brother, Branson, and now Trey!
Also note Branson's nose in the pic., a few weeks ago we started taking family walks every night and when we would get near our house we would let Bran out of the stroller to walk with us...however, he always insists on running and one night he was running so fast his legs couldn't keep up and he landed face first on the sidewalk...it was pretty scary and I was afraid to look at the damage, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (I was envisioning 911, policemen, firetrucks and ambulances surrounding our house!!) Luckily it was just a bunch of scratches, a few brusies, and hardly any blood. Bran, one day those legs will catch up with you!

Forget crawling...Trey is now cruising...well kind of.

One of Treys fav. places to crawl to. May boys just naturally know where their thrownes are!

Whatcha got cookin' good lookin'! Trey keeps playing with this kitchen, even though it's fallen on him twice! Good thing the kitchen is so light weight...guess it's time for baby proofing!!

oooohhhh....who are those STUDS!!!

Kite Fest

This morning we got up and had nothing to do so we decided to go check out Spanish Fork's Kite Fest. We had no idea what to expect, we thought it would be a few people down by the wind mills flying kites....Boy were we WRONG! Like I said in a previous post, Spanish Fork knows how to PARTY!!! They had tons of booths set up, places for kids to make their own kites and other crafts for free, kite surfers (we didn't see them), jet skiers flying kites on the reservoir, remote controlled air planes and lots more cool stuff....it was way FUN! I must admit, we walked away feeling proud to be part of this little town. We are constantly amazed at the cool things Spanish Fork City does.

I especially love the pics of my boys at the reservoir.

Mommy's Weekend Get-a-Way

Back in my college days I lived at Old Farm Apartments (Apt. S4 to be exact). While I lived there I had some way awesome roommates, Heidi, Carrie, and Joy. We had a lot of fun together and really lived up the good ole college days at USU. We swore to each other that when we moved out we would keep in touch and have roommate reunions every year....Well, we weren't so good at staying in touch which put a damper on the reunions. But thanks to a little invention called Facebook, we were able to all reunite and finally 8 years later plan our reunion. So Labor Day weekend we all met up in Park City and stayed at an amazing condo and had tons of FUN!
I had so much fun catching up on their lives and exploring Park City...I had no idea there was so many cool things to do there. We truly had a great time and I look forward to next year when we meet in Portland.
The only down side to our weekend was my DIET!!! We totally indulged in yummy food and tons of junk food...I don't know what it is but when girls get together chocolate has to be involved!!!

This is us at the Stein Erickson Lodge...that was our 1st indulgence...Raspberry Chocolate Decadence is to DIE for! And the Lodge is absolutely beautiful.

Joy (Las Vegas NV), Carrie (Sandy UT) Me, Heidi (Portland OR)...this pic was taken at our condo. The Alpine Slide...we also rode the coaster...So FUN and worth every penny!

The Olympic Park

This is at the Olympic Park...it is where Olympic skiers from around the world practice. We spent quite a bit of our time here. They are AMAZING to watch!

After a great weekend, I was ready to come home and be a wife and mom again. Brandon did a great job being home alone with the kids. I even came home to a totally clean house!
Brandon I owe you BIG time!

Poop in the Toilet!

Bran made a poop in the toilet today! YAY! We are all very excited about this...so excited that we lost our minds and went to WalMart on a Saturday afternoon...we had to though, we promised him a Batman and Joker toy if he would take care of his "business" on the potty! Bran, we are so excited for you...keep up the good work!!Don't mind all of the toilet paper all over the place...I guess that's what 3 yrs do when they are on the potty!

Here's Bran with his prized possessions!

So here is the full story...We've been trying to get Bran to go potty for a long time. About 2 weeks ago we bought him an Elmo potty video and did a whole Family Home Evening about going potty in the toilet. And, nothing happened! Well today, I noticed him trying to do his "business" and I rushed him to the toilet and told him to stay there until he was done. About 30 minutes later I heard "Mom, I put a poop in the toilet." I ran to the bathroom to see if it was true, and sure enough it was! Bran said it was fun and not scary to put his poo in the toilet (that's been his excuse, that the toilet is scary), so we hope this is the start of many more trips to the bathroom.

I'm a Weight Watcher!

You can say good bye to this body...I won't have so much body for long! I joined Weight Watchers, and I'm so excited to get skinny. It has taken me a while to get motivated since I had Trey in January (lets be honest...since I had Bran in 2005)! But I'm ready, so ready in fact, that I'm going to post my weekly progress on my blog. I feel a bit crazy doing that, but I need all the support and encouragement I can get. So if any of you have any tips or recipes for weight loss, please share.