getting ready for the beach

It has been like summer here (82 degrees right now) so we thought we would practice getting ready for the beach this summer.

Now we are all ready for our trip to Charleston this weekend and some fun walks on the beach. We are picking my parents up from the airport in a couple of hours and we are all very excited. Asher keeps walking around the house saying "We're going to the beach with 'big guy Larry' (that is what he has taken to calling my dad)"

Quinn's Birthday

Yesterday Quinn celebrated his 31st birthday. I hope it was a fun day for him because the kids and I had fun trying to make it special for him.

We woke up and started making the cake. Did some chores around the house then headed out for some last minute birthday shopping. Then we swung by the office to see if he could join us for lunch. We had a quick lunch at Taco Bell. We dropped Quinn back at work and finished up our errands.

Once home Asher helped me decorate the house. He was a huge "help" putting up the streamers.  Then we got busy on the requested dinner of enchiladas. I burned the rice, but besides that dinner turned out pretty good.

Once Quinn got home, we ate dinner, opened gifts, sang Happy Birthday and then had cake.

We put the kids to bed and Quinn and I settled down for an episode of The Walking Dead.

Here are some pictures from the festivities.

 Asher is modeling in front of Quinn's gifts. We got him a mini fridge for his office and stocked it with drinks and other favorites.

 Quinn let Asher help him open all his gifts.

 It took me forever to light all those candles, but it was worth it.

Happy Birthday Quinn!

we are sick

Last week Quinn spent in Warsaw, Poland for work. He had a fantastic time and made me extremely jealous that I wasn't able to go with him. Luckily, my mother-in-law was nice enough to come down and spend the week with the kids and me. We had a great time shopping, going to the park, eating out and playing with the kids. It really helped the week fly by.

Last Friday, Beckham started to get sick. He ran a fever until Tuesday night. Sunday it was Asher's turn. He ran a fever until last night. My turn started on Tuesday and I'm still sick. It is the worst. Quinn has been able to stay in the morning for a couple of days to help me out but those hours when he is gone to the office are long and slow!! I'm hoping I follow trend with the boys and this is over by Saturday.

In way more exciting news, my sister-in-law Cara gave birth to a leap day baby yesterday! So excited for my new niece Penelope Jane Boxer. I can't wait to meet her. We are trying to find an excuse to go up to Virginia soon!

my valentines

Breakfast for my loves

Asher loves bacon

Beckham joined us half-way through

I love my boys!

I'm very proud of my heart shaped bacon.

Happy Valentines Day!

he speaks

some major haps

I need a post to sum up some of the major happenings (some are even from our trip to Utah.)


1. We were able to make a trip up to Bountiful so Beckham could meet his great grandparents, cousin Cade and Jenna, and aunt Michelle.

We had a very nice, albeit short, visit.

2. Asher is now binky free. It happened during our trip to Utah. One day I was so fed up that I just took his binky and threw it in the garbage in front of him. There was massive crying and hysterics but after about 3 days of some pretty intense bedtimes we haven't looked back. Phew! I was worried he would go to kindergarten with that thing in his mouth.

3. Sadly, I think naps are gone now too. He was down to only sleeping for about an hour anyway, but I have pretty much given up since nap time was turning into screaming/yelling and crying time. It just wasn't worth it anymore.

4. We bought a new car! Finally! I no longer have to shove me two littles in the back seat of my teeny tiny car. A family car at last! I love it and couldn't be happier.

5. Beckham will be 9 months old on Tuesday. He had his check up this week. He weighs in at 18 lbs 12 oz (23%) and 28 inches long (78%). He is a long and slender little boy. He is a serious eater. He would eat and eat if I let him. He only stops eating once I stop feeding him. He is super active and follows his big brother everywhere. If they can survive each other I think they will end up best buds!

our christmas vacation so far

I think this is going to be a long post so bear with me.

We have been in Utah for the last week or so and have been having the best time. Our trip started out eventful. I hate when a trip does. I had checked our seats the night before to make sure nothing had changed and we still had three seats together on our long 4 hour flight west. We did. When we got to the airport, we no longer did. Our gate agent was less then helpful and seriously couldn't have cared less that we were separated on our flight. His big help to us was to ask passengers to switch with us once we got on the plane. Thanks gate agent, I'm pretty sure I couldn't have come up with that on our own. Since Quinn has quite a few followers on Twitter, I told him to tweet about it once we got through security. I have heard  stories of people with substantial followings getting good results when they tweet about problems they have with a company. I kid you not, 5 minutes after he tweeted we had a customer service agent with Delta asking for our confirmation number to help us out. We made our short flight to our connection city and by the time we landed our problem had been solved. 3 seats together. Many other passengers were not so lucky. There were a lot of angry passengers at the gate.  Who knew Twitter would save our trip?

We arrived safe and sound and spent the next day close to home so the kids could recuperate from a day without naps. Next up, I was able to help my mom and Dana host a bridal shower for Jiao, my cousin's fiancee. See here for more details. It was so much fun.

Cameron, Ashley and baby Liam flew in next and now everyone in the family was together. We all got to go see A Christmas Carol and really get in the Christmas spirit.

The adult tree

 The kid tree

Christmas adorableness

My cousin Mackenzie was nice enough to host 45 Arnett's at her house for a Christmas Eve celebration.

 The kids table.

 Stacey, Sydnee and Ashley

 Baby Ty's first Christmas Eve

 Mark, Mallory and Sydnee

 Beckham and Mark

 Nativity fun

 Asher was a wiseman with an offering of potato chips that he munched on during the Nativity.

Beckham visited with Santa. Asher saw Santa's three times this year and I still haven't managed to get a picture of them together.

After the party we returned home to open our Christmas Eve present, jammies of course. 

Here is my dad with all three of his grandsons born this year and interestingly enough all three of them bear part of his name. 

Larry Dee Arnett

babies left to right: Liam Dee Arnett

                            Ty Larry Arnett

                                             Beckham Arnett DelHoyo

Christmas morning the adults were up even before the kids to shower and dress so we could make it to church on time. We had to wake the kids up around 7 am so they could have time to see all the goodies that Santa had brought them, then it was off to church. Our whole family was able to attend church together.

A pre-church candy cane.

Beckham loved what Santa brought him

 Everyone

 All the grandkids

Our family photo

 Asher modeling Mallory's shoes.

 Christmas Beckham

 Asher loving the Dora book from Mark and Mal Pal.

 All of Jaxson's BYU football dreams came true.

 Is it Christmas without crying?

 Stacey's new car dreams came true too!

Later that day we had a delicious prime rib dinner and stuffed ourselves until we couldn't move. 

The day after Christmas we were able to attend Jantzen and Jiao's wedding. I always love a wedding and can't help but cry. And who doesn't love a love story that brings two people together from other sides of the world.