40 years of wedded bliss...

Martha and Ted just had their anniversary and all the kids drove out to SLC to celebrate.

40 years! We had dinner at the Lion House and it was delish. The walk to and from our car was freezing though! I was not prepared for this winter coldness. But Temple Square was all lit up and beautiful. So it was well worth the frozen toes and legs.

Jacob was well geared up for the cold.

When we were leaving the Lion House, a cute couple was also leaving. They had just been married in the temple. Their party guests lined the sidewalk with giant sparklers as the couple ran through the lit tunnel. So we stopped, watched and cheered them on. When the couple had gone through, the party guests told us to go on through since they still had lots of life left on their sparklers. So we all ran through. I'm sure I had the goofiest grin on my face the whole time, but it was so fun. **Andrea and Matt, you guys totally have to do this at your wedding!**

Sledding

We just spent one fun-filled week in Utah for Christmas and Martha and Ted's wedding anniversary. Our kids have never played in the snow. It's sad, I know. They loved it. We spent three days sledding. Matthew never wanted to quit, James did about 30 minutes in.

Yesterday we went to Bass Pro Shop to visit Santa. Look how excited the boys are. They could barely contain it.

Funny thing is, afterwards Matthew could not stop talking about his Q & A with Santa. It consisted of two questions.

S: Have you been good this year?

M: (just nods his head)

S: What do you want for Christmas?

M: (shrugs)

However, as time goes on and according to Matthew, the answers actually become verbal ones.

James would frequently inject, "I miss Santa" into every conversation.

We went with Amy and Colin. Colin was Santa's mini-me. The boys had lots of fun with their cousin. We had some lunch at the restaurant, hit up the shooting range, went up and down the elevator, sunk a few putts, saw a giant catfish, and followed animal prints throughout the store. Such a fun day.

My birthday is in 2 days! Remember how I spent it last year? Well, the boys have pink eye again! And I think I might have it, too. Gross.

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

Saturday night while we were setting up our Christmas tree, we discovered that it was broken. Broken beyond repair. So we decided that this year, we would get a real tree, but a small one. It's so tiny. But our boys love it. Remember, they're the ones that pick out the smallest, greenest pumpkin they can find. So, of course they love little trees. Look how tiny that fir is. So cute.

This is my only picture from Thanksgiving. Sad, I know.

But I just love the size difference of these two kids. Jacob and Devin (I think he looks so much like Amy in this picture) are only 6 weeks apart. I remember wondering, not that long ago, if Jacob would ever chunk up. He was so skinny, just like Devin.

They'll be great buddies, I can already tell.

Our Primary had their program yesterday. For some reason I started taking pictures from Matthew's first program and I've kept it up. It's fun to look back and see how much he's grown since his first one. Here he is being a big goober.

He was very cute and kept waving to me from the stand. He was very excited to have his part memorized.

This little man doesn't liking staying in his carseat during church. None of our boys ever did a very good job of sleeping through church. Why start something new?

We love having our backyard finished, well almost finished. We spend many nights out by the fire, making s'mores.

James prefers unroasted marshmallows, but insists on holding a poker.

Our fire was popping all over the place. We had sparks and ashes everywhere!

I just thought this looked cool.

Me and my baby. He looks a little suspicious. That's my sweater that he's wearing. All three of our boys have worn it. It's almost 28 years old. Can you believe that? That is one old piece of clothing. That makes me pretty old, too.

Jacob's Blessing

Today we blessed Jacob at our house.

So he is officially Jacob Castleton Blood. I'm not sure if we ever explained his name. Before he was born we were tossing around a few names, the ones from the poll. Logan, Thomas and Jacob. I was pretty sure it would end up being Thomas. I have loved that name for a long time. Right when he was handed to me for the first time, I wasn't even thinking of names. I was just so excited to hold my baby. But the instant he was in my arms I heard the name Jacob in my head so clear that I knew that that was who this little guy was. Jacob. Castleton is Tim's Grandpa Hughes' middle name. He passed away when Tim was about 15. Tim loves his grandpa so much and has many happy memories of him. So it was only fitting that we named one of our boys after him.

All of the boys. Look at little Devin in the back. He makes Jacob look like a giant! James had been gearing up for his skateboard, hence the random knee pad.

I love these boys! You have no idea how hard it was to get this picture of all 3 of them.

And the man of the day. He is such a good baby. He slept through the night Thursday. It was pretty exciting. Unfortunately, he didn't follow it up Friday with an all-nighter.

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween! We had a fun one and hope you did, too.

James took a late nap and was a little upset about getting his picture taken. Here we have Indiana Jones, Jack Skellington, and Captain Blood.

Matthew had awesome whip skills. Look how close the end of that whip came! He got everyone a few times.

Here's my best sleeper that has recently turned into my worst.

Breakin' into their loot.

Tootsie Rolls are my favorite Halloween candy. I have nice boys and they shared with me.

2 months

Jacob is 2 months today! I can hardly believe it, and yet I feel like he's always been a part of our family. Here are his stats:

11 lbs 10 oz

24.5 inches

FLU!!!!

That's right, this poor little guy does have the flu. This picture does not do his miserableness any justice. His eyes are super red and runny and he just looks like he feels rotten. 2 month olds should not be able to get the flu. Not fair.

I felt bad that little Jacob didn't have very many pictures last post. He really is such a cute guy. He is so happy and content.

I love his jammies!

The flu has attacked our house and claimed two victims, Matthew and James. Although Matthew's only lasted a total of 2 days, James is going on 5 days now. Poor guy.

It's exhausting being sick.

Tim has been working on our backyard the past few weeks and has done a great job. Today with the help of Brien and Ted, he put down the sod. We have grass, not just a dusty dirt lot. It's pretty exciting here at our house. We can't wait to get out in the backyard now that the weather has cooled. Wait for more pictures to be coming soon of the finished product.

**UPDATE** Jacob got the same bug as the other two boys. Poor little guy! He just looks miserable. I wish I had gotten this bug rather than my boys. I hate seeing them sick! Especially my two month old baby!

For Fall break we headed out east to Alabama to visit my family. The kids had a blast and I loved being with everyone. It is so fun watching these kiddos play and get along. They might be wild and crazy, but they love each other. What more could you ask for?

They loved helping my mom out in the kitchen. Look at James in his pretty apron.

There he is, I bet you were wondering if you'd see him. He's getting so big, but this is pretty much all he does.

Delaney puts together the jazziest outfits. She wore this one out to dinner.

Delaney's blanket had to be washed. So James brought her Holly's blanket to cheer her up. She actually carries Holly's around all the time and Holly uses Delaney's. But every once in a while, she wants the one intended for her. And of course she wants it once it's thrown into the wash.

We went to a pumpkin patch at Old Baker's Farm. It was so much fun, but a cold, cold day. First stop was lunch.

These kiddos chowed down.

We rode some fake horses. This is such a cute idea, btw. These are old tires cut out to be horse swings.

Then we rode some real ones. While these two rode, James would intermittently say, "YEE-HAW!" and Delaney would follow it up with, "Horsies!" as she waved her arms up and down.

Matthew thought the pile of horse poop was pretty funny.

I love my sisters! We are so lucky that we get along so well and have so much in common. One night we stayed up until 5:15 a.m. watching ANTM and Vampire Diaries. We only got about 2 hours of sleep each. Julianne may have gotten more, since she doesn't have a baby to get up with. On just two hours of sleep, we spent the entire day shopping. Go ahead, say it, we're rockstars. I wish we lived closer to each other!

Jacob slept the whole time.

We went through a corn maze. It was such a fun one. The ones I've been in are super easy, but this one actually got us lost a few times. The kids loved it and we were all a muddy mess by the time we were done. But it was well worth it.

The End.