Santa's "Nice" list!!

I love Christmas time- for many reasons. One reason is that my kids seem to be more well behaved. I am pretty sure it is my reminders to them that if they are mean they will be on Santa's naughty list....which means they only get dirt!! We had our ward Christmas party on Dec 5th. The kids were so excited all day because they new that they were going to get to see Santa. For Payton it was his chance to make sure that he WAS on the nice list, as well as telling Santa a few things that he wanted. Well, the Santa finally arrived and Payton was thrilled. He followed Santa around the gym like a lost little puppy. Rilee, on the other hand, was freaked out. She wanted nothing to do with Santa and hung on to Cody's arm as tight as she could. Even the bribery by Santa for a bag of treats wasn't enough to make her sit on his lap alone. As you can tell from the picture, Cody held her on Santa's lap---pretty much against her will, but I really wanted a picture. Payton was so excited when his turn finally came to sit on Santa's lap. He told him that he wanted football clothes and basketball clothes, and then kindly reminded Santa, "I have been good, so I am on the nice list huh!" It was cute. I do have to say, if there were any kids at this party that were kind o f trying to decide if Santa was real or not they probably figured it out at the party. Santa showed up in a sling...I think he had carpal tunnel surgery a few days before. When kids were telling him what they wanted he had no idea what they were talking about. One kid said he wanted a nintendo DS and Santa said," I am sure we can bring you a nintendo EX"---oops! Another little boy said he wanted a playstation 3. Santa said why do you want 3 of them? Anyway, I guess that was the best Santa we could find in Gunnison. HA HA!! It was fun to see the kids so excited.

My little snow angels!!

I can't even describe Payton's and Rilee's excitement when they looked out the window and realized there was snow. For days they had begged to go outside and make snow angels. I explained there had to be snow outside to do that. However, they actually did get all dressed up a few days before these pics and played in the mud in their snow clothes---that was a mess. Anyway, these pics are taken the first real good snow day in Gunnison. I think it took longer to get the kids bundled up in their snow clothes then they actually lasted outside playing in the cold. It was fun for them regardless. It is fun to see something so little as playing in the snow bring so much excitement to a kids face.

Talan's Blessing

On Sunday December 2nd we blessed Talan. We had a lot of family and friends there-despite the nasty weather. Cody did a wonderful job, and I was emotional like I always get when my kids are blessed. Talan wore the outfit that my mom made for Payton. He looked so cute!!! Here are some pictures so you can all see. Plus you won't believe how fast he is growing. He is already almost 10 pounds.

CARVING OUT MEMORIES

Halloween is such a fun time of year. It is one that my kids look forward to for a long time. They like to dress up, go to all the fun carnivals, and carve pumpkins. This year we had to rush our pumpkin carving. I went to the doctor and was dialted to a 4, so instead of keeping the original date for my c-section, the doctor said, "lets do it tommorrow". I had to rush to get all the things ready for a new baby, but I made it a priority to have one last party with Payton and Rilee. We had pizza and ice cream, drove to the farm to pick out our pumpkins and then carved them together. My kids did not like scooping out the "guts". I was actually surprised because usually they jump at the chance to get messy. We had a lot of fun, and when we spend time together as a family it is always memories worth making.

A whole new world

For those of you that do not know, my sister celisse (CC) is living with us and going to school at Gunnison High School. Since she is like part of our family for a while, I thought that I better post a few pictures of her. It has been very fun to have her down here, although raising a highschooler is a whole new world for us. Her schedule alone keeps me hopping, not to mention keeping up with the other kids. She is on the drill team and stays very busy. My kids love having her here, and I am glad that she would even want to live with us. Love ya.

BABY FACES

Talan is growing and changing so fast. I thought I would share these pictures so that those of you that don't get to see him often can watch how he is growing. He is such a sweet little boy. The cute little smiles, the silly little facial expressions and the bright eyes that melt your heart. It honestly doesn't get any better than this. I LOVE BEING A MOM!!!

LIKE FATHER.....LIKE SON.

Payton loves his Daddy. He wants to do everything just like DAD. He eats the same breakfast cereal as him, dresses like him for church, and just always looks up to him. It is no wonder that he is so excited any time he gets to spend time with DAD. One of their favorite things to do together is go to the farm, whether spotlighting, getting milk, hunting, or just going for a drive. Well on Saturday October 4th, Cody took Payton pheasant hunting with him. It was cold and Payton got a little tired of the 3 hour hunt, but he was as proud as could be when he got home. He climbed out of the blazer holding up this pheasant. To be quite honest I was kind of grossed out by my little boy holding up the dead bird. You think I would be used to it now being married to Cody. For goodness sake, who would have ever thought that I would have an elk head on my wall? Anyway, I took the picture of my proud little hunter. It is fun to watch him grow and want to be just like his DAD. Later that night Cody, Payton and Rilee enjoyed a nice barbequed pheasant breast. YUCK!!!!

Our Superhero!

Payton knew since August what he wanted to be for Halloween. He was so excited to get his Batman costume and wore it around the house many times before Halloween. Payton was so fun to watch in his costume. He was determined he could fly higher when jumping off the couch when he had on the costume. The costumes body is full of muscles, and Payton said to me, "Mom, I think that you bought the girl batman costume because this one has boobs." It is sad that he knows about them, but oh well it was sure funny. Payton really is our superhero. He is a great brother and son. He tries so hard to be an example to others and so many times I wish I could be as sweet and innocent as he is. We love you Payton!!

JUMP, JUMP, SHAKE YOUR BOOTY!!

Rilee is our sweet little princess, but sometimes I wonder what we are going to do with her. She is a ball of energy....or as Cody calls her, " wild child". Since Cody is still coaching football, the kids and I spend a lot of time going to football games. Rilee loves to watch the cheerleaders and the bulldog mascot. She is often dancing in the stands, trying to imitate the cheers. It is absolutely adorable to watch. Well, this year we were online trying to figure out Halloween costumes. I was trying to get Rilee to want a nice warm costume like a carebear or something. She wanted nothing to do with it. She said to me, "I want to be a cheerleader, so instead of saying "trick or treat" I can say "jump. jump, shake your booty." Well as you can see from the picture, she was a cheerleader- probably the cutest one I have ever seen. She had so much fun showing of her costume and performing for everyone. Who knows, one day maybe she will be on the side lines cheering for the Gunnison Bulldogs!!

And that makes three.

My sweet little baby boy Talan Richard Dyreng was born on October 24th at 7:26 am. He is absolutley precious. He weighed 6 lbs 6 ounces and was 20 inches long. He had a little dark hair, but nothing compared to Rilee. He is a great baby, and I am loving doing the new baby thing again. Payton and Rilee are adjusting well and love their new baby brother. They are both a very big help.....sometimes more than I want. Talan was jaundiced and was under the bili lights for 10 days. Any one who is a mom can imagine how hard it is to have a new baby and not be able to hold them. Those 10 days seemed like forever. I am glad he is now out of the lights and I can cuddle him. Life is great as a mother of 3 (4 if you count my little sister CC who is living with us). I am getting little sleep and my house is messier than I would like, but I try to remember a wall hanging that is at my mom's. It reads:

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tommorrow...

For babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow...

So quite down cobwebs... Dust go to sleep...

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep!!