A Chewbacca Christmas...

My Brother Add to My Profile More Videos This is Jake's younger brother running wild in Utah...don't ask me any questions about it, because I have NO answers. We love the kid, though.

P.S.

I love this man!

Playing "Lauren"...

I literally just walked in on my two cuties doing this:

I asked them what they were doing and Sarah replied "washing hair" and Raegan added, "we're just playing Lauren, mom"...I think it's safe to say that I've taken them one too many times with me when I get my hair done.

that can't be comfortable!

Meet the 'FUNNY'...

The Mavity family has officially joined the electric car club! My parents were 'upgrading' theirs and we happened to be fortunate

enough to be considered on their list of buyers. (actually, I'm pretty sure we were the only one on their list) Either way, Funny joined our family and it's been a windy ride ever since!

The kids beg to ride in her on the way to school each morning! The deal is that if they eat their breakfast with enough time to get all bundled up, they can. I've never seen my children eat faster than on a cold morning right before school! We've gone around the neighborhoods each night looking at Christmas lights, to mutual activities, ( if I wasn't already the coolest leader, I definitely am now ), to Granny and Opa's house, and our next adventure will be the gym...if I can figure out a legal route! We LOVE our little Funny! other names include: Mavity Mobile, Fastest Funny Rocket Blaster, the Meep-Meep

Phase One:

Most of you may recognize this as our home. I'm posting this as the official 'before' picture for our landscaping...

After a few discouraging/outrageous quotes on what it would cost to haul away the rock in our yard, Jake and I decided it would be way more economical to rent this...

The bobcat, aka Dad's Hot Wheels, was a huge hit with the kids...well most of them! Blake thoroughly enjoyed the ride and could hardly believe that dad let him drive it too! Raegan had a lot of fun too, but decided that it was too loud! And Sarah, well, she didn't like anything about it. Not even the color. We got all the rock hauled off to the neighbor's yard. I say "WE" because I got to drive it too (not on Jake's lap though). Yesterday, Jake had the Elder's in our Stake and his brother, Nick, install the sprinkler system! Tune in next week for the sod installation!

Wedding Festivities...

This past Wednesday my brother K.C. got married. The week was full of family, parties, and lots of time with people we love. My sister Louisa and her family were in town from Pennsylvania and my other sister Emily was in town from Indiana with her family.

Unfortunately, I didn't pull my camera out much, but these are the few shots that I got...

The Grandkids...

Jake with his brother, Nick

Raegan and Blake

Raegan Paige

Sarah and Blake

The wedding cake that I made with my sister, Emily....SO fun!

Back in business...

This is our cute family on Halloween. Jake was Kip and I think he was perfect! Blake wanted to be a knight and he requested that the girls be princesses so he could protect them. Then Aurora and Snow White decided that I needed to be Cinderella. This was one day before Halloween when Raegan got to wear her dress to ballet. So.....of course they all got to put their costumes on...minus Sarah's wig. Blake LOVED her red lips! I think this one is so cute because Sarah looks like a bobble-head with her HUGE wig...she adored it though. Raegan, of course, loved her 'kwally' (curly) hair, too!

Frustrations....

Well, i'm not ignoring the blogging world, my compputer is just driving me bonkers! Ever since I got home from Denver, it won't let me download pictures from my camera. I can't upload any pictures that I already have on my computer to post them either. Any suggestions? It also takes a LONG time to pull up anyone's blog, so I haven't even been able to keep up to date on those. I miss my blogging friends....

October Break at Camp LoMia

This last weekend we had our family camping trip to LoMia with our ward. I left early on Friday morning because Jake had to work and the kids and I wanted to make the most of our trip. We got there around 10 in the morning and the weather was beautiful! We couldn't have planned a better weekend. The kids enjoyed running, hiking, lizards, endless friends, and total freedom. I was okay to just turn my kids loose for a few hours at a time because what kind of danger could they get into and I knew they wouldn't go far. They really enjoyed it! Jake finally made it up there around dinner time after unsuccessfully hitching a ride, so he ended up driving and we had two cars there. No biggie, we were just happy to see him. That night we had a talent show hosted by my dear comedian husband. It was a great time until he called me onstage to do charades for some filler time between acts! What a man I have! After we safely tucked the kids in bed, we sneaked out to play capture the flag with a bunch of the youth. Jake planned ahead and brought his Gilli suit. As you can probably imagine, he had a great time with it because he didn't put it on until he was away from everyone. Let's just say nobody suspected the bush they were hiding behind to suddenly start talking! The night was cold, but we made it and lived to tell. I had borrowed a large space heater from my mom and it helped a lot. We played a while the next morning and were sad to say goodbye to the beautiful surroundings. We had a wonderful time and can't wait until next year! The kids are already planning on it.

Reagan-isms...

Lately Raegan Has been saying some of the most RANDOM things and I feel like I need to record them before I forget what they are. So, here goes... *Mom, I'm drawing a pink upper-case. (this is a new word that she has started to hear now that Blake's in school) *Mom, when do I get my own cell phone? (this one was at the mall and about gave me a heart attack!) *While painting, "It's going to be an ocean parade" (?) *I was trying t tell Raegan not to be discouraged while trying to paint a picture of me because she had already thrown away 3 attempts...her response, "don't you want a prefect eyeball mom?" *This is PERFECT for my life mom! (after I served her dinner last week) AND THE KICKER... *Mom, if you don't get a baby in your tummy soon, I will! Isn't she so kind to offer? What a sweet little three year old!

A look back...

Now that the weather has consistently stayed below triple digits for a couple of weeks, I can fondly look back at the last couple of months to see what we enjoyed during those sweltering months. Don't get me wrong, it's not cold yet, but it's 'cooler.' Raegan and Sarah and I enjoyed a day at Tempe Beach Park with their "favorite" Aunt Abby while she was town from California one day in August. She's only 15 so she's WAY cooler than mom. They played and ran and splashed. Abby was such a great sport and seemed to enjoy the break from the heat as well. Here's Sarah taking advantage of some shade.This is Blake enjoying the beautiful Arizona summer monsoons! Mom and Sarah braved the rain and actually got soaked along with Raegan! We even floated rubber duckies in the gutter. We had a great time! Notice the puddles! This is my favorite series of pictures! We took a trip to my parents' cabin this past summer with some friends of ours (more pictures to come). I LOVE how similar the Jake and Blake are in the first two pictures. They loved to sit on the back porch and shoot their pellet guns into the forest. Whenever they were out there, the girls sat behind them in their camping chair with their princess cameras. I figure they were just doing what their mom does! The funny part was that every time they snapped a picture, the camera would say, "you look pretty as a princess" and Blake wasn't too fond of that!

Sweet Sisters...

Usually each night after the kids have been in bed for a while and right before I go to sleep, I do one last round and make sure everyone is tucked in. One particular night last week, I went in the girls' room to find Sarah's empty bed and both girls sprawled out in Raegan's bed. It was totally dark by the way, but the flash made it look as light as day. I asked the girls the next morning how they ended up in the same bed and Raegan said, "Sarah was having a bad dream about a witch so she came to snuggle with me!" I thought it was so great that she felt like her sister could keep her safe. I love that they're practically naked...they always take off their pj's after we tuck them in for the night!

The 'PAYNE on my thumb...

Tonight was the annual Cox family luau. We do this every year to kick off the new school year. We eat delicious Hawaiian haystacks and sweet and sour pork...mmm! The above picture is of all of the kids that live in town that started kindergarten this year. Blake is on the far right (the shortest one). My grandma, Mutti, used to make each kid a bookmark that was starting kindergarten. This year they each got a really great laminated and personalized one. I love that my mom and her siblings work so hard to keep

such simple traditions alive through the generations. There were 18 kids that started kindergarten this year!

At the luau there is also a variety show of sorts where any and all are welcome to participate.

This year, my siblings and I did the return of the fountains or Fountains II.

If you are lucky, it should be uploaded on to you-tube shortly.

We had a lot of fun, even more fun than the viewers who were aching with laughter...

that's right, the Layton family is one FUNNY bunch. This year it was Owen, Janee, Me, Matt, my Dad, Sherry (KC's fiance), KC , Kimball, and Ben that participated...and Owen held Smoochie. It was HILARIOUS!

This is a rare picture of my mom (with the sling) and all of her siblings in order from oldest to youngest. Usually there is at least one of them serving a mission at any given time.

One of the hi lites of the night was a surprise guest...my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Payne. Actually, Mrs. Viola Hiroko Kaliko Wehi Wehi Kawahigoshi Payne! This is a picture of my arm and the stamp of her name. We used to get a stamp every Friday if we could say her whole name. Then, while the ink was still dry, we would press our thumb on the Payne part . Hence, the 'Payne on my thumb' joke was born. I was so excited that she was there. We got to sit on the stage and play our ukulele's just like the third grade. She was such an amazing teacher and I honestly thought that I wouldn't ever see her again. It was a great night and I'm a loser for not getting a picture with her...she hasn't aged a bit!

JUST WONDERING....?

WILL THIS BACKGROUND

MAKE ANYONE CRAZY

IF I KEEP IT UNTIL

HALLOWEEN?

FYI:

Yay for today!

our LAZY daddy...

Last night before bed, Jake was talking to Blake and said,

"While I'm at work I look at your picture and think about how much I miss you."

Blake responded, "Dad, why don't you do any work?"

They're so innocent!

Toby Keith and a Sunday drive...

This is me with Kristin Jansen from my ward. She called me on Friday and said she had 8 vouchers fore the lawn seats at Cricket Pavilion. Our husbands didn't want to go, so we made it a girls' night out!

I invited my adorable niece Nikki and we had a really great time! Miranda Lambert opened for Toby and it was

a FUN show! I thought this was cool. I cut off the bottom of the picture, but it was the actual Toby on stage. This was the huge monitor right above him! He played all his patriotic songs right at the very end and showed an amazing clip of soldiers serving over seas. It was neat to see right before the anniversary of 9/11 My kids made cars out of boxes before church on Sunday morning. They 'drove' them all over the house and had

a blast. However, they did make a lot of noise doing it... Maybe not the best Sunday activity?

Asleep at the wheel already! I'll have to watch out for this one...

UPDATE!!

READ THE PREVIOUS POST FIRST! To prove my point that I was trying to make earlier, I just took a picture of Rae's hair. It's still Friday, the same day that it was in the last post where her hair was CURLY! She just wasn't meant to have curly locks! So sad... And to make matters worse, it's only 3:30 and she already wants the curlers back in! So Cute!

"I want to be Dripsy"

After trying for the last couple of days to decipher Raegan's latest request, we have finally done it! Last weekend we had watched the Hunchback of Notre Dame and she was trying to tell us that she wanted to be the Gypsy or Esmerelda. By that, she meant she wanted curly hair. I was a little worried because her hair is SO straight and does NOT curl. So, while Jake was giving baths last night, I went to Albertson's and bought the old school pink curlers that I used to get put in my hair every Saturday night. I put 10 curlers in Rae's hair and then Sarah, of course, wanted some too. I humored her, thinking that they would just be pulled out sometime during the night. Enjoy the pictures...they're some of my favorite!