We've been busy!

Well, our last few weeks have been quite busy and unfortunately I don't have any photos to share at this time.  Thanks to the camera batteries being dead and me not having the time or remembering to charge them.  Hopefully we will get some photos up soon, especially since I think that makes the blog that much more fun to look at. 

Our craziness started around Christmas time when Justin's parents home burned to the ground.  What a crazy thing to happen.  Fortunately they had insurance and they seem to be plugging along the best they can.  Since then they have been staying in a hotel that fortunately for us has been really close to our home.  Because of this we have been blessed with seeing them more and helping them out with meals and a place to hang out.  It has been a lot of fun enjoying their indoor pool as well.  Unfortunately it wasn't as heated as it should have been, but we have still enjoyed it none the less.  

Then this last week their kids all came into town with their families and guess who they stayed with?  That's right, us.  It has been a lot of fun to have the cousins and Justin's siblings around.  It gave us great opportunities to get to know them better and serve them in any way we could.  The boys sure enjoyed having their cousins around.  Especially when they came home from school.  It was a nice break for me in not having to entertain them so much.  It was also a lot of work with meal time, but fun.  Our grocery bill was definitely hire this month then planned.  

We did a lot of different things with the cousins.  The boys learned about a new computer game called Animal Jam and got to play that with their cousins.  We also picked up some bead projects where the boys got to create their own animals, shapes, and other stuff and then iron them together.  They seemed to really enjoy that and wanted to do it more often then allowed.  They did a lot of board and Wii games, played hide and seek, and just got crazy together.  They were here for almost a week.

Then, Friday, Justin's parents moved into a rental home in Springville, which is way to far now, but in a great location for their work.  So the cousins moved in with them for the rest of the week.  It was kind of nice to have my home back, however, it was sad to see them go.  We definitely don't get together like we did now.  It's sad how distance apart makes a difference.   Justin's parents still have a pool at their new place and the boys can't wait to try it out.  Hopefully we will get that way soon for them to see their cousins at least one more time before they head home.  

On top of company being here, the boys have been fighting colds and such.  They have been having these terrible coughs which produce a lot of phlegm and if they get coughing hard enough, they end up loosing everything. Quentin decided that he needed to loose it at Los Hermanos in Provo and that wasn't much fun.  His Aunt Jeni was next to him and handled it really well.  She was very helpful in that whole situation.  There are quite a few restaurants I have a hard time eating at now, because of him throwing up at.  It's amazing what that does to you.  

It has been a fun and busy month.  Take everything that happened and add on the regular life stuff and it makes for a non slow time.  Will life ever slow down?  Probably not, but here's to hoping.

Christmas 2010

So we had a pretty good Christmas.  We started out the holiday by going to the BYU Basketball game with half of my siblings and their kids.  Then Christmas Eve we went to my Grandparents home for the Christmas program and food.  On Christmas day the boys actually slept in until almost 8 and then we opened presents, ate a turkey lunch, rested, and then headed to Justin's parents home for a couple of hours of visiting and  playing games.  It has been a fun holiday time.  A little chaotic and frustrating at times, but over all fun. 

The Mangum family clan at the BYU basketball game.

The boys and some of their cousins at Grandma Mangum's home.

Cyrus got to play Joseph in the Christmas presentation.

Quentin and Grandpa Mangum (my dad) playing a duet, Good King Weinsless, at the Christmas Eve party.

Cyrus Christmas morning.

Quentin Christmas morning.

Zayne saying "neigh" for his horses he just got Christmas morning.

Quentin with Grandma Hemingway, Christmas Evening.

Cyrus Christmas evening.  He was so funny when he opened this.  He got this exact puzzle for his birthday in May.  So he didn't wait to long to tell everyone he got the same one again.  In fact Grandma Hemingway was the one who gave this to him twice.  We were able to exchange this one for another large floor puzzle of safari animals.  He loves it.

Quentin Christmas evening.  His uncle Jacob spent 3 hours that day putting this whole thing together.

Zayne played with this almost all day. 

Zayne really loves his uncle Jared and didn't want to leave his side  for most of the evening. Now if we could only find Jared a girl that would do the same.

Playing in the snow!

Yeah, we finally got snow on a day that the boys could go out and play in it.  And hopefully this means we will be having a white Christmas.  The boys were so excited to play in the snow today and it was Zayne's first experience with it.  He did pretty well, especially for not really being able to move.  If I kept a path cleared low enough for him to walk in it he was fine.  But if he fell down at all, well lets just say he rolled around a lot until someone helped him up. 
The boys made some pretty interesting snow men all by themselves while I finished shoveling the walks.  Then we made a big sledding hill which they enjoyed.  They even put a bump in it to go over.
What a great time they had.

The boys also had their Christmas concerts this week.  Cyrus preformed well and we were very proud of him.  He showed great courage and sang every song with actions.  Quentin also sang his song at school and he had his piano recital this week which he did well at.  I didn't get pictures of that since we weren't allowed.  But he is getting so good at playing the piano and it has been fun  having him play Christmas songs every day.  We also had the opportunity to go on a Christmas light boat ride Monday which was really fun and we went to the Forever Plaid play at the Scera on Thursday.  Both in thanks to Justin's parents for taking us.  It has been a fun and busy week and we can't wait for this weekend.

playing in the leaves

Okay, Okay, so I'm a bit late in getting these up.  But we've been a bit busy dealing with sickness.  We had a lot of fun cleaning-up and playing in the leaves.  More fun playing then cleaning-up for sure. Unfortunately Cyrus seems to be the only one who knows how to look at the camera and smile though. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

We had a great Thanksgiving at our home as well.  Justin's parents home is under some major remodeling construction.  So we offered our home to their family instead.  All of his brothers were here as well as his sister Jena and his parents.  Great Aunt JoAnn and Sheila joined us as well.  We ate lots, played Rock Band and many other Wii games, did puzzles, and played other board/dice games.  A couple of people napped as well, but not much sleep down time was offered.  I believe fun was had by all.  It was a great day. Thanks to everyone who joined us.  I will have pictures of us rocking out up soon.  Even Grandpa got into the singing.