Christmas in Pima

We got to spend Christmas in Pima this year! It was pretty great to be with family and friends. We were also very grateful to be missing all of the snow in Seattle. Here are some of the pictures we took to share.

There was a beautiful sunset on Christmas Eve. I really miss evenings like this!

Here are the boys in their cute jammies.

Right after sunrise on Christmas morning Tommy spotted 2 amazing rainbows out over the wash.

Thanks Grandma for the cool hoodies. We can barely get the boys to take them off!

Rogers Christmas

We were so happy that we got to spend the Monday before Christmas with my family (minus Dale, who had to work). We took the kids to a park in Gilbert and everyone loved it. Here are some fun pics.

Road Trip!

Well, we survived! We decided to take a surprize road trip to Arizona for Christmas with our friends Justin and Tiffany. It was a pretty daunting idea...30+ hours (each way) in a car with 2 two year olds. The trip was definitely worth it! We had such a great time.

Here are some pictures we took in San Francisco. I was glad we took the detour!

The Golden Gate Bridge was so big!!!

Here is the crooked road. Thanks to Tommy's navigation skills we got to find this quirky land mark. Driving on it was pretty neat.

Here are our boys, carrying on the family tradition of loving In-N-Out! (Mason thinks if he squints his eyes closed you cant see him.)

Winter Fun

We woke up this morning with a few inches of snow on the ground! (For all of you Arizona people....snow is rare in Seattle.) Here is Mason & Justin's first encounter.

Justin was not so pleased when he tried to head out onto the ice coated street.

We didn't play for long...the wind is howling and it is very cold!

What's not to love?

Snowflake Lane

Yesterday Mason, Justin & I went to "Snowflake Lane" to celebrate the holiday season. We went with our friends the Williams & Spears. The boys had a really great time watching the parade, which mostly consists of a drum line. They really loved catching the "snowflakes" as they fell from the sky. Too bad the characters (Rudolf & the snowman) scared them so bad...they definitely do not like creatures where they can't see their face.

Random Silliness

The other day Mason & Justin were eating lunch. Justin always finished first and usually runs off to play. However, the other day, Justin decided to hang around and help Mason finish up. I realized they were being so nice to each other (something that has become a rare occurrence at the Batty house). I couldn't help but share this nice little video....it makes a mother proud.

New Trucks

One of our favorite new birthday gifts were a pair of trucks from Tommy's aunt & uncle. They have both hammer and screw parts...which they love to play with. This is the first toy the boys have played with for more than 10 minutes. How great is that?

Halloween Pics

Well, it is a little late...but here are our pictures from Halloween. We somehow managed to not have our camera with us, but our friends saved the day.

Two months ago the boys picked out their costumes at Costco. Justin picked out a lion and Mason picked out an aligator. They hugged their costumes the entire day. Then, about two weeks before Halloween they became deathly afraid of wearing their costumes. (They do still like to throw them on the floor and make a mess with them though.) Mason cries "bite, bite" everytime we try to put the costume on him. (The little aligator head has some felt teeth.)

So, we decided our Batman PJs would have to do this year. For our ward Halloween party the boys both agreed to wear their black dress shoes, which at least matched. Of course, on Halloween night Justin wanted his white sneakers and Mason wanted his fireman rain boots. It wasn't the most glamorous get up...but the boys were happy.

We trick-or-treated for about 20 minutes total. At the first house we were very confused about the process. The boys wanted to keep ringing the doorbell (they are obsessed with buttons) and then ran into the house as soon as the door was opened. Then, they got the hang of the process and did much better. Except, their vision seemed to fail as soon as they saw the candy bowl. At 1/2 the houses we went to, both guys would trip right over the doorway the instant the candy dish appeared. It was hilarious!!!

We had a great Halloween and we are glad we had great friends to share it with!

Anniversary Weekend

We had a really, really great weekend! Thanks to Justin & Tiffany for watching the boys. We got to go to Oregon. We left Saturday morning and went to Portland to a "Dave Ramsey live event". If you have talked to us about money in the last 6 months, I am sure Dave's name has come up. You are probably sick of hearing us say, "Well, Dave says...". However, Dave Ramsey is THE MAN! We had a really great time. Listening to the radio show & following the Dave's plan as really made us smarter (and happier) about money. Here is a link to his site...if you want to change your life!

http://www.daveramsey.com/

We left the conference yesterday evening and headed out to the Oregon Coast. It was so beautiful! The forest is the dense & green. The fall colors were so pretty. We stayed in a small hotel right on the ocean. The was a small river that ran into the ocean...right outside our room! There were hundred of pelican and seagulls congregated at this spot and we watched them all morning. We also found the famous "Goonie Rocks". They were actually just on either side of our hotel...within walking distance. The whole experience was surreal. We loved it!

Our kids are geniuses...ok, maybe not!

We love it how parents always think their kids are SO smart. We think are kids are great...but at this point, we aren't saving money for Harvard tuition!

Here is a fun video showing how smart & cute our boys are. They have quite a few of their books memorized.

Here is another video...showing just how special we are!

Birthday Fun

We had a party this week at Chuck E Cheese for the boy's birthday. Everyone had a really fun time. Justin liked the rides...especially Bob the Builder. Mason's real passion was the "money". All he wanted to do was get more coins so he could load them into the games. Also, Mason is not a fan of the mouse. He was pretty much terrified. Thanks to all of our friends who came and celebrated with us.

Just a side note...the little girl next to Justin is Ava! She is our friend from the NICU. She was born 1 oz lighter and 1 week later than the boys. We are happy to report she is a happy, healthy two year old that our boys are infatuated with!!!

Family Pictures

Here are a few of the family pictures we had our friend Kevin take last weekend. While the pictures look great...I almost had a nervous breakdown! I was so stressed out that the boys are NOT into getting their pictures taken. I really did just want to cry. However, thanks to Tommy, JoLynn & Kevin...we got some great pictures! Guess I need to learn that it all works out in the end!

Which Twilight Character Are You?

Only a few more weeks until the movie comes out. Yipee!!!


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Oh no! Terrible 2's!

Well, it is official. We now have 2 - 2 year olds! Yikes. Not sure how, but it is like someone flipped a switch and my sweet, kind boys are gone. However, we do love our fun, adventurous little boys too. We had a small family party for the boys (which included Justin & Tiffany). Here are some pictures.

As you can see, we love anything "Elmo" right now. He is pretty much the super hero of the world. The boys also love blocks...especially knocking them down.

We had our 2 year appointment with the doctor. It was GREAT! Mason is 27lbs & Justin is 25lbs. They both rank right around 50% for height, weight & head size. Can you say normal??? Whoo Hoo!!!!!!

Thank you!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Rogers for the beautiful quilts. Here are some picture of the boys enjoying them.







Let's see if I can get a video attached.