Baylessfamily.org

sorey instead of a birthday parttey i changed my minde i new something more fun then a birthday i plandid it in my room
i couldint wait to showe mom and dad it//was SPENDING THE HOLE
DAY WITH MY DAD i must be a luccey kid dad wont even go to work
on that day

im 5 1/2 years old now you know that im i N KINDAGERDIN my frends ar mia jerey
bradey ryan zahk jesaka elis samuel kyle brin jack mceze boby kiera charls
arbrey and simpea she’s not in class she moovd wer sending cards to her

i dinnin`t know what to do i was siting on the floor in mom s room on the soft floor
WACHING SNOW OUT THE WINDOW i shoutdid the snow is melting mom tolde
so now i need to wait intil it snows agen

hot weels i like hot weels it sooo much i can hav it fr.evr and its the bigist hot weels chrak in the reth its amercl i love it bcus is osum chrak voct1 i love hot weels a lot a lot a lot a lot becus its a car thing

Just a quick note to my family and friends all over the world: Merry Christmas!

I wish I could be visiting you all at the same time but  I can’t split into parts unfortunately.

So have a great Christmas, all of you and give each other a hug for me!

I had the need for a gift that was made in Utah this holiday season. I participate in an online Secret Santa gift exchange each year for fun and the request from my recipient this year was to get something from the home state of the giver. So I gathered together a few things from around Utah. One of the more interesting finds was Amano Chocolate which is apparently one of the better chocolate makers in the world.

They have a large variety of single provenance chocolates that have very interesting and complex flavors but don’t have any additives or ‘stuff’ in them that you usually find in chocolate (raisins, chunks of nuts etc.) so they are just the most straight forward chocolate flavor experience I have ever had really. Super yummy.

They make the chocolate right near my office in Orem and you can buy it from their little office there or at the BYU Bookstore, or some place at Sundance or on their website. It is expensive compared to your average Hershey bar (ewww.) but since it is so flavorful and great you just don’t need to eat more than a square or two at a time so it lasts a while.

For Thanksgiving I made a greenbean casserole to bring to my in-laws for dinner. I had been talking about it during the week, telling Savanna I was going to make it and that we needed to go to the store to get the ingredients, etc.  On the morning of Thanksgiving, James was talking to Savanna and reminded her what day it was and that we were going to Nana’s to eat. Savanna told James that she was going to help mom make greenbean castles. It was a priceless moment so I made sure to take pictures of her helping me and tell the story to always remember it!

Jonathan had the assignment of making a castle out of anything he wanted.  We started making it out of legos, and it became apparent very quickly that we would have to buy a lot more legos.  So, I suggested asking Uncle James to help.  Jonathan became very excited at the thought of being able to weld again with “Uncle Bob.”  So, we sent him off to spend some time with James.  Jonathan was able to design the castle, cut the metal, use an electric drill….and watch his uncle light the whole thing on fire for fun.  You never know what fun you’ll have when you get together with James in the garage.  Anyway, Jonathan was assigned to dress up as a peasant.  He decorated his castle with medieval people and took it to school.  Everyone was very impressed.

Halloween is getting more and more fun each year! With the kids getting older it is so fun to experience the holiday through their eyes. This year I had planned to have both the kids dress up as crayons, but Savanna decided she wanted to be a fairy and the duck costume I bought a few years ago fit Miles pretty well so it all worked out. We went to the ward trunk or treat then headed out around the neighborhood as well. Miles was thrilled when he discovered what trick or treating was. Everytime someone put candy in his bag he said “oh!” and gave them a huge smile. Savanna had so much fun and would have probably gone all night if we let her. When we got home Savanna dumped out her candy and was admiring it. James said he couldn’t believe that he had a kid old enough to do that and it brought back a lot of memories. All night I kept thinking about the fact that next year we will have three kids to take out!

All of us dressed up this year and went to the mall to trick or treat.  Before we left, we took some family pictures on the porch.  Brendan cried through all of them.  But, when he saw a cat run by our house, all the tears dried up.  We went store to store to trick or treat, and then we went to the ward trunk or treat.  The day before, Jonathan and Marissa had school Halloween parties.  This year Marissa decided to be Jessie from Toy Story 2…mostly because she says she wishes Jessie was her real name and not Marissa.  Jonathan wanted to be Batman from the Dark Knight movie.  This is kind of humorous since he’s not been allowed to see that film.  Mom deemed it too scary.  Adam and Brendan and I were the three musketeers.  When Jonathan was Brendan’s age, I made these costumes because there were only three of us.  It was fun to go see Grandma and Grandpa Stone and then visit Uncle Jon to see all of his scary decorations.  Needless to say, at the end of the evening, the kids were Halloween-ed out.