Mumford Family

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-02T12:38:00.001-07:00

What a fun Halloween we had! We couldn't have asked for better weather. We had a fun time trick or treating and at the Greenville Fall Carnival. Here are the costumes!

My scary mummy

My cute candy corn witch

My sweet Tootsie Roll

and my MAD scientist husband!

Here are all the Brown grandkids at Grandma and Papa's before we started trick or treating!

I decided not to dress up this year. For pictures of last year's fun costumes (us as a super hero family!) click here.

Our Halloween Dinner

2011-11-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

This is what we had for dinner the night before Halloween...

A bloody eyeball (roll)

Slimey worms (jello)

Pumpkin guts (squash)

Skeleton bones (ham and potatoes)

Brain (Cauliflower)

mmm....

Hello, Fall

2011-10-30T12:31:00.001-07:00

It's a good thing the colors of Fall are so beautiful and make great pictures because it is REALLY hard for me to say goodbye to summer. I took this picture 3 years ago on a beautiful fall day. It's one of my favorite pictures. I used sei's October sketch challenge to create it, along with sei's great Homestead line.

Sometimes I struggle with titles, but I really like how this one turned out.

Those faces are so sweet!

Crazy Hair Day

2011-10-30T12:20:00.001-07:00

Crazy Hair Day for Red Ribbon Week at school. Addie reminds me of a Who from Who-ville.

SEI Link Party

2011-09-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

To create this scrapbook page, I used sei's sketch challenge from April. The picture they used reminded me of a picture I took of Tayson. I love his chubby cheeks, long lashes, and sweet smile.

Happy Birthday, Tayson!

2011-09-21T14:29:00.000-07:00

Tayson is one year old! We had a fun family birthday party. I made him a balloon cake out of cupcakes. Happy Birthday to our sweet Tayson!

He really got into his cake!

Off to school!

2011-09-07T20:16:00.001-07:00

Addie started kindergarten! Kyler started third grade! Addie was excited to ride the bus with her big brother and already LOVES her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Peterson. Kyler also likes his teacher Mrs. Campbell, and was happy to see his friends again.

I think it will be a great year!

Kyler's Baptism Day

2011-09-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Kyler who was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! He was baptized Aug 6th. Kyler, we are proud of your decision to be baptized. We are so pleased with the choices you've made in your life. It was a wonderful day!

Baby Tayson

2011-08-31T12:45:00.000-07:00

I made this scrapbook page of Tayson about how easy going he is. He is such a good baby! I used sei's Kris Kringle line. I love the colors and patterns and, as you can see, you can use it for more than just Christmas.

Ah, the lazy days of summer...

2011-08-02T11:39:00.001-07:00

I love summer. So do my kids. Addie knows how to do it.

July Birthdays!

2011-07-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

Kyler is 8 years old! He loves sports, playing the Wii at grandma and papa's house, and riding his bike. He will be baptized on August 6th!

Addie is 5 years old! She loves her pajamas, stuffed animals, and making and giving gifts. She will start kindergarten this year!

I love you both!

He's a cute one.

2011-06-29T14:30:00.000-07:00

Tayson is nine months old! Isn't that smile the sweetest?

Thanks, Jake, for taking this great picture.

Funny kids

2011-05-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

I love this picture of Kyler and Addie from our family pictures taken last fall. Love Kyler's face and the way Addie is standing.

Scrapbook page

2011-05-31T13:42:00.000-07:00

I used the sketch challenge from seilifestyle.blogspot.com to create this scrapbook page. I really liked the layout because sometimes I get stuck doing pages with just straight lines. I liked the circles. I love sei's blog and scrapbooking products!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-27T20:03:00.001-07:00

Tayson is 4 months old!

2011-01-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

My babe is so, so sweet.

Our kids think we're old.

2011-01-24T19:38:00.000-08:00

Kyler was watching the Alvin and the Chipmunk animated series on DVD. I said, "I loved watching this when I was a kid. Kyler asked, "Was it in black and white?"

No, Kyler.

Another funny: The kids were watching a cartoon and the mom on the show went back to work. I asked, "What if I went back to work?" Kyler said, "Dad and I would eat doughnuts all day!"

Hmmm, maybe...

Welcome, 2011!

2011-01-24T19:30:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!!

Santa Baby

2010-12-22T08:35:00.000-08:00

Tayson, 3 months old

A little happier, without the hat...

Visiting Santa

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2010-12-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

Christmas!

Here's a few things we've done so far this season.

Decorated inside and out.

Decorated gingerbread houses

Started this Advent Calendar. I couldn't find one I liked so I just made this one. Each drawer has a little piece of candy for Kyler and Addie and has a scripture to read.

Tayson's Blessing Day

2010-12-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

Tayson was blessed on December 5th. The Friday before we took him in to Dr. Papa because his cold got worse, he had a fever, and his right eye was swollen. He had an ear infection. By Sunday, his fever was gone and he was a little better, so we went ahead and blessed him. His eye was still very swollen,though. Poor guy, but he still looked cute!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-03T21:16:00.001-07:00

A family of heroes!

Shana is Spider Woman, Mike is Zorro...

Super Baby Tayson (6 weeks old!)

Addie as Super Girl

Kyler is Batman
We had a fun Halloween!

Brothers

2010-11-03T21:11:00.000-07:00

They look a little alike, huh?

Welcome, Baby Tayson!

2010-09-20T20:18:00.000-07:00

Our baby boy was born Thursday, September 16th. His name is Tayson Craig Mumford. He weighed 6 lbs 5 oz and measured 19 inches long. He's such a sweet little boy. Kyler and Addie are very excited to have a little brother. There's lots of love for Tayson. We are so happy he is here!

Four weeks left!

2010-08-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

I have just four weeks left of my pregnancy. (Where has the summer gone?) I've had a good pregnancy. I'm grateful for that. Except... the last 3 days I've had 6 migraines! I'm thinking that's my body telling me to take it easy. Other than that, I'm doing great and the kids are so excited for their baby brother (who doesn't have a name, yet. We'll be working on that!).

Oh, yum...

2010-08-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad I'm a big girl now and like tomatoes! I started liking them just a few years ago and I'm very excited to (soon, I hope) pick our very first tomato from of our very first garden. I made this Margherita Pizza yesterday with fresh tomatoes and fresh basil. It was sooo yummy! I just used the Pizza Margherita recipe from kraftfoods.com.

July Birthdays!

2010-08-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Kyler and Addie! Addie turned 4 on July 19th and Kyler turned 7 on July 26th. July is a fun month. Not only do we celebrate my kids' bdays, but other family members as well! We had a fun time. Love you, kids!

We made Addie a ladybug cake....

And for Kyler, we made a Batman cake!

Kyler wanted Zhu Zhu Hamster Pets and accessories the very most!

Happy 10th Anniversary!

2010-07-27T20:25:00.001-07:00

I have been married to my wonderful husband for 10 years today! I love him so much and I am thankful for him every day. I love how we can laugh together and enjoy spending time together. I love that he is my best friend and the best father. I love how he works so hard to provide for our family. Love, Love, Love you, Mike!

Lake Powell 2010

2010-07-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun at Lake Powell this year. (Really, how can you NOT have fun at Powell?!)
The kids were more excited this year than they ever have been. We had swimming lessons the two weeks before. Kyler had improved so much and was so excited to swim without his life jacket. He's a good little swimmer and, of course, the rule was to only swim with an adult around. Addie had a blast, too. She loves the water and even tried kneeboarding for the first time. Both kids spent more time in the water than any year before. This year seemed a little cooler (still very hot), but the best part was there was always a breeze at night to keep us cool. I was especially grateful, being almost 7 month pregnant and all. Here's some picts!

Baby, there's a shark in the water.

Nice make-shift snorkel, Ky. That's a straw.

The kids made a playground for the lizard they caught!

It's a Boy!

2010-05-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

We are expecting a baby! Baby Boy Mumford is due September 20th. We are very excited. Kyler wanted a boy and Addie really wanted a girl. Addie was disappointed just for a minute. Now she loves to tell everyone she will have a baby brother. The ultrasound looked good and I feel good.

Addie likes to come up with names for our baby. Here are a few:
*Addie (That's when she was SURE it was going to be a girl. We asked her if it would be confusing to have 2 Addies. She didn't think so.)
*Cookie
*Super baby

And here's one more...Here's how the conversation went:
Addie:(after just waking up) I know what we should name the baby!
Mike: What?
Addie: BOB!
Mike: Bob?....uh, ok. Thanks, Addie.

Kyler's school opera

2010-05-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

Kyler's 1st grade class was part of an opera at school. Utah Festival Opera came and let his class come up with the characters, story, and plot entirely by themselves. Then the UFO puts it to music. The kids also paint the scenery. Parent volunteers make the costumes. I made these mummy costumes for Kyler and three of his classmates. The opera was called "The Stolen Museum." Only two teachers at North Park Elementary do this, Mrs. Ashcroft and Ms. Porter, and Kyler has had both! The operas are always so funny and clever! Last year I was able to play the piano for Kyler's performances. It's so much fun to be part of these operas. It's been a great experience!

Is this a joke?

2010-04-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

This is what we woke up to on April 1st. And no, it wasn't an April Fool's joke. I measured 6 inches and snow was still coming. That's spring in Cache Valley for you! We went to an outdoor easter egg hunt and good thing the eggs were colored! We had a fun Easter weekend, even in the snow.

Welcome Home, Elder Brown!

2010-04-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

My brother, Jordan (aka Uncle Jo), returned home from his mission! He served a great mission in Cleveland Ohio. The kids were so excited to have him home. Kyler wanted to play Bakugan with him and Addie wanted to play hide and seek. We are so happy to have you home, Jo! Also my sister, Melese, and her kids, Jace and Kaydence, are here from Canada! Oh, fun!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T17:42:00.000-07:00

I'm "lucky" to have such great kids (who will wear funny hats so I can take a picture!).

Fun at Ward Ski Party

2010-03-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I ranted and raved on my last post about winter. But as I said, there are good things about winter. One being skiing. Our family had a blast at the Ward Ski Party at Beaver Mountain. It was the kids' first time skiing. We're pretty sure Addie was the smallest person on the mountain. She loved the lift the most I think, and did alright skiing. She was tired and cold by the end, but it was Kyler who didn't want to leave! He did awesome for his first time. His aunt Leslie did a good job teaching him. He asked the next day when we could go again. Fun time!

Winter, be GONE!

2010-03-11T09:10:00.000-08:00

I have Spring Fever bad. It's not that I don't like winter. There are fun things in winter like Christmas, Valentine's Day, skiing, sledding, and my birthday. And I think freshly fallen snow is beautiful. I'm usually very patient as I wait for spring. Cache Valley's winters are known for being a little longer than the rest of the state. And I'm ok with that...most of the time.

But this has been the longest winter of MY LIFE. There are probably two reasons for that. One: This will be our first spring in our new house and Mike and I are anxious to work in the yard. Two: Both kids have taken turns with the stomach flu, so we haven't been out much the last couple weeks. I have Cabin Fever. And I'm ready to go outside and play and walk to the park without freezing!

Old man winter...I'm done!

Primary Talent Show

2010-02-28T14:34:00.000-08:00

Our ward had a Primary talent show a week ago. It was so much fun! We asked Kyler if he wanted to whistle because he is such a good whistler. He said "No. I want to do basketball!" So we set up some chairs on the stage and he dribbled around them and passed the ball to Mike, while I commentated. Go, Ky!

With Addie, everything is a song. So we practiced the chorus of Follow the Prophet with her. We rehearsed with a microphone at home and Mike took her to the talent show early so she would be comfortable with the stage. We weren't sure if she'd actually do it. But she surprised us. She grabbed the mic from Mike and started belting out her (very short) rendition of Follow the Prophet. It was so funny! I laughed so hard I was crying. The "attempt" at a somersault at the end just adds to the funniness. Here's the video. She surprised me and started so quickly I missed the first few seconds. Funny Addie!

Junior Jazz

2010-02-25T16:18:00.000-08:00

Kyler started his first year of Junior Jazz in January. He plays at the Logan Rec Center and his team is the Hawks. He's having so much fun. He has a great coach and is learning a lot. It's fun to watch 1st and 2nd graders play. He only has two more games left, but then soccer starts in April. (His other favorite sport!) Go Jr. Jazz!

Dominoes

2010-01-26T19:56:00.001-08:00

I came up with this after-school snack last school year when Kyler was in Kindergarten. We call it Dominoes. It's graham crackers, peanut butter, and chocolate chips. Kyler now helps me make them and he's very particular about the number of chocolate chips on each Domino. When he was in Kindergarten, we'd say, "Eat the one with the least number of chocolate chips..." I think he still eats it that way. Now, Kyler asks for them almost every day after school. Yum!

"Sweet" Food Storage

2010-01-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

I decided to start using the dry milk that's in my food storage. I used it a little in the past for making bread, that's pretty much it. But a web site www.funwithfoodstorage.com inspired me to use in a lot more often. So recently we were making a dessert and it called for sweetened condensed milk and we didn't have any. You can make it from your dry milk! The dessert turned out great. I like the website. It also gives tips on planning and buying your food storage, but I mainly use the "eat it" section. I now use the dry milk in any (almost) recipe that calls for milk. I save the fresh milk for drinking. You can also make evaporated milk and condensed soups (haven't tried that yet). On the website she explains the difference between instant dry milk and non-instant dry milk like what the LDS church cannery has (that's what I use.) A while ago I was feeling ambitious and made my own yogurt from dry milk and an old heating pad as an incubator. Sounds weird, but it worked! I mainly used the yogurt in my smoothies. Here's the recipe for the sweetened condensed milk from non-instant dry milk.

Sweetened Condensed Milk (14 oz can)
1/2 c. hot water
1 c. dry powdered milk
1 c. sugar
1 T. Butter
Blend VERY WELL in blender.

A Christmas miracle

2009-12-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

A good picture of Addie. That's what we're calling a Christmas miracle. No weird poses or weird smiles. Her eyes are open and she's looking at the camera! What a cute smile and she looked so cute in her Christmas dress.

Kyler looked cute, too!

Lights at Temple Square

2009-12-24T08:31:00.000-08:00

We went to Temple Square the Saturday before Christmas. It was crazy busy, but we still had a great time!

Christmas Traditions

2009-12-03T20:34:00.000-08:00

One of our traditions, in the time Mike and I have been married, is to buy a new Christmas book each year. At the front of the book, I put the names of the people in our family and the year. This year I bought our tenth Christmas book! I decided to buy one with Christmas carols. I was happy to find this one with both hymns and other Christmas favorites. We will read one each day before Christmas, and on Christmas Eve we read Luke 2. Another tradition is one I'm starting this year. Every day in December we'll read a scripture, a thought, or sing a song about Christ. Then we'll put one ornament on a little tabletop tree. This year I think I'll just use things I have around the house for ornaments, like tiny homemade paper stars and snowflakes, ribbon, etc. Then by Christmas day, the tree will be decorated!

Thanksgiving in Moab

2009-12-03T20:27:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Thanksgiving weekend. We ate a wonderful dinner with Mike's family in Salt Lake. After a yummy dinner and great company, we left for Moab. We hiked all day Friday and most of Saturday. We hiked to Morning Glory Bridge and Corona Arch (probably our favorite hike) on Friday. Saturday we hiked to Landscape Arch and Double-O Arch in Devil Gardens. The weather was great. The kids had so much fun and did a great job hiking (well, Addie spent most of the time in the backpack). Kyler is our little hiker and rock climber. We hiked over 11 miles those 2 days. Go Ky! We would love to camp inside Arches National Park sometime. Moab is just amazing! (Picts to come)

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Halloween! Addie dressed up as Tinkerbell. I was Peter Pan. (I got called Robin Hood a lot. But the funniest was when someone called me the Jolly Green Giant! HA!) Kyler was the star, though. He was Sonic the Hedgehog. My mom made the costume. It was amazing, I thought! (I helped just a little.) At the Cache Valley Mall, he won Best Overall Costume in his age group. He won Disney on Ice tickets! Fun! We had a great time trick or treating, too.

A Fall Walk up Green Canyon

2009-11-03T10:46:00.000-08:00

I love fall. It is REALLY hard for me to say goodbye to summer.

But, when the fall colors come out, it's ok. This walk was on a

beautiful Sunday afternoon.

A SPOOKY Halloween dinner

2009-11-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

Halloween is a fun holiday. To celebrate, I decided to cook a fun (and very simple) Halloween dinner. We had Mummies (crescent rolls and cheese wrapped around a hot dog) and Brains (a head of cauliflower with cheese sauce). Yes, that's cheese sauce. It looks disgusting, doesn't it? I tried making the sauce from scratch and ended up burning it and it went an ugly brownish-yellow color. I thought, "Oh, that's alright. It adds to the Halloween effect." (If anyone has a good cheese sauce from scratch recipe, send it my way. Mine always ends up flour-y. I don't really like Velveeta, but it would be yummy compared to this!) Anyway, the cheese sauce didn't taste good at all. Kyler's face says it all. And I'm not a big fan of hot dogs, but I did it for the kids. It was fun.

We are homeowners!

2009-10-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

We moved into our new home on Sept. 19th. It's in North Logan less than a mile from Green Canyon in a sub-division called Green Canyon Cove. We love being so close to the mountains. So far Mike's been mountain biking three times and we've enjoyed the canyon fall leaves while hiking. We love our new home and our neighbors are really nice. We love having our own home!

What a great tip!

2009-09-17T18:12:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share an awesome tip I found in a magazine. I tried it tonight and I thought, "Pure GENIUS!"

My three year old Addie is not a good eater lately. Kyler was the same way at that age, but he grew out of it. I figure Addie will too, but I wanted to make things a little easier while we are going through this stage. In the magazine Real Simple, it has an idea of what to do when your child eats little or none of their meal. Let the child roll dice to see how many more bites they are to take, and then they're done. Addie had so much fun rolling the dice, she ate everything on her plate!

Lake Powell on Labor Day

2009-09-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

Who could pass up a September trip to Lake Powell? Even though we were there in July, we had a blast again this time over the Labor Day weekend. The kids LOVE Lake Powell (just as much as the adults) and jumped in the lake with their life jackets over and over and over. Ahhh, Lake Powell is my favorite place!

Kyler is a 1st grader!

2009-08-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was Kyler's first day of first grade. He was really excited! (Mom was even more excited!) It was a little strange to have Kyler gone all day. Addie seemed a little lost without her best friend and was a little leech-y to mom. When I asked Kyler what his favorite part of the day was, he said lunch! Kyler is not nearly as picky about food as he used to be. He had nachos for lunch his first day, hmm. Mike said, "Nachos are considered lunch?" Put some milk and fruit with it and I think it sounds alright. First grade is starting out great!