Three bears in the bed, and the little one said, "roll over. I'm crouded."

Gus, Max, and Cash sleep in the same king sized bed, and that arrangement poses its difficulties at times. This particular night, they seemed to make quite a fuss as they were going to bed. When it finally got quiet, I went in to kiss them all goodnight, and I found that Cash, the littlest, had booted the other boys out of bed, and was all sprawled out sleeping like a king. I guess we know who's boss.

Gustafson Halloween Party

Here is Dot in our Despicable Me minion goggles. They are so funny, and my kids love to play with them. Max even wanted to be a minion for Halloween, so we bought a yellow hoodie and some overalls from Goodwill, and we were set to go. The only problem is that the goggles are nowhere to be found. We have been looking for the last 3 weeks. Grrrr!

Here are some of my beautiful nieces and nephews with their carved Jack'o'lanterns. I'm not really sure how that word is punctuated, but I did my best.

We did donuts on a string, which is always very fun to watch. Gus wanted to be a mime this year: I think because of the mime on the movie Tangled.



My nephew Nik was, by far, the most fun to watch in this particular activity. It took that kid a long time to get his donut off the string.

Max, on the other hand, made quick work of his.

From Left to right: Gus, Nik holding Dot, Ally holding Grayson, Brody, Max, Tyler with a paper in his face, and Cash. (Sorry Tyler)

Here they are again displaying their carved pumpkins. I know, Cash does not have a pumpkin...don't judge.

Here is Gus digging out his pumpkin guts.

Max and I worked together.

Messy, messy. There is nothing better than a pile of slimy pumpkin guts. I love Halloween. So much fun!

Come listen to a prophet's voice...and have a little fun too!

So we had the opportunity to go to General Conference this October and enjoy the spirit, the weather, and fun times with family.

Here are Paul and the boys in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building standing in front of the statue of the prophet Joseph Smith.




Paul took this picture of the boys, and I thought it was a really fun perspective.

I wish I could say the kids were purely interested in sitting and listening to the words of the prophet, but they were actually more interested in doing things like this.

Dot was looking angelic all dressed in white.

The boys in the visitors center

Here's a nicer version of the earlier picture, except Cash still thinks he is supposed to be silly.

Here are my kids in front of the Christ statue in the visitors center. It was beautiful. I don't know the random little boy in the picture. His parents just let him hang out up there by the statue, so I think that he is probably in about 10 different people's family pictures. Super cute kid!

This was on BYU's campus. While Paul and Max were at the football game, we hung out and played on the grass. I love this picture because the way these girls are looking at eachother. Adalyn and Alise are like, "what the heck is wrong with that girl?"

beautiful little girls!

Cosmo made an appearance at the restaurant we were eating at. Jana was in seventh heaven. She gave him a huge hug. My kids were in such a bad mood from fighting aweful traffic for the past 2 hours, just to get from Salt Lake to Provo, that they did not want anything to do with Cosmo. Let's just say the construction everywhere was less than helpfull during our stay. Overall, conference weekend is always a whirlwind, especially trying to split time between Paul's family and mine (sorry Kary, we didn't take any pictures with you and your girls), but we love it, and we especially love the wonderful spirit that we feel when we gather to listen to a prophet of the Lord!

Silly boys

Gus and Max were complaining on a hot summer day that their heads hurt and they were tired, so they rolled out the yoga mats, and I put cool wet towels over their faces. I'm not sure I have ever seen them lay still and relax for that long except for when they are sleeping. Silly boys!

Cash always grabs this tupperware and puts it on his head in this fashion. He will seriously wear it like that for and hour. He thinks it is pretty cool!

We just got a super powerful blender, and our house has been enjoying a daily smoothie. With smoothies, comes smoothie mustaches...much messier than the milk kind.

For those of you who were worried that my boys sleep in the closet, I thought I would put those rumors to rest and show you their actual sleeping arrangement. We are living in my parents' house while they are on their mission in Nauvoo. They left all of their furniture for us to use, so my boys sleep in their guest bedroom in a king sized bed. It is like a big slumber party every night. On this night, my nephew was sleeping over, and of course, the more the merrier!

This video is a little sad, but I found it so cute and funny that every time I told dotty "No," her little heart would break and it would induce her to cry. We caught it on video, just so we could remember, because now, when we tell her no, she laughs at us. We'd better get used to it!

Sir

Max came out in this get up the other day, and I said, "Hey Max, cool outfit!" He continued to tell me that his name was not Max, that he was Sir. So, I asked him where Max was and he shrugged his shoulders and smiled. You see, Sir is a man of few words. He would run into his room, change back into Max, then come talk to me again, and then he would change back into Sir. He thought it was great. Later, Paul got to meet Sir, and we both enjoyed having him visit us throughout the day. Pretty soon, I guess he decided that he had fooled us long enough, and Max revealed to us that he and Sir are in fact one and the same. Needless to say, we were shocked!

urban cowboy

I think it is fairly hard to get my boys to wear clothes. Even if I get them to put them on at the start of the day, they seem to end up in a wad on the floor at some point. This particular day, Cash decided to go for a bike ride, and thought, "I need shoes," but didn't seem to think that clothes were necessary. Yet again, something only a kid could pull off. Can you imagine your 40-year-old neighbor doing this?

Dotty's one!

So, here is Dotty Lou and her beautiful cousin Adalyn. Kellianne got both of them these ballerina bathing suits for their birthdays. I think she may wear it everyday! So adorable!

Also, we always try to give our kids a box full of tissue on their first birthday. It is the best present in the world for a one-year-old. They are simply amazed that each time they pull one out, another one pops up. It's cheap, amusing, and when they are done, we just shove the tissues back in the box and use them for boogery noses. By the way, this idea was also compliments of Kellianne. Trust me; all my good ideas are stolen.

For the cake, we made Grandma Brown's famous chocolate marshmallow filled angel food cake: a Fox family favorite. Dot dove right in like it was old hat. I'm sure she has had a lot more cake than Gus had at her age. That's just the way things happen.

Now that she is one, she has taken up a few bad habbits, like unrolling the toilet paper, drinking baby shampoo, climbing on the table and the kitchen counter, and opening the doors. She just started walking, and I always forget how cute that is!

And she spends all day texting on the new cell phone that we got her for her birthday. I swear, kids just seem to grow up faster these days. Pretty soon, we'll be shopping for prom dresses!

New sleeping arrangements

So in an effort to make more space for my things, I changed up my households' sleeping arrangements. I have always wanted a sewing room, a work-out room, a craft room, and an office, but those pesky children of mine always seem to be in the way. Now, we have a solution! They get the linen closet and anything they can fit in it, but nothing more. I know, I am a genius. You too can stuff your kids in the closet and double, or even triple your space! Maybe I'll even write a book about it.
(I just wanted to add a disclaimer. For those of you who don't really know me that well, I do not actually recommend locking your children in the closet...most of the time)

Foul Mood!

Do any of you ever feel like you are drowning, and there just isn't enough time to accomplish everything on your to-do list. In fact, you keep adding to that list much faster than you can cross things off. Sigh! Today has been a day! I am in such a foul mood that I thought I'd better sit down and rant so that I can look back and laugh later.
So, my day started fairly well. I got up really early to go running. When I got home, the house was asleep still, so I paid bills. Off to a good start right. Then, Gus off to school, Paul off to work, I planted our winter garden with Cash and Max. That wasn't done particularly gracefully, but I felt like it was a success. Now is when the good stuff starts. So, I get kids all ready and loaded into the car, and I rush to meet Paul for lunch because we have a Groupon to Fatburger. So, first we stop at Alpine Valley Bread to get their 1 dollar loaves at 1:00 on Friday. People line up to get bread cheap. It was a Mad House. We waited forever in a crowded little store. Struggling to keep Dot on my hip and hold 5 loaves of bread and keep the rest of my children out of everyone's way did not bring me much joy. At the check out I realized I left my wallet by the computer where I paid bills this morning, but luckily Paul was there with his wallet. After leaving, I looked at those 5 loaves of bread and wondered if it was worth it. No worries though, because now I get to sink my teeth into a juicy fatburger. So, we get to Fatburger, I go in and order while Paul plays with the kids outside. When the woman tells me the price I say, "Oh, I have a groupon to cover that." I reach into my purse to find that not only did I leave my wallet, but I left the groupon too. Well, I was not about to spend $30 on burgers and fries, so I told them to please stop making our food that we would not be dining there today. I felt like a total moron, and I was starving, but 30 bucks is 30 bucks. (That place is a bit of a rip off I think!) Well, I told Paul and the kids the bad news, and Paul was fine, but Gus was crying instantly, "I just really wanted to have lunch with dad, boo hoo hoo!" So I tell them that we can stop at good old McDonalds on the way home, but Dad has to rush back to work. At least at McDonalds all the kids can eat for $1. Ok, so there's still a plan and it's a good one. Well after we get to McDonalds and my kids are happily playing on the jungle gym, I realize that even $1 per person is too much when you don't have your wallet. Grrrr! I was so annoyed with myself I could spit! I scrounged up enough loose change in my purse to buy 1 mcdouble that we split, and the kids were happy enough to play for a little while and go home to get more food. So, I sat to watch the kids play, and I was perking up a bit only to hear Cash yell from the top of the jungle gym, "I just Peed!!!" Are you serious? Just shoot me please. Could he at least come and tell me quietly so that every person in the store doesn't hear it! Well, we got out of there pretty fast, and now I am back at home trying to cross a couple more things off my to-do list while 4 little people are busilly making more messes that I am going to have to force them to clean up. This is just one of those afternoons where I wish I had a fairy God mother, but not all of us are as lucky as Cinderella. I guess I am actually luckier than her because I didn't have a wicked step mother or evil step sisters...and my dad didn't die when I was little, and my friends aren't mice. Ok, I guess I have it pretty good. I just wish someone would come clean my house. Ok, now I feel better, I think I will get back to work now!

Lake Louise Family pictures

Before we went to Canada, we asked my sister-in-law Jocelyn if she would take some family pictures of us while we were there. On the day we went to Banff, we thought it was just so amazing, that we had to take our pictures there. This way we figured that even though we looked a little rough around the edges, nobody would notice because they would be looking at the beauty around us. Anyway, we got some cute ones, thanks to Jocelyn.

The ones of the kids are my favorite.

This was seriously one of the prettiest places I have ever been. The earth really is amazing!

Christmas family pictures

Paul's family is really good about taking lots and lots of pictures. In the moment, some times it annoys me. I hate posing, and smiling, and trying to make the children look at the camera, but in the end I am grateful, because we have a lot of good pictures. My dear sister-in-law Jocelyn took these of us last Christmas. For some reason, Gus looks like he has braces. Maybe he just ate an oreo or something. My favorite thing about these is that they are taken on the fish bench that is on my in-laws front porch. I love this bench. Their home would just not be the same with out it.

Cash's Birthday

Cash turned 2 last November which means that he is actually almost 3 now, and I have not realized how much he has grown until just looking at these pictures. On his birthday, we had his little friend Booker over and had cake and presents. Everyone that knows Cash knows also that he loves balls, thus every present that he got was some type of ball. He was in heaven!

This is the first time that I have actually seen him open presents with interest.

These 3 boys could not wait to eat the oranges

Here he is, ball in hand, ready to blow out the candles.

I must not have taken any pictures of his breakfast in bed, but I'm sure it was adorable too!

Gus and Paul's Birthday Extravaganza

This year Gus turned 6 and Paul turned 30. They have the same birthday. Gus was a honeymoon baby, so I was really big and pregnant the first time we celebrated Paul's birthday as a married couple. The night before his birthday, I went to Savers and got him a bowling ball and a shirt that said, "world's greatest Dad" since I knew he was going to be a father soon. Well, on Paul's birthday, I woke up early, gave him his gifts, and then asked him to take me to the hospital. He put on his world's greatest dad shirt before we left, and he was wearing it when I gave birth to our first son. It was quite a day, and now they get to share it every year. This is Gus with his best friend Owen. Gus and Owen met in Mountainaire and had the same kindergarten teacher, and they were inseparable. They are enjoying the alien cup cakes that Gus and his brothers decorated themselves.

Paul got his own cake too.

Here is Gus and his beautiful cousin Kenzie digging in to the cupcakes

Their birthday is on February 12 so usually it is celebrated indoors, but this year it was the most beautiful day we could have imagined. Seriously, sunny, warm and a real treat in the middle of February.

Max is a killer when it comes to pinatas. Most of the time we are trying to get him to be more soft. This is the one time when he can let loose.

Here are the kids having lunch. Because Paul and Gus share the same birthday, it is usually a bigger affair because whole families come.

Here are Paul and Gus sharing their breakfast in bed together...with a little help from Max. Paul got these awesome one-piece pajamas from his sister Alison for Christmas. He looks totally hot in them. OW OW!