Friday, December 11, 2009

What We Know For Sure...


Well lately my boys have been discovering things...here are a few.

Brock decided to tap the Christmas lights on the Christmas tree...with a screw driver. We now know that it breaks the light bulbs and glass shatters everywhere. Of course Brock wanted to try it on at least 10 bulbs. Just to make sure.

Those Easy Bake ovens can burn marshmallows. We discovered that yesterday when I went down stairs to smell something smoking. Boston thought that would be a great way to roast marshmallows. Not my proudest moment.

If you pull hard enough on the arm of the snowman decoration...it will come off. Thanks boys:)

Only 2 weeks until Christmas! Wahoo!

Happy Holidays!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Alyssa's Baptism December 5, 2009

Alyssa was baptized by Gentry yesterday. It was an exciting day for all of us. Alyssa was super excited and nervous at the same time. She said the water was really warm, which I thought was good because it was such a cold day.
Photobucket
Photobucket
My sister in law Kassie made the headband for Alyssa, I thought it was so cute. Thanks again Kassie.
Photobucket
Boston and Brock were excited to see Alyssa get baptized.
Photobucket
My Mom and Dad
Photobucket
Gentry's Mom and Dad
Photobucket
Photobucket
Thanks for coming to Alyssa's baptism everyone!

Friday, December 4, 2009

And the ugliest sweater is.....

Mike's sweater. He won the award. I think we can all agree his was the worst. I thought Heather did a mighty fine job too. She even detailed with Christmas earrings and socks.
Photobucket
I thought my sweater was going to win. I scouted this sweater out, I found it on my friend Amy's blog. Her husband wore it to an ugly sweater party and I thought it would be perfect for Gentry. Well the day of the party my kids were sick with strep throat so Gentry being the awesome husband that he is, stayed home and let me go. (thanks again Gentry:) So I got to wear this FABULOUSly ugly sweater. Thanks again Amy and Mitch for the sweater rental. (PS last minute, I let Katie's husband wear the turtle neck that was supposed to go with my sweater so he could look a little uglier...I think it worked:)
Photobucket
Diana was the 2nd runner up. Her sweater came accented with a gingerbread turtleneck and a Christmas pin.
Photobucket
Katie hosted the party and came up with the "Ugly Sweater" theme. The funny thing is, her sweater is almost back in style. With the right accessories it could be cute. I loved her fake conversation in this picture. She makes me laugh.
Photobucket
Mark and Lindsey are of course BYU fans. Which I have to say I'm glad, because sometimes I ask Gentry if we can just be U of U fans like all my other friends. So I'm glad to see there are a few BYU fans around here.
Photobucket
Lindsay and Brooks....hmmm I don't think either of these sweaters are ugly. But the mustache, well that we could all do without:) Lindsay wasn't a fan of the mustache either. But hey at least we all got a laugh.
Photobucket
Thanks Katie for having a fun Christmas party! Until next year...

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

I KNOW your gonna want one:)

Photobucket
Photobucket
So if you didn't get a Christmas card last year, I don't have your address. OR if you have moved since last Christmas please give me your new address. You can leave a comment or email it to me @ betsymikesell@gmail.com.

If you didn't send me a card last year...get a move on it! This is my favorite thing about the holiday! I get so excited to get my mail.

PS My sister in law Kassie made me and Alyssa matching headbands...aren't they cute?! (Thanks Kassie!)

HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY!
-Betsy

Friday, November 27, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we had Thanksgiving at Gentry's parents house and they were nice enough to invite my parents over too. After dinner we went to see the movie Old Dogs. It was a pretty cute show. I think everyone liked it. I laughed pretty hard through-out the movie, but then again I'm an easy laugher.
Photobucket
Alyssa loves to wear her fake glasses that Grandma Cyndy bought her.
Photobucket
I thought my Dad knew I was taking the picture, but for some reason he still looks surprised.
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket
Gentry sort of kept his eyes open for this pic. Let me tell you that is something to be proud of:)

Well some of you may have noticed Brock's new haircut. Let's just say he got a head start on it the day after we left for Mexico. Poor Tara...she ended up buzzing it all off.
Photobucket

Before we left for Mexico, my friend Katie and I won tickets to Disney's Princess's on Ice. So we took our girls. They loved it!
Photobucket
I love this picture, it makes me laugh because Katie was taking a picture of me and Alyssa, and Bailee made her way into the pic. I thought it was cute so I had to post it. Bailee cracks me up.
Photobucket
During the show, they had four people in an elephant costume (one person for each leg.) Katie turns to me during the show because she couldn't believe they brought a real elephant. I started laughing so hard because she didn't realize it was fake. I have to give her credit...she wasn't wearing her glasses.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Manzanillo, Mexico

We just went to Manzanillo with our friends. We had such a good time. I have to be honest, the week before we left I was starting to get a little nervous about going. I'd never heard of Manzanillo and none of my friends did either. I was starting to think everyone was tricking me into going to a crazy place and then leaving me there. I was also nervous about the accommodations and everyone said to never drink the water. Well once we got there...I realized there was no need to worry. It was beautiful. This was the view from the "common area"...sort of like the family room I guess you could say.
Photobucket
This is where we sat to eat all of our meals.
Photobucket
Photobucket
The place we stayed was awesome. It was a big house with rooms all on separate parts of the property, so you could visit with everyone but you still had your privacy.

We went shopping at the little market things they have, I found a couple fun little treasures to bring home.
Photobucket
Photobucket
This is the pool at our place. The boys were always entertaining us everyday with something new. This pic is of the Gentry and Nick chicken fighting Jeff and Mike. To give you an idea of the size difference here are their stats:
Nick 5'8, Gentry 5'7 and Mike 6'2" and Jeff 6'5". Needless to say we all got a good laugh.
Photobucket

Photobucket
We even surfed! Well I attempted, but Gentry did it! He got up the first time he tried...let's just say it took me a little longer. I quit once I stepped on something slippery. We went snorkeling too. I have to say it turned out to be my favorite part of the trip!
Photobucket
The surf instructor Pako was at the beach the 1st day. He was a police officer. I laughed because it reminded me of the guy on the Proposal who had a new job everyday depending on the shirt he was wearing.
Photobucket
Photobucket
We even went on an enormous zip line...and if you know me, that is a BIG DEAL! It was 5 separate zip lines. By the 3rd I actually started to enjoy it.
Photobucket
Photobucket
We had to hike to get to the top starting point. This was the bridge you had to cross. I'm not gonna lie it was a little scary.
Photobucket
Gentry went golfing with a few of the guys and Heather. I guess they all lost to a girl:) Good job Heather!
Photobucket
Photobucket
I talked my friend Mignon into getting a hat like me. I don't know how much we will really wear them, but it was fun at the time.
Photobucket
This is our driver-personal assistant Arturo. I don't think we could have made it without him. He translated for us and hooked us up with seats at a sold out movie. I loved not worrying about how to get anywhere because he just drove us. He also helped us plan the stuff we did like the zip line and shopping.
Photobucket
This is the awesome staff that cooked cleaned and even washed our laundry. Yes, you heard me right, they washed our laundry. We didn't realize they were going to do it until we came back from the beach and noticed all of our laundry together on the couch. We all got a good laugh because we were a little embarrassed to have the our clothes (and undies) done by someone else. But we got over that quick and enjoyed the service.
They asked us everyday what we wanted to eat and made all of our meals fresh. They even packed coolers for us when we went to the beach. I felt like a queen! I should probably be mad they were such good cooks after weighing myself this morning...darn.
Photobucket
Photobucket
This is the whole group including the staff.
This last pic is on our way home. Gentry actually picked this magazine out so I had to get a picture of it. We both love Ellen and she is trying to make this months magazine the best seller so we contributed!Photobucket

Sunday, November 8, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALYSSA!

Today is Alyssa's 8th birthday. She is so excited to get baptized. Last week we were talking about when she gets baptized and she started crying because she wanted to get baptized on her birthday. Unfortunately she has to wait until next month, because our ward does baptisms as a stake.
Photobucket

I told Alyssa she could take two friends with her to lunch and the movies. She picked Brynlee and Morgan. Gentry ended up taking them to the movies so I could run some last minute errands. The girls sat a few rows in front of Gentry so they could feel grown up:)
Photobucket

This picture makes me laugh because I asked Alyssa if she knew what this present was and after she started unwrapping she gave me this 'know it all' face and said "I know it's scriptures."
Photobucket
She was super excited when she noticed her name was written on the scriptures.
Photobucket

Brock and Boston were so excited it was Alyssa's birthday. Boston asked if we could save the Happy Birthday sign so we could use it for his birthday.
Photobucket

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALYSSA! WE LOVE YOU!
-DAD, MOM, BROCK and BOSTON