Ginger Bread Houses 2006

Tonight we held our 5th annual Besaw family Ginger Bread House decorating get together. It was a smashing success! We held it at Melissa's house this year and we had some of the most creative ideas ever!

Unfortunately, I was left to help Tyler with his house. Fortunately, in the end, Jamie came in and rescued the house. When she tagged in I had effectively destroyed all four walls. Granted, I had a great variety of yummy treats, my lack of engineering prowess showed through when the base couldn't support the ten pounds of candy I had frosted on.

Clayton teamed up with Grandma Terry to bring us a Necco Clock with numbers and hands drawn on. They also had penguins and goldfish in their pond. Meanwhile, Morgan and Craig came up with an idea to have a Smarties "cobblestone" yard. It gave their cottage a most "European" feel to it.

London's house didn't exactly exude a ton of creativity, but I'll tell you what, she more than figured out how to add lollipop/gumdrop lamps to her house. Also, if I am not mistaken many of the gumdrop bases had to pass a stringent taste test to make the cut.

Miranda helped Kennedy, who, as always, was all smiles.

The twins each came up with some exciting new designs as well. Madison had quite the Licorice Gateway that lead to her cottage's porch. She also had a pretty fancy Tootsie Roll fence. Meanwhile, Mackenzie's Santa sled was led by a red-nosed kissdeer. She also had a rather fancy candy rock path that led the way to her door (complete with knob).

Melissa spent the night helping to frost key additions for everyone and finding key candies and edible treats for anyone's ideas. Regan and I (after I destroyed Tyler's house) chased kids and tried to help keep peace. Grandpa Rod held little Marcus and Marcus seemed to love his touch because he was zonked most of the evening.

All in all, one of the best (and messiest) family home evenings of the year. Below I have posted a blog with some photos of the homes with their builders. However, I thought it important for this blog that I show off how great this year's homes looked. (Bear in mind that none of these photos were the finished product and yes, we did add roofs).

Ginger Bread House Pictures

Madison takes a quick break
Tyler cheeses up for the camera
Mackenzie is all Business with her house
London loved the Lollipop look

Morgan and Craig, what a team!
Clayton planning with Grandma
Kennedy was all Smiles
Marcus just watched

The Christmas Tree & Other Ramblings

Tis the season! Jamie, Tyler and I (with lots of help from Grandma Renae) put up our Christmas tree this past week. Tyler is very proud of it and likes to show it off to anyone who comes visiting. He really enjoyed putting the candy canes on the tree and loved to climb up the little step ladder and pretend it was a "spaceship." He is a comical little guy and we are proud of the work he put into making our "Crimpas" tree look nice.

Meanwhile, Renae had to head back to Virginia this week and we will miss having our maid around. Jamie is doing pretty well with things, but is finding that with a baby in the house we do have to say No to Tyler a lot more and that can be a drag. Unfortunately, Tyler wants to smother the baby with his love. Could be worse, he could want to smother him in a jealous rage. However, the result is the same and we find that Marcus would be loved into an ealry demise if we don't keep a close eye on Tyler. As you can see in these pictures, Tyler loves to touch baby brother's head (about the only part of Marcus' body we let him touch without getting in trouble).

This week Tyler also sat on Santa's lap for the first time. Last year he was too scared. This year he saw Santa at Tracy's work Christmas party that was held at Thanksgiving Point's Dinosaur Museum. He seemed to have a great time and is lucky to have such a loving aunt willing to let him come along.

Not much else is going on here. I am very anxious for the end of this week. I will then be off school until the new year. I enjoy school and have been learning a lot. However, it does make life a little more hectic that I would like. Is anything new going on with anyone else? Is anyone even reading this?

Loves,
Kent

A Few Words of Thanks

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and I definately feel as though I have an over abundance of things for which to be thankful. After all, BYU beat the Utes in football for the first time in what has seemed forever, the Utah Jazz are off to the best start in franchise history, and the Chicago Cubs hired a new manager and landed a top free agent. What more could there be to be thankful for? Well, I guess I could think of a few things I am even more grateful for than that the sports world seems to be moving in the right direction.

I am always thankful for the limited times each year that I get to see my brother Carl and his family. Seemed like this Thanksgiving trip went even faster than the last couple, but I was thankful for the few moments we were able to share. While they were here we caught a Jazz game, they came and saw my new office, we ate Thanksgiving dinner together and even survived the family pictures together. The only trouble with their visits is that it leaves me sad that we are unable to be a bigger part of one another's lives. Which is at least one reason I try to keep this blog going.

I am EXTREMELY grateful for what a wonderful baby we have in Marcus. He is so mild tempered. Jamie and I are really worried that having had two easy babies the odds are definately not in our favor to have mellow babies in the future. I am thankful that despite some rough moments Tyler is a great big brother. He is a loving boy and seems to get more fun with each passing day. Mostly, I am grateful for Jamie. She has carried a large burden since I chose to go back to school. I am thankful for how well she is recovering from birth number two and for the stability she brings to our family.

Here are a few other things I am thankful for: I am thankful for having a mother-in-law in town who planned a turkey dinner for 1:30pm and thankful for my own mother's turkey dinner planned for 5:00pm. For those of you who have yet to try out the two-turkey-dinners-in-one-day method of celebrating Thanksgiving, I highly recommend it. It was perfect because at each table I could just take my very most favorite dishes. When asked why I didn't have more pistachio salad all I had to say was "I'm leaving room so I'm not too full at my other Thanksgiving dinner"and if I passed on brussel sprouts I could say "well, I did eat a Thanksgiving dinner just 4 hours ago." Seriously, thanks to both of the great cooks for my two terrific turkey dinners.

I am thankful for 96 homemade rolls! Yup, mother-in-law Renae made 96 rolls for me to share at my two thanksgiving dinners. That way I had my very most favorite part of a meal at both dinners. I have also been eating rolls for breakfast lunch and dinner ever since. Ahh...the sweet joy of homemade rolls! Kennedy really liked her roll too.

I am thankful that I have so many wonderfully cute and fun nieces and nephews. I am even more grateful that all ten are not my own. After turkey dinner the older nieces and nephews put on a great little Thanksgiving play around a centerpiece the nieces had designed (who knew you could do so much with a toilet paper roll...and when did they think about all these uses of toilet paper rolls?) It was a ton of fun, but definately a little hard to control the younger ones who wanted to be a part of the fun but didn't know how. All in all it was great, I'm just glad that I only have to keep track of my own on a full-time basis.

I am thankful for the gift of giving. After dinner we exchanged gifts among the cousins since Annaka and Adam won't be here for Christmas. I still don't know what Tamagatchi means but they were a huge hit among the pre-teen girls. (My guess on the meaning of Tamagatchi is "genius marketing of useless technology") For those of you not in the "know," Tamagatchi is the name brand of a little electronic pet that is all the rage. For the younger children, Tyler loves his Word Whammer fridge alphabet and he also is quite fond of the "That's not my Dinosaur" book Marcus received. Clayton and Adam got super fun DVDs to watch, Morgan got a water-doodle and the pretty Guth princess scored a megablock castle and two wooden dress up magna-dolls (don't expect a guy with two sons to know how to describe those dolls any better than that).

I am thankful for bribery! I am quite certain we would have never made it through the Besaw family portrait on Friday without some serious bribery. I know I bribed Tyler with everything I could think of and I am pretty sure some of the other parents had to employ similar tactics. I think Craig's bribe was that if his children didn't behave they would wind up with Bunny Ears in the final portrait. I have no idea if we ever got a picture where all the children were actually looking and smiling, but that just makes me grateful for digital cameras and the magical world of photo editing, should we need it.

I am thankful for so many things that any list is incomplete. I am grateful to live in the country I do that affords so many freedoms, I am grateful for good health, good employment and good friends to go with such a great family. I am grateful for the church and all the blessings that come with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I send my love and gratitude to each of you and thank you for all you do and have done for me.

Kent

First Bath and Meeting the Cali Cousins

Last night Tyler helped us give baby Marcus his first bath. We found that the saying "too many cooks in the kitchen" also applies to "too many scrubbers around a bathtub." Tyler was so excited and Marcus was awfully cute. It was a treat for me because it was the most awake I had seen Marcus since the first few hours after he was born. He sure has a very precious look and we think he is as cute as can possibly be.

As a sidetrack, Jamie wanted me to be fair and tell another story about the delivery room. While she was busy offending those trying to help; I had a moment of my own that she feels I should share with those who read this blog. For some reason, I have never had a problem with seeing blood or the actual birth of the baby. However, I DO NOT like needles. As Jamie was struggling with pain the nurse tried to se t up an IV for Jamie. I made the mistake of looking as the needle blew a vein in Jamie's hand. Unfortunately, having had zero sleep that night and being a little stressed what with the baby coming...Well, lets just say I turned a little white, got a little weak in the knees and almost needed medical attention of my own. Fortunately, within a few minutes I was fine and really enjoyed witnessing the birth of our number two boy. However, at that moment I don't think Jamie was particularly comforted by my pale-colored self.

Back to the current happenings. Tonight, Carl's family stopped in for a quick visit and saw their newest nephew/cousin. Tyler was very excited because Adam played trucks with him and he was able to show off some of his favorite Star Wars toys. We sure are lucky to have so many wonderful cousins, but we definitely wish that we could see more of the California Cousins. I can't believe how much both Adam and Annaka seem to grow up in between each time that we see their family. We are really looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with them and Tyler especially hopes to get lots of play time in with the Cali Cousins.

As for Marcus, he continues to sleep nearly all the time, but I did hear him give a significant cry for the first time last night. It was short lived, but good to know that at least he does have it in him to give a good cry. Funny, I remember with Tyler always wishing he could go longer periods without crying and with this one I'm looking forward to him crying to prove he has it in him. Hopefully I haven't totally jinxed this baby forevermore. I don't think Jamie will forgive me if he now becomes a major screamer just because I went and blogged that he is so quiet.

Jamie is still recovering and had a little harder day today; however, all in all she is making good progress. We are truly blessed with great health and are so grateful for it.

Belated Report on California Halloween

Rod and Terry here and we thought it was about time that we entered the "blogosphere." Just before Halloween we had a chance to visit Carl and family in California. While we were there, our few days were filled with soccer games, piano recitals, and a Halloween party. It was great! Oh yeah, Rod also ordained Carl a High Priest.

Inspite of all the activities, Grandma Terry and Papa Rod found time to help Adam and Annaka to carve their Halloween Pumpkin/Jack O'Lanterns. We learned from this experience that Adam doesn't like the gooey insides of a pumpkin. We also learned that Annaka is quite the perfectionist. We learned that when dealing with a perfectionist and carving, simple is better! It was a wonderful memory and we were so pleased with how they turned out.

Carl and Amy have become very resourceful and Adam and Annaka were pirates with some left over props from Adam's Pirate Birthday Party. We had a wonderful experience in California and it was fun to experience "trunk or treating." (Trick or treating in the church parking lot out of the trunks of cars.) Annaka won Best Costume for the youth division at the ward party. Everyone was very disappointed that Carl was a party pooper this year and didn't live up to the reputation he created as a Jedi Knight the year before.

We had a great time in California and also enjoyed the trick or treating with the Utah grandkids. Grandpa was a bit of a party pooper. All the rest of the families really went all out as you can see by the family theme pictures Kent posted earlier.

We sure love our family!

Rod and Terry

Marcus Comes Home

Little Marcus made the trip home from the hospital on Sunday night and has been asleep pretty much ever since. He is a very mellow baby so far and rarely cries. It is more of a quick yelp when hungry or too poopy. Both parents are very grateful that this time around we know all about good swaddling techniques.

Tyler spends a lot of his time looking over the crib at his new baby brother. He has been very cute and loving with baby Marcus. His schedule got a little mixed up the first few days so he has been a little overtired. Fortunately, when Grandma Renae flew into town she brought him a CAT tractor that has headlights that work and a shovel that he just adores. He has already dug up half the neighbors dirt pile and would spend even more time out there if it wasn't so cold. The tractor has really helped keep Tyler happy. (Although it makes sounds that are just loud enough to be a bit of a nuisance at times to his parents). Tyler is anxious to be able to teach his little brother and I can tell he is going to be a great big brother.

Jamie is still recovering. She has had a little harder time bouncing back this time than last time, but overall she is managing very well. We can't say enough about the help that Renae has provided over the past few days and are grateful she will be with us for a while longer.

I know that all people really want to see are the pictures so here are a few more:

MARCUS JUSTIN BESAW

This morning at 5:43 our family welcomed into this world a new member, Marcus Justin Besaw. Marcus weighed in at 7 pounds and 11 ounces and was 21 inches long. He has quite a bit of dark hair and he is very bright-eyed. So far he has been quite mellow and is doing great!

Jamie is obviously still recovering but is doing great all things considered. Jamie began laboring around dinner time on Friday night. She did the majority of her laboring at home and around 3 am we decided to head to the hospital. Not much too soon. After getting here (which included having to detour around an exit closing) she was already dilated to a 6. Within seconds of getting her epidural she was ready to go. So, within 2 hours of arriving at the hospital we were holding our angel baby.

Marcus came out facing front upwards and so his nose was initially pretty squashed and he does have pretty significant bruising on his forehead. However, he is doing great and Jamie and I both see similarities between he and Tyler as a baby.

While in pain Jamie did provide us with a comical moment. Comical now anyway. Spoiler warning, if you work as an anethesiologist at Cottonwood Hospital or have a friend or family member who is you will want to skip the rest of this paragraph to avoid our making this any more embarassing for ourselves. Okay, so the story. When the doctor came in for the epidural it was obvious he had just woken up. His hair was sticking up and he looked half asleep behind his rather thick glasses. I will admit he did not look the part of a highly paid and highly skilled doctor. Jamie, remember she was in a lot of pain, was not put at ease by his appearance. In fact, she stated (far louder than I think she intended) "He looks Weird! I hope I don't Die." Good for a laugh now, but I have to admit I was a little worried at the time as to how this mad scientist looking man with a very long needle would react to my wife's open criticism of his appearance. Fortunately, all turned out fine and Jamie is back to her normal, tactful self.

Marcus wasn't with us long before his big brother came with his cousins to visit. Tyler was a little overwhelmed, I think, and didn't exactly know what to think about this little boy we now have. However, I think he is going to develop into a wonderful big brother. Other visitors to our man Marcus included Grandma and Grandpa Besaw, Aunts Dana and Tracy, the Laurence clan (shy Craig who was working today) and the Guths. He is so lucky to have so many loved ones close. He can't wait to see his other Besaw cousins at Thanksgiving and his Grandma Renae who flies in on Tuesday.

We are definately excited about our Veteran's Day baby. I, personally, can't wait for his fifth birthday. Not every kid has a birthday on 11-11-11!!!

Hope you enjoy these photos. I especially like how in the picture below it looks like little Marcus is waving at me. I will be sure to post more later.

To the Victor Goes the Spoils

BIG NEWS! Not THE big news, but big news just the same. Tyler has used the big boy potty for two days in a row. Two number ones have found their way into the sewage system and not the landfill! However, as crazy as it may seem it was not the environmental concern that seemed to motivate our little guy. He seemed a little more motivated by the bribe we had been dangling for months, a toy motorcycle.

When Jamie took Tyler to the store to pick out a motorcycle (Tyler choose a yellow bullet bike that his galactic heroes have already gone joy riding on) she got all softy when Tyler fell in love with an 88 cent T-Rex Dinosaur. So the Ty Guy wound up with two new toys. He has opted to sleep with the motorcycle each night, but the T-Rex has gotten plenty of attention the rest of the time. We have already found Tyler feeding just about everything under the sun to the T-Rex to show off the "sharpy" teeth.

Jamie has already made a Potty Chart for Tyler to monitor his progress. He is really excited and we have it prominently displayed on our fridge. When I took it off the fridge to take this picture, he was very concerned that it get put back properly. We are sure we have a long road still ahead of us, but we are definately excited to see Tyler showing some signs.

Meanwhile, Jamie continues to patiently wait for our new baby boy. She really is such a great trooper during these pregnancies. I know that she is a little nervous regarding being prepared for the newest addition. However, I have all the confidence in the world that she will do great. She is much stronger than she likes to give herself credit for.

We will be sure to let everyone know when the real BIG NEWS finally hits.

Halloween III: The Wrap Up

Okay, so the rest of you might be tired of our Halloween pictures and stories, but we still have no new baby to report so I figured I would post just a few more cute little Tyler the Dragonasaur pictures on the blog.

Tyler definately took charge this year by telling everyone (except Dana) that they had to be a purple dinosaur. No matter how many times we asked him he wanted everyone under the sun to be a purple dinosaur, except for Dana. Fortunately, Aunt Dana is a good sport and loves her Tyler boy so she obliged and dressed as a puppy dog. Tracy played along as well and was a cool Dinosaur with pretty amazing spike buns running down her head (this picture doesn't do the cool Mohawk like spikes justice). I really like how in this picture Tyler is petting his Dana Doggy.

One of the cutest things about this years costume was watching Tyler walk with it on. His little tail would totally wag as he walked. Cutest of all was when he would walk before putting his pants back on after a diaper change. I am beginning to understand why I once had a nickname "Kermit Legs" because Tyler's legs are pretty skinny too. (By the way, to those not familiar with blogging. If you double click on small and medium photos from the blog they will blow up in their own screen so you can see them a little bigger. Then just hit the back arrow to get back to the main blog.)

I was very proud of Tyler on Halloween. Not because he didn't get scared because he did (mostly by his uncle Craig). Not because he walked a long way because I had to carry him most of the time and my arm was killing me. I just couldn't resist his promptings to visit "one more house daddy." No, I was very proud of Tyler because he said "Thank You" at every door. In fact, after trick-or-treating when Grandma Terry asked what he said at the door Tyler replied, "Trick-o-Treat & Thank You!" What a GOOD BOY!

Until next year, I hope you've enjoyed our Halloween Trilogy of Blogs.

Here's hoping we have a healthy new baby to blog about soon!