Uncle Justin

I know I do a post practically every time Justin comes over, but we just love when Uncle Justin comes to play.  The kids just have so much fun with him!

Justin and I were loving Leila relaxing in his nook with her foot resting on her other knee.

Playing some "Go Fish"

Leila just loves Justin

Huddled

I saw a funny video that someone posted on Facebook, and Jace wanted to see it since he heard me laughing.  He watched it a couple of times and was laughing his head off, so Brock wanted to see it.  Jace had to watch it with him, and then Nixon and Leila had to join. It was so funny seeing them all huddled around my tiny phone, so I had to get a picture.

I love that you can hardly see Brock's face!

Decorating Cookies with Friends

Jenn invited us over to play and decorate cookies.  I love any excuse to see my friends, and to let my kids see their friends, so we drove out to DayBreak for the day.  Jenn let them do everything from cutting the shapes out of the dough, so putting them on the pans, to frosting them and eating them.  The kids had a blast, and I just love chatting for hours - 4 hours to be exact!  Sorry we kind of took over your house Jenn! 

Around the table is Leila, Jace, Cohen, Nixon, Claire, Mila, Ivy, and Zoey.

Jace took this very seriously.

Nixon would put a little frosting on, then lick some, then put more on, then lick some  more.

He wasn't messing around!  Look how thick that frosting is!  He frosted the whole thing, and then realized there were other colors, so he re-frosted it with all the colors.

Ivy was pretty much just eating the frosting by the handful!

And Leila was a huge fan of the sprinkles!

Jace's second of four cookies he made - and ate!

 

Nixon's second cookie.  He needs a little help frosting I think.  The sprinkles, however, are piled super thick!

Bundled

It snowed again the other day, and I just love the way my boys look all bundled up in their snow gear.  I had to snap a few pics.

Leila had to watch from inside again.  I guess I know what she needs for Christmas!

Playing Around

Leila just thinks it's so fun to get into baskets or bowls, or whatever she can squeeze herself into.  One of her favorite things right now is to get into the empty laundry basket once I'm done folding the laundry, and making me take her for a ride.  I tip it back and forth, and side to side, and spin it all around.  She could do it forever, and usually has quite the fit when I decide to be done.  Before that happens though, Nixon and Jace usually need turns too.  One at a time, two at a time, and sometimes even all three in the basket going for a ride.  I don't have any pictures of that because we only do it while I'm doing laundry, and no one else is around to be taking pictures of us.  (Maybe I should look into hiring a photographer to just follow us around all day to capture these fun little moments!)
I did, however, capture this.  I recently had to buy a bigger toy bin for our front room, since the kids toys were pretty much overflowing this tiny basket and had overtaken the corner of the room.  Once the small one was emptied, you can bet Leila was trying to take it for a ride! 

Usually once one kid does something that looks fun, they all have to try it.  Nixon was next.

Jace asked me to take a picture with him in it.

And then Jace had to squeeze himself in.  They all wanted a "ride", but I didn't want to break the basket, so no rides this time. 

Jace doesn't quite fit.

Loving these special fun moments with my kids now that I'm home all day. 

Leila's First Manicure

I decided to paint Leila's toes yesterday, and she was so excited.  She doesn't say "yes" yet, but says "uh-huh" and I just love making her say it.  Leila, do you want me to paint your toes? Uh-huh!  Leila, is this a pretty color? Uh-huh!  Well, when I asked if she wanted her finger nails painted too, she said uh-huh, so I decided to try it out.  I've always been hesitant because she obviously doesn't get the concept of drying time, but I decided to see what happens.  She thought they were so pretty!  She just loved it, and wouldn't stop smiling.  There were a few mishaps, but nothing too big.  Brock and I went out last night, and when we got back half the nails had no polish on them, but it was fun for a minute.  I guess it was pretty crappy polish! In case you can't tell, I just love having a little girl!

Ooh, so pretty! 

Her shadow in this one is  making her head look huge!

I think it looks so dang cute!

She was pretty fed up with me taking pictures after the first few.  Mommy!  Just hold me!                                              

HGTV Commercial

So Julia is represented by Stars Talent Agency, and saw a listing for a man, woman, and 5 or 6 year old child.  She sent in our family picture from last year, and they called us!  We went in for an "audition" (we went in, told them our names, they took a picture of us, and sent us on our way).  They called about a week later when we were in St. George for UEA, and said that they wanted Jace for a call back.  Woo Hoo, except they needed him the next night, and we were in St. George.  We told them we were so sorry, but we couldn't make it.  We figured it was over, but then about a week later they called again saying they still want Jace, and to come in to have another "audition" (same as above, but with faux parents).  They called us the next day and said Jace got it!  Woo Hoo!  About another week or two went by, and they called Brock asking if he was available to shoot on November 9th and 10th because there might be a problem with the "dad".  He said he was, and they'd said they'd let him know.  Well, the next day they called, and Brock got it too!  We were so excited, and thought that this would be so good for Jace to have his real dad to act with on his first shoot.  Anyway, the big day came, and it was so much fun!  Jace only had to shoot Thursday, so Brock went alone Wednesday, and did a bunch of different scenes.  He said it was so much fun.  Again, we were glad that Brock had to shoot first so that he could get the hang of things, and help Jace feel more comfortable when he had to shoot.  Jace and Brock's call time was 8:00am on Thursday, so we woke up bright (dark) and early and got all ready, dropped Nixon and Leila off with Shauna, and headed out to Midway.  This commercial is the promo for HGTV's house giveaway, and the home this year is in Midway.  It's really beautiful. 

Here is Jace on the drive there.  Grandma K was so sweet and gave him two books to read, and one that was full of writing exercises.  He finished the two reading books before we even got to the house!

When we showed up, Craft Services had breakfast waiting for us.  All kinds of things.  Fruit, donuts, and even all kinds of hot food.  Jace got eggs and a quesadilla, and Brock got a steak breakfast burrito.  I had a donut.  It was FREEZING, so we headed to the garage of the house to get warmed up.  We headed in the house, which was packed with people, all kinds of equipment, and beautiful furniture.  We made our way upstairs to make-up and wardrobe.  I have to admit, I was jealous at this point!

 

Here they are wearing their booties.  You couldn't enter the house without them on. 

Brock and Tatum with Cathy, the wardrobe/makeup/hair lady. 

Sitting in the make-up chair.

Ooh, so pretty!

No make-up for Jace.  He's a natural beauty!  Cathy is just making sure outfit number one looks perfect.

 Then we heard over the walkie talkies "We need Jace down here."  We all got excited and headed down for his first shoot.  In this scene, they are mostly trying to show off the rug, so they had Jace lay down and play with some toys for a while.  He loved it!  We thought he'd get distracted by the camera, and the 15 or so people who were watching his every move, but he didn't even seem to notice.  It was really fun watching him.

Getting direction from the director.

That's the director.  He's showing Jace what he wants him to do.

Camera dude.

This is the monitor.  We got to watch it and see what it is going to look like on TV.

 

All the important people making sure they get the shots they need.

More guidance from the director.

 

The next scene was Jace playing with Brock, and in walks mom with some popcorn.  They must have done it about 15 times.  It was pretty fun.  Jace just thought it was fun to get to play with Daddy.  At first, she just walked in without anything, and they thought she needed a reason for coming in to watch them, so they said, "What if she is bringing them popcorn?"  Within about a minute they  had a bowl of popcorn.  Talk about on demand!  It was pretty cool.

Here she is before the popcorn idea.

And here she is with the popcorn getting some direction on how to enter.

As soon as these shoots were over, Jace came up to me and quietly asked "Did they give you the money?"  He has been so excited for Cars 2 to come out on video, and we told him that he would be making some money for doing this job, and he could buy it with his own money.  He has been counting down the days.  He was bummed to find out that he wasn't done for the day yet, and that no, they hadn't given me any money yet.  We told him that we'd have money when the day was over, and we could get the movie on the way home. 
After the living room scenes there were several with just Tatum, and the boys were on a break for a couple of hours.  Luckily, we whipped out the book Grandma K brought for Jace, and he was entertained the whole time. 

Then they called us down for lunch.  It was delicious!  These people know how to do it!  We felt pretty big time.  Our choices were grilled chicken with some sauce, pork loin with applesauce, or catfish.  Then they had all kinds of sides to choose from.  Mashed potatoes and gravy, squash, broccoli, and others.  There were also several salads and toppings to choose from, rolls, and apple pie with ice cream for dessert!  Wow!  They took good care of us!  We had to eat outside though, and it was pretty chilly.  They didn't want us messing up the house before anyone even lived in it.

I love the background in this shot.  This is in front of the house.

That's the house they're giving away.

Jace proving you're never too full - or too cold - for ice cream!

And I make my debut to this post!  Me and Jace in front of the house.  They are also giving away that black SUV.  Brock had to shoot a few scenes in that car on the first day.

Nice hair.  It was windy.

Then Jace started dancing.  He was having a pretty good day.

Then it was back to work for Brock.  He got into outfit number two, got his make-up touched up a bit, and headed outside for a "muddy boot" scene.  We hung out upstairs, and got pictures from the balcony.

It always takes forever to get everything set up just perfectly. 

In this shoot, he had super muddy shoes that he just takes off and sets to the side. 

In between every take, they would some over with a water bottle and a bucket to wash off his hands.  It was so cold!  They probably did this shot about 10 times.

During the day, if we ever got hungry, we'd just head down to the heated garage to the snack table.  There was licorice, all kinds of chips, candy bars, granola bars, candy, every kind of gum you've ever heard of, coffee, sodas, water, all kinds of stuff.  It was crazy!  I don't know how real actors stay thin! 

The last scene for Brock was with Tatum in the kitchen doing the dishes.  They're showing off the faucet.  It's one of those that you just touch to turn it on and off.  So Brock would hand Tatum a plate, she'd put in in the dishwasher, he'd wash his hands, touch the faucet, and they'd both walk off together.  They did it like 10 times, but man, it took forever to get the lighting perfect for this one! 

Waiting for the crew to get everything just right.

The happy couple :)

The last scene of the day was Jace again.  He got to wear cute jammies in this one.  They're showing off the faucet again in this one, so Jace had to cover his hands in toothpaste, and then play with it.  Then in walks mom to help him clean his hands off.  He had a little bit of a harder time with this one.  He thought it was so gross, and didn't really understand that he was supposed to be having fun with this.  We kept telling him to smile, but he didn't very much.  Good thing he's cute anyway!

They got him dressed down to his feet, but only showed his face and hands in the shot.  I wish we could have kept the clothes!

Getting ready for the shoot.  I couldn't get a very good picture. 

This was one long day, but we all had so much fun.  I would love to do something like this once a month or so.  Ha!  Wishful thinking!  When it was all over, we told Jace that they paid us, and headed to Walmart to get his movie.  I haven't seen him that excited in a long time!  It was so much fun!  He gave the woman the money, and jumped up and down when she put it in the bag and handed it back to him.  He was so excited to get home to show Nixon and Leila too.  He deserved it!  Good job buddy!