Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas! I think this will be the only time Logan will cry when he has to only go to 70 minutes of church instead of three hours and be so ecstatic to get underwear in his stocking!
The kids were a lot of fun this year. They enjoyed being my little elves and delivering our soda pop and popcorn to our neighbors and friends. (The tag read: "pop, pop, fizz, fizz, what great family you is!) It was fun to see them be so excited to give others something, even if it was such a simple thing. Putting together a Christmas puzzle

Decorating cookies for Santa

(Santa loves red cookies)

Adam SO HAPPY he got the angry birds game.

Logan was so to watch this year. He loved opening the gifts and a little sad when we ran out of presents to open.

Sporting his new "underpants" as he calls them.

Jenna in her new Christmas dress from Grammy. She would not put the pony down! (Her favorite gift.)

We love this time of year and the increased chance we have to teach our children about the birth of our Savior. We had been so blessed and have had tender mercies placed upon us these last few weeks. We are so grateful for the love of others who bless our lives.

Christmas Traditions

A couple of years ago, we gave the kids ornaments of their own and wanted to carry on that tradition every year. This year we decided to give them something they like or are into right now. For Adam, it is Finn McMissile from Cars 2, for Jenna it is ice cream and for Logan it is Mater.

Since Ryan and I have been married we have gotten a real tree with the exception of one or two years. This year we went out and got a tree. We were going to get a small tree this year, but when I read the sign that said, "Any Tree, Any Size, $25" I decided that we should get a bigger tree than what I had in mind. However, it was MUCH bigger when we got it into our home than I had expected, but it is fun. Unfortunately this may be our last year for a real tree...allergies are really starting to take a toll on some members of the family!

And we got to see Santa at Adam's school this year. Logan was not too sure of Santa, until he realized that Santa had candy...then he was ok to walk up to Santa, enough to get his candy.

Happy Thanksgiving

We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my-in laws this year since my parents were spending their holiday in the hospital-my dad recovering from back surgery he had just two days before. We missed being with my family, but enjoyed our holiday with good food, great company and finished off Thanksgiving Day going to the Botanical Gardens. It happened to be the perfect night to go see the lights at the gardens.

The day before Thanksgiving, Jenna helped Grandma make rolls! Jenna loved spending time with Grandma! At the Botanical Gardens:

Photo Shoot

My amazing sister-in-law took pictures of the kids. Here's some of my favorites:

Thanks again, Sara! You are quite talented if I do say so myself! :)

Halloween 2011

This year for Halloween, we had...
A COWBOY... "YEE-HAW!"

A CAT...

And a NINJA...

Oh, and a whole lot of SUGAR!!!

A little bit of this, A little bit of that...

It's that time of year again when we put the summer toys away for the winter and this year was no exception. Ryan just happened to find the kids in the back yard when it was time to put things away. Last week was Adam's Patriotic Program at school. He's been busy learning and singing the songs. It was a nice program!

And last, but not least, the kids have been loving getting ready for Halloween. Adam designed and put together this spooky Haunted House.

Then we got busy carving pumpkins. The kids were very excited about carving pumpkins, until it was time to clean them out; none of them wanted any part of that. Ryan and I ended up doing most of the work while the kids ran around, checking on us occasionally and saying, "Good job!" "It looks good." "That's not how I wanted it...oh, that's better." But overall, I think they turned out good and the kids were excited about it.

Harvest Party

This year, the grand kids that live in the area planted their own pumpkins at Grandma's & Grandpa's. We ended up with 39 pumpkins from 6 pumpkin hills! The kids were thrilled all season to watch their own pumpkins grow. Grandma and Grandpa had a Harvest Party where we decorated Halloween cookies, picked our pumpkins, went for a hay ride and ate lots of fun treats. The kids had a great time and can't wait to start carving their pumpkins!

Weekend with the Raymond's

We had a great weekend with my parents along with my brother, Ryan and his family coming into town. We had a great time at the park, eating a wonderful dinner, having yummy treats, watching the BSU game and having my parents come to the kids' Primary Program! It was fun to spend time with each other! Here's some pictures of us going to Linder Farms on Saturday. It was beautiful out and the kids had a lot of fun with their cousins!