December 2012

Of course December was full of events and we tried to take the time to reflect on our Savior as we had so many other activities going on. Jenna got a new dress from Grammy and I know I'm biased, but she looks so darn cute in it.

We went to our ward Christmas Party. The theme was "The Polor Express" so the kids wore their pajamas, got to ride a "train" to see Santa and get a goody bag from Santa after they told him what they wanted for Christmas. Much to our surprise, Adam told Santa that he really wanted a kitten. Unfortunately for Adam, Santa doesn't carry kittens around with him on his sleigh.

We also had a school program for Jenna and Adam got recongized at his acheivement assembly for being the most self-disciplined. 

Adam had his first piano recital that he did so well at playing "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas." We were really proud of him, and even though he was super nervous, he did a fantastic job.

We had a wonderful Christmas! We had actually had an early Christmas with my parents earlier in the month and since Ryan's parents weren't in town for Christmas, we spent time with our little family and enjoyed it very much. The kids were a little sick, so it was probably a good thing we didn't get together with a lot of people. We are all about sharing, but not germs! Our kids are at such a fun age right now and seemed easy to please with Christmas gifts. :)

November 2012

November must have been a good month, although I don't know what we spent our time doing. However, on Thanksgiving Day we went to the Botanical Gardens Winter Garden Aglow. It was cold, but fun nonetheless.

 

Ryan has developed an allergy to real Christmas Trees. So for the last couple of years, we would go get a real tree, put it up, then a few days later, we'd have to take it down and put it outside so Ryan could breath. A few days before Christmas I would get really sad about not having a tree up, so Ryan would hose off the tree, bring it back in the house, redecorate it and we'd have to take it back down shortly after Christmas, again, so Ryan could breath. This year we got an artificial tree. And though it just isn't the same as a real tree, it does have it's perks. For example, we can now start a new tradition of putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving and have it up until sometime after Christmas. Ryan can breath easily in his own home and we can enjoy the tree all season. Also, it really is nice not having to put the lights on the tree. :)

October 2012

We loved going to the Boise Temple Open House in October. It was great to take the kids and they were so excited to go inside the temple. Unfortunately for me, they took out the clothing rental so I have not been able to go back since it has opened due to not having temple clothes that fit, but I am anxious to go back and do some temple work. In addition to going to the open house, I was able to attend the Temple Celebration for President Monson. What a fantastic experience!

 

Halloween is a lot of fun! The kids enjoyed dressing up and wore their costumes several times before Halloween. Logan didn't last long going to houses, Jenna ran door to door with her older brother and neighbor kids for a while until she decided she had enough, but Adam was our die hard this year. I was determined to hit every house in the neighborhood. However, the kids enjoyed handing out candy probably more than they liked going trick-or-treating.

 And of course, we had to carve our pumpkins. Each of they made their own design.

September 2012

We took a quick over night camping trip the first part of September, before it got too cold outside. The kids loved going with their cousins and grandma and grandpa. They definately have it on their list of things to do next summer.

August 2012

Adam has really been enjoying scouts and works hard to get awards. He has, as of last week, earned his Wolf and will be awarded it next month at Pack Meeting (February 2013)!

 We spend more time at the pool this year and the kids loved it, especially Jenna. She could have stayed in the pool all day if we let her. It was a lot of fun to watch her get comfortable in the water as the summer went on.

 First day of 3rd Grade for Adam was exciting! I can't believe he's in 3rd grade already! He loves it and has a great teacher.

 Jenna goes to kindergarten every other day, full days. It is an adjustment and hard schedule, but she LOVES school and wishes she could go every day. This is a cute picture of her on her first day of school. (Adam got to start a day earlier than she did.)

Busy, Busy July

 Ryan took some time off work the first part of July, which was really nice and we were able to go do some things. We went to Idaho City one of the days and did 4-wheeling, played in the creek, had a picnic, shot the BB Gun, and finished it off with an icecream cone from a little place in Idaho City. It was a great day!

 We also went boating with some friends on Ryan's other day off work. It was fun...hot, but fun!

4th of July

 I really meant to post about the 4th of July a month ago, but July has been BUSY!!! So, let's try to do a little catch up.
We had a fun 4th of July celebrating with our Patriotic shirts (Ryan's idea, and I was blown away when he suggested it,) flooding the grass at Grandma and Grandpa's, dinner, and ending the day by enjoying a firework show in our cul-de-sac.

All the 3 of our kids and the neighbor kids decorated their scooters and bikes for the big celebration. Unfortunately, we didn't make it back home before the neighbors did the cul-de-sac parade. But the kids didn't seem to mind, they all just did a parade over and over anyway.

Boise Cousins

That firework must have been a good one! :)