See ya next year, sugar plums!

The end of Christmas for some is a sad occasion. For me- not so much. Even though I walked around the house singing "I cried the day that I take the tree down"- thank you Michael McLean- inside I secretly couldn't wait to get everything put away and back to normal. I may have been a little hasty I realized when Ben exclaimed as he walked in the door from work-on Wednesday, confronted with a house completely back to normal "oh my, you really couldn't wait, could you?" NOPE! We had discussed doing it on Saturday- I couldn't wait! Yesterday the outside lights came down- back to normal. AAHHHh! now I can breath and move on to other projects. But for now, here are a few of our fun times this last month. Lots of pictures- just a warning but of course they are all cute!

Ethan's first band concert. He was stressed but did well. He plays percussion.















Riley lost his very first tooth. i wish I had video of his face when it was pulled out and told there was a little bit of blood in his mouth. He FREAKED! It was hilarious and a little traumatic for him. Nothing the tooth fairy couldn't fix.















Ethan had a project for school- design a pair of shoes out of cardboard and duct tape. He had a blast making them- complete with tread and laces.




























One of Will's favorite places to play...












Will surprised us all by getting two teeth. We found them at his well check Dec 1st. He is the first kiddo in our house to get teeth before turning 1. He wasn't even fussy or anything while they came in - I never even knew!






Jocelyn got away with 2 new cute outfits this season. This one was for her school choir concert and was really fun to make for her. The snowglobe turned out soo cute.





















This years Jingle Jam was actually enjoyable. Owen did great watching the kids and when he did the - I got my eyes on you signal to Carson and Jake- I couldn't help but snap a few pictures. They thought he was pretty funny. I had a hard time finding Jocelyn. never thought she'd be on the top row. Riley was cute as ever, a little elf.










































Jake's 6th grade class put on a puppet show- A Christmas Carol- he did great as Marley.














The kids had their Christmas piano recital and they all did amazingly! Ethan played the theme from the Office, Jake played Haul of the Mountain King, and Jocelyn played Jolly ol Saint Nicholas.

We're thankful for targets and so much more!

Thanksgiving was easy going for us this year. Thank goodness- last year put us over the top with our crazy trip to washington. So this year was spent at home. There are so many things to be grateful for and I was grateful to spend it with my cute husband and kids. I made a bunch of pies, yummy rolls, and everything else to trim out our turkey. YUMMMM! The day was full with a parade, a dog show, sling shots and targets, lots of eating, kids in and out of the house, more eating, more sling shot action and then more eating and then bed for everyone except me. I headed out to start my shopping with mom and Laura and then home for a short nap and out again at 6 am for a few more things. Shopping was a success!

The kids lined up to shoot the elusive targets!


Bonnie and Derek and kids came over the day after Thanksgiving just for the chance to eat some more and play games.


Our Christmas season full of recitals and traditions is well underway. This week is amazingly busy for us- Jake's Christmas choir concert was last week and then tonight, the choir sings at the Joseph Smith Memorial building.


Last night we finally were able to decorate the family tree downstairs. It was fun to unwrap each ornament and talk about why it was picked and when. This year the kids did great again picking out their new ornaments that reflect their personalities.

Ethan picked out a mixer- he became quite the baker this year!


Owen picked a train- no surprise


Jake, a motorcycle


Riley picked a soccer ball- he played great this season


Jocelyn picked out a cupcake, to go along with her halloween theme of being sweet!



Ben and I picked out a robot santa- I love it because it looks vintage and completely different from our previous santa ornaments, Will, who could not stay awake for all the fun - a blue onesie ornament to start his collection off.


It was a fun evening of decorating and listening to the prophet. Unfortunately near the end of the devotional Owen hit a pillow into one of our stockings, hanging so nicely which caused the stocking and the heavy holder to fall on him, resulting in this




We bandaged him up after the bleeding finally stopped but as I was headed into work I just kept getting the feeling that he needed the staples. After talking to the ER Doctor, I called Ben and he brought Owen into the Hospital. He was sound asleep until they started cleaning the wound- very fast I might add and less than a 10 seconds later he was crowned with the staples. Not too happy and after we took the pictures to show him he just said "no staples". not a happy camper! Funny thing is as I was hanging the stockings up a couple of weeks ago I said "do not touch these stockings, they will fall on your head and you will probably need to have staples" No Joke!!

A lot of stuff!

This time of the year is soooo busy for our family! School starting is the kick off to the busy season, followed by three birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and soon to be Christmas. Here are a few things that have consumed my life among all the work, cleaning, running kids around and just good old spending time together.

The weekend before conference and also conference weekend we spent in the canyon surrounded by the fall colors. We had picnics and found tons of caterpillars and of course had to throw rocks in the river.




This cute girl turned seven!! She had a great birthday- chuck a rama for dinner and gift cards to Crazy 8 and Claires! She couldn't wait to get to the mall! It always amazes me how careful the kids are when they are spending their own money! She found some cute stuff!



Soccer ended- whew! Jake and Riley had a good season and we look forward to the spring when it picks up again.



This cute boy turned 7 months just a few days ago, on Thanksgiving.



Super Heros were made.



This super hero receives his super strength from ketchup!


Halloween came and went- fun for all. Owen loved trick or treating and the older boys headed out twice and scored big! Riley settled for a pirate costume when I procrastinated and no power ranger costumes were left at any store! His comment - "just make a mask you know how!" uh, no I don''t. Jocelyn was a cute cupcake - yeah for cute costumes! Poor Will! He just was ready for bed!


Our annual trek into the wilderness for the perfect tree luckily went nothing like Lampoons chrsitmas. Althought the truck almost got stuck! Fun was had by all lots of sledding, hot chocolate and snacks, while the men- and Jake went scouring the mountain side for that perfect tree. Ben and Jake did great and our tree is up and decorated- yeah!








So while the tree is up and presents have appeared under our tree, the kids are way excited and so am I. Stockings are hung, lights put up outside......there are still so many things to get done! But......
Are you ready for summer?