Christmas Fun

A few pics to help us remember some of the fun we had during the Christmas season this year.

Early in December the boys decorated our windows with Snowflakes.

And some others with snowmen.  I love them!  These will probably stay up all winter.

And, as is tradition, they made some new ornaments for the Christmas tree.

We also put some lights up on the house.  My photography skills are pretty dismal, especially at night, and our yard looks pretty ratty here (it is still a work in progress), but I am trying to preserve memories, so it is what it is.

So, of course I have to include a couple more pictures.

Last one of the house, I promise.

The kids all had their Christmas programs.  I only got these pictures of Tad and Drake, but they all did great!!

We also made our traditional sugar cone Christmas trees.  The boys look forward to this every year.

I also took some pictures of some of our decor inside, but realized that it is really similar to last year, so I deleted them.

We have had a good holiday season so far.  Merry Christmas!

A few reasons I love having little kids

I seriously love having little kids. Yes, teenagers and big kids are fun too - just a different kind of fun.  As I was going through some of my recent pictures today, I ran onto a few that reminded me of how much fun little kids are.

Only my little kids can entertain themselves for hours with their toys, and then, of course, ask me to take a picture every now and then.

Only my little kids wear fun little hats home that they made in kindergarten.

Only my little kids will decorate the tree up with their angry birds when they are tired of waiting for me to pull out the ornaments.  I kind of like this.  Maybe we should have left it this way.

Only my little kids will leave cute notes for the tooth fairy after she has forgotten to stop by for three nights.

Of course, my little kids do way more than this that makes me smile every day, but I don't have pictures of everything.

I'm seriously going to miss this stage when it is over.

Fall

Just popping in to update the blog with some Fall pics.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Drake turned eight!!  He made me very happy by requesting brownies for his birthday rather than cake!

Tad at the Elementary School Halloween parade.  He was Thor again this year.

Drake at the Halloween parade.  He was Captain America.  One of his teachers let him borrow that awesome shield to carry during the parade.

All of the boys in their costumes.  I just couldn't get a good picture of them this year.  Oh well.  

Jack was Harry Potter, and Thomas was Hawkeye.  Dallin is in junior high and too cool to dress up anymore (which I applaud!)

And, because I can't help  myself, I am adding some pictures of our Halloween decor.  I wouldn't want to deprive my sons and future daughters-in-law the pleasure of laughing at my decor that was soooo 2017.

But I love these cute pictures and the boys love looking at them too.

And I, want to share my cute new fall pillows.  These aren't really Fall colors, but I wanted something that would go with the room, but was still warmer than the normal blue and white that I have in here.  I think these fit the bill.

I really love this Thanksgiving pillow.

Of course, I also need to share my hook shelf in the entry, all decked out for Thanksgiving.

And a close up of my favorite little corner of it.

Happy Fall Y'all!!

Drake's Baptism

A little over a week ago, Drake turned eight and was baptized.  He was so excited!! It was a nice day and we are so happy with what a good boy Drake is.   It was a short and sweet baptismal service and I hope that he will always remember it.  I didn't get the greatest picture of him at his baptism, but here is one that will do.

I know, I know.  That picture is a total "mom fail"  

But, since I always get nostalgic around my kids eighth birthdays, I will share a bunch of really cute pictures of him over the years.

Congratulations Drakers!  We love you!!

Thirteen!?!

It's official.  We have a teenager in the house!!  Luckily, so far, he is a great teenager, and if he keeps this up, I will be one lucky mom.

I hardly saw him on his birthday, but when he finally did make an appearance, we just had pizza for dinner and then an ice-cream sandwich dessert to celebrate.  He opened a couple of presents, and had a phone call from his grandparents in Utah and visited his other grandparents in person.

Happy Birthday Dallin!  We love you!!

Back to School

My kids have been in school for over almost two weeks now, so I am a little slow getting this post up, but I couldn't let myself get away with not posting about the beginning of this school year.

Tad left me for Kindergarten this year.  We still have half-day Kindergarten in our district, so that is helping make the transition easier for me.  His teacher is Mrs. Davis (Drake had her too), and I know he will have a great year in her class.

Drake is in second grade.  His teacher is Mrs. Fuentes.  Dallin had her too, so we know he is in good hands.  He loves school and is sooooo happy to be back.

Jack is in fourth grade and moved up to the Intermediate school.  His teacher is Mrs. Breedlove.  We have heard good things about her, and so far Jack is loving being in her class.

Thomas is in sixth grade and his teacher is Mrs. Krekeler.  We know several people that have loved her as a teacher as well, so I am sure it will be a good year for him.

Sorry about the glare on his glasses.  No matter what angle I took the picture from it was still there, and he doesn't like to take them off for pictures because he thinks he looks weird without them now.  Haha!

Dallin is in seventh grade and moved up to the Junior High.  If I am honest - it was way harder for me to send him to Junior High than it was to send Tad to kindergarten.  When we first moved to Taylor, everyone was telling me horror stories about the Junior High.  At the time Dallin was only four months old, and Junior High seemed like forever away, but in the blink of an eye here we are.  (Luckily, the junior high has been "reformed", so it isn't as scary to send your child there as it supposedly used to be.  I am still hating it though!)

Look at that handsome group.  All in school now!  I sure love these guys!!!!

Summer Trip - Day 7

On the seventh day of our trip, we left Casper and drove out to Independence Rock.  We took a walk around it, and the kids climbed up and found some names.  We explained to the kids why it was called Independence Rock.  They must have found it pretty interesting, because when a missionary at a visitors center asked them about it later, they knew the answer.  The missionary was impressed and told them they were the first kids or teenagers that had ever been able to answer that question for him.

Then we drove out to the Martin's Cove visitor's center.  I had been there before, but this was a first for Jeremy and the boys.

We, of course, had to take Thomas's picture by Thomas Boyington's name on the Willie Handcart list.  Thomas was named after him because it always meant so much to me that Thomas Boyington (my great great grandfather) was part of this company.  He must have had tremendous strength and dedication.  I hope my Thomas will grow up to be the same.

The big boys took the opportunity to pull a handcart.  Notice Devil's Gate in the background.

The little boys enjoyed their ride.

They also enjoyed pulling one of the mini handcarts.

After we left Martin's Cove, we went out to the new visitor's center at Sixth Crossing.  This is where they focus on the rescue of the Willie Handcart company.  I can't believe that I didn't get even one picture there.  It is such a shame because the visitor's center is beautiful and the movie about the Willie handcart company is so well done, and the presentations are also so well done.  The missionaries were so knowledgeable.  We had a great visit with them.  We were the only ones there, and they told us that the visitors have been few and far between.  I hope it picks up, because it was truly one of the highlights of my trip and definitely the highlight of my day that day.  If you get a chance to visit - take it!

From there we drove to Cokeville for my family reunion.  It was nice to catch up with so many relatives I haven't seen in awhile.  From Cokeville we went down and spent a week in Orem at my parent's house.  Sorry - no more pictures.  I guess I was tired of playing photographer and we were super busy helping my parents re-do their basement bathroom.  It was good to be in Orem again for awhile.  I still love and miss it there.

After the week in Orem, we headed back to Taylor and we are happy to be back in our own house (and beds) again.  

We had a great trip and made so many memories.  I just hope I can talk my kids into doing it again for another Christmas in a year or two.

Summer Trip Day 6

This post will be short.  On day six we left Hill City, SD and traveled back into Wyoming.

First we traveled over to see Devil's tower.

Here is a closer shot of it.  Pretty interesting!

After we saw Devil's Tower, we traveled south to Casper.

When we got there we took a little hike to these falls.  I can't remember their name, but they were pretty.

After that we checked into our hotel, went to dinner, came back to the hotel and went swimming, and then just relaxed in our room for the rest of the evening.  It was nice after all of the running around we had been doing for the past week.