Catch up before the New Year!

I will apologize ahead of time that the following pictures and events may not fall in chronological order, but they will be posted just for the record. :-)

Everyone was happy Christmas morning to see that Santa had found us in the different location this year! Some of the other pictures are on my other camera, not downloaded yet.
I wonder if Logan even slept all night long?

Joni found a candy cane and LOVED every second of it! Can you tell she has been eating her fair share of the orange vegetables? Her nose is really got an orange cast to it! Ha Ha!

It almost looks as if Joni is counting how many gifts she has had to open! LOL!

Carson was tickled to DEATH for the knight figurine toys that his brothers (via his mother) so lovingly thought of getting him for Christmas! HA

Joni's first encounter with Santa- It starts out completely harmless, looking him over, assessing the situation and then the inevitable happens . . .

NO MORE OF THIS FUN!!!!

But as for Monte. . .

Monte was so geared up to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas, that when Logan and Carson told him it might not be the "real" Santa, he was sure to ask me. Logan and Carson started noticing that not all the Santa's looked the same when we would go to ward and family Christmas parties, so we had to tell them that sometimes Santa has to have a helper because he can't be everywhere at once.

While we were standing in the line waiting to get up to Santa, Monte said, with all the excitement a five year old has at Christmas time, "Is this the REAL Santa?" I said, like any good mother would do, "Yeah! It is real Santa and he is here just to hear what YOU want for Christmas!"

Well, he must have heard because Santa brought Monte the Hunting Playset he has had circled in the Cabela's magazine for the past two months now! Good Santa!

Carson's birthday. It also fell on the night of the ward party, hence the reason for the birthday cake two days after his birthday. He did get gifts on his birthday, just not quite the cake. P.S.This just about wins me the mother of the year award.






The Great Christmas Tree Fetch

Bringing the tree down off the mountain - Where's Logan?


The great Christmas Tree fetch. The pictures say it all, especially when you find out that these pictures were all taken from inside the truck. The terrain is steep and the weather was less than ideal. Note to self: If we get a tree from this location next year, go the day after Thanksgiving so you can actually see the road, where to turn around and then be able to climb a mountain WITHOUT the snow. Lots of fun!

The funnest gift Carson got for his birthday was this sled from Grandma and Grandpa! Joni loves to be pulled around the house on it.

Carson was a shepherd for his school christmas program. I would post the video, but Logan did the video taping, so I will spare you the motion sickness. It was a wonderful program, with great Christmas songs.

She loves to empty the clothes boxes for each of the boys as fast as I can get them folded and in the box. See the great look of accomplishment?

Monte thought it would be great fun to make a snow angel on the hood and windshield of the car! Pretty nice, isn't it?

Joni loves to eat cheerios. This particular time, she got one stuck on her nose. She could see it, but she couldn't quite get it. Hilarious!

A little bit fuzzy, but you still get the jist of the picture.

And the final shot with the cheerio on her nose.

Pettiskirt victory and Halloween

For anyone that is interested in these BEAUTIFUL pettiskirts, do not be intimidated by the following post! :0)

A few months ago, I decided that I wanted to do some research and find out if there was a pattern for these gorgeous skirts that are so popular in photography. Did my research, talked to the mom of a girl that had one on at the park and alas,

MY FINAL RESULT!. . . PETTISKIRT VICTORY!!

I got it all cut out and partially sewn, then life got in the way and it remained a pile of fluffy pieces of fabric. I thought that I would make a baby duck costume or a strawberry shortcake costume for Joni, but that pile of fluffy fabric kept staring at me, mocking me-"You will never get this accomplished!" So, what to my wondering eyes, when Halloween day, I sat down and FINISHED THE PROJECT! YAY!

I think it turned out pretty good for a trial run. And I can say that I do look forward to making more.

The best piece of advice is to invest in a ruffler foot for this project!

This is how THRILLED Joni was about going trick-or-treating! LOL!!!

This picture of the kids with Halloween costumes was a result of Justin behind the camera, me trying to get Joni to be happy and not a whole lot of cooperation from the boys.

Logan wasn't feeling good, so he stayed home. He was a rodeo clown for school. Carson was so set on being Davy Crockett that he wouldn't leave me alone until the costume was finished. Monte was a fish for Story Hour Halloween party and a Horse for Halloween day and trick-or-treating.

Davy Crockett in the school parade that walks for two blocks down the street and two blocks back to the school.

Monte got to catch snow on his tongue when we got out of the Story Hour party. I suppose it is quite a sight to see a rainbow fish catching snow on it's tongue!

Too cute to pass up!

New Developments

We have had this wonderful cotton hammock (Thanks Huttons!) and never had a tree to use it with. I had it sitting in the storage room downstairs and I got to thinking that we could use the rafters in the basement playroom to hang it. You have never seen three happier boys than these when we got it put up! This is the greatest thing! AAaahh so comfortable!

Monte even wants to go down and eat in it all the time. When we had snack for preschool last week they had to go sit in it. I guarantee it is the GREATEST babysitter for ALL THREE boys! They LOVE IT!I do have to say, it is pretty comfy!Carson is taking piano lessons. And doing pretty good. It is kind of funny because his piano books just sit open on the piano and every few times that Logan walks through the living room, he stops to play a song or two also. Maybe we will be doing 2 for 1 lessons and Logan will be self taught! :-)

Logan has decided that he would like to try wrestling. I know, crazy huh! I NEVER thought he would have an interest in it. I think it could be in an effort to get to see one of his friends more. Too bad we have to pay for everything just for him to decide he might not like it. He just started last week, so he won't get to wrestle this week at the matches. He really likes to try out his new moves on Carson and Carson is one to back down! He will scrap with Logan and if he gets Logan laughing, it is a sure win for Carson!


The leaves are falling and they are abundant! This is at the city park where we had fun at playgroup.
Joni LOVED sitting in them and mostly loved eating the leaves!

Running and throwing leaves at yourself was the object of this game.When he got too tired to keep running through the leaves it was fun just to lay in a gigantic pile. Another one of the fun new things we get to do is preschool every Monday and Wednesday at home. We have only had Monte and a Sarah, but we might have picked up another little boy at least on Mondays. So the payoff is that we get to do a fantastic phonics reading program. It is a program that you don't learn the letters in order. So, Monte is learning letters that can blend quickly. He was drawing on this white board the other night and he drew a hat. He was so excited that he had drawn a hat, so I told him he needed to sound out what the letters were because he knew all of them.

So here is the progression . . .(never mind why he doesn't have a shirt on)

And the finished product!

Oh how proud he is and I must say it gives me great satisfaction to see it all happening before my eyes! Not just at school!

Joni sure LOVES this toy. She even starts to bob to the music when it starts playing.
She has figured out how to get it to turn around, but not quite go back and forth yet. She still reaches instead of figuring out if she pushes hard enough she can move over.

Some summer highlights

After TONS of begging and promising that we would get to go "someday" we made it to the Dinosaur Park! What a better way to get to see friends and catch up on friendships! We LOVE to meet friends and go places with them!

So an open invitation to friends, when you want to meet and go play, give us a call!

Is Monte looking oh so happy in this picture?

What a fun wall at the Dinosaur park. EVERYONE was loving this fun adventure.

Next adventure - This one was just for the girls. Afton's birthday.

All the kids pitched in money and we took her for her birthday for a shopping spree at probably, dare I say, the most wonderful place for her - Taipan Trading.

This is the back of Laila's Denali after 5 hours at that wonderful place! (Was it really five hours?)

Hope you had a great birthday Afton!

Monte's first unofficial field trip

I got to go with the county Farm Bureau with a classroom to a corn maze. Of course that means Monte and Joni get to go too! Here he is going through the maze. It was COLD!!!

He got to ride on a bus! How exciting! But it wasn't good enough just to sit with me up front, he had to go back with "the kids". What a big shot! I am so glad we had the opportunity for him to get to go with me. It helps him become more prepared for kindergarten and still get him one more year at home! :-)

Odds and Ends

We attempted to get some family pictures last week and these were the cutest ones of the whole shoot! So genuine and candid! I will post the family one later.

Fun pictures with her crocheted hat!

Logan got the opportunity to be a part of the opening flag formation ceremony at the rodeo events for the county fair. It was a great experience for him and he did fantastic! Carson was so bummed that he couldn't but he didn't trust that his horse would be able to neck rein well enough, so he is waiting until next year!

Pictures and video (not included) are so awe inspiring! They did this arrangement to the ever patriotic song by Lee Greenwood - "Proud to be an American". All week we got to hear Carson singing it and Monte even tried his hand at different phrases also.

More Pictures! And stories

More fair highlights!

Monte, in the height of his glory! Surrounded by friends, watching horses work and holding his ROPE! There might even be a cute girl with him, oh wait, that isn't Carson we are talking about here.

Monte said he wanted to do the goat tie! Shocking b/c I didn't know he knew how to. I think he was just desperate to be included. What a nice lady! She got down and helped him get it tied. She could see after the first two minutes that he wasn't in to win, just for the experience. :)

Oh how we LOVE to see Kinlee Sue! Not sure how much Joni loves to see her, especially when she gets the choke hold on her and it keeps getting tighter and tighter! Can you tell that Joni is starting to get a little nervous about the hands creeping closer to the neck?

Thanks Grammy and Grandpa for coming up to see the boys participate in the horse show! Joni's first camping trip! Doesn't she look adorable and somewhat like a newborn with her cute little beanie hat on!
The whole time I was fixing breakfast, she just kept leaning her head over on Justin's arm and looking up at him, like "Oh my, what a long night that was! I am still exhausted!"

Yes, I understand these are a little late, but doesn't the saying go "Better late than never"! These are her five month shots that I did at least a month ago! Background compliments of Grandma Red and her beautiful yard! Let's hope she becomes as photogenic as McKinlee! I still wish I would take more time to get those precious moments with her and her brothers, oh wait, it does help when you have willing particpants! Hint, hint - that means you brothers!

Which one is your favorite?

I LOVE the new actions I have found to run in Photoshop!