Merry Christmas!

Kate with piano

I took a picture of Kate in front of her Grandparents grand piano today.  I love this piano it's so pretty!

Here are some photo's of the kids helping to rake leaves.  Jence had a ball crawling around in the leaves.  We all enjoyed the nice day, and with a bit of team work were able to get a good portion of the leaves cleaned up.  We take a slow approach.  The goal is to fill both garbage cans full of the leaves each week.  Hopefully we will get them all before winter.

Thanksgiving this year was lots of fun.  We usually stay in town for the holiday but this year we headed south for St. George.  We all had fun enjoying the beautiful weather.  I did some shopping, and the kids did a fun hike.  Thanksgiving dinner was delicious.  It was a fun memory for the kids.



Funny thing Benjamin said

Yesterday I was talking to Benjamin and told him I'd be coming to his nursery now on Sundays (I just got that "calling" as we title church jobs.  He responded "yes I know you got a phone call"!

Halloween 2012

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, but for a mom it can be very exhausting.  Pulling together four costumes isn't always the easiest thing the do.  And then there's the photo's.  The kids hate getting their pictures taken, but of course being the photo obsessed person that I am I tell them no photo's means no trick or treating.  I'm such a mean mom right?  Here's a costume tip I've discovered the best place to go is Kid to Kid. It's a second hand children's clothing store. Most of the costumes they sell there have only been worn once and are in like-new condition. I was able to pick up Kate's, Kirk's, and Jence's costumes there for a fraction of the cost! Benjamin wanted to be Darth Vader which was a costume we already had in our dress up bin, so he was easy!


The kids had a great Halloween this year!  They got tons of candy, and had a really fun time at school where they had Halloween parties.  I helped with Kirk's french class.  They played french BINGO and limbo to french music.  Kate had fun in her class too. I wasn't able to volunteer with her class.  Benjamin got to wear his costume to his preschool class which was a fun experience.  He said that he had witches brew, "but it wasn't good for me."  I guess that meant he didn't really like how it tasted.  here are some photo's of the kids in their super awesome Halloween costumes.  It gets harder to find great costumes each year as the kids get older, and they become more picky about who they want to be.    Kate as Scarlet O'Hara in Gone with the Wind

             The cutest little chick on the street but not sesame street.  We had a few people wonder if he was Big Bird. We are big Mit Romney fans, but no I didn't plan his costume around the
 2012 presidential election.

 Benjamin was Darth Vader.  It seems we always have some type of Star Wars representation on Halloween.  Thirty years and that franchise is still going strong!  George Lucus was a genius. 

 Kirk as either Anikin, Luke skywalker, or some other kind of Jedi.  Kirk's costume was actually the hardest costume to find.  He changes his mind so fast, and has pretty high expectations.  When I first brought home the costume he wasn't to thrilled, but luckily it came with a chewy stuffed animal, and that seemed to make it cool enough. 

Pumpkin Carving night

Here are the boys with their BYU pumpkin!  Benjamin even has his cougar T-shirt on, we are indoctrinating our kids while their young!

Kate wanted a cute pumpkin this year.  I don't think there's anything cuter than Hello Kitty.  Hello Kitty was my very favorite when I was young, I had a collection of erasers shaped like hellow kitty (or some other tiny cute animal), pens, and pencils.  I'd save up my money and then go down to the Ogden City mall (which is now torn down) and add an eraser or pencil, or mini note pad to my collection.  I never used my treasures, just collected them and stored them in a pink hello kitty pencil box I'd gotten from my friend for my birthday.  How I wish I still had that, I have no idea what has happened to it.  I still remember how they smelled.  I'm glad to see this adorable little kitten still alive and well for the next generation of girls to enjoy.

Benjamin's field trip

Benjamin was able to go on a fun field trip with his preschool class to the tree house museum.  He really enjoyed going there with all of his friends.  Benjamin is a very social little guy, and loves making friends.  He is very good at remembering children's names, even if he's just barely met them.  I'll never forget how last May he made friends with a little girl at the store.  They started playing on the kids table that was there to entertain the children while the mom's shopped.  As we were leaving he loudly says, "bye Carly".  He said it just like she was her very best friend in the whole wide world.  It's awesome how children can make friends so quickly!

Family Pictures

I had to post this picture.  We got some family pictures done a couple of weeks ago, and I just love this one!  I can't believe how grown up the kids have gotten.  Look how tall Kate and Kirk are!  Our kids are really growing up!

Jence turns one!

Can you believe that Jence is one years old!  It seems like I just brought him home from the hospital!  What is going on here.  Has time sped up?  Don't get me wrong I'm really happy with were we are right now.  Jence is sleeping through the night, and Benjamin is now in preschool, and I don't have a kindergartner pick up from the bus stop in the middle of the day, but seriously my kids are growing up way to fast.  I'd have to say that I love the stage that Jence is in right now.  He is crawling everywhere, but that means he's more content becasue he can explore and get to the toys he wants to play with.  He is always happy, and smiles at everyone and everything.  He is a fantastic eater, and loves his bottles.  He takes his naps like clock work, and doesn't mind it when his brother Kirk carries him around.  What can I say he's the perfect baby.  We love you so much Jence you are the cutest baby ever!  This year we had a family party combined with Kate's baptism.  His theme was animals.  We had tiger and elephant cupcakes!  We also got him a few new toys, a snowsuit, and some new boots.  We had talked about taking him to the zoo this year, but we will have to see if the weather stays warm.  This year I did something new.  I printed some pictures of him through the year, and pinned them up to a ribbon to create a banner.  It's amazing how much babies change in the first year.  He has always been a big baby, I think my babies especially change alot because of how fast they grow.  I swear Jence only wore some of his 3mo. old outfits once or twice.  Jence loved his cupccake and ate every bit of it.  He also got some wonderful gifts from his grandparents.  Happy Birthday Jence.  It's been a wonderful year, you make our home such a happy wonderful place.  Your beautiful smiling face brightens our days, and makes our hearts so full with pride!  

Kate's big day! She's been Baptized

It was a super busy weekend.  Kate was Baptized, and Jence turned one.  Both were huge milestones!  To make it easier to write about I'll separate them into two different posts.  But keep in mind that this all happened on the same day.  Needless to say I'm exhausted!  Jence actually turned one on the 11th instead of the 13th, but it seemed logical to combine the celebrations together. 

Kate was baptised on October 13th, 2012.  It had been a crazy couple of days leading up to the baptism.   on Thursday two days before her baptism she fell off of the playground at school, and hurt her back so I picked her up early from school.  The next day she woke up with a fever.  It was a weird coincidence that those two things happened right before her baptism because the fever was unrelated to the fall.  All day on Friday I worried about whether or not to go through with the baptism the next day.  I had spent all week preparing for it, my house was clean, the dinner was ready to be cooked, and the program planned and invitations sent out.  I decided to wait until the next morning and if she was still not well I'd call it off.  I'm glad I waited because the next day she was up and about, and feeling 100% better.  The day was perfect.  Kate looked so beautiful, and the program went very well.  We are so proud of our little girl. Kate has always been such a joy to have in our home.  We love you so much Kate.  I looked at her in the font with her Father and I couldn't help but think how fast he past eight years had gone by.  Didn't we just bring her home from the hospital?  She was so tiny, and helpless.  We were first time parents and scared to death.  We learned as we went.  I learned how to feed and burp her, and how to take her temperature when she was sick.  So much work and effort went into raising this sweet daughter of God.  I look forward to the next eight years we have with her, I just hope they don't go any faster than the last eight. 

Visiting the ducks

 For family night we thought we'd head out to the Pumpkin Patch, but they weren't open yet, so instead we went to the duck pond which is located near the farms.  The kids had fun. The light was beautiful and I got a few really good shots.  I loved the bridge!   

Jence is almost a year old!

Can you believe that Jence is almost a year old!  He has grown up so fast.  It's amazing that just a year ago I was miserably pregnant, anxiously awaiting his arrival.  It seemed like those last few weeks were months long.  Then when he finally came the next thing I know he's almost reached his first birthday!  It's funny how time has a way of slowing down, and speeding up like that.  I just wish I could keep him at this age just a little longer.  He is our jolly little baby.  He always gives a smile and laughs when we tickle him.  His big blue eyes are so expressive.  He is just as cute as a button!  

I did a little photo shoot of Jence while Kate was at dance lessons.  I wasn't sure where I'd take the photos.  I thought I'd try the botanical gardens just down the street from her dance studio.  I made the mistake of taking some photos with these cool marsh reeds in the background.  I shot one or two and then Jence got into some mud.  He got his white sweater all dirty.  Poor baby.  Luckily it was a warm day,  so I stripped him down to his diaper and shot some on the grass.  Naked baby pictures are the cutest. 

Football Widow

 Kate and Kirk ready to go and catch the school bus on the first day of school. 

 Kate standing in front of her bulletin board at school.  Kirk wouldn't allow me to take a picture of him at his class room.  I guess having your mom take pictures in front of your class isn't cool. 

 Benjamin starting preschool.  This actually wasn't his first day.  His first day he was a little more nervous, and wasn't all smiles.  But as you can see he loves preschool now!

Well tonight I'm a football widow.  It's the biggest game of the year if you are a BYU or U of U fan.  For Dan's sake I really hope BYU wins.  Last night he couldn't even sleep!  Anyways I thought I'd post some pictures of the kids first day of school.  Kirk has started first grade, and Kate is in second grade.  Benjamin has started preschool.  They have been very excited, I was very excited too.  This summer seemed especially long since they started back to school a week later than usual.  Carefree easy summers a fun for awhile, then I start feeling ready for routine, and structure which a school schedule gives.  Also it's good for the kids to get out of the house, they were going crazy with boredom.  Fall is my favorite time of the year.  The kids LOVE their teachers.  This is Benjamin's first year of preschool, and it has been great for Benjamin to get a chance to get out of the house, and enjoy some social time.  He goes to the same preschool teacher Kirk went to Miss Sharon, we just love her.   

Kate with earrings

Kate got her ears pierced for her birthday.  She has been begging to get her ears pierced for awhile.  She was pretty excited.  We went to the mall, and I had to take along the boys.  They were really good sports.  Here are some photo's of her in her new earrings. 

Here she is sitting in ther chair waiting to get them done.  She was so brave, she didn't even cry.