Gingerbread Houses...

Last year I found these houses on clearance for only a few dollars each so I decided to snag a few and do them this year.  It was so fun!  The kids did these all by themselves and had a great time.  I love how they always get into making them cute and decorated.  We always have a great time doing gingerbread houses.  These ones actually stayed up better than our graham cracker ones do...hopefully I can find some more on clearance for next year!

2012 Ornaments...

 I love this tradition.  Every year we give the kids new ornaments and put them on the tree.  It is so fun every year to pull them out and remember what happened throughout their little lives.  This year Anthony got a Lego DarthVador, Jenna got a princess crown, Lydia got a princess slipper and Owen got a little boy playing in the sand.  Love these kids!

Live Nativity...

We once again got to take part in the Live Nativity in Ucon this year.  I love this event, almost as much as the kids.  They love to be part of it by dressing up as shepherds and holding the baby goats.  This year was windy and cold, like always, but it didn't distract from the spirit of Christmas that is there.  Jake was once again a wise men and actually got to ride Ralphie into the nativity scene.  It is always a very cool thing to see when the wise men make their way in.  Owen, Lydia, my Mom, Dad and I just tried to stay warm by bundling up! 

Ralphie the rednosed camel...

 Oh how we love Christmas time!  SO many ways to spread the holiday cheer.  One of my favorite this year was hosting an appearance of Santa and Rudoloph's distant cousin, Ralphie the rednosed Camel.  We had cookies, hot chocolate and live music and then Santa came down the street riding the Camel.  Oh it was so fun to see all the kids faces and excitement! 

Pumpkin pictures...

 When Jake and I were in Oregon, my parents took these awesome pictures of my kids.  I love them. I think they captured the kids personalities really well!

Halloween 2012,,,

 Anthony really wanted to be a skeleton this year and when I suggested that Owen be one too he was super excited, so I decided to go with that when they are still little enough that they think it is cute.  It was so fun and they both looked super cute!

 Lydia wanted to be Minnie Mouse and i think her costume turned out adorable!  I loved it so much, so did she :)!

 Jenna was Rapunzel and couldn't have been more happy with her wig and everything!  I don't really like Halloween, but the kids sure have a good time dressing up!

 Owen was so funny trunk or treating.  He didn't understand it at first, but boy did he catch on quick!  He would just put into his basket and grunt...like this this where the candy goes!  Then he would just walk to the next car.  Fun fun!

Halloween extras...

 There are always so many things going on around Halloween.  This year we had the Ucon carnival, lots of treat making at home, class parties and the list goes on. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of our activities!

 The girls thought they were in heaven getting their pictures taken by all the beautiful princesses!

 This was Trick or Treat Street down at Snake River Landing.  My brother Russ, his wife and staff went ALL out in their display of the crazy scientist.  It was so awesome!  The kids had a great time and were super patient waiting in the LONG line to get candy.

Happy Birthday to Me...

This is a little late, but I don't ever want to forget it!

Oh I had the best Birthday ever this year! Jake spoiled me so much.  He kept asking me what I wanted and I really didn't have anything on my wish list but to spend time with him...alone...no kids :)!  I love my kids to death but I love Jake too and we get to see very little of each other the busier our kids get.  I really had no clue how to make things our out for us to get away because of all the things are kids had going on, but Jake made it work! It was so wonderful.  We went to Sun Valley on the weekend of my birthday and the actual day of my birthday was Sunday the day we packed up everything and came home so it wasn't a super awesome day, just a great weekend.  I got a sleeping bag that night and enjoyed some time with our little family and thought that might be it for my birthday this year....but boy was I wrong.  Monday, Jake gave me a Wii game that we could all play with together.  Tuesday, he gave me a list of the many reasons he loves me...cried the whole way through it.  Wednesday he gave me a gift certificate for a 'dinner' out that weekend.  Thursday he had made a plane ticket to go to Alaska and left it on my desk.  I was trying to figure out what that meant.  He gave me a departure time of 4 PM Friday evening but not a return time :).  I was trying to not get my hopes up, but had to get on the internet and research our local Destinations Inn and there was an Alaska room there.  Oh how excited I got!  So, so happy!  We ended up getting to get away on Friday evening, enjoy our little downtown Idaho Falls Mexican food and had a relaxing, wonderful, amazing time together. We had to be back for Anthony's football game Saturday morning, so it was barely 16 hours gone, but it was so wonderful!  I will never forget all the time he took to plan my birthday and how much effort I know it took.  He arranged babysitting, pick-ups, drop-offs, everything. I just showed up!  It was WONDERFUL! 

Thank you, thank you to all who helped make my day/week the best I've had in a long time!!

And then there was snow...

 Not even a week after I took those leave pictures, we got our first snow.  Anthony went out and made this cute little snowman all by himself. He did a great job and even added eyes by himself.  He had a great time and was out there for almost an hour getting it done!

Leaves...

 The only draw back from awesome, big trees in our yard is all of the leaves it brings.  Every fall we have to spend hours raking them up.  Although, it does provide lots of fun times for the kids!  This year they wanted to be completely barred underneath them.  Anthony is "in" the very bottom picture, you just cannot see him :)....he is completely covered with leaves!