Christmas Eve Eve

A couple of families in our ward were our family this year. We had a great time playing games and eating WAY too much!
We played "I Never Ever Ever...." which is a new favorite from Aunt Liz.

We played Telephone Charades...

Michael's Birthday (my baby is 6!)

Michael likes nothing more than to dress up and BE a character. So for his birthday he got clone stuff.
It was the last day of school before winter break....sorry, CHRISTMAS break! So he thought it was pretty neat to have a party on his birthday.

Okay, so I forgot candles! I told him he needed to practice subtracting..8-2=6 which is how old he is. Michael just told us he was glad to be 82 and the oldest one in the house, so he could boss us around.

Thanksgiving in Utah!

Mom Janet treated us girls to lunch. We had a fabulous day shopping and gabbing, and maybe a little accident happened, but mum's the word!

No comment.

Jane and her best bud, Ally. They did not stop playing the entire time. I never saw Michael either. He was with his cousins, Jack, Ryan, Wil, Trygvy...

Bella and Madeline

Tommy and Jacob getting to know each other. They had a lot of fun playing ball.

Feeding the Triplets. Marianne and Dave are SO amazing with them.

Grandpa giving us the Thanksgiving Speech!

There are so few photos of Dave and I together... He's such a Hottie...

Dave and his big bro, Dan, who is really such a softie with the kids.

Are there any NORMAL photos of Michael ?

It's hard to get Jane to smile in photos. She is usually very blank, so even though, they aren't clear, they show her smiling.

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas!

This is us playing some games at our ward Christmas party.
We had a fabulous Santa this year..... Jane and Michael were sick, so Bella did the honors!

Photo from off our back porch.

Remember that photo of the orange tree....crazy how quickly it changes!

Swimming anyone?

Autumn has come and gone!

At the end of Halloween night, Dave and I decided that it just hadn't been a scary enough Halloween for our kids....so we dropped them off on this street that looked like that street in the Legends of Sleepy Hallow. We had them walk about a 1/2 mile down a VERY dark road. While Dave and I were parked down the road to wait for them, a policeman pulled up behind us and wanted to know why we were just parked there and loitering around. So, it was a little embarrassing to admit we had just left our kids on some spooky street...is that bad?
Bella was the "grudge" girl.

Michael was "in character" the whole night.

Our friends got some super cute little puppies! (no, I still don't want a dog)

This Halloween was so cold that the costumes were chosen by "what can you put on over your snowsuit?" Some of our great friends here, the Selle's, had us over for chicken noodle soup before trick-or-treating. Jane picked it up really fast and would even push all the kids out of the way, so she could get to the candy first. It was hilarious to watch!

So we named our van "white trash" and here's the family that fits it perfectly!

Here we are, freezing to death, at Tommy's football game.

Rachel

Michael

Bella

We have the best leaf pile in the neighborhood!

I don't know how, but Jane knew that she was supposed to jump in the leaves and wanted everyone to bury her.

This is the crazy-gorgeous tree in my front yard (picture taken 2 weeks ago...now there is not 1 leaf left on it!)

Last year, our fall lasted about a week...this year we had four whole weeks, so I'm not going to complain...much...

We Have a TEENAGER!!!

It's the end of a fabulous football season! Tommy rounded off his year with a touchdown and an interception in the last game. He also had some amazing runs and tackels! I'm not going to miss driving him to practice every day, but I will miss the games.

Just so you know, Tommy is now known as Tom...(but not to his family!)

Tommy just turned 13 on the 19th of October. He is growing fast. He likes to cook his own food, program things on his laptop, play four-square with the neighbors, play football, hang out at the YMCA, play computer games and the WII, tease his brother, camp with the scouts, play with Jane, watch Glen Beck with his mom, and do any kind of activity with Dave.

He really is enjoying 7th grade...he likes his tech ed class...girls like him...

Conference Creativity

Dave's
Michael's

Tommy's

Rachel

Bella

I personally love to listen to conference. I take out my notebook and cosy up on the couch in my pjs. I print out some activities for the kids to do while they listen as well. This year, Dave decided to throw in a little competition...he gave them each a color and they had to use all the lego peices of that color to make something. At the end, Dave gave them awards and certificates. (he's so funny!) I don't know how much they got out of conference, but I guess Elder Uchtorf would be proud...they were creating something!