Family Pictures Merry Christmas to Me!

Okay so if you've seen all the pictures on my blog you can probably tell that we had family pictures taken. I should have done a slide show but I didn't have time last night and my Mom wanted to see the pictures so I put them up fast for her. Below are some of our favorites! Of course it was a horribly hard thing to do. Thanks to Sam for letting me do it and for my sisters for helping get all the smiles in the right direction! Love you all! This is my main Christmas present!!

Even more Picts!

More pictures for you Mom

More Picts

Adorable Babies

Here are my adorable babies!

Video for Grandma Lu!

Here is Kylie doing her back flip on the tramp for Grandma Lu! She is very proud of herself!

Gabe's $11.00 Tree!

On Saturday we set out to find this year's perfect tree! We searched to find something that was decent and not a million dollars. That proved to be quite challenging. (I know buying a fake is so much cheaper, but it's just not the same as a real tree! I'm not willing to sacrifice that yet. ) It wasn't as cold as year's past. We were going to cut it down but decided to just go to the corner lot. We let the kids loose and they immediately found $75 trees that were beautiful! Then Gabe came running over hysterical (as only Gabe gets when he's excited) and pulled me over to his find. He just knew he had the perfect tree and it was only 11.00. As you can imagine it was a sight to behold. It wasn't even taller then Gabe! He was most proud of that fact. We just had to buy it. He was sooo excited about it. Then we searched for something a little less than 75 dollars. Derik found a great 45 dollar tree. It wasn't too much at the lot but when we got it home it was perfect for our spot! It's a beautiful tree. The boys now have a decorated "real" Christmas tree in their room. They have made signs directing Santa downstairs and into their room to their tree. I don't know if Santa will leave their presents by their tree or not! We'll have to see on Christmas morning! (I'll post some pictures of their decorated tree later. We still have to decorate the big tree.) Our holidays have started out really fun. Have fun decorating everyone!

BYU Pregame (Brainwashed?!)

Okay this really wasn't my or Sam's idea. The boys and our neighbor Jake just did it. I let them make their own pizzas tonight and this is what they did! Derik and Jake made Y's on their pizzas and Gabe spelled PITTA. They said they had to have it as the pre-game meal! They are die-hard BYU fans. I think we've successfully brainwashed them. There is a Utah flag on the way to church and they always close their eyes so as not to see it. The trip goes something like this, "Close your eyes guys, we're almost to it. Hurry, no one open your eyes. Is it over? Have we passed it? Did anyone see it?" Derik says that he goes blind for 5 seconds if he sees it. It's a crack up! Gotta love the Cougars! I hope we have a happy night tomorrow! Go Cougars!!!!

Date with Gabe

Gabe and I got to go on a golfing date a couple of weeks ago with Jorden and Dan. He has a great swing! He was so fun to take. Gabe definitely has the temperament for golf. He just hits it perfectly down the middle and hits it again and again! Thanks Jorden for the picts.



We make a great team!

He is the cutest golfer ever!

Thank Goodness for Aunts

Aunt Jamie had a great idea to try something new in Kylie's hair a couple of weeks ago. Tiny braids! She loved it and washed her hair several times before I insisted that they come out. They looked adorable. Thanks Jamie for thinking of something new that she would sit still for!

Of course we had to have a photo shoot!

Cole getting in some face time!

Yes I know I'm cute.

Always willing to pose for the camera.

Shane's First Food

Okay we decided that Shane is officially old enough to start eating. We gave him his first rice cereal two nights ago. The kids had a blast watching him. He loved it. He was a very clean eater. There wasn't a whole lot of emotion until we stopped feeding him! Then he got mad and I made more. He is following in Gabe's footsteps!!!! Maybe there is hope for me after all.

YUM YUM!

These fingers taste great!

I don't want to drip on my chin!

I'm just going to suck my thumb now.

Getting into the Holiday Spirit!

For FHE Gabe was in charge of the treat. Of course he wanted "frosting cookies" (the hardest ones to make) so we made a huge mess of the kitchen and had blue and purple frosting everywhere. It was fun to let Cole try and frost a cookie. The kids loved the rolling out of the dough! We've officially started the "treat making season!" I just hope I can resist eating all the things we make! Happy Holidays everyone.

Why would I waste time putting the frosting on the cookie?

I know I can make it fit somehow.

I'm a pro!

This is what I'm talking about!

Laughing Shane!

Here is a little video of Shane laughing. He loves to laugh at his brothers and sister. So cute!

Fall Leaves

Yes I raked them all myself! Does anyone else need any work done?


You want me to touch them with my hands?

Look Grandma Lu! My toes are even pointed!

Leaves, leaves, leaves

Our princess!

The kids had fun with all the leaves in our backyard. We just keep raking and raking them, they don't ever seem to make it into the bags though!

A big lion!

This was one of our favorite things to have Derik do when he was Cole's age. So, since Cole is pretty much another Derik...here goes. (You can turn off the music to get the full effect! Press the pause button in the bottom black box!)


That's Cole's version!

Halloween Slide Show!

Halloween Details

We had a great but hectic Halloween! It started Thursday when Derik came home from school and didn't move the rest of the day and night (except for trips to the bathroom). I couldn't believe it. I felt so bad for him. He had to miss school, but luckily his prayers were answered and he was feeling good enough to go trick or treating! I had to get Gabe dressed and off at 8:00, then Kylie to school at 9. Then we went over to watch Gabe's parade! Which was a blast, He got to hold the flag for his teacher, she was Sarah Palin. (I have it on video and I'll add it to the blog.) Then after Kylie's school was over it was back to Gabe's class to hand out treats for his party. Of course he choose donuts and chocolate milk! Luckily Jamie works at our house and I was able to leave the babies with her! Yea for Jamie! Kylie was my helper and was totally in her element being the boss of all the food and passing every single napkin, donut, and choc. milk out! Then we came home and got everyone ready to go trick or treating at Sam's work. It was fun for the kids to go around and see everyone there. Thanks Trina for the special bags for our kids! Then I remembered that I didn't have candy for trick or treating so we were off to Costco. After that we went to Nonna and Bobbo's house to hang out and crash their ward party for dinner. Who wants to make dinner on Halloween? Thanks Nonna. I had to chase Zorro and Cosmo all through the church so by the time Sam got there I had had it and was ready to go. We ate quickly and were off to our house to FINALLY (to quote the kids) go "real" trick or treating. This was a record year for candy for several reasons!

1. It was actually warm enough to walk around without getting frostbite.

2. All my kids that went out can run!

3. Daylight savings time is still going on!

4. Did I mention that it was like 70 degrees?

5. It wasn't snowing!

By the time the kid's bags were too heavy to carry them, we were done. Needless to say we have way, way, too much candy in our house and I've already gained 5 pounds! We came home and the trading and bargaining began. Gabe quickly discarded all the 'bad candy' and hid his good stuff. I have no idea where his candy is. Cole tried to open as many pieces as he could (running with his bucket for fear that it would be taken from him momentarily.) Kylie stashed all her candy before Sam could start "taxing" it. All in all it was a great night! Cole was the cutest trick-or-treater! He really got the hang of it. He can say trick or treat and thank you just fine now! I'm still recovering from our day. We hope everyone had a blast like we did! We were so glad to have Brody with us! He was so adorable in his monster costume! Cole really is a year older I promise! Happy Halloween to all. Enjoy the slide show at the beginning!

Pumpkins

We had a bunch of the fam over for dinner and pumpkins on Monday! We had a huge group and carved until our hearts were content. Sam got out the drill so I could have perfectly round circles all the same size! Here are the fruits of our labors!

Finally Ky's first day of preschool!

Here is her sweet bag! It says Kylie on it and everything.

Her favorite thing so far is "vehicle time" aka physical time. "I get to yell as loud as I can! And run around everywhere!" Does that sound like one of our kids or what? Thank goodness for recess.

She has been waiting since August for this day to come! She loved sit and wishes it was longer each day!

California

Here is a slide show of picts from the beach! Good old Fort Bragg. Can life get any better?