A-maz-ing things here...

Ellie lost her (first) two bottom teeth. Very exciting stuff for this kid. No tooth fairy sightings, but at least she remembered to come!

Carter looks amazingly like Homer Simpson.

And occasionally acts like him too.

It snowed at our house New Year's Day. Did I mention AMAZING? The irony is that was the day we got home from Christmas vacation and were joking how warm it was. Woke up to snow. Ha. ha. ha. It was gone in about 2 hours, though. Phew.

Dee started playing soccer for a rec league. Love it! It's fun to watch and he's loving playing again.

Ty and Dee put together a Christmas gift model helicopter (thanks J&A!). Fun afternoon together plus passed off a Bear requirement. Bonus!

The weather here has been AMAZING too. We had the windows in the car rolled down. Ellie was cupping her hands out the window then putting them on her face and inhaling. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "Catching the wind. It smells like sunshine!"

We went hiking yesterday around the Castle Crags area. We walked on part of the Pacific Crest Trail and as I was explaining to the kids what that was and why it's significant Tyler shouted, "You mean we have to hike all the way to Mexico?!" I think he was mostly concerned about the lack of snacks for that sort of hike.

Amazingly only one kid fell in the water (Ellie) and it was just one foot.

This is Mt. Shasta from the Crags viewpoint.

This is the Castle Crags. It surprises you as you come around the corner on I-5. We live in such an amazing place!

The crew at the view-point. The telescopes were a big hit as you can tell.

A-MAZ-ING!

Christmas Blessings

Christmas time this year was filled with a flurry of emotions. The good ones are what I'll blog about today. :)

First and foremost, my brother came home safely from Iraq. Last Thanksgiving was the last time I saw him and since that time a rock of worry had planted itself in my heart for him and his family. It was always there in the back of my mind and would surface at unexpected times. Having said that, he is home. They are reunited. What a Christmas blessing!

Now onto travels...

We went over the river and through the woods and stayed at Aunt Heaffy's big beautiful house. The kids were sad there was no snow at first, but there will be more on that momentarily. We had a great time making cookies (pictures above), eating everything and anything, playing with the big cousins and Revis. Santa even came the night before Christmas Eve to warn the kids to GET TO SLEEP. But that is a story for another time. Heaffy spoiled us rotten and made us laugh (wrapping a ladder for Bert and watching her do a headstand...) Thank you Heather and Andy!!!

We shuffled back and forth between family activities and had lots of fun playing with the cousins. Besides having a huge sleep-over Christmas Eve (Christmas morning was a blur... 11 adults and 9 kids under 12), we also had Leki's birthday party, a trip skiing, Treadway Christmas party and the seeing everybody in-between. It was so much fun and there was very little "quiet as a mouse."

Remember how I said there was no snow? Well, "luckily" for us that changed. There was a lot of snow. Enough I remember that I like snow and then like to come home where there is no snow. The kids built a snowman the first chance they got. They got all dressed up and played until their cheeks were red and they needed hot chocolate.

We were also fortunate enough the day after Christmas to visit Temple Square. This is something we haven't done in years and the beauty of it always astounds me. Christmas was fun and there was lots of joy but I was thankful to be able to spend some time contemplating Christmas. To take time to remember my Savior even while the world rushes around/through me was terribly important.

We are at a crossroads in life and those moments of peace and reassurance are most precious. With all the preparation and thought and worry that went into gifts I am thankful to remember the greatest gift given to me. I can not imagine a heaven without family - even with the craziness that accompanies it - and that was made possible by my Savior Jesus Christ.

I hope your holidays were also joyous and let's see where 2011 leads!!!

Merry Christmas!

Some good, some naughty and some just cute

Heather came out for a working visit. She spoiled us all rotten and worked her tail off with the "Thrive" food company she works for. We LOVED having her here and wish she lived a LOT closer.

I had my 35th (when did that happen?!) birthday last week. It was a super fun-filled week of Diantha, and I loved every minute of it. My sweet husband spoiled me over and over and ended the week with a surprise get-together with a bunch of friends. The picture isn't great but the food was fantastic, the company was SOOOO fun and after we stuffed ourselves silly Debbie pulled out a HUGE cake and ice cream. That's the next picture.

See the fork for size reference?!

And now for the the naughty. Caught him licking the beaters... while attached.

There are ashes out back from the fence fire. He knows better. But they're still apparently fun to play in.

We have a hole in the tramp. He and Ellie were playing ball and he's trying to reach it. You may notice he's also wearing no pants. He's figured out how to take them off after they're all wet from playing in the dog water...

Caught him licking the jello in the fridge.

Before you call CPS, he actually doesn't get soda. The lid is on but he sure tried.
At the beginning of this walk he was on the trike and McKenna was pulling him. I guess she went too slow for him.

This picture is in a car wash. Apparently they terrify him. He's not crying, he's hiding. I ended up holding him through it because he freaked out a little. Now I know.

Now for the cute pictures...

Marybeth sent a box of cookies for my birthday. As you can tell by his face he was VERY excited.

The first really cold (meaning below 50) day we had I found this written on the window. I thought it was pretty funny.

And for the last one. I love this picture.

They could be TWINS! They were sharing a blanket one cool morning. Can you believe they're 4 years apart?!

Halloween

Happy Halloween! Our Saturday was filled with craziness. Ellie had her last soccer game then team party. From there we ran home to change and went to the school festival. Super fun crazy kids, costumes and candy! From there we went straight to the church for a Stake trunk-or-treat and family dance. We've never done it on a Stake level before and it was PACKED! So much fun to see so many happy kids and the decorations were awesome! Here are the costumes for our kids.

Ellie has wanted to be a ghost all year. D-O-N-E! I like that one!

Ty's costume was a bit more complicated but it turned out pretty darn cool. He was a "boy abducted by an alien". He saw it in the Family Fun magazine last year and has talked about it all year. It turned out pretty darn sweet.

I was a soccer player (boring I know - next year I'll do better...)

Dee is a stud. That's all I can say. He can rock a mullet and his letterman's jacket and STILL look good!

McKenna also looked awesome. I bought her the wig and she did the rest.

And is that the cutest garden gnome you've ever seen?! He had a BLAST once he figured out when he said, "Trick or treat" people would put candy in his bag. Does life get better?! I submit that it does not!

I love the other's too...

I thought I should update you on the other kids, too. Here is a quick run-down of the happenings around here.

First Ellie. She is running cross country with her school. When I first heard of the idea of Elementary School kids doing cross country I balked at it. They're too small to start that. However, she absolutely loves it. It's not a competition factor for her, more of a ribbon and a popcicle at the end. Not only that but she is fast. I love watching her race because she loves it. She is also doing soccer and has struggled with the whole "positions" idea. She is use to running around and scoring goals but now she is supposed to be in a spot which is a big change. I am hoping next season clicks with her but until then there is only one more game - so we'll manage. :)

Tyler just made honor roll for the first time. We're so proud of him because he has been struggling this year with some school issues and are happy to see him turning things around. Tyler is doing piano but that is it for him right now. He loves baseball and where we are it is only in Spring which I am okay with! He does do Cub Scouts and this week advances to Wolf. He's a fun (and funny) boy. He had a few backpacking trips this summer with Dee and the picture below was their latest one over Labor Day. As you can tell they all had a great time. His most exciting (?) thing is he is ready for his first run with braces. He's looking forward to glow in the dark rubberbands, and I know it will be soon enough they loose their luster. Ahhh, the joys of braces. McKenna is miss busybody as usual. She is in a performing arts group in school and truly loves it. In fact she loves everything about it. The singing, dancing, costumes, friends all of it. She is also doing soccer and this year is doing goalie. Last year I would pretty much have a heart-attack anytime she volunteered for goalie. I don't know what happened but this year she is G-O-O-D! I love watching her games and watching her footwork, ball control and stopping the balls that come her way. She has hit "pre-teen" with the hard lessons and joys that come with it. She's fun to be with and I love watching her become.

Is there anything cuter than a Scottish Highlander?

He's got the authentic kilt from Scotland. He's got the hair. He's got the Clayborne sword. He's got the "berserk" down. Watch out world. Carter's on the loose.