Let it... SLEET?!?!

Well, we just had our first bad weather of the season. This is the grass in our backyard! Our electricity was out during the night but luckily it came back on just before we got up in the morning! The kids, of course, were out of school!

When the kids first saw the sleet coming down they asked Randy if he would help them make a snowman. I'm not quite sure how they planned on doing this... they were just so excited! They found an alternative to making a snowman though!

And here they are holding onto icicles! I remember loving icicles! I made sure, however, that they weren't pulling them off the car!

Bonfire Bash!

One of the highlights of our Tennessee trip is our annual bonfire in the Jensen's backyard. They live in a housing addition that's out in the country, so they have the best of both worlds! Here is my brother Jordan with our niece, Karrington. And here is our other niece, Kimball.

I caught Randy enjoying his hotdog along side my brother Jordan. And the sideways picture is of my brother Joe. Sorry Joe!!! I tried to get your picture to turn but I had no luck! I'll keep working on that!

Here I am with my sister, Amy, who graciously lets us all come and raid her house for a week! And Uncle Todd gave all the kids glow sticks... Austin was using his as either sunglasses or a shield from the smoke!

Here is beautiful Miss Kaylee Brooke and next is Avery with her cousins Karrington, Mika and Kinley enjoying the warmth of the fire.

I got a good "cheese" from Austin and Sora... and here is Uncle Todd handing out the sticks for roasting hotdogs.

Austin is enjoying whatever Gum-Gum is saying (that's my grandma) and Addie is taking comfort from Nana (my mom).

Here is my nephew, Kyson, who has somehow grown up to be 16 and driving... I can't believe it! And of course Randy with "daddy's little girl".

Here I am with my sisters, Amy and Sara. And Avery is enjoying her bite of smores. Fun times!!

Happy Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!! I love getting together with family and not having to worry about all the gifts and hoop-la of Christmas! For the past few years we have spent every Thanksgiving up in Tennessee at my sisters house. The kids really enjoying playing with their cousins and of course I enjoy seeing my siblings!! Austin has his eye on the deviled eggs... but he's no devil!!!
And here is Avery waiting patiently in the line... there are so many people we have to do buffet style. That's my favorite way to eat anyway!!

For some reason, every time I got the camera out- Addie came running up to me and "cheesing"! And know matter how many pictures I took of her, she didn't stop saying "cheese" for the camera until I would put it away!

Here is Avery with some of her cousins sitting down to their Thanksgiving dinner. I know what Avery is thankful for!!!

Sunday Best

It's not always easy to keep your kids in their church clothes... they usually strip some of them off in the car on the way home! Actually, this was when we were at my sisters home in Tennessee and I wasn't feeling well so Avery went to church while Austin and Addie stayed home with me. But I went ahead and put them in their church clothes for a few pictures!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Halloween is such a fun holiday! Believe it or not, but I really don't care about the candy. In fact I tried to get the kids to give their candy away to trick-or-treaters (it didn't go over so well). But just getting the kids dressed up is such a blast! Addison was a monkey this year... I think it was a pretty good fit! She is our little monkey!

Avery was Elasta-Girl this year. Actually, she is supposed to be Violet but she was very concerned about her hair not being brown... so we went with Elasta-Girl. Every time we got her dressed up it took me so long to convince her that she looked cute because she was embarrassed about the "black underwear" being up too high!

Second time and counting as Spider-Man! Maybe we will get another year out of this costume- who knows! Austin's been hooked on Spider-Man for some time now! He still tries to wear this costume as pajamas but it never fails that he comes back after a few hours and wants it off because he gets too hot. So he settles for sleeping in Spider-Man underwear... he's all boy!

Downtown Street Party

Every year we have a Downtown Street Party. Randy has been one of the people in charge of this particular party for the past few years- so of course we go and have a great time! Avery (Elasta Girl) had an especially good time! She turned in a drawing and it won 2nd place in her age group!

Austin (Spider-Man) also had a great time! He enjoyed the games the best... but he also thought it was super cool that they had a ship that shot out candy from its cannon!

And then there's Addie, our little monkey! She was just trying to take everything in! But as long as she had a sucker in her hand she was as happy as could be!

Pumpkin Patch Day

No Halloween is complete without a trip out to the Pumpkin Patch!! It has become a tradition in our family... and the kids know excactly where they are supposed to be posing! This year Avery hurried over to each picture location and had me take a picture so she could then go off and play. Smart girl!

Here are Austin, Avery and Addison on the hay ride out to find the best pumpkin ever! Addie held on to me very tight through the whole ride. Luckily I took this picture before we started going.

Looks like we found our pumpkin!! Addie was testing it out to make sure it could stand the likes of her!! I think it passed!