These are a few of my favorite things.....

-This wonderful season and teaching my kids about Christ and his birth.
-Seeing my children's eyes light up with the magic and excitement Christmas brings.
-Hot cocoa with a candy cane melting in it. Thanks to my sister Allison for that tradition!
-Making Christmas crafts and goodies with my kids.
-Being very PROUD of my husband for getting a job in Neuro Trauma ICU and graduating with honors!
-Brown paper packages tied up with string.
-Expecting number 4 and finally feeling great and baby kicking! 19 weeks and counting!
-Watching The Christmas Story with my kids! They get a kick out of it and I get a kick out of them getting a kick out of it!
-Snuggling, relaxing, and sipping homemade wassail with my husband - after the kids go to bed,of course.
-Sitting around the piano and singing Christmas songs with my kids and hubby.
-Family and friends to share my beautiful life with.

Fall in the Ozarks

My sweet Lilly is growing up!

first time riding the school bus
" Look! I'm just as tall as my big sister!"
Now you see it,
Now you don't!

Wow, Lilly just keeps growing up and doesn't know when to stop! I think her older sister taught her how to do that......I'm going to have to have a talk with Danielle. Kate's starting to pick up on the whole "growing up" thing too. What kind of a mother am I to allow my kids to do such a thing? I think I'm doomed.....

or just wonderfully blessed!

Labor Day Fun

Labor Day Weekend was SO MUCH FUN!!! We were invited to stay at a friends cabin in Branson. The cabin was beautiful, the view was breathtaking, the boating and tubing were pure enjoyment, and the weather was perfect!

The awesome cabin we stayed at
Crazy Monkeys....whose kids are those?

Aubrey (our niece) dressed up as a pirate. The kids found pirate dress up so of course they had to wear the costumes and party like it was nobody's business!
Table Rock Lake - The view form the front of the cabin.

Thumbs up for boating cousin babes!

Uncle Jarom and cozy Kate

Cousin Joseph playing it cool!

Oh, and did we mention we had a great time?!

Fishing With The Girls

Daddy and the girls went fishing a few days ago.
We each caught a sunfish, and boy was it fun!

First Day of School!

Friday was the first day of school for my kids! I know what you're thinking - yes I am old and no I don't know why they started on a Friday. I HAVE TWO KIDS IN SCHOOL!!!!! Sorry, it's so weird I had to yell it!
Danielle started the 2nd grade, and Lilly started Kindergarten - which is in all day event out here in MO. So pretty much they take the bus to school together and come home on the bus together. They were both very brave and played the "cool" card - no tears just a bunch of hugs, kisses, and waves good-bye. What a milestone that day was. I was so proud to see my 2 grown-up kids going to school.

Vacation Photos

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Jeff's Favorite Photos From Our Trip

In Burley we went to Shoshone Falls in Twin and then stayed the day swimming, eating, and hanging out with family at Durkies Lake.

The kids (and me) absolutely adored Sheena's little girl Jeada - she's just so stink'n cute!
One of the many fun activities the kids did at Grandma's house -pinata! a.k.a.; excitement, sugar rush, crash, emotional moodiness, and then....time to eat more candy! At the park in Saratoga Springs with my sister's kids. I love this picture of Michael. We were BFF by the end of the trip - too bad he's too much of a mamma's boy or I would have stuck him in my pocket and taken him home with me.

As the Journey continued....

For the next part of our trip we went to the Grand Canyon on route to Burley, ID in which we stopped in SLC to have dinner at Wingers. Ya, we packed a lot in.








We weren't going to stay long at the Grand Canyon - just kind of passing through. It was a bit out of our way, but we really wanted to go and get some great pictures. Well, right when we got there the sun went down, so we lost the good sunlight for awesome pics. Oh well, at least we were able to have a potty break. Kate was having a blast as you can tell! Jarom, Jeff's brother, came with us....that's who's in this pic with us. Thanks Jarom, you were a BIG help!



One of the "good pictures" we got before we lost good sunlight.















The BEST pic we got at the canyon! Lilly was in a sweet posing mood.

Jeff took this picture on our way to Burley. It was just off the freeway taking the Declo exit.

Sunday Morning in Grandma's garden. The girls LOVED that Grandma let them pick flowers!

Our trip out West!

Danielle, Lilly, and Kate with their cousins (actually Jeff's cousins) Cole and Luke. My kids had so much fun playing with the "cool" older cousins. This is at Jeff's Aunt Colleen's house in AZ.

Danielle found a toad out side their house! She poked at it a few times and picked it up and came into the house to show us. I thought that was very cool and brave of her...you go girl!

Our family vacation this year was going out west (back home). We were out for 3 weeks and stayed at 5 different places. That consisted of keeping track of every ones everything including all the junk.....er I mean cool stuff we collected along the way. My top 5 favorite things about our trip were....
1. Seeing family including new additions that we had not met yet.
2. Eating food
3. Going to the Twin Falls Temple open house and Jeff talking to each of our girls about eternity while looking into the mirror in the sealing room.
4. Liquid Nitrogen Bottle rockets. (I'll let Jeff explain that one!)
5. Coming home safe and sound!


more out west trip posts to come.......must sleep now

The ugly blog bug bit me

So, I've either fallen pray to the world of blog or I think this is a GREAT way to keep in touch with family and friends. Ok, it's both. I'm also very excited to brag to everyone how perfect my life is....umm, ya.