From the First Snow to Thanksgiving!

Oh, my! So much to catch up on.

[first snow]

Here's little princess all bundled up. Her coat and Jake's were looking rather small. I checked the tags. Sure enough, she's sporting an 18 month coat and Jake's is 3t! Ha! Are we from CA or what?

B our little bear all bundled up. Look at those blue eyes!

Jake discovered he could knock snow out of the tree.

Scott has this amazing talent of falling asleep anywhere. Seriously, it makes me jealous because it takes me at least 10 minutes to fall asleep, even if I am dead tired. Here he dozed off sitting up on the couch. We also found Alisa sitting up against her door asleep the other night.

What a doll.

Here's her funny pose... don't know what it's about.

[everyday life]

Gomer. He is our big personality around her. Those are Mr. Potato Head teeth.

Typical of our floor at any given hour. Alisa hard at work. Jake and Alisa have gotten really good and no longer need my help. Yea!

Love her monkey toes and stubby legs. She looks big (like she'd be long) until you see those little nubs.

[christmas]

We waited until Nov. 15th this year. Last year it was around the 5th. I LOVE Christmas! We still haven't found a red nose to hang on the charming "reindeer skeleton" pictured on the right.

Happy the kids are down... breathing a sigh of relief here.

[solids]

Brookie tried her first rice cereal on Nov. 17th (one day before 5 months). She was a pro. Seriously! I love how trusting she is. Look at that sweet face.

Check out those lips. Like father, like son.

Not to be left out...

[parents visit]

My parents came to go to the temple and visit for a weekend. Scott's mom also came on Saturday night, but we didn't take one picture! It was so nice to have them! We had a great time playing bridge and staying up way to late. They let us sleep in until 9 the next day. It was heavenly. We went to the park here in our neighborhood. It's really nice and usually abandoned. They have a rec center with ping pong, pool, arcade games and a few Wii's and an X-box set up. Jake was in heaven. I'm not a huge proponent of video games, so the kids had only been there once right when we moved in.

My dad pushing the kids. Notice the double jackets. It gets so windy here in the fall.

[thanksgiving]

So many pictures! We had a great time going to Jacqui and Jeff's house. They hosted all of my siblings (minus Jare and Amanda... we missed you... sniff, sniff!). There were 19 of us and it was a blast. We played, ate, watched movies, ate, hit the black friday sales, slept, had our traditional huge Christmas breakfast followed by our gift exchange (since we won't be together for Christmas). Some hit the BYU v. U of U game (luckies) while others watched the kids (kind of luckies?). We had a great time and a great feast, all without a single oven!

boys will be boys. I don't think I even knew where Jake was most of the time. He and Eth just disappeared together. They had a blast. Liv kept all the kids entertained the whole time. It was fantastic. Scott, as you know, left Thanksgiving day to hunt. I didn't even feel like a single mom because my kids were so well-entertained.

Getting ready for the feast. When the pictures of the feast were taken, I was feeding babe. Typical.

What a hottie my daddy!

Mom, Shell, Tarah, Jeff, and Jacq.

Li and Liza

Jake attacking Darin, whom he kept calling Derek. He told me this whole story of how he was punching and kicking "Derek" and knocked off his glasses. I asked what Darin said. You are so strong and that was a crazy kick! Later I found out that was all from Jake's imagination.

Mira, I have this couthin... (Name that movie)

Ash. Can't believe she's so grown up.

Playing with the tulle. All dressed up thanks to Liv.

Alisa was thrilled she and Liv could be kitties.

Thanks for all the help with my sweet little monster! :) All cuddled up with Li.

The big 33. Woot! I must say the homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting was delish. Not that we needed any more treats, but hey! We needed to celebrate.

Aw newlyweds in the morning

Ash got a camera for her birthday and set up this little photo op with Jake, complete with orange tulle. He was a ham, posing on his side, back, etc.

We are cool now too! We finally arrived because we go THE waffle iron. Everyone else has it (minus Li--still single-- and Shell & Darin--just married). We are no longer outcasts for Christmas breakfast. I never would've known that it was pulled out and used that morning, then wrapped back up. Ha!

Jake and his loot.

Whew! If you made it through, good for you! I have a lovely story to tell about this one family that was without power for 48 hours and almost froze their buns off in the White Mountains of AZ. I will save it and the pictures for the next post. Stay tuned... we are still alive and warm once again!