ICE is nice

We went to a playground to have our family Christmas picture taken and the lake nearby was completely frozen over. I didn't want to walk on it and begged all of my family that did to stay near the shallow edge so I could save them if they broke through the ice.

Why were we outside on a such a cold day.... why to get our family picture take for our Christmas letter of course!

YUM YUM FUN

We combined force with the Christensens to feed the masses for Thanksgiving this year and had yummy food (thanks Jill) and loads of fun. Here we are playing some Killer Bunnies. My kids first played this crazy game at the Towers. We're officially addicted to it. I know bunnies should feel safe at Thanksgiving... but they were being slaughtered right and left. We also played some Spicy Farkle and some Wii.

Things That I am THANKFUL for:

Our Boo-Boo's and her smushed nose

How did Madison injure her nose you ask? These are her words:

"I snuck up behind Connor while we were playing flag football in PE. I grabbed his belt right as he was changing directions and the back of his head rammed into my face, also knocking me down. My nose started bleeding. Our school nurse said it was the bloodiest injury she'd seen that month. Sandy came to get me from school and took me to get an X-ray. The doctor said that the main piece of cartilage in my nose was not broken, even though it sure felt like it was."

Something about her nose is still wonky though. It's the end of December and Madison's nose is still slightly crooked and still sore to the touch. I asked her to pleeeease stop injuring her face.

I am extremely thankful that Sandy took such good care of my little Boo-Boo girl while I was out of town.

More Utah Fun

Baby Rhett looks alot like his big brother Ethan and we were delighted to meet him. Andrew and Nicole are in for some good times having two boys close in age. Not that I would know.

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I made a green cape to give to Eva and a red cape to give to Ethan, as belated presents for their birthdays. Eva loved her caped and twirled up a storm. I think Andrew (pictured above) liked the cape more than Ethan.

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I once read that you're in synch with someone emotionally when you wear the same kind of outfit. Jamesy-James, Eva-bug, and adorable Alex, looked like the three amigos (only way cuter) in their matching jammies.

King Jeremy

We flew to Utah for the weekend to go to Rhett's baby blessing. That weekend also happened to be Jeremy's 31st birthday, so he got to celebrate it with all his siblings except Amelia (who's on a mission in Latvia). Some of the stuff we did, or happened, when we were there:

Jeremy golfed with Jason and Uncle Dennis on Friday

Shauna went with Erica to see NEW MOON

Madison broke her nose at school on school on Friday while we were gone (thank you Sandy)

Jeremy and I went to the Salt Lake Temple on Saturday for a live endowment session

Jason threw a surprise party for Jeremy

Andrew made the most delicious Lemon Raspberry cake I've ever eaten

Mom and Amber brought tricky candles AND fun presents for Jeremy

James cavorted with his cousins and mastered the skill of stair-climbing

We got to meet Andrew and Nicole's baby Rhett

"King Jeremy" got 31 spankings from his brothers

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We did a bit of partying with Madison, Carter, and Grant to celebrate Jeremy's b-day when we got back to WA because they didn't go to Utah with us. A BIG BIG BIG thank you to families we LOVE that took care of our kids while we were gone- Christensens, Griffiths, Flowers, and Towers. We think you're awesome.

UP

We had a Wednesday off this week (thanks to our Veterans') and we decided to have an "UP" day. We went to a free showing of the movie UP. My expectations for that movie were pretty low (they just are for kids movies), but I have to admit the movie entertained me. The dog was my favorite character. Thanks to him I keep thinking "Squirrel " in my head.

We also went climbing at Vertical World. Jeremy is certified to belay climbers so our kids took turns scaling to new heights, as he kept them secure below. I'm pretty sure the monkey tendencies our kids have inherited are from Jeremy, as I have absolutely no desire to be off the ground unless I'm on a plane to a beautiful destination. They climbed around for about 2 and a half hours, until James and I needed to be done there. If we hadn't been there, needing to leave, I think my kids would still be climbing there.

Nobody would play UPWORDS with me that day. I am known to cream people at word games so I understand, sniff, sniff. We read some scriptures to uplift us spiritually instead.

Nobody complained about feeling achy from all the extra exertion until the next day. If it was Saturday they could have had a "down" day. But it was Thursday.

Red Lions ROAR!

Carter's control over the soccer ball has really improved this season. It has helped him to feel better about how he plays during games. He had some awesome coaches this year that helped make the season great for Carter. Here's a few pics of him at his last practice and game.

Jamesy is Growing Up

Over the course of the last year I have been labeling James's posts under "Sweet Baby James". Now that he's a year old I'll be labeling them as "James". Here he is giggling and feeling the wind rush through his hair in the swing he got for his birthday.

Star Wars Fanatics

Just a few more picture of us dressed up in our themed Halloween costumes. Okay- I know there was no witch in Star Wars, but Madison woulc not consent to dressing up like anything from Star Wars. And I made plenty of great suggestions... a wookie, C3PO, Amidala, Leia, Clone Trooper. Nope. Well, I tried. And I sewed. So here are more pictures.

A Whole Year Old!

James has been with us for a whole year, although it seems like he's been a part of our family forever. We are having so much fun having a little person in our family again. James is bursting with love, curiosity, and goodness. I hope he's enjoying being in our family as much as we love him being in it. He sure enjoyed ripping the paper off his presents, but was worried about the lighted candle on his cake. Jeremy had to help James blow out his birthday candle.

Happy First Birthday Sweet Baby James!

Killer Kleats

There were 18 girls on Madison's soccer team this year. Only 11 can play on the field at a time. It seems much busier on the field during her games as opposed to Carter's. He can only have 6 players on the field at a time. Madison is a fast runner and would keep moving around in any position she was put in. Her favorite position to play is forward. She loves trying to drive the ball to the goal. This season she got to play two of her games this season on AstroTurf. What an amazing concept to make a synthetic field. The ball seemed to roll forever on that surface. It was dry, but horrible if you crashed to the ground because the little bits of "turf" would embed into the skin surface. I noticed the girls trying really hard not to fall down during the AstroTurf games.

Mad Hatter Escapades

Carter enjoyed a harvest tea today with his classmates and their reading buddies. Their class also won a contest at school and the prize was getting to spray their principle with silly string. I must say I admire the principle even more for offering herself up as bait, but thought it was pretty funny when I heard her muttering under her breath that she would have to think of a different prize next year.