FHE in December

I love Family Home Evenings in December, because they are already pretty much pre-planned, sweet and simple, with a built-in message (and usually a necessary treat!)
We usually decorate our Christmas tree on the first Monday in December and it seems to get even more fun every year. I love watching my kids get all excited about each ornament. It reminds me of when I did the exact same thing growing up. Brielle seriously wanted to put up the star, but Daddy is the only one even close to tall enough!

Last year we began the tradition of writing a letter to Jesus about what we want to give Him for His birthday each year. Each child gets to decide what would make Him most happy, write it in a note, then place it on the tree. It's a great way to bring the celebration back to the Savior, and it often provides a bit of comic relief as well. Brielle's first two attempts (which, unfortunately didn't make it into the card because everyone was too busy laughing to spell it for her) began with "maybe He would like some cards!" and "how do I spell, 'Dear Jesus, you are sooo cute!'" Gotta love her!

A "love"ly Thanksgiving weekend

We had ourselves a Thanksgiving weekend full of fun, delicious food, great shopping, and gobs of love!
Love is ...
Brielle and Sienna snuggling on the couch instead of falling asleep, just cause they "haven't seen each other in forever!" Love is.... showing Aunt Heather lots of love over our oreo turkeys,

just cause we know how much she needs it!

Love is squishing 5 cousins into the 2 closest chairs at a 10-chair table, because waffles just taste better that way!

Love is ... Lucy putting up with Uncle Jody's antics,

and even bonding with Trayson over computer games (while the entire pathetic family stares and giggles for a good 15-20 minutes).

I love my family!

Fall Crafts

I usually don't actually get a major urge to craft until all the Christmas tunes start blasting on the radio, but this year has been a serious exception. I don't know if it's because I'm really trying hard to start making my gifts earlier, or what, but each time I try to focus on Christmas, I end up with another autumn themed decoration. Oops!

Burlap has totally been making me happy this season. I think it just seems to fit out here on our mini-ranch! We had a fun Relief Society activity where we got to make book-pumpkins --- right up my alley! I have to admit that I didn't actually cut them out -- I left that to my super crafty friend, but I did do the rest. I think we were only meant to learn how to make one, but I ended up with an adorable little trio! And they look so cute with my floral wire pumpkins!

My last craft was really just an FHE cop out. It was Monday night, I had no plan, and I REALLY didn't feel like coming up with a lesson. For me, finding a branch, spray painting it, stuffing it into an old spray-painted pot, and cutting out a million paper leaves seemed way easier than coming up with a spiritual thought.

I was sure the kids would just roll their eyes and demand a treat, but it has been one of my favorite things this year and is sure to become a trad ition. The things my kids are thankful for make me smile everyday!

Just a quick laugh

I may get around to posting pictures again someday (my kids are still truly adorable, I swear!) but for now I just had to jot down some recent conversations I had with Brielle that totally cracked me up!

After preschool, yesterday, Brielle and I had a delightful conversation that went a little something like this:
Brielle: "Hey, Mom, neither one of my teachers told me how beautiful I looked today!" (seriously broken-hearted face!)
Me: "Well they don't have to say that every day, do they?"
Brielle; "Uh yeah" (eye roll)
Me: "My friends noticed how cute you looked today"
Brielle: "Oh, well, ok. But I probably should've told them that this dress is new "(new as in, we just found this adorable little dress in a box that I had completely overlooked --thanks again Hayley!)
Me: "I actually did"
Brielle: "Oh good. Thank you!" (serious relief)

Help me! What have I done to this child?

Later on, she was helping make some Christmas presents (cause I'm totally on the ball like that!) and asking all sorts of Christmas questions. She wanted to know why we talk about joy so much at Christmas, so I reminded her that it's because we are celebrating Christ's birth.
Brielle: "Oh yeah. I already know all about that. Tray told me last night. Then Kutter overheard so he totally joined our discussion".

REALLY?

Soccer

Since I can't seem to download my more recent pictures (like Halloween!) I've decided I might as well post some of the stuff that didn't quite make it to my blog this fall.
Soccer season was even more crazy that usual, this year. We had three kids on three different teams, and of course we caved and agreed to coach Brielle's team.

It was actually pretty fun to watch Tray's team this year. He's getting really good and his team did awesome!


Brielle's games were more for comic relief. I love this pic --Jody told the kids to give us their ready faces.Pretty much the only time Brielle was able to kick the ball was when Jody let her kick off or do a corner kick . . .

...I love that this picture shows how far the ball actually went after the kick!
That's quite the kick!
Is it just me, or does she seem to be the only kid running away from the ball in this picture?



Kutter's games were a lot of fun to watch, too.
He 's getting really good and had a blast because two of his best friends were on his team!I am so relieved that it's finally over -- at least until spring!

Last Weekend

Most people probably considered this weekend their last blast before the outdoors freeze up and turn from gold to a murky gray--their last chance to play before winter sets in. For us, last weekend was the pinnacle of all our fun until the holidays roll around.

The fun started with the delight of having a visit from Grandma and Grandpa -- who came on Wednesday for an extra long weekend! This meant that Brielle had the pleasure of dragging Grandpa along with Daddy for her very first field trip -- to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. She could hardly sleep the day before and was so enthusiastic that it almost made them as excited to join her.

The best part of that whole deal was it meant Breje and I were free to spend a whole day with Grandma in Boise -- and we literally shopped til we dropped!


The only way this weekend could get better was by having Travis, Hayley and the girls arrive on Friday afternoon. We kicked the celebration into high gear with another trip to Boise for dinner.
I'm pretty sure Brielle and Sienna were the only ones who didn't notice what a long, hungry drive that was!
We eventually made it and delicious Mexican food was had by all -- along with yummy brownie sundaes for Kutter and my birthdays! Whooo hooo!The real highlight of the weekend was that Kutter was able to be baptized. I got this shot just while we were waiting for everyone to arrive. Can you tell that Kutter is "seriously nervous and really happy"?
We were able to have a very simple, small ceremony with just our friends and family, and the only thing that could've made it better is having the rest of the fam there!


Grandma Linda always makes a special baptism book for the kids to remember their special day. Besides all the fun pictures, she includes a personal testimony from everyone in the family that the kids can read whenever they want.
It was a pretty big hit and Kutter even admitted to me later (although if you tell him that you read it here I will deny it with all my heart and then hunt you down!) that he cried when he read all of the testimonies. We were pretty much worn out after all that, so we spent the rest of the weekend eating great food, playing games, and just watching the kids hang out.

You can't really beat that weekend!

Kutter's Eighth Birthday!

I can't believe our little Kutter has reached the age of accountability! There are so many things to love about Kutter, but I think my favorite is his sheepish grin! I adore how much he loves school and how quickly he makes friends. He loves all things boy -especially sports, which is why we threw him a football party for his birthday. I tried and tried to get him to agree to USU colors, but he's officially ditched my team in favor of BSU blue and orange -- we'll try to forgive him! I'm kind of proud of my BSU blue turf tablecloth ....... it was supposed to be bad weather, so I planned all sorts of football themed games -- a football toss and football bingo...

.l. but I was thrilled when I was able to ditch that plan and just send them outside to play football!

I eventually had to let them in for dinner -- good ole ball park franks, blue and orange nachos and some nasty orange gatorade. They thought they'd died and gone to heaven!

I have to give Jody credit -- I started whining about Kutter wanting a real cake and not just cupcakes (I am so not one of those talented cake decoraters) so Dad stepped in and created Kutter's football cake!

Gift time was the best part! You know you got good stuff when you're older brother is sneaking up behind you to snatch your new toys!

He liked his new BSU shirt way more than he's showing. I swear! Happy Birthday Kutter!