Holiday Happenings

Here are pictures of some of the fun things we have done this past month. The kids have been sick off and on throughout the month so we missed out on a few things. We are hoping to keep them healthy until Christmas is over. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

We attended the ward Christmas party breakfast this last Saturday at the Kaysville Tabernacle. The kids were excited to see Santa, although the pictures don't really portray that message. Davis went through the motions of sitting on Santa's lap so he could get his bag of candy. He is our candy kid! Carlie was being shy, but eventually we got her to sit on his lap so we could at least get a picture. Too bad we can't see her face :(

We have started a tradition of making a gingerbread house for Christmas. The kids spent one afternoon working on this one. Davis helped a little, but was mostly there for the candy. We had to eventually kick him out because we were losing lots of candy.

At the beginning of the month we attended the Festival of Trees to watch Jalen dance. The kids liked to walk around and see all the fun trees. Of course we didn't actually get any pictures of them in front of the trees. There was a big area with kids activities where we spent most of our time. Carlie and Davis both loved the big bubbles!.

Carlie's Haircut

Well, we finally did it! We took Carlie in last Saturday to get a few inches cut off her hair. Things didn't go as planned and the person cutting her hair cut about 3-4 inches off. Needless to say, Carlie lost it and Mom wasn't too happy either. The hairdresser wasn't able to finish because Carlie was sobbing and thrashing about so, we went home with half a haircut. Our neighbor was nice enough to fix the damage and both Carlie and Mom are happy with her new "do". I don't think Carlie will be up for a haircut anytime soon. Two in one week was too much for her to handle.

Mr. Snowman

The snow finally came!! The kids made a silly, buckethead snowman in the front yard. Here is a video of our D-Man eating the snowman. He is pretty silly himself!

Snow Day

Carlie and Davis couldn't wait to go outside and play in the first snow of the season. Carlie watched Frosty the Snowman that day and wanted to go out and build a snowman. Unfortunately, there was only a small amount of snow on the ground. However, Carlie and her dad managed to get enough snow to build a small snow fort. Davis only lasted outside a few minutes, he was ready to come inside and get warm. He must take after his mother. Here is the result of their hard work:

Decorating for Christmas

I thought this was a cute video of Carlie. Davis participated in the video by adding the background music. Carlie was excited to get the Christmas decorations out this year. She was my big helper. Davis didn't make it too long when it came to decorating. He thought the ornaments were balls. Needless to say, the bottom half of our Christmas tree is pretty much empty.

Rick's Boxes

I guess I should say Utah Paperbox boxes. These boxes are the project that has been keeping Rick and UPB busy the last few weeks. You can find them at any Eddie Bauer store. When you do your Christmas shopping you will have to make a special stop to see the boxes displayed.

It's a ...

We had our big ultrasound on Friday and found out that we are having a.... healthy baby. The gender is still unknown. From what we could tell on the ultrasound, the baby looks healthy, it is just measuring a little small for the due date we were planning on. We may end up having a late March baby if they move my due date back. We will know more in the next month or so. If you are wondering why we didn't find out if it is a boy or a girl, it was Rick’s idea. I committed to it years ago thinking the day would never come where we would have one boy and one girl. We are still waiting and wondering like the rest of you. Exciting! Hopefully it won’t make the pregnancy seem longer!!

Halloween Fun!

We had all kinds of fun this week as we celebrated Halloween. It started with a big party at Bette's and Marilyn's, with all the cousins, and ended Halloween night when the kids went

Trick-or-Treating. Carlie was a princess, of course, and Davis dressed up as a frog. Carlie wore her costume for two days straight and would have slept in it if I would have let her. Davis was just getting over a bad cold and missed out on some of the festivities, but was well enough to go Trick-or-Treating for a few hours. Here are a few pictures of our Halloween fun...

Carlie-Our little Princess

Carlie and all of her school friends.

Mike and the Princess-AKA Carlie and Collin

The Cousins.

Carving Pumpkins

The results.

Trick-or-Treating at Daddy's and Grandpa's work (long story about Rick's cosutme-he is Polly Pocket Rick).

Future Artists??

Rick is getting the kids started early on projects! They are such good helpers. Rick, Carlie and Davis were nice enough to paint the mailbox post for me. It is probably only something I will notice but I appreciate their hard work!

The Witches!

We took our annual Halloween outing to Gardner Village to see the Witches! This is probably the third year we have been and the kids love it! Carlie especially enjoyed it because she was with her cousin Brinlee. They have added a few new witches to their display. In the first picture the kids are looking at a witch in a boat-new this year. The kids love it every year and it is a great (free) activity to let them get out and enjoy this lovely fall weather.

Pumpkin Patch

This week we took a trip to Pack's Pumpkin Patch in Farmington and let Carlie and Davis pick out their pumpkins. Here are some pictures of our outing. We had lots of fun!

Davis and his dad examining a huge beetle they found on the farm! Here's a close up.
Davis wasn't too sure about having this giant bug crawl all over him.

Top Ten Reasons I Love Davis

Sometimes, when Davis is destroying his room instead of sleeping, it's nice to have a list of of the things that make me love him. Here are some of the reasons I love Davis (in no particular order):

1. The way he nods his head yes when I finally figure out what he is trying to tell me.
2. The big hugs he gives before he goes to bed.
3. The way he loves his sister and always wants to be with her.
4. His energy level (even though I am exhausted at the end of each day).
5. The funny way he dances when music starts playing.
6. How innovative and creative he can be to solve the problems in his life .
7. How he teaches Carlie things she would never come up with on her own (not always positive).
8. His laugh when you nibble his toes.
9. The goofy faces he makes.
10. How he can fall and hit his head then be back up playing again without missing a step, or shedding a tear. He is a pretty tough boy!

There are many, many more reasons we love Davis and we sometimes get focused only on the crazy things he does. It's nice to remember that there is a sweet boy under that crazy, energized kid.

Flowers

Rick surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of fall Roses and Peruvian Lilies. I thought I would share a few pictures because they were so beautiful-thanks Rick!

The Zoo

We couldn't have asked for a better day than this to go to the zoo. The weather was perfect, there were no crowds, the animals were out and active and we were with friends! There won't be many more days left like this, so we are taking advantage of the nice weather while we have it.

Carlie and Ethan on the train ride. Kelly, Caden and McKenna are behind them.

Carlie enjoying the view of the elephants. She was in time out prior to this picture-that's why there isn't a smile.

What's that smell?

Trying to get Carlie and Davis to look at the same time isn't very easy.

Davis' favorite attraction was the waterfall. He is a big water fan!

Under the Big Top

Last night was a night at the circus. Carlie kept hugging Collin the entire night because she was so excited to be with him at the circus. Davis was good until intermission and then he was ready to go home to bed. Overall they seemed to have fun and Carlie is already talking about going next year.

Carlie and Collin mesmerized by the circus performers.

Davis actually sitting still during the show. He loved the horses!

Elephants on parade!

One of the circus clowns!

Davis' New Trick

My worst nightmare has come true-Davis can now climb out of his crib. He was such a good sleeper and now his nap time consists of him pulling everything he can out of his closet and every drawer! It was a big surprise when I went into his room, after he wouldn't stop crying, and found him standing by the door. He does eventually fall asleep, but not until he has destroyed his room! Can't wait to see what he does next!

Discovery Gateway

This past week Carlie, Davis and I went to Discovery Gateway with my two good friends, Kelly and Janet and their kids. Carlie and Davis had an enjoyable time playing with their friends. Carlie's favorite part of the museum was the playhouse. This house had everything that you would find in a real house. She loved playing in the kitchen with the fridge, food and oven. Too bad we don't have something like this at our house-she would be entertained for hours! Davis just loved the freedom to run and cause trouble throughout the museum. The pictures aren't that great-the kids were having too much fun to take time to pose for pictures.