Monday, December 1, 2008

An Arizona Thanksgiving!

Ok I can't believe that it has been over a month since I last blogged! After you see this post you will see why I have been putting it off. I am warning you this post contains MAJOR picture overload! Over Thanksgiving we went to Arizona for 12 days! It was crazy but so much fun. Here is our 12 day journey! On Sunday we went and saw Uncle Spencer talk in church and then everyone came back to Mimi's and Papa's house to eat and hang out. Mimi bought all of these wigs and the kids loved them! Here is our little punk rocker and Swedish princess!


Claire and Camree, all the little cousins love each other like crazy! Can you tell?
We had many picnics out in the backyard enjoying the nice weather. Kyson and Grace had to eat on this little table. It was so small we had to put all of their food on one plate. Too cute!
Lily, Kyson, Carlee, Jack and Grace eating fruit snacks that Mimi gave them.
Lily and Kyson
Later that day Kyson, Grace and Jack were in the backyard digging in the dirt. Kyson and Grace were covered in dirt from head to toe! We had to stick them in the bath to clean them up.
Kyson whacked his cheek on a chair and gave himself a little shiner!
Off to feed the animals! This is one of Kyson's favorite things to do while he is at Mimi's and Papa's house.


Camree decided to join right in this trip. She would get so excited when the horse would take her carrot.
On Tuesday my sister- in- law took, pictures with Santa! I am so glad that we got to benefit from her talents! It was actually pretty funny, I was her little helper and would make a fool of myself to get the kids to smile. Here is sweet little Camree waiting for her turn with Santa!
This is one of the pictures that she took of the kids together. Turned out soo cute especially since we started out with Camree screaming bloody murder! We stuck her on Rob's knee, gave her a candy cane and what do you know we got a half smile!
We all had turns with kitchen duty. That day you were in charge of keeping the kitchen clean and making dinner. Jr did it all by himself, made yummy chicken enchiladas and looked good doing it even wearing that beautiful apron!
Dave, Matt and Rob.
The next morning Kyson, Jack, Grace and Camree all helped Mimi decorate the tree for our Christmas party that night!

The older grand kids all lined up waiting for the Christmas program to begin.
Camree with her famous "cheese" smile.
Every year for the Chrismas program we all draw parts and act out the nativity scene together. This year my husband was the handsome Gangster Inn Keeper!
Kyson was Joseph and Camree was a Shepard.
Kristie, Claire and I were the angels.
Uncle Spencer was Mary. Here are Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus.
Here is the whole crew! We decided that next year we will have to separate the parts into female and male parts because it was kind of hard to take uncle Spencer as Mary seriously.
Kyson helped lead us through Jingle Bells.
For our part of the program we sang Santa Clause is Coming to Town.
Camree all dolled up in some of her presents. The hat was made by aunt Lara and the tutu was made by aunt Kristie. Benefiting once again from my sister in laws.
Happy Thanksgiving! I know it is kind of weird that we had our Christmas party before Thanksgiving but that was the only time we could fit it in. Rob was in charge of frying the turkey and got a little help from his Dad.
Here is our attempt at a family picture right before dinner. The whole gang. There are 11 grandchildren all 5 and under. Total craziness but so much fun!
Rob carving the Turkey. I don't know why but he gets stuck with this task every year. He must be good at it.
Grace, Carlee, Kyson and Jack all eating on one of the little kid tables.
Friday morning Kyson, Jack and Grace all helped Mimi make sugar cookies to take around to some friends. The kids had a blast.


Saturday we went swimming at aunt Auburn's and uncle Dave's. Well actually we went hot tubbing but their hot tub is so big you can pretty much call it swimming. The kid's didn't want get out they had so much fun.
Lily
This is Camree jumping in! Don't you just want to squeeze those thighs!
Grace
Kyson
It is time to feed the animals again. Kyson is ready with his carrots. After Alice's blessing and dinner on Sunday we all went on a family walk to feed the animals.
Camree wasn't even afraid of this huge horse!
Kyson and Jack, two little buddies.
On Monday we went to the Kings, my sister in laws friends, to ride the ponies and play with a puppy.
Kyson loved this little puppy. He asked if we could trade in our big dog for this one, but if we decided that we didn't like this one then he wanted his big dog back.
Kyson on the pony.
Camree wasn't as excited as her brother.
Even Mimi gave the pony a try!
This looks like a loving cousin picture but actually Kyson is trying to steal the puppy away from Jack. Kyson kept asking Jack for a turn and Jack kept saying,"No I'm not done yet." In which Kyson replied,"Your done when I say your done!" Oh we laughed about that one!
The Three Amigos. These three were tied at the hip all trip. They hadn't see eachother for a year and were so happy to be together. You wouldn't know it by the pictures because everytime we told them to pose for a picture Grace would run away and hide. We caught her this time before she could run.
That night we went and saw the lights at the Temple. They were so pretty and I have to tell you it is so nice seeing the lights in 60 degree weather rather than freezing!
The three wisemen.

Mimi and Papa with all of the grandkids that went.
My sister in law Lara and me. Yes this is the sister in law that makes me everything! We have a tradition to take a picture with her on my lap because 2 years ago I had to go see the lights in a wheel chair because I was put on bed rest while I was pregnant with Camree. She sat on my lap while I was in the wheele chair for a picture and the rest is history! We are dorks! Now we think we need a picture every year.
My other sister in law Kristie joined in the fun. And yes she makes me stuff too!





With all of the craziness we even had time to get family pictures taken. My sister in law Lara took them for us. They turned out sooo cute! Here are a few of my favorites.





We had such a fun trip! Even though it was so good to spend time with family we were ready to come home and get back to our regular schedule. 12 days is a long time to be gone. It is also way too much to blog about at once!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Leaves Are Falling All Around

On Saturday it was pretty nice weather so we decided to pick up the leaves in our yard. The kids had tons of fun jumping in the piles of leaves and I had fun taking pictures of their cute little faces! Here they are helping us pick up the leaves one by one!








Monday, November 17, 2008

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was so much fun this year! We had dinner at our house so that everyone could come and see the kids and then that way we weren't running from house to house and could enjoy the evening. I made the kids pose in their costumes before it got dark and before we went trick or treating.











This year Kyson went trick or treating with his friend Caleb. They were so excited to go together!
It was so cute to watch the two of them run up to the door together. We had to keep yelling at them to slow down and wait for us.
Camree was satisfied riding in the wagon as long as she had that sucker! I had to watch her close because everytime I turned my head she would grab another candy out of her bag and start eating it!
The boys ran into their other friend Damon while they were trick or treating. Can you tell all these boys love to be together!
When we came home from trick or treating Breanne and Chris had just gotten to our house and Chris was dressed up as the Big Bad Wolf. He ran over to the boys and scared them, it was pretty funny. Kyson thought his costume was so cool and wanted to put it on all night. We had such a good Halloween and can't wait for next year!

The Night Before Halloween

Ok, so I know that I am way behind on my blogging. Rob has been out of town the last two weeks so I haven't had much "free" time. He is home for a while so my blogging should be back in full swing. The night before Halloween Rob and Kyson carved our pumpkins. Kyson loved it but he hated getting out the seeds, he thought that it felt sick!
Can you tell that they are excited? Halloween is tomorrow!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Ward Halloween Party

Last Tuesday was our ward Halloween Party. There was dinner, games and a dance to finish off the night with a DJ and all. Our ward goes all out and most of the adults dress up so it is really fun.
There are so many little boys in our ward that are Kyson's age. It is so fun for him to have so many little friends. All night long he was with his friends running around the halls. It was kind of a reality check when he was off playing with his friends and wasn't right by my side anymore. He is growing up way too fast!
Good thing we still have little Camree by our side, although she did want Dad all night long.
When Kyson saw that Rob was Dracula he decided that he wanted to be Dracula. We didn't have a Dracula costume so we painted his face and he became the "Dracula Spider", blood and all!

He had to drink blood because he was Dracula!
My very own real live Vampire! Too bad he had to make himself look scary. I don't know about you but when I think Vampire I think sexy! Couldn't be because of Edward!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Witches Night Out!

Ok, so I am a little bit behind on my blogging. Last week was crazy busy so I have some catching up to do. A week ago last Saturday I went to Witches Night Out! My extended family has been doing it for the past two years but we had never gone. We decided to go and it was so much fun getting all decked out. Suzie came over to my house and we got ready. We then went and picked up my mom and headed over to my aunt Wendy's. Our plan was to head down to Gardiner Village after dinner but we all decided that we just wanted to stay and hang out there. We ate, laughed, visited, laughed, took pictures, laughed, ate some more and laughed even harder! It was the perfect girls night out!

The whole Gang. Gaylynn, Val, Mom, Hillary, Grandma, Suzie, Me and Wendy. Gaylynn cracks me up she was a "Sandwitch". Don't my Mom-51 and Grandma-73 look great! I am hoping that I get their genes in the aging department!


Grandma Gay
Mom and Suzie by the fire. It was actually nice enough to hang out outside.



Everyone told us that we have to go down to Gardiner Village next year because they say it is just crazy. But since we were "first timers" we had a pretty good time just goofing around(if you couldn't tell!) Goodbye witches until next year!