Christmas surprises....

My 3-year old (who thinks he's actually 4)...Josh took matters into his own hands when it was halfway through December and our tree still wasn't up. I came downstairs one morning after getting the older kids off to school to find he had pulled this little tree inside the house from the garage and was trying to put the legs on it. I helped him out and then he pulled it into the front room and placed it where we usually put our tree. Later in the day, he managed to find these bulbs I had put aside and took matters into decorating the tree himself.

The finished product.....


Later in the week, we did manage to put up our BIG tree. He's thrilled. I love 3 year olds at Christmas!

Oh as a side note...Josh remained attached to his Santa throughout all of this year...having to sleep with him every night! After pulling out the Christmas decorations, he was so excited to find a bunch of 'ho ho's' (his name for Santa). Starr took these pictures when he discovered them....

Thankful moment.....

My favorite cousin, Mignon, hosted Thanksgiving this year...as she does every other year. I love it when it comes around -- I get to see so many family members from out of town -- even ones IN TOWN that I don't see often enough. It was a good day.....

Mignon, Bruce, Austin and David.....all more like my siblings than cousins....

My aunt Jackie and Uncle Jim. I love that we get to eat outside. The weather was simply gorgeous!
Steve, Terri, and Jessica...
Bryce, Heidi and Heidi's family....


Turkey taking it's effect on David and Bert.
Me and my sister Katie.
After dinner -- it's off to play games...
And other's playing Rock Band....
What a great day!!!

Joseph's big 7!

Remembering back 7 years ago....Joseph's due date was on the 15th, which was a little too close to Amanda's birthday (the 16th) for my comfort. Amanda's b-day day is always a rough day for me, so it was a tender mercy that he came 5 days late -- and now I have a few days to breath again before celebrating my healthy happy Joseph's birthday.

SEVEN words that would describe Joseph would be....peacemaker, happy, decisive, smart, loving, consistent, and calm.

He decided he wanted a Curious George/Monkey party this year with a few friends. We held it after school on Friday and the weather was GORGEOUS, so everything was done outside....sweetness!

These are the yummy cupcakes he took to school to share with his class.

Let the party start...most the monkey's are now ready to monkey around!

One of the activities was to paint some monkey's.

When then got bored with that, they started painting a banana used during a previous game.
Pin the birthday hat on the monkey...
The cute Curious George monkey....Joseph loved this mask.

Instead of birthday cake, Joseph wanted banana boats. Everyone had a banana, we sliced them open - still in the peel...and put in chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and marshmallows...and then wrapped them loosely in foil. While they were in the oven getting gooey, Joseph opened presents. Before we ate them, we topped them with ice cream, whipped cream, and sprinkles.

I had to have something to put the candles on for him to blow out - so I bought a few small cupcakes. They worked perfect.


The opening of gifts...he received some great stuff and was thrilled with everything he received -- although he doesn't show excitement very easily. His grammie sent him a gift card to Wal-Mart. When I asked him what he was going to buy with it he said, "Cereal. There are so many kinds of cereal I want to try!" Poor deprived kid.
We sure do love you, Joseph!

Halloween....better late than never!

I know....someday I'll get caught up with my life. Halloween seems like it was so long ago -- which made me think I'd better add pictures before Thanksgiving sneaks up in a few days.

Of course this year was pretty typical of other years, which included, Trunk or Treat at the church beginning at 5pm, and then some of the kids taking off with their friends -- the little boys with Steve-- to do their some trick or treating while I sat outside with my sister, Katie, and my dad, to hand out candy.

This is Steve (punk rocker) with our scary guy Joseph and Farmer Josh. (Yes, still obsessed with farms.)
Our farmer Josh posing with movie star Emi.
Emi posing with a scarecrow that Starr and Emi made with their dad the week before at a daddy-daughter Primary Activity Days night. Of course it's a Nacho Libre scarecrow.


Starr made a cute Alice.

Senor Jeff and the cute little Bee, Jessica. Jeff had to sing for all the people before he could get candy.

Our trunk or treat fun....with a dinner of hotdogs...thanks to the bishopric.
Home after taking the boys trick or treating and handing out candy in the driveway. The weather was gorgeous.

Jeff's friend Logan (we love Logan) dressed as the Mad Hatter so we made Starr pose with him -- she wasn't very happy with us...haha
Once again....a great time!

Mexico update....finally

Our 4th trip annual trip to Rocky Point, Mexico with friends from our ward was a blast! Our group was a little smaller this year due to tighter passport rules and some having safely issues, but none-the-less, worth every second and we braved it out just fine.

It always seems to take me at least a week to get ready for this trip ... but when we tent it and pack for 7 of us, including 3 meals a day, that's just life. This year we left Tuesday afternoon and returned home Saturday late afternoon....perfect length. And I enjoyed being home on Sunday -- with one day to empty out the sand, unpack, and actually attend church before everyone leaves me with a mess come Monday morning. I had no idea how we fit it all in the back of the truck. Next year, I'll have to take a picture of the 'blue turtle'.... (the truck with a blue tarp covering it). We usually caravan over with the Tidwell family -- Starr enjoys taking the break from her siblings and riding with her bff, Janae. Our truck only fits 6 - so we usually have to pawn off one of our kids. And then it's only a 4 hour drive...much closer than the 6 hour San Deigo drive we sometimes take. And driving to Mexico is usually pretty eventful, especially when you pass the border.. it's getting dark, all the signs are in spanish...which you can't read anyway because they don't use reflective tape, and to top it off, some of these Mexicans don't believe in driving with their headlights on....sheese! Anyway we returned alive and unscathed.

These are just a few highlights....

Josh playing with his new truck in the sand...he was in heaven.

Josh is just happy to be playing outside...in the sand...for 5 days...
Starr walking the beach...
This is where Joseph was most of the time...playing in the sand...
The kids LOVED the banana boat ride. Of course they had to ride EVERY day.
It was only cool enough to wear these pj's on the first day. The rest of the evenings were in the 70's.
Emi and Alyssa.
Jeff and his friends getting snorkling gear on to go spear fishing....
Steve snorkling with Jeff -- and I have to add that I also snorkled for my FIRST time this year. The water felt great -- not too cool.

Starr showing off the necklace she purchased from a beach vendor....cute!

Love this picture of Josh...
We escaped with the Tidwells one afternoon and went shopping and stopped for tacos - this was the view from the restaurant.
Look how pretty the water is....and that cute Emi.
Emi slept in the back of the truck with some of her friends each night...talk about a slumber party!!

Can't wait until next year!!!

Fun on the Farm!

Josh has been studying farms at preschool and I was lucky enough to go with him on a field to to Superstition Farms....a HUGE dairy farm just a couple of miles from our house a couple of weeks ago....


This is his teacher helping his pet the donkey.
Josh was very cautious of the animals -- loved them from a distance. I was only able to get him to feed the animals food out of his hands once.
A little bunny rabbit was much safer to pet. So soft!

The kids ate treats of ice cream and flavored milk.

A happy boy....who was not happy to go home when it was over. It took bribing him with McDonalds to get him to leave. What a fun morning!