Happy Holidays!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from our family to yours!
Short Story: As with many things this season, I procrastinated the printing of our 2011 Christmas card until the week before Christmas. And in my attempt, like many other things, I decided to let it go this year.

I'm looking forward to some blogging time over the holidays to back-blog the last six months of our lives.

Random

iphones capture it all. B in his soccer shorts and me with a growing belly.

A Favorite Dress

Hardly a day passed without S wearing her favorite yellow dress this summer and fall. She loved it to pieces, literally. C did a great patching job, but shortly after there were no more patching jobs that could mend the loved dress. The dress could only take so many washings. At least we have a photo for you S, to remember your yellow dress.

At our Home and Rainbow Magic

Our little B with some socks. Cozy in his bed.

Three amigos

The magic of rainbows. We are grateful for rain, sun, and rainbows.

Photos for Elder O

We almost forgot a photo of us all before Gma and Gpa left.

Conference Moments

Love our General Conference Weekends in Logan right at home with family.

In between sessions on Sunday, we joined with family at Great Gma. H's for a tasty lunch. C and B had a moment of photos in Gma's trees. I have photos with these same trees when I was a little girl.

Our handsome little man in blue.

Operation Peaches and Applesauce

Record breaking production in less the time this year with C's methods, the kid's help, and the Camp Chef.

Operation Applesauce: S was to entertain B while L and J slaved over the applesauce with C and I.

I loved having the sticky mess outside with a hose to spray everything down when it was all over; but, I must admit, I missed having the apples cook in the kitchen...I love the apple smell in my kitchen. I can't forget to mention how great the deck was along with the Camp Chef...what a team! I felt like my kitchen grew this canning season. It was actually a lot of fun, less stress, less work, and less clean-up for the first time since I began my canning ventures.

The peaches were so good...we bought boxes just to eat fresh and tried different varieties. It's time we had our own orchard of peach and apple trees! Love, love, love this time of year with such tasty fresh food!

Another Loss

Roxanne didn't feel so well as we were away on our CA trip. I told C we wouldn't have any more snakes for a while. J and L went with C to bury Roxanne beside Rudy up in the mountains. We're not having good luck with snakes that need to eat small rodents. I much prefer sticking with Rocky, our tortoise, with his diet of salad greens, veggies, and flowers. Perhaps it was for the best...I know I feel better about no more snakes.

On our Way Home

Again, a few details about our journey home that I leave to share in the family blog book.  We awoke early Monday morning to make our way back to Logan.  The kids were sad to leave the cousins.  S said she wanted to stay a long time at cousin B's house.
 

 

 

Cousin Time

Honestly, the best part about family trips is being together as family, and that includes being with our cousins.  The kids love time with the cousins.  Being able to spend time with them has made all of our California trips special and well worth the effort.  Our cousins are the main reason we love to go to CA and why we continue to plan as many trips as we can to CA while they're still in the area.
 

 

 

Cupcakes to celebrate cousin Matthew's birthday. 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys once again spent time with the legos.
 

There's a story that goes with the booster chair in the house, but I'll save details for our family blog book.