Gingerbread Houses {Tents} :)

The kids & I rode into town to make gingerbread houses with our friends! Such a fun idea! I didn't know how into it the kids would even get, but they ended up loving it! I made them little tents with trees they could both decorate on their own...

Kids with their tents :)

Tenley decorating hers

Final tents

I made this big one at first thinking I would make one for each kid but it was too much work & the roof kept caving in, so I let Carter decorate that one too! He was super excited to do another one! He even did our family with Cinnamon & gummie bears! {Soda & Shadow included} Love that kid!

They both were super into it & surprisingly they sat on the counter for a week or two without them even eating it! This is definitely something I want to do with them every year, such a fun activity for the Holidays!!!

12 Days of Christmas!

My mom did the 12 days of Christmas with the kids again! They loved it even more this year! Tenley was a hoot & would wake up every morning & ask if she could open another present. They were both really good about knowing they could only open one a day, & sometimes they would forget in the morning & dad would get to see them open one! Carter is way too smart {my mom took them shopping with us, & let them pick out a bunch of the presents, Carter asked for days when he was going to get them because he doesn't forget a thing} They had a few presents that were the same, like toothpaste, & once Tenley opened her toothpaste, he saved his for second to last & everyday before he chose a present, he would say "we still have some of Tenley's toothpaste, right mom" because he wanted to pick something else to open..

Scooby Doo paint

Necklace & bracelet!

Silly string war :)

Tenley got a few chapsticks, so she was in heaven! She is a little princess, chap stick, makeup, anything girl she loves! Carter was happy with whatever he opened, he is such a sweet hearted tender boy! They both are super spoiled & love every second of it! Thanks mom, that's what grandma's are for :)!!!

High 5 Club!

On Wednesday 12-12-12 Carter made it into the High 5 Club at Miss Mindy's. He was beyond excited & came running out with his ribbon & prize {box of Batman crayons} He got all 26/26 letters right! He told me his favorite part was picking out a prize & giving everyone a high 5 :)

Proud of this little smarty pant!!!

ABC boy!

Carter has been doing flashcards constantly {he loves to do "school stuff"} & the other night he got all the capitalized alphabet memorized (out of order) !! He was stuck on a few letters for a week or two {N, L, W, Q) but we taught him how to spell Tenley's name (thanks to her stocking holder) so he caught onto N & L -then we worked on Q & W...Q came easy because I taught him it was like a cue ball in pool. Then he was stuck on just W, & for some reason that one didn't click. But the other night (Dec. 3rd) we sat down with him & did his ABC flashcards & after a few times of reminding him what W was , he knew them all!!! He was so proud of himself & couldn't wait til Miss Mindy quizzed him at school.

Yay, Got them all right!!

Finally figured out the W!

He is getting smarter & smarter each day. He knows what sound a lot of the letters make too! We couldn't be more proud! - He sings at the nursing home this week, he's been signing the songs & practicing them, I can't wait to see him perform :) ... We sure love this little smarty pants & the joy he brings to our family!!

Gettin' our Christmas Tree

The Day after Thanksgiving we went up Strawberry & searched for us the perfect tree :) It took a long time & it was pretty cold but after about an hour of searching Justin found the perfect one {he was being a little anal this year}. It was a lot safer this year because there was hardly any snow which made it nice for us to all get out of the truck & go on the hunt together :) ...

on the search

Getting ready to chop tree down!

Tenley & I got cold so we watched from the truck!

We love doing a real tree -it makes fun memories for the kids to experience the whole sha-bang & making each Christmas different!!!   {Our tree decorated to come}

Halloween!

Carter got to wear his Halloween costume to pre-school, so of course when Tenley seen him in his she had to have her kitty costume on. {its only Halloween once a year} After school we came home & took a nap, so we would be ready for the nightlife of Halloween :). First we went to our wards trunk or treat. We have the neatest ward out here & love everyone in it! They had a little jump house, cupcake walk, pin makers, face painting & chili. The kids thought trunk or treating was so fun, just walking up to car after car & picking out treats, they had a blast! We couldn't finish the night off without some old school trick-or-treating door to door, that's the best part! So we went into town & did a few streets of houses..

Power Ranger

Kitty Cat

Dylan, Tenley, Shae, Carter

Family

Out trick-or-treating

Carter was set on being the gold & blue ranger, he was not willing to be any other color {his mask bugged him ,so he only wore it maybe half the night} & Tenley is obsessed with kittens so we figured Shae's kitty costume would be cutest!
Its hard with all the grandparents being spread out, because the kids are old enough now they know what trick-or-treating is & they don't want to be chasing down grandparents :) so we only got to go see Grandma & Grandpa Skippy {since their closest} the others just got pictures for the year.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN from our Power Ranger & Kitty!

Carving Pumpkins

I've never been a huge fan of carving pumpkins {thats why I let Justin do all the work} but its almost like Halloween isn't complete unless you carve at least a few!! So Justin surprisingly brought home some pumpkins one night after work {Halloween snuck up on us this year} The kids were excited, mainly just to draw faces on the pumpkins & scribble (Tenley) all over them with marker - but they were not into getting the "guts" out at all. I can't decide if its because we call them guts, so they are a little freaked out by that, or because its gooey & stinks!

Cheesers

Tenleys pumpkin perfection :)

This is the face we got when we told her to grab out some guts, so we put some on her hands & she did not like it. We thought she would be the one to dig in because she doesn't usually care about being messy but she didn't like the "guts" -she only liked scribbling pictures & faces on everyone's pumpkin for them

This is about as close as Carter wanted to get to the pumpkins guts. He would put his fork or spoon in there & then pull it right back out, while saying"ewwww"

Carter drew all the faces on the pumpkins for dad to carve them out-This is him showing the face he drew for his pumpkin!

Even though the kids didn't get totally into carving them this year, they enjoyed the pumpkins sitting out on the porch carved for a few days! Thanks dad, for the family night!

Jump Zone {papa's birthday}

For my Dad's birthday he wanted to go to the Jump Zone, HA! No, but all the grand kids wanted to go so you betcha, he & my mom were right on board to take all 4 of them :)

Jumping away

Foam pit!

My dad with all 4 grandkids!

Carter sittin up on top {where he isn't supposed to be}

Riding the teeter totter!

 Tenley was hilarious, they have music over the speakers, so she would just dance & jump around, it was comedy to sit & watch her. Carter has a ball, he is all over the place- his favorite thing was playing dodge ball. Dac caught onto how to do back flips & was doing them right by the time we were leaving. It is such a fun place, even for us adults, I got in there, played dodge ball & did some flips {makes me sick now I am old} Its hard to get any good pictures though because they are blurry!
When we got back to my parents, we did pizza & the kids decorated the cupcakes! My dad is an amazing dad & a great papa. He does so much for us & I don't know what I'd do without him! Love you tons dad! Hope you had a fun birthday because I know the spoiled grand kids did :)

USU Games

We went to almost all of the home USU Football games this year {thanks to my aunt Joy for tickets!!}. We took the kids twice & then we went with some friends & my parents to a few as well. Carter got to see the bull & give him high 5 at the football game, he officially thinks Big Blue is the coolest guy around! Big Blue came & sat by us at the soccer game & Carter was in heaven. Tenley is terrified of him, Big Blue even gets close to her {like 50 yards away, & she is jumping up on whoevers lap is closest} But when we got home & seen Big Blue in a magazine she kept saying "Big Blue is nice, I like him" & she would turn to that page in the book every 5 minutes to make sure we knew she liked him now...{but then when we seen him at the soccer game again, she was still terrified :) }

Bull Tatoo! {he left this on for days}

Playing some games at Fun Park afterwards

High 5s

Fell asleep on the way to the USU Soccer game

Cruisin in the Barbie Jeep at grandmas with Taycee after the game..

Soccer game with the bull! -Carter is blocking the sun :)-

 We had a lot of fun at all the games this year, its been nice not having snow & with it staying decently warm, otherwise I hate going to the games & freezing! It helps having a good football & soccer team to watch too~ Go USU!!!

Carrie Underwood

On October 10th, Justin & I went down to the Carrie Underwood concert! He won tickets on the radio a few months back, & Carl ended up getting us a room to stay down there, so we had a date night! Hunter Hayes opened for her, he was ehh alright, he definitely isn't one of my favorite performers but he has some good songs. Carrie Underwood is amazing in concert, she is smoking hot & put on an entertaining show... We had close seats, we were closest to the stage we have been, which was awesome for free radio station tickets to such a big concert!

We love going to concerts together & spending some quality time alone. Thanks for always being so willing to babysit when we go out (mom & dad)!!!

{4 & 2 Year Pictures}

Back in September I got the kids 4 & 2 year old pictures taken! My mom had a gift card to Whimsy Photography, so we got a bunch of cute pictures for a good price! I was a little nervous about how Tenley  would behave because when Carter was 2 he hated pictures {hence why he has no professional 2 year old pics} but they both did awesome. Nothing like a little chap stick bribery :)

Love these cute kiddos more than anything!!!

1st (& only) SNOW so far!

We got some snow for the first time on October 23rd (& its the only snow we've pretty much had since). The kids woke up & first thing wanted to go out & sled. So off we went! The kids wake up every morning hoping it has snowed more. We have some really good sledding hills, so I am even a little excited for some snow, especially for rhino sledding! If its gonna be so cold, it mine as well snow -so we can have fun while freezing!!!

Making Snow angels!

"Look mom"

Sliding down the hill ~with Soda too of course~

Aftermath -{they make my day}-!