The Holidays

I thought I would get on the ball and post some pictures from the last few months...

With all our boys we are definitely a super hero family.  And since the awesome Avengers movie came out last year we had an easy Halloween theme....

We have every single Avenger in our family, it was too perfect!  Aren't they the cutest superheros ever?!

For Thanksgiving we got to go and visit Kari (Dana's sister) and Eddie and Kids in Billings Montana.  They were the most amazing hosts and Kari's very first turkey was soooooo good!

I helped Natalie with the yummy mashed potatoes.  Our theme- you can never have too much butter!

Enjoying the food.

And the best punch...this was a huge hit with our kids.

Kelsea, Aaron, and Eddie just chillin'.

More hanging out.

This is the Jorden family on our hike.

And the crazy Carwin Clan, not sure why Vilate is blurry....

We were up cutting down a tree for the Jorden's  and had tons of fun hiking.  We hadn't been in a while so it was great to get out and just enjoy the fresh mountain air.

Just Dance, always good times!  See the pretty tree?  They picked out a good one!

Lets move on to Christmas,
Just before Christmas we got to hang with my cousin Stephen's kids!  We had a great time with them and are so glad they live close!

Here the kids are enjoying cookies and hot chocolate!

We got together with the cousins at Grandma and Grandpa Carwin's for Christmas Eve.  And look who made a surprise visit!  It is always good to get a little "Love" at this time of year.

The annual Christmas pageant was great fun, and very....reverent?....no memorable!

One of the highlights was finally getting to meet baby Zara!  She is so cute!

Christmas morning at our house....

Here they are all lined up and ready to go see what Santa brought (just ignore the messy bedroom...).

And this was Aaron's face...

When he saw this....

Gotta love it!

We have a clone wars addict on our hands...

A small scale basketball hoop for Mason and James.

And Legos, of course.

Ammon always loves getting art stuff, he and Dana both got some and have been drawing dragons together.

Vilate got legos this year, they have the cutest sets for girls now and she LOVES them!  She built that whole house by herself!

And that is a short summary of our holiday season this past year!

Leaf Compactors

Yes,  we have several leaf compactors in our family.

 First you start by raking some leaves...

Then you put the leaves in the bag...

At this point the bag holders stuff down the leaves as much as possible,

And then you compact...

Missed one?  No problem.

Everyone gets a turn.

Simple, effective, and best of all FUN!

Oh, and some duct tape might come in handy when over zealous compacting is involved!  It can do wonders!  

Happy raking!

Cousins In Colorado

I wanted to post some hiking pictures from this summer.  My cousin Stephen Fry, and his beautiful family moved to Colorado.  It has been so fun to get to know them better and we have enjoyed a couple fun get togethers with them.

Here we are getting ready to hike the Flatirons in Boulder.  What a good looking group!

This is the view from the back...the older boys....gone-out of sight... as usual.

Packing the kids.

Vilate was in Heaven, three girl cousins....woo hoo!

You can't tell from the picture, but this tree was full of apples, everyone went to pick their own.  A perfect snack for a hike.

We also saw a few friends on the way.

A rock slide with steps!

Thirsty little guy!

I am super happy Dana and Steve (that is hard for me to call him Steve, he has been Steven my whole life) hit things off!

Awwww!

 And headed back down....

At this point I was done taking pictures, and Vilate was done walking.  It is a good thing I have a super buff husband!

Too bad it is cold now!

And so it begins...

It is here.

The season of insanity.

The season of fun, tired, and no time!

It is Football time!!!  Oh yeah and soccer, gymnastics, dance, piano, clogging.....SCHOOL!

We aren't busy though...just enjoying life!  Here is Ammon's first game of the season, back to football after two years of soccer, he is loving it and starting to remember from three years ago what this game is all about!  I am starting to remember how much fun it is!  Now if we could just get a little more aggression out of him....(on the field of course!)

Soccer games start next week and that is the end of free time on Saturdays for the next three months!

Stay tuned.....

Slow down, your growing too fast!

Another school year begins....

It seems like things are starting to go turbo speed and I can't slow it down.

Vilate is now in half-day kindergarten and so...

It is just me and Aaron, or should I say Superman?

I keep having flashbacks to when it was just me and Joseph, doing our thing.

I remember when I was small my parents used to tell me, "stop growing up"!

I didn't listen, and my kids won't listen either!

So here's to enjoying the everyday moments, because they won't stay little forever!

A year of Birthdays!

I thought I would do a post.  A post about my kids becoming a year older....since my last post!  

So maybe I am not good at the blog thing, but If I can at least get my kids birthdays down, that's got to count for something, right?

So James turned 6 in Sept. 2011

He started Kindergarten- totally loved it!

In October of 2011 Mason turned 8!  He enjoyed his second grade year.  He still loves monkeys and so out came the monkey cake again.

I like this cake because that white frosting is peanut butter, mmmmm!

Mason was baptized last year!  He is truly a sweet boy, we are so pleased with him and the good choices he is making.  He started scouts and LOVES it!

Always fun to see what the family baptism picture looks like.

Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen got to come!

 And Grandma and Grandpa Carwin!

Dave and Lisel and kids and also Tracy and Mark and kids, came as well. It was so fun to have a big family turn out!  We appreciate them coming on Mason's special day.

While my parents were in town we celebrated all the October birthdays together!  Dana (I have no idea what that is on his nose, something on the camera, sorry Dana this was the only picture I had!) Dave, Mason, Lisel (she is actually beg. of Nov.), Mom, and Me!  Yippee!

We also did the Halloween thing.

 And Thanksgiving, in Iowa at Karen's house!

 And Christmas of course!

 In Feb. of this year we got family pictures....Finally!

 And in April of his 4th grade year Ammon turned 10!  A whole decade!

Vilate finished a year of preschool and in June turned 5!  She loves Dora!

Joseph turned 12 this year and is getting too big for his own good!  He wanted a one ring cake and since he thinks I can do anything, ha ha, I made him one.  He was happy and that is all that matters!  Joseph also received the Aaronic Priesthood and now passes the Sacrament!
He truly is a very good boy!

 And now for the Bear!  (that is his name half the time around here)  Aaron turned 3 at the end of July!  He is totally into superman and loves to run around like him showing his muscles!

So that is us in a nutshell!
Maybe you will hear again from me soon...