Away in a manger

So every year of course my Mother has us act out the Christmas story and Halle especially looks forward to it because she loves to be Mary. This year Parker boy was a pretty fantastic Joseph much to Uncle Dustin's dismay as he would not be allowed to frustrate Halle by yelling "Mary?? Mary?? Where for art thou Mary?? (we are reverent sometimes I promise) It was really cute watching the kids play the roles and it really does put you in the Christmas spirit.

The donkey is trying to convince Grandma that the hump is totally unnecessary (I thought my idea was quite creative) Kaden however did not and he sat the play out. oh well better luck next year!

Where would we be without this angel?

Mike and Haven make great donkeys don't you think?

on your marks!

What would Christmas be without fire truck drag races? This was pretty hillarious and everyone walked away pretty unscathed, minus a major forehead contusion (Brin) and a good conk on the back of the nogin (Asher). I have to say that I have the best brothers in the world...and brother in law mike of course. They are so good with the kids and I have so many great memories of having crazy times with my uncles that it makes me so happy to know that my kids will have that too. You should have seen the looks on the kids' faces when the races began: it went something like this:
Grandpa: In car #1 driving at top speeds of over 1 million miles an hour we have... Asher Lemme! ect ect ect...
After each of the "drivers" were announced the pushers of the cars would rev their engines really loud and sometimes even spin out of control - wow-
When that flag came down watch out they would race around the pool table at crazy fast speeds and the kids were all business. It was so fun. minus the whole Brin falling on her face and Asher taking a head plant it was all great!

Christmas at the ranch

So we went up and celebrated Christmas with my family at Ensign Ranch and we had a blast. We played games and sat around and talked and ate and went on a horse drawn sleigh ride and sang carols and played in the snow and teased eachother endlessly. It was so much fun and I am so glad that we have this new tradition. The kids had so much fun together and it was wonderful to be able to let them run around crazy and not have to worry about them breaking anything...or anyone. I can officially say I am ready for Christmas!

it's beggining to look alot like Christmas!

Sorry but I couldn't help it. We went to pick out our Christmas tree the other day and of course Oprah came along, and I just couldn't stop my self from getting a few portraits! They make me laugh. I thought about having this as our Christmas card photo but then I figured people would probably be a little upset! You gotta admit it would be pretty funny though. Big picture of Oprah in a scarf on santa's ride and "Merry Christmas love, the Weiblings" - classic.

That's my man!

I found this suit by accident in sears the day after Thanksgiving - Manda and I had been up for close 24 hours and they never have this size! It was some kind of freak accident I tell you but I was so excited! I had him try it on and he looked at me and said..."mom...I look like a missionary!"

the great orange hunters

Parker boy got to go on his first hunting trip with Dad the other morning. They were only gone for a few hours because as Parker told me when they returned "we can't see no more deers mom" It was pretty cute.

I most certainly will not take a nap

Oh Kaden boy! Last week Kaden had the croup and was so tired so I told him he needed to take a nap, which of course he told me he didn't feel he needed to do, so I ignored his whining and told him I wanted him to take a nap and if I so much as saw a toe at the end of that hallway there would be big trouble! around 15 min later Danny and I noticed things had gotten awfully quiet down the hall so we checked on him and here is what we found!

Oh my goodness...I live here!

So today I was out driving around with the kids trying to get them to maybe take naps...yeah right. Anyway, they always love going to "look at the ocean" so we drove down to the beach and this time I actually remembered to bring my camera so I took a few shots and as I was looking around I realized how beautiful this island is. I love it here so much and I remember when we lived on the other "brown" side of the state that all I wanted to do was get back to the green pretty side, but now I take it for granted. I love this place. The water and the trees and the green and I just always feel like I can breathe here. My pictures don't do it justice but I thought it would be fun to stick some on here anyway.



This is the property where I want to build my dream house. I love it out here, and next time I'll shoot a picture of the actual property, it's up the road and to the left, but I was afraid people would think I was a stalker or something!

Happy Birthday Cuckoo Bird!

So our little Cuckoo Bird is going to be 3 on Nov 12th and we celebrated his and Uncle Dustins birthdays at sunday dinner last week. He was so jazzed and of course Uncle Dustin always does a fabulous job of getting all of the monsters all geared up so everybody had a blast! Kaden is getting so big and even though he is a trouble maker he is still so blasted cute and kind, he has been surprising me everyday with how willing he is to share with his brother lately - and thank goodness too because I wasn't sure if we were going to make it through the holidays! Uncle Kyle and Aunt Manda gave Kaden his first remote control car - Dynaco lightening of course! It was a total Hit!
"Rapatooie" as Kaden says! Thanks grandma and Skip!
Halle thought Kaden and Uncle Dustin were SOOOOOOOOOOO Funny!
Make a wish!
These cupcakes are good! oh the YaYa

oh Danny Boy...

So I have always loved going for cozy car rides with my family and now I love doing it with my kids, but my husband HATES driving around without a "destination" or "purpose"...until now. Yesterday morning he woke us all up to go for a "sunday drive" (are the quotations driving you nuts yet?) Now why all of the sudden would he enjoy something like that? Hmmmmm my little boy is growing up!

lions and chickens and firefighters...oh my!

So here it is...an infamous photo actually because I was able to get all 7 in one shot! They were so amped from all of the sugar I thought this night would never end, but it was fun. We took the kids down town for the "Safe" trick or treating and then I took my three to visit the Bate's. We all met up at Crystals afterward for funnel cakes and the kids ran off some of the sugar - especially Parker who took off down the street after some trick or treaters. Thanks to Uncle Mike for bringing him back...I think!

Asher was the funniest shark ever...boy can he fill out a pair of blue long johns!
Rylin the cute skunk
getting a smooch from my favorite carniverous fish!

Oh what a night!

So Halloween was basically nuts! It was fun too of course but it came at the end of a long long long week that included of course a hunting trip, a broken arm and lots and lots of trick or treating! I had to put these pictures on first because it has become a yearly Halloween tradition that I take the monsters over to some really good family friends who also used to be my high school teachers and visit for a while. Parker of course walks right through the door says Hi Bates, and lets himself in to get cozy on the recliner where he procedes to inhale copious amount of chocolate that of course let to the later photos of all three kids bouncing off the walls of the Bates home! What good sports they are! They are going to make fabulous grandparents!