The lights at Temple Square

Doesn't this tree look amazing! Wow, that is a lot of lights!

We went to the Church History Museum for the first time and discovered they had a childrens museum too. The kids loved dressing up and reenacting the nativity. Taylor spent like 20 minutes making a luminarie. We had a hard time convincing them to leave!

Sledding and Gingerbread Fun

Over the past few days we have gotten dumped on...so our neighbor across the street made this awesome sledding run in the movie....

Pics of the backyard

Taylor and her friend having a blast going down the hill

For family home evening we made a gingerbread house. The girls loved it, especially eating the frosting!

Beckett didn't get in on the gingerbread fun but he was having a great time playing with his Dad.

On Sunday we finally tried out our wood burning stove. It actually heated the home up quickly!

November Fun!

My handsome boys!
Taylor jumping off the rocks in the backyard.

I love this pic of Callie!

My parents came to our home for Thanksgiving again this year and we had a great time, packing in lots of activities into the time we got to spend with them. My mom bought the girls some Christmas crafts that they loved working on together.

We went to the festival of lights in Spanish Fork (actually only about a hop, skip and a jump from our front yard!)

Deer in our backyard.

Parade of lights in Spanish Fork.

We went to a 10,000 acre tree farm in Alpine and cut down our Christmas tree this year. It was really fun and the especially enjoyed riding the 4 wheeler. Here is the one we picked.

Loading up to go find the tree....

In our matching Christmas jammies that Brandon's mom made us last year.

Care Bears Stare!

This Halloween was one like no other! Taylor decided for the family that we should be care bears and so Brandon asked his mom if she could make the kids some care bear outfits (every year she makes their costumes--amazing huh?) and she said she would. Well, when she came out for a visit, out came not 3 outfits, but 5! So here is a nice photo shoot of our family looking good. Care Bears Stare!

Our Care Bear Family--Thanks Nana!

Beckett was Bed-Time Bear (in hopes that his name would help him establish better patterns at night!--didn't work)


Taylor was Wish Bear

Callie was Funshine Bear (she wore her hat all night, but took it off for pictures darn it)

Tina was Love-a-Lot

Brandon was Lucky (sorry for the PG-13 pose!)

Taylor, Callie and Brandon trick-or-treated the entire neighborhood. They did so good. Taylor took great care of Callie--she would wait for her to get to the doors, help her hold up her bucket and remind her to say "thank you"--what great sisters!)

Callie and Taylor with their friend Kelsee

When we walked Main Street in Spanish Fork, we painted hearts on the kids noses--as you can tell, Beckett loved his.

Pumpkin Night

For those of you who are wondering what Brandon's pumpkin says it says, "HELP!" not what you probably thought. He put one of the girl's dolls in the pumpkin to serve as a jail...pretty inventive.

We have a tradition in our family with carving pumpkins. We go rent a movie, pick up a Papa Murphy's 5 meat stuffed pizza, and go home and eat dinner and carve our pumpkins in the living room in front of the TV. (We always put sheets on the floor to cover up the carpet and put the dinning room table on top of the sheets to minimize the mess!)

The girls had fun emptying out the seeds with a spoon....but grabbing them out with their hands was out of the question!

Playing in the first snow of the season!

Taylor is letting the snowflakes fall on her tongue.

On Saturday one of our neighbors had a birthday party with real ponies to ride! Needless to say the party was a hit. Callie was invited but was having a rough day so she wouldn't get on when it was her turn. Gotta love 2 year old moments!

Our Very Needed Fall Break!

Brandon got Wednesday thru Friday off from work for Fall Break (isn't great to be still in the "school system?"!). His mom, dad, and two cousins (Logan and Abbie) came out for a visit from Colorado. We stayed busy every minute of the day. From Jumping Jack's to picking out pumpkins and hiking Escalante Cross (in Spanish Fork) to walking Spanish Fork seeing the scare crows, we did it all and loved every minute of it! Thanks Nana & Papa for coming!

At Jumping Jack's...an all-time favorite when cousins come to visit!

I don't know who has more fun, Brandon or the kids!

At the pumpkin patch in Springville. We even got a pumpkin this year that looks like it has moles growing all over it! (notice Taylor pulling Beckett's ear in the picture!)

Brandon wanted me to put this one on. Before the break started, Brandon found him a new truck. He is very excited about it. This meant we had to sell the Pathfinder though. A couple from Rangley, CO called and said they would buy it on Saturday. We got everything ready and then realized that we didn't have the Title for it (the kids must have lost it! hee hee). We ordered a new one and by the Hand of the Lord, it showed up Saturday, right when the couple was here to buy it. Another tender mercy was that for some reason, Brandon's mom was the only one on the Title (he bought it when he lived with his parents a long, long time ago). Well, guess who happened to be in Utah over the weekend, his mom! Thanks Heavenly Father.