New Table

We bought a new table yesterday and were able to get it all put together today, thanks to Jason, Jarren and my dad. I love it and so do the kids. I knew their favorite part would be the bench and I was right. I should have gotten a picture of them sitting on it. It's kind of fun because all 3 of the older kids can sit on it, with plenty of room to spare, Kate can probable sit there too when she gets bigger, we'll see. It was so nice at dinner to have plenty of room for everybody and their food.

Snow...Snow...and More Snow

We got so much snow on Christmas! Supposedly our city got 21 inches, I know we didn't get that much at our house, but we had at least a foot, maybe more. I was the lucky one who got to shovel it. Very Fun! (Not Really). Anyway, on the day after Christmas Jason had part of the day off and so him and the kids went outside to play in the snow. Jason had fun trying to hit the neighbors with snowballs. And then some other neighbors came by with 4 wheelers and snowmobiles and let the kids ride behind them in a sled; that's when your glad they didn't plow the streets. They all had so much fun! Thanks to the Locke's and the Jensen's!

I thought this picture of Maya and Karli was too cute.

Caramel Pretzels

My mom and sister, Jessica, and the kids and I decided that we wanted to try making caramel pretzels this year. It ended up being so much fun, that my sister said it should be a new tradition. I agree; although we'll be more selective on which chocolate we use next time, since 3 of our bags of chocolate chips didn't melt. Oh well, we'll know more next time we try it.

Christmas

We had such a good Christmas. It was nice to be able to visit with both my family and Jason's family, but then to have time to play with the new toys at our house. The kids spent a lot of time on Christmas in the teepee I made for them. It was cute to see them wanting to play with their new toys in there, even when it was dark and they could hardly see.

Santa

Our family got to see Santa about a week and a half ago. Some of the things they asked for were a little humorous. Sorry the pictures are a little bit blurry, I don't know what happened.


Karli asked for a kitty, not a toy one, a real one. Oh dear! I told her that it might get too cold in Santa's sleigh, so she might have to think of something else. (Right now, I take care of kids, not animals).




Jarren is thinking about what he's going to ask for. When we got home he was pretty concerned because he must have gotten nervous while he was talking to Santa because when he asked Jarren what he wanted, he said toys. Well, Jarren doesn't want just any toy, he wants Lego's. He wanted to make sure Santa knew the difference. What a cute little kid!

Maya didn't want to sit on Santa's lap by herself, so me and Kate joined her.

I had to throw theses picture in too. The night we saw Santa was the first night I put Kate's hair in pigtails. Cute!!

1st Grade Jingle Jam

The 1st graders at Jarren's school have been working really hard on songs, plays, and jokes for the annual 1st grade Jingle Jam. We went to see it on Tuesday. It was so fun to see them all sing.

Here is Jarren all dressed up for the program.

Making Cookies

When I was a little kid I remember making sugar cookies. I remember thinking they were so fun to make, although I don't think my mom really enjoyed making them. Anyway, since I remember making cookies as a kid, I decided we would make them too. So me and the kids made them the other day, they got tired half way through, so I had to finish them all by herself. They seemed to really have a good time, and I liked that we were making memories.

Poor, Sick Kate

Poor little Kate is sick. She had a fever of 103.8 this afternoon. When I took her to the doctor they said it is tonsilitis. They put her on antibiotics. I hope they start kicking in pretty soon.

Daddy and Maya's Night Out

Some friends gave us 2 tickets to the Jazz game tonight, and guess who got to go, not Jarren, but Maya. She was so excited to go with just daddy, and to get to ride the train. They left armed with a big pack of gummy worms. What could be better, dad and candy?

When they got home Maya was so excited about everything that she had seen. Her favorite part were the Jazz dancers. At half time she turned to Jason and said, "Where did those guys who play basketball go?" After Jason told her they needed a rest, she said, "Are they coming back?"

Happy Birthday Kate!!

Kate turned 1 today. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. Kate has been so fun! She is such a blessing to have in our home. I had fun looking through some of her pictures from this past year. I hope you enjoy seeing her growth too. Happy Birthday Katie!!!

Opening presents

Kate was excited about seeing her presents, but she had no desire at all to try and open them up. She was content to let us do that. Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Heather sent her an outfit and some beaded socks, Kate LOVED the socks. She kept trying to eat them. She thought the music the lion made was great. When she heard it she kept smiling.

Utah vs. BYU

The day that BYU and Utah play football together is a day for fun. That day happened to be today. We started out the day with a breakfast at our church at 8 am. Everyone wore either red or blue and then everyone was supposed to bring canned food for the food bank. We tried to see which team would bring the most food. You can see which team we supported. Jason was lucky enough to have tickets to the game and he was able to take his grandpa, who drove here from Idaho to see it.

Karli was our little cheerleader. Go UTES!!!

Thursdays???

I don't understand what's up with Thursday's at our house. 2 Thursday's ago Kate was sick, last Thursday Jarren was sick, and now today, Thursday, Kate is sick again. I hope she feels better soon.

Blog Changes

I've decided to change up our blog a bit, however, as many of you know I'm not real big on changes. We'll see, I may have to go back to the way things were before.

Halloween Fun

We've had some fun this past week carving pumpkins and being outside. The kids weren't too keen on pulling all the seeds out of the pumpkins, and Jarren hated the smell of the pumpkins, but it ended up being a fun family activity.

Halloween

Halloween was fun, but I was the candy police, aren't I terrible. The kids want to eat candy all the time, especially Karli. We went to a trunk or treat at our church last week and then we went to Jason's work to Trick or Treat on Thursday, so before Halloween even came around we were loaded with candy. As far as costumes go, Jarren was a dragon, Maya a horse, Karli a ladybug, and Kate a chicken. They were very warm costumes, but the weather was very pleasant.

Pretty Princess

Maya went to a birthday party today and they did all the girls hair fancy. We thought she looked so cute, but she didn't like it too much because she pulled it all out within about an hour of being home from the party.

Backwards Day

This week is Spirit Week at Jarren's school and yesterday was backwards/crazy clothes day. Jarren was so excited about it. He had his clothes and shoes set out the night before exactly how he was going to wear them. Mismatched shoes and socks, backwards pants and shirt inside out. Fun!

Crazy Hair

This is what Kate looks like in the morning if she has a bath at night. It's pretty funny to see her hair all over her eyes with her little mouth peeking out, smiling like crazy.

We LOVED Disneyland!

Maya and Grandpa


Jarren in the sand


Kate getting ready to eat the sand


Jason body-surfing


Andrea and Kate waiting in line


Kate


Our 1st day, waiting in line for the shuttle


Jarren with friend, Tierra


Maya loving the Baby Minnie's


Karli in Pooh Corner


Karli with her favorite princess




The family



Karli loved posing with princesses


Kate "ooh"ed and "ahh"ed at Chip and Dale


Celebrating Andrea's birthday at Goofy's Kitchen


Jason and Maya on Dumbo


The crew with grandma and grandpa

We are home from Disneyland now and we had so much fun! We went with Jason's parents and some good friends from church. We spent 4 days in Disneyland, so needless to say we were a little bit tired when we got home. It's a good thing we got to spend some time in the sun since we drove part of the way home in the snow.