Gingerbread Houses

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is making gingerbread houses. My mom actually let me help bake 4 of the houses this year (only because she broke her shoulder 3 months ago and had to have surgery on it). Usually she makes them all by herself, she's awesome! She's been baking our gingerbread houses since I was about 2, so she knows all the tricks about getting the dough rolled thin enough, how to get the dough onto the baking sheets, and how to get the finished pieces off the baking sheets without them breaking. This comes in handy when you are baking 8 of them.

It's always fun to watch how the kids decorate their houses. Poor Halle had to watch from the Pack and Play; she was a good sport.

All of the kids spent a lot of time decorating. And I was actually surprised that Jarren didn't use that much candy (you get to eat the candy on your house after Christmas).

Here's the crew, after all the decorating was done.

Kenadee (niece), Cameron (nephew), Jordan (brother), Esther (girlfriend), Maya, Karli, Jarren, mom, Kate, Jessica (sister)

Siblings are great!!

The Sisters

The Brothers (Jordan just had surgery on his wrist a week ago)

Out of the Mouth of Kate

Somebody rang our doorbell tonight and after they left Kate said, "Was that Satan?"

Maya's Christmas Dance

Maya had her Christmas program for dance on Saturday. She danced to The North Pole Express. She had so much fun up on stage dancing, she was smiling the whole time. It's fun to see her coming out of her shell a little bit.

One of her friends from the neighborhood danced too.

Decorating the Tree

Starting to decorate.

We're Done!

What do we want from Santa?

We were able to see Santa this past weekend. It was fun to see the kids sit on his lap and enjoy the magic of Santa.

Halle didn't like Santa until he gave her a candy cane.

Kate's 3!

Kate had her 3rd birthday right after Thanksgiving. She was so cute, she kept asking throughout the day if it was still her birthday. And when asked how old she was she would say "three" and then hold up a hand of five fingers.

She wanted brown cupcakes for her birthday (brown frosting, but not brown cake). She had fun putting the gummy worms on top.

Kate got a tutu from grandma and grandpa, it's perfect for dancing.

Thanksgiving

I love holidays, because it means time with the family, no work, no school!

This is me and Halle with my great aunt.

We had our annual whipped cream contest, but we had lots of participants this year. Usually it's just Jarren and my sister, but this year almost everyone played, even my parents.

Fall

I love pictures of the kids in the fall.

Goin' to the Mountains

We try to go to the mountains a few times a year, and for whatever reason we hadn't done it yet this year, so we finally made it last week. We had so much fun, the weather was perfect, and the company was great!

The girls and I had fun walking around and looking at different colors of leaves. Halle was pretty interested in them. And Maya had fun walking with a big walking stick.

Jarren had a lot of fun as you can see from these next pictures. He's kind of into making silly faces.

How do you eat a s'more? Karli and Kate had fun chilling in the chairs while they ate theirs. S'mores are the best part of cooking over a fire. Mmm.

Basketball MVP

Jason had a basketball tournament for work this last week. And me and the kids were able to come watch. They played at Energy Solutions Arena where the Utah Jazz play. And the cool thing was that Jason's team got to be coached by Jerry Sloan, the head coach for the Utah Jazz. Me and Jarren thought that was pretty awesome.

At the end of the tournament they did awards and Jason got the MVP award. He got a basketball signed by the 4 Jazz coaches. He downplayed it all by saying, "I didn't know they gave the MVP award to people who miss layups." He then proceeded to say, "I'll never give the Jazz players a hard time again for missing layups." I guess it's hard to shoot there. Anyway, good job Jason! I'm proud of you!

The Girls!

I came outside today to see some of the girls doing this. Yes, that is Karli inside the carseat in the stroller, how she fit I have no idea. The things they think of sometimes!

Look who's walking!

So I know this isn't a picture of Halle walking, but I think it's so cute. This is her new favorite place to sit in the kitchen.

Halle started walking almost everywhere this last week. She's so fun to watch because she thinks she is so neat. I still need to take a picture of her walking, I just haven't yet.

Dance

Maya and Karli started dance a month ago. I think they look so cute all dressed up every week. Maya really likes it. Karli on the other hand, not so much. Karli tells me every week that she doesn't want to go; and I'm mean because I tell her that I've already paid for it so she has to go. I say the say thing about preschool because every time she's supposed to go she tells me she doesn't want to go. And again I'm mean, I tell her I've already paid so she needs to go. I tell her she should go to preschool so she can learn how to read when she goes to kindergarten. Her response to that is that she likes it when I read to her. Hmm, what do you say to that?

Anway, here's some cute dance pictures. Kate's not in dance but I really think she'd like it. She loves to put on this dance costume and dance around.

She's One!

Halle turned 1 on August 17. Her 1st year has flown by. She has been such a good baby that I have thoroughly enjoyed having her in our home. Happy Birthday Baby Halle Jo!

She had so much fun opening presents. She never did lose interest opening them. Which was a disappointment to the other kids who wanted to open them for her.