Rasmussen Party

On the 23rd my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin all had their missionary homecoming.  It was so fun to go and hear a little about their mission experiences.  It really gets me excited to serve one someday!  After a party at their house afterwards, we headed to the Stevens for a Rasmussen Party.

We played bingo and a few other games I brought, but the highlight was the nativity.  We'd never done that before and Grandma was a great Director

                                                                Here's Mary

                                                          And Joseph

                                                            And the Angel

We might have to do this again. 

Santa

As much as I tried to talk the kids into sending their lists via mail...or even better, email, they insisted on hand delivering their Christmas lists.  The line tried my patience a little.  Wasn't expecting to be behind a group of 11 kids all 8 yrs. and up.  But we finally arrived.  The kids were estatic to seal the deal.  Whitney wanted an mp3 player and lego friends.  Travis wanted a DS.  Hailey wanted a Rapunzel baby.  Good thing these kids really have been good this year (minus many of Hailey's "Hailey the Hulk moment :)).

Hailey was a little hesitant but still managed to squeak out what she wanted.  Ahsley on the other hand just wanted to pull on his beard.

Oh, and travis was decked out elf style from his Elf party earlier that day.

 They thought this huge nutcracker was awesome.

 The next day we celebrated Christmas break with a trip for icecream.  It was freezing.  Good thing we bundled up!

December pics

Here are some fun pics I took quickly before church.  Nothing fancy but fun to have.

Doing the "Kevin!" face.

 See if you can find my favorite aspect of this picture :)  He looked to good to inform him something wasn't right.

Merry Christmas!

Sledding

The Saturday before Christmas the kids were itching to go sledding.  There isn't any good sledding hills right by us, but we found a pretty good spot a couple minutes away. 

The kids love it.  The hill was steep and there was a massive snowbank at the bottom on one side.  It scared me, but not the kids.

 This little girl was a trooper.  It was cold with a cold wind!  She even did a couple rounds with me. 

It makes my heart so happy to see my kids enjoy activities like this.  I love that they don't want to sit on the couch all day and will venture outside to play in the snow.  That's where the real fun is!

Whitney's Program

I love that Whitney is old enough now to start having school programs.  I don't know how long I'll enjoy them, but for right now I think they are to cute.

these girls were excited to come and see

 Whitney was all smiles and excited to show off her skills.  She's the one in green in the middle.

 It must've been good because these kids were completely entertained.

 The songs were cute, short and cheesy.  It was great.  Fun to see Whitney in action.

After the program Aaron stayed and decorated Gingerbread houses with Whitney.  It was such a fun day for her.

Beginning of December

We jump started our Christmas activities with a favorite.  Gingerbread Houses.  This year we kept it simple.  which was just right for me :)

 Then it was onto our Christmas party.  Both Whit and Trav invited about 6 neighbor kids, plus Hailey invited Ashlynn her BFF = lots of kids!  We made a sweet Grinch pinata....man was he stubborn....we had to finally tear him open.  Note to self, chose a flimsy box if using poster paper to cover it :)

We played Christmas bingo, decorated gingerbread men, did stickers and made bracelets, played a present game and finally the pinata.  It was a lot of activities and never a dull moment!  I was truly grateful that the weather was still so nice so the kids to run around outside in between activities.  In the end, I think they all had a blast. 

 We got antsy to begin our basement project.  So fun to finally see progress!  It is now all mostly framed and ready for the next stage.  I'm weird, I really enjoy this kind of stuff.  I would go non-stop if it weren't for those meddling kids :)

 Snow finally came again and we got some good snow play in.  A couple snowmen and snow football games is a great way to spend our December.

November

Wow... where did November go?  It really was gone in a blink of an eye.  Since I'm negligent and a month behind - I'll hit the main events of the month.

#1 =  Ashley Crawling!!  At the very end of the month Ashley started crawling.  I love when my kids become mobile.  They are so much happier, and so am I.  She has lit up and shown a lot of personality.  She waves, claps, and knows mama and dada.

 #2  Playing around.  I love this man.  It feels like I have something going EVERY night of the week.  does he complain?  Never.  My husband is amazing - and an awesome dad too.

 #3  Our month was dominated by football.  Which is fine by us.  Spanish Fork High School made it to the finals.  Aaron took Travis to the 2 games at U stadium.  Let's just say he loved the experience so much that he turned to the dark side for a few weeks and thought the Utes were the best.  I think I've finally got him straightened out :)  We played a lot of football with Travis outdoors and in.  He's definitely getting more into sports!

 #4  Thanksgiving prep.  We had fun making crafts and learning about Thanksgiving/ Gratitude.  It's such an awesome time of year to reflect on family and blessings.

 Travis was an Indian for two days straight after his class learned about them.  Aaron loves Indians too - I swear it's in the blood.

#5 Thanksgiving.   Thanksgiving morning the boys started the day off right... with football.  Both Aaron and Travis were in heaven - I got my run in prior - so as much as it hurts me to watch and not play, I handled it.

 We had a great thanksgiving at G & G Rasmussen's house.  It was a fun getaway and we love seeing family.  As soon as we got back we wasted no time starting the festivities.  Whitney's skirt in this pic is actually a Christmas Tree skirt.  EVERY year she gets excited pulling it out of the decor box and wears it non-stop for days.  It cracks us up.

 Whitney even provided face painting :)

 Our tradition of Chocolate Fountain dinner before the light parade.

 The results are always entertaining.

 Santa turned more into a dracula looking man.

 At the light parade.  The kids loved it.  Aaron endured it.  Ashley slept through half of it.

 I love watching these two together.  They have such a cute relationship already.  Plus once again I'm please to show another cheeser face.

There was one weekend this month that Aaron and I will remember for quite some time.  The middle of November we headed up to Idaho to surprise Aaron's parents with a birthday/anniversary party.  Weather didn't cooperate with our plans to leave Friday night so we took off Friday morning.  The trip there went smooth and we had fun spending time at the Murdocks in Dubois.  The next morning we wasted no time getting everything ready for the surprise party.  It was really fun to surprise them, spend time with them, play, and reflect a little on the years past.  We went non-stop all day.  On the way back to Dubois Hailey threw up about 2 min. before we arrived.  Since there was going to be a lot of family around the next day we made a QUICK decision and threw everything in the car and headed home.  We were sad to leave but didn't want to have a puking child with lots of people around.

After stopping the third time for Hailey to throw up, including Aaron having to strip down since Hailey puked all over his shirt.  She sat in the front by me so I could hold a bowl for her, rather than stopping.  We thought the storm would be over...but it wasn't.  Some moments were intense to drive in.  By 1 o'clock in the morning we were almost home.  I was helping comfort Hailey again when I heard screeching tires.  Looking up I saw the car in front of us spin around and slam into the side barrier.  We were the only car around so we quickly pulled over to help out.  How grateful I am that Aaron is a cautious driver and we were definitely watched over and protected!

Aaron went and checked while I instructed the kids to stay put.  He quickly informed me that the driver was unconscious and I needed to call 911.  I called and rushed to help.  I was able to get him to come to and breath but he was back and forth and going into shock.  Long story short....I think he made it....but it was a reminder to me how precious life is.  That every moment is a gift.  We arrived home at 2 am wired.  I didn't sleep much that night but luckily the kids did decent.  Let's just say it was a lot of action for 2 days!

And there you have it.  Our November in a post.