O Christmas Tree

Our friends took us Christmas Tree shopping... in the woods. We stopped in town and bought tree permits and then into the wild we went. It had been raining and we drove in the mud. For a few minutes Michael and I thought our poor little Astrid (the van) wouldn't make it up the slippery slopes. She pushed on and we made it to our destination. 

Some of us stayed in the car and the rest of us hiked up the hill and tromped through squishy mud. Our friends Tom and Kricket hiked the whole way carrying children! 

We found our trees, the guys sawed them down, and we all bolted for the car. We climbed in just as it started to drizzle again.

It may have been cold, windy, and muddy, but we had such a fun time. My only regret is that I left my extra roll of film in the car. My roll ended just as we headed back down the hill. Oh, well. We had such a great time that we'll most definitely do it again next year.

Photos of our decorated Charlie Brown Christmas tree coming soon.

Goodbye Little Turkeys

We made these cute turkeys a few days before Thanksgiving and now that the holiday is over it is time to say goodbye. Sadly two of them were left bald and an especially unfortunate one was left with out a face. Sad little turkey boy. .. or girl. 

From Left to Right these turkeys were created by Emma, Kaylee, Lily, and Riley. 

Goodbye, turkeys.

Outtakes (or Funny Stuff {mostly} Kaylee Has Said)

"We don't want to waste cheese. If you waste it your doomed." -Kaylee



Kaylee: "I think Daddy is driving home."
Lily: "Yeah, I think he is in Idaho Falls."
Kaylee: "No. I think he's in Mexican."



Emma: "There are so many Mexicans at my school but they all just hang out with each other... and I feel like I belong with them."



Me: "Eeew. Kaylee that was gross."
Kaylee: "Okay. I'll never spit on Lily's homework again."
Me: "Never spit on anything again period."
Lily. "Never spit on anything again exlamation!"


{while playing house}
Riley: "Honey, what kind of cookie do you want?" (How I wish you could hear her high pitched 'mother' voice)
Kaylee: (without a single breath) "Avacado-fifty-nine-chocolate-chip-cookie-flavored-dough!"



Kaylee: (frantically and without a breath) "MOM! Icantfindaredcrayon!!!" (buries her head in her hands) "Ugh. This is the worst day of my life."



{At Disneyland}
Kaylee: "Geri, I just went on SPLASH MOUNTAIN!"
Geri: "Ooooooh! Was it scary??"
Kaylee: "Scary? or AWESOME!?"      



{struggling through a major case of the hiccups}
Lily: "When we get in the house can somebody please scare me!"



{while watching Merlin}
Kaylee: "Aaaaaah, I just want to marry Arthur. But I love Merlin too. I can't decide which one to marry."                                                                          



{at the store}
cashier: "Your total comes to forty-five dollars and fifty-three cents..."
me: (digging through purse)
cashier: "Your total comes to forty-five dollars and fifty-three cents..."
me: (opening my wallet)
cashier: "Your total comes to forty-five dollars and fifty-three cents..."
me: (swiping my card) "I got it. Thanks." (smile)
cashier: "I'm just trying to annoy you."
me: (laughing) "That's nothing. I have 4 kids, you're gonna to have to try a little harder."
cashier: "Your total... Your total... Your total comes to forty-five dollars and fifty-three cents."




A little clarification, if I may. I don't want anyone to read that last snippet and think that I am annoyed with my kids or that I think kids are annoying. I think kids are the best/cutest/most-wonderful-little-things-in-all-this-world and the only thing that I really get frustrated with is when my kids fight with each other. There is nothing in this world that is more aggravating for a parent than when their children are fighting and arguing. Can I get an "Amen"!

Clearly, I am completely in love with these girls. Especially that silly little Kaylee-Girl. She doesn't even know how funny she is. Oh, she lights up my life!

some pictures I took for a friend

I traded talent with my friend, Jenee. I took her family photos and she made me a BEAUTIFUL paper wreath. Her family is so cute and her kids are SO good. They were so fun to spend time with:)

a diploma

Here is Michael with his associate's degree diploma. Only two more diplomas to go! Woot!

Kaylee's Birthday

So these pictures are from Kaylee's birthday... which was in August. I totally stink at blogging.

Anyways! This child is a birthday DIVA! She acted like a princess all day and made demands right and left. By noon I finally had to tell her to cool it. And for the next week and a half her excuse for everything was, "but it's my birthday!" Even Lily had to remind her that her birthday was long over. Silly child. I love her anyways though. We had a red velvet cake that was disgusting right after I baked it but magically delicious the next day. Like, I-couldn't-stop-eating-it-delicious. Weird. We also had a front yard picnic and Mallory stole the show with her cupcake eating skills.

Kaylee had a fun birthday and she adores being a big-girl-five-year-old.

oj

My grandpa sent the my brothers up with some fresh California oranges. They were so big and juicy that we decided to make some orange juice. He gave us a giant box of oranges and they lasted us about a day and a half. yum.

The girls and I stood an assembly line one morning and sang a song about our respective jobs as we made the orange juice (ie. "I wash the oranges" "I pass the oranges" "I cut the oranges" "I juice the oranges" I don't remember exactly how it went. It wasn't incredibly creative. But it was cute.) 

a hike

Here are some pictures of a hike we went on... in September. We hiked R Mountain in Rexburg. I don't know what the "mountain" is really called.. I'll have to figure that out...

Zach took a teensy rest in this chair before we set off and the girls thought it would be really fun to stack oranges on top of him as he slept.

Here is the beginning of our journey and fyi these pics are ALL out of order. I don't have the patience to put them where the belong. But I think that they're kind of in order. I put this post together like 3 weeks ago and forgot to finish it....

Kaylee was so cute the whole trip. She fell down like 15 times and Lily would say, "OH, Kaylee! Are you okay?" and Kaylee would stand up and say very matter-of-factly, "yeah, I'm okay. I'm just a mountain girl."

This is a castle. Built by Kaylee's own two hands. Believe it or not.

I don't want to sound like I'm boasting or anything buuuuut. Mallory is obsessed with me. and I love it. and I LOVE HER!

This is Lily's "Ballerina Leap"

"Lily, look at the camera next time you jump!"

Messy faces are the happiest.

Sadly I don't remember why she was pouting. 

 She got over it quickly.

Pretty sister.

Picking berries but NOT eating them.

Check out the upper middle of this pic. HOWE.

cutie brother

I don't know why but I just adore this picture of my girls posing in front of the Snake River Plain map.

Zach peeling our hike snacks.

I think my heart might burst out of my chest, I love her so much.

Lily and Kaylee we really excited to find this random letter "B" in a rock.

angel?