Christmas Day

We had a good Christmas. I have been meaning to post these pictures for a while but I am just getting around to it. The kids slept in on Christmas so we didnt get up until around 8, which was nice. The kids good up to see what Santa had brought them. They were pretty excited to both get bikes. They also got some DVD players for the car which I am sure they will love having their own movie to watch when we got places. We didn't get pictures of everything but here are a few.

The kids each got Coloring Books and Coloring Crayons in their stocking which they love. Especially Austin. He spends hours coloring pictures, and they are starting to look really good.

Abby got Pink Legos from Grandma Workman. Which she loves. Abby loves anything and everything pink.

She also got this pink purse that has a kitty inside that she loves to carry everywhere. Thanks Uncle Jeremiah and Aunt Tiffany.

Eli was loving to put all of his new toys into this bucket and carry them around.

Austin loves the spider man Pajamas that Grandma Workman got him.

Uncle Jeremiah and Aunt Tiffany got Austin a Lego Set which he loves and wants everyone to see when they come over.

Eli got this Train Set from Aunt Rozanne and Uncle Eric. Eli likes to carry the train pieces around. Austin and Abby like to put it together on the counter so Eli can't mess it up. Plus all the trees and people and building stay up when it is on the counter. They love it.

Austin got these Reindeer antlers from school and he loves where them around.

Here are Austin and Abby putting the train set together so they can play with it.

We got lots of other stuff as well.
Eric and Rozanne got us a Vacuum Sealer which we are pretty excited about.

Mike got a new Razor which he kept wanting to open before Christmas. He also got a clock thing that has the inside and outside temp, barometric pressure, time and a bunch of stuff which he like.

Mike got me a Samsung Gravity smart phone. I am pretty excited about it. It has our skype on it so I dont have to wonder where the phone is in the house. That has been nice plus we are hoping having skype on my cell it will cut down on the minutes I use since it is still a pay as you go phone.

All in all we had a great Christmas. Thank you all for everything you sent we love it!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent Making Almond Roll and Pie so that they would be ready for Christmas. After all the baking we ate Clam Chowder for dinner and then we went to a friends house that was having Santa come over. We secretly brought gifts for Santa to give to each of the kids and they loved it.

Austin was looking a little skeptical but he loved it in the end. Each of the kids got pajamas that they could wear.

Abby liked seeing Santa again.

And Eli was completely ignoring Santa and acting like he wasn't there. Eli is really scared of Santa. But he did like his pajamas.

Santa

Last night we had our ward Christmas party. Of course for the kids Santa was the main event. I tried to get pictures of each of the kids, but they were with Mikes phone so they are a little fuzzy.

Austin knew just what he wanted. I toy train set. Not just a train but a train set that goes around with a remote..He was very specific.

Abby told Santa she wants a baby doll.

And as for Eli he didn't like that guy with that big beard that his fingers kept getting caught in when he tried to get away.

New Christmas Tree Skirt

I posted these to facebook but I thought I would post them here as well. I made this skirt for our Chirstmas tree because our other one was a cheap one from walmart that had holes in it, not to mention it was WAY to small for our tree.

Our tree looks so nice with it. MUCH better!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Mikes dad turned 65 on Dec 8. We went down and celebrated his birthday with them with a dinner. It was good. We roasted Hot dogs on his new portable fire pit, the kids loved that! (even though there was snow on the deck) We had some potato salad, and finger jello. We also had German Chocolate Cake. Here are some pictures of us singing to him.

He was getting ready to blow out his candles. He was trying to get the kids to laugh.

And then actually blowing them out. He almost didn't get them out.

Making Snowmen

While we up in Island Park the kids all made snowmen. Mike had these on his phone. The kids had fun making them and eating them.

Here is the snowman Abby made.

Here is Austin and his snowman.

I think I am big!

Eli has decided he is big enough to climb on everything. Then he gets this grin when you see him.

Christmas Tree Hunting

This year we actually got a real tree. It is HUGE. We went up to Island Park to cut one down. They look a lot smaller in the forest. I am in the process of making a new Christmas tree skirt because the one we have is way to little.

Mike was tired by the time we found our tree. He was cutting it and had to take a break.

So I had to help cut the tree down.

This is before we got it decorated.

The kids had a great time decorating it.

Halloween

This year I asked the kids what they wanted to be for Halloween and Austin said he wanted to be a dragon again....and abby said she needed a costume because she didn't have one. So I ordered some off of Oldnavy.com. Austin was a dragon, Abby was a monster, and Eli was a shark.

While Eli was napping we carved our pumpkin. The kids didnt want their hands to get "greasy" so they were using spoons to start off with but I finally got them to use their hands to clean out their pumpkin.
Cleaning the pumpkin.

Eli doesn't like hats so we hat a problem with him and couldn't get any good pictures.

This is as good as we got with Eli.

Austin as a dragon.

Austin and Abby together

Abby as a monster.

Canning Applesauce

I know Candace and Aaron have these are their blog but I thought I would post some of the applesauce we canned. We always try to break out record of jars canned..we were all pretty tired after all these. I think we ended up with 285 quarts and 30 pints.

Joel was cooking and scooping.

Mike was running the strainer.

The apples.

More apples.

The applesauce.

Canning!

The other thing I have been working hard on is Canning. Thanks to Mom and Dad Ricks and their fruit I have been getting Apricots, Peaches, and Pears canned. I need to pick some raspberries and get some jam made.

Peaches..I am still working on but hopefully they will be done today!

Pears... I am still waiting for the green ones to get ripe...hopefully soon.

Soccer Season

Austin has been playing soccer this fall. I think he is stating to like it. At least he is starting to understand it.

Austin is the one with the blue shorts with the white stripes.

Austin got to kick the ball.

James & RaTray's wedding

We took a quick trip to Colorado for James and RaTray's wedding. We left the kids with my brother Joshua and my cousin Brenna. I am sure that was an adventure for them. Joshua told me we owe him a big favor, he doesn't know what it is going to be but it will be big.

James and Viola

Jarem, The Ring Bearer.

RaTray walking down the isle with her dad

The Stake President Marrying them.