Santa Smiles

All I wanted was one good picture with Santa, but Jake and Savannah think they're so funny. They are on Santa's naughty list!



And look, Santa brought Jake a little brother. We named him Ben.

Who's that guy?

New ward, new calling, new look

Halloween (Yes I know it's December!)

I know it's December, but I finally downloaded a bunch of pictures and realized how behind I am! So here's a little of Halloween, then I'll try to get Thanksgiving on here before Christmas!
Notice my sexy rockstar husband!


Allie's best friend Katie came for a visit from Japan, they had a blast being together again!


Napolean and Deb


Pedro, of course!


And three cute super heroes!

Fall Fun

Here's a few pics from fall-since I feel like it's winter now! Halloween pictures are coming as soon as I can get Charley to put his costume back on so I can take a picture. He was SO funny!


Jake and Ash on Bainbridge Island after a soccer game on a beautiful day

One Saturday in October we went to Port Orchard to ride the Kitsap Live Steamers, a fun ride-on train that takes you on a ride through the forest. They had it decorated for Halloween. We hadn't been there since Jake was little.

Allie, Ben, Dillon, and Zak

Jake pretending to be excited

This was the rainiest soccer game of the year! It was a fun season but I'm ready to stay inside on Saturday's!

Savannah's got the Swine Flu

Halloween Bunnies!

A few months ago Savannah thought it would be fun to breed the bunnies again. She didn't tell anyone until the day they were born. Surprise! she said. And now surprise, she has no homes for them to go to! They are ready for new families to take them, just in time for Halloween. You can dress them up in cute costumes and take them trick or treating! Look how cute...

Hurry now, before they're all gone!!!!!!!!!!

April Fools

Oops, what I meant to say is that you're never too old to have a little fun with your friends! Maybe I'm going through withdrawals from being released from my busy calling. There's not 5 new messages on my answering machine every time I come home, no emails from people needing help, no new ladies to visit. But that post got my phone ringing! Just hope mother nature doesn't play a cruel joke on me and get me back. That would NOT be funny.

p.s. The cute little baby in the ultrasound really belongs to Allison Rencher Harris, who is MUCH MUCH younger and happy to be pregnant!

You're never too old...

If you build it, they will come

In the 13 1/2 years that we've lived in this house, we have never seen a deer. Wild rabbits, coyotes, even a black bear, but never a deer.
This summer Savannah planted a big, beautiful garden. Then out of the blue these two show up! Did they smell it or what?? Needless to say many of her plants didn't survive their nibbling. Dumb deer. So all of you with your bounty of tomatoes and other delicious veggies, think of us!

Made in China

Tonight when I was tucking Allie into bed, she got sad and showed me her little stuffed puppy that Maggie had chewed the nose off of. I told her that we could get it fixed, but then she showed me the tag and said, "It's handmade in China, we'd have to go all the way there and it's too far!"

Blue Tarp Camping

Have you seen this commercial? This is what our weekend at Lake Cushman was like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpfcO4Yfw44

We have been going here every labor day for about 11 years, and this was by far the wettest! And it didn't just rain, it poured buckets! There were little lakes all around the campsite. We were in the trailer but Savannah and her friend were in a tent, as were our dear wet friends.

During a break in the rain, the kids had a fun game of jumprope!

We had as many rain shelters up as we could- this one collapsed Sunday morning from the weight of the water.

Even though it was cold, the kids still did some swimming in the lake!

We even took the boat out- until it decided to break down at the other end of the lake! So they used a ski to paddle to shore, then Charley climbed up a hill, walked about a mile, then flagged down a car to give him a ride to the campground. He took the battery out of the trailer to put in the boat.

This is the rock they had gone to when it broke down, so the kids just enjoyed some rock jumping while the boat repairs were being done.

Here's Savannah jumping!

No to be outdone by his sister, Jake jumped too!

Sunday morning- so wet outside, but nice and dry inside the little trailer!

It was a little cramped but we fit almost everyone inside for a yummy breakfast of Space Needle Sandwiches!

Then everyone wanted to go home- a day early.

The kids and I stayed dry playing dominoes

Of course this weekend it's supposed to be in the 80's.

The Annual Utah Trip 09

A few weeks ago was our annual road trip to Utah. We had a great time visiting with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and my sisters. This post has lots of pictures, so if you're not family it will probably be boring!
Since I'm way behind in scrapbooking, this blog has become our family journal/scrapbook. It's fun to look back over the few years that I've been blogging and see things we've done. So it might be silly or boring for some you that read this, but at least I have some our lives documented! So here's the Utah trip!

Gotta love looking in the rear view mirror and seeing the kids sleeping with open mouths!

The outdoor Scera Shell theater in Orem, we saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Allie and Max

Hannah, Alexix, Savannah, McKenna, and Chloe

Charley's parents and us at the Jordan River Temple on a beautiful morning.

At the Salt Lake Temple- on the stairs 20 years later!

Savannah, Grace, Allie, and Max. We walked around Temple Square waiting for an outdoor concert to start at a park across the street.

Charley proves that you're never too old to ride the kiddie swings at Lagoon!

Three cousins sleep out on the trampoline- Jake, Jack, and Dakota

We went down to southern Utah and had so much fun! The temperature was about 20 degrees cooler than normal, so it was only in the upper 80's- perfect! Jumping off the rocks at Sand Hollow.

Ashley and Charley- Such a pretty place!

We did a night hike with the older kids in Zion by the full moon. It was so incredibly beautiful!

It's crazy to think that I used to sleep in this cave when I was a teenager working at Zion! I was much braver then.

At the top! It's looks out over the whole canyon!


The whole gang getting ready to hike the Narrows.

The brave ones that will continue up the river! Kirsten and I and the little ones stopped where the paved trail ends.

Beautiful Allie and the beautiful red mountains of Zion.

This was taken with my telephoto lens- but check out Mr. Red Speedo hiking along! No, it's not Charley.

No trip to Zion would be complete without going to the ghost town Grafton! It's so easy to scare the kids there! And this is another place we used to sleep out at when we worked there- so crazy!

Next of course we check out the cemetery!

Saying goodbye to Dad and Nina. (my parents)

Then saying goodbye to Granny and Grandpa. (Charley's parents)

We saw this billboard off the freeway near Lehi. Only fans of "The Office" will appreciate it! We had to turn around to go back and get a picture of it.