No Snow January

You think for January we'd have some fun pics of the kids out in the snow. Nope. I think it snowed one or two times overnight and it left a little something to scrape off the windshield in the morning. But other than that, nothing.

But we've had our own fun, and the month has surprisingly gone by quickly. Here are some quick, low-quality, phone pics that illustrate this past month.

Jaxon has transitioned out of the napping stage, but it did take some adjusting. He'd fall asleep in the weirdest places. I'd love for him to keep taking naps, but he wouldn't fall asleep till 11 if he napped for even an hour.

Yes, he still has his pjs on, don't judge.

We love indoor playgrounds. This is a fun one down at the Riverwoods...

The Riverwoods also has a great toy store where the kids can try out the toys right there. Great place to get energy out. Is it bad we never buy anything?

And probably the best thing about this month, which I'm sure everyone can agree with me on-

Yes, I took a picture. May this day always be remembered, especially in those hot, ugly, expensive summer months when people actually do most of their traveling...

Christmas 2014

We had a fabulous Christmas break. It was so nice to have Travis home all week. We were able to spend time as a family, and visit extended family as well. Here's a look at what our Christmas was like:

After a visit with the Andersons early Christmas Eve, and that evening with my parents, the kids were tuckered out and we let them sleep in on Christmas day (mostly because we didn't want to have tired, fussy kids on Christmas!). Jaxon's not a toy kid, but Santa did get him a bike with training wheels. He's looking forward to trying it out once the snow is gone.

Excuse our bed hair...

This little princess just got her first tooth a week ago and has continued to chew on anything and everything. Presents were no exception. Violet mostly received clothes for Christmas- girl clothes, since she's always wearing her brother's things.

After almost two months of nothing, we woke up to a very white Christmas! It snowed non-stop all day long! Jaxon loved playing in the snow with his cousin, papa, and Uncle Bridger. So glad he got snow pants for Christmas. :)

Being pulled by Britain

Unfortunately, he loved being outside so much that he caught a cold and has had a miserable couple of days cooped up inside post-Christmas. But we've had lots of fun making homemade pasta with the Kitchen Aid pasta maker extension Travis got me for Christmas. SO much better than store-bought pasta!

We hope you were also able to have a fun holiday break like we did!

Getting into the Spirit of Things...

We're super excited for Christmas!

We were able to decorate the tree as a family and started a new tradition of eating "Christmas cake" afterwards.

I don't have pictures of the cake, but it was basically a red velvet cake roll. My first attempt was something you'd see on a "pinterest fail" meme. I ended up tossing it and making a second one into an easy bundt cake. This is what I'd like to remember it looking like:

Next year. Next year it'll look like that. :)

Our Thankful Tree

I heard of this idea of making a  "Thankful Tree" and thought it would be a fun, new tradition for our kids.

Basically, you cut out a "tree" from brown butcher paper and tape it to your wall. Then every day from Nov. 1 to Thanksgiving you and your kids think of something you're grateful for and write it on a "leaf" and tape it to a branch. Sometimes we missed a day here and there, but we were pretty good for the most part. Next year, I want to have enough leaves to where I have some "falling" from the tree and into piles since it's fall.

It was fun hearing some of the things Jaxon was grateful for, like toilet paper and the storage room in the cultural hall. And it was a great tool for teaching gratitude. :)

I'm grateful for these kiddos. :)

Halloween 2014

This year, we unintentionally did a "sci-fi" theme. Except Einstein is obviously more "sci" than "fi". Unfortunately, Violet's hair isn't as crazy and white in this picture, as these pictures were taken the next morning and I was lazy. I used baby powder to color her hair white. Worked like a charm and she smelled very nice. Jaxon was Captain Kirk. He doesn't know who that is, but he really loved the costume!

Travis's work does trick-or-treating "cubicle to cubicle" for employees and their families. Employees who participated had a balloon float up from their cubicle which meant that cubicle had candy. Jaxon loved it, and got most of his Halloween candy from these desks. Violet just screamed the whole time. She was not a happy baby. She was probably furious about her costume. (Her hair was perfect for it, though!)

Here is a photo of her white hair before we modified the mustache

In the Pumpkin Patch

October means visits to the pumpkin patch! We've been able to visit a couple different pumpkin patches this month with friends. The first was our traditional visit to Pumpkinland. :)

This was Violet's first time, of course.

My little "pumpkin".

And Jaxon's yearly pumpkin photo...I wonder how long I can get away with having my kids sit IN the pile of pumpkins for their photo before it becomes too awkward. Obviously not much longer.

I can't believe how big these boys are getting. :) Whenever I post about this trip, I always revisit post from previous years to compare. Especially this one.

This past week, we visited another farm close by. We climbed mountains of hay bales, played in a big corn kernel pit, and went on a tractor ride. Jaxon loved the slides.

Turned my back for one minute... 

Kept finding corn kernels after we got home.

Excited for the rest of fall festivities to come this week!

Summer Wrap Up

We had a great summer, but are excited for fall. Here's some of what we've been up to in the last few weeks.

We went berry picking again this year. Jaxon loved trying out the raspberries and running through the rows with friends.

This year, I used the raspberries to make a couple razzleberry pies. Yum, yum!

We decided to start a family tradition to make doughnuts on Stake Conference Sundays. Note to self, make 1/3 of the batch the original recipe calls for! :)

And, of course, this little 3 month old is loads of fun.

Yes, she is. :)