Christmas Tree

We started a new tradition last year of cutting our own Christmas tree.  Last year we cut our tree in jackets and there were only pockets of snow.  This year the Whitakers came with us, which would have made it worth it even if we didn't find a tree.  We tried to make it up to where we cut one last year, but it was too snowy, I think only a snowmobile could have gotten through.  We went up and around to another spot.  I kept seeing good trees all the way up the mountain, but they were on private land.  It seemed like as soon as we got to the Forest Service sign the snow got a lot deeper.  We couldn't get very far in, and we even had to back down the mountain, so we stopped in the first place we saw a decent tree.  Actually our tree looks great from the front, it just has no branches in the back.  You can't see the back anyway, right?

November

We had our first snowstorm of the winter the weekend before Thanksgiving, and winter came in with a bang! It snowed about a foot in 2 days. Because everyone at the school is new, no one new how to clear the parking lot, so we got stuck in the parking lot.

Devon came home from work early to build a snow fort with the boys.  There was a lot of snow.  Evey house with kids had a snow fort, but they were all different.

I have to bribe James to get him to go outside in the winter.  He is not a fan of the cold white stuff and does not understand the draw. 

Carrie is a messy eater and also the cutest baby ever.  She has four teeth now and just looks older everyday.

We went to Phoenix for Thankgiving.  This looks like almost the same picture, but this time it's mashed potatoes that Devon piled on her tray for Thanksgiving, she loved it.

The cousins and Jason and Nate built houses for Leprechauns at a park.  The leprechauns came out of hibernation and left treats twice for the amazing house builders.

WE went to the zoo on Thanksgiving morning.  It was really fun and gave us something to do while waiting for the food to cook.  Our camera was out of order for Thanksgiving, so there may be another Thanksgiving post when I get the pictures off the other computer.

October

Here are some pictures from the rest of October. It has been a crazy month, Devon went to DC with some kids, we went to Phoenix for a few days. Devon and Spencer went to the school Halloween carnival alone because James was throwing up that night.

Apparently a few people challenged Devon to a doughnut eating contest, and to win he ate it off the floor, seriously?

One of our neighbors has some pretty amazing Halloween decorations.  Spencer told the principal and his class about them, so we had to take some pictures to show them.  When they were setting them up Spencer went over and said "Wow, you must be rich"  Obviously his mom is too cheap, and short on storage space to get this many cool decorations- we'll enjoy theirs.

Sometimes I wonder if it sounds like our house is falling down to the neighbors, these boys have so much energy, and Carrie fits right in!

We don't really have trees here, so one day I went to Blanding and saw tons of leaves in the church yard, I found a box and filled it up and we had imported leaves, it was a lot of fun!

I just thought this was so cute, Spencer was trying to get Carrie to watch Baby Einsteins, she mostly to busy for such things.

Isn't this baby cute?  She is sooo busy.  Now she can get around nothing is safe.  I love that whenever you look at Carrie she gives you a huge smile.  She loves to play with her brothers, and they usually love to have her around.  She is by far my worst sleeper, but when she smiles I just forgive her on the spot.  She brings a lot of happiness to our family.

Halloween

For Halloween i tried to be cool and have themed costumes. We were the characters from Mario Cart.

The boys were super cute as Mario and Lugi, Devon was  Koopa and i was Toad and Carrie was baby Peach.  The boys did not like my plan and would only wear these costumes for pictures.  I guess Halloween is really for the kids, so I tried not to get too upset about the time I spent making the costumes.

We bought some face crayons at after Halloween clearance, and these are both Spencer's creations.  I thought he did a good job, especially applying it to his own face.

Sand Dunes

We found a new place to play.

Lately I have been thinking about how grateful I am to live here in Monument Valley.  Over the summer I think we gave some friends and family the idea that we don't like it here, but that really is not true.  There are two things that make it hard to me to live here, our small apartment and the lack of produce available, but I think any place will have a least 2 drawbacks.  I love many things about Monument Valley.  I love the weather, warm, but usually not hot and almost always sunny.  When it does rain the storms are amazing!  I love the people here.  We have been sad many times to see dear friends move and we miss them, but we always get to make new friends and that is great.  I love that my kids always have friends to play with.  When my sister came last week she said "It's like raising your kids in the 50's"  it's true, where else on earth can you let your kids play outside with the neighbors all the time?  Devon loves his job.  It has been especially challenging this year to get used to a new principal and take on the new huge responsibility of Athletic Director- but I know we are supposed to be here and these opportunities for Devon are a big reason.  I love the flea market.  I rarely buy new clothes or toys thanks to hand me downs and a great flea market with nice shirts for 25 cents.  Also, I love the scenery.  People travel from other countries to see what I get to see everyday.  We discover a new amazing place often.  This picture was taken at some sand dunes that we just found a few weeks ago.  I think this really is the perfect place for our family right now and I am truly happy to be here.

Other summer happenings

Carrie tried her first baby food. Now she thinks she is starvign if I don't fee her fast enough, but she can't fool us with those chubby cheeks.

Spencer learned to ride his bike without training wheels.  It took all of about 10 minutes, and he loves to ride all around now.

These pictures were just too cute to pass up.

One day i walked to get the kids from school (my new built in exercise) and it started raining, and then it started pouring and I wished i had the soap so we could take a shower.  At least it was warm.

Even Carrie got a little wet with the rain fly on her stroller.

It's raining again today, I have never seen it rain so much here.  It is really green, but unfortunately all the green plants are weeds with thorns.  Maybe someday my kids will want to wear shoes outside- actually they are just really good at avoiding the "pokies."

Robert's reunion

In the end of July we went back up north for some reunions. My grandma had a reunion, but somehow we have no pictures of that. We had a great time at a park playing with cousins, singing old songs and looking at old picture albums. James continues to sing "Ghost Chickens in the Sky" almost daily and we found out that Carrie looks a lot like my Aunt Randa when she was a baby. That evening we went to Devon's reunion in Mt. Pleasant. Everyone stayed together at the top of this mountain in a huge cabin (I don't know if you could call it a cabin, it was nicer than most houses). We had a great time, and somehow we have more than 800 pictures of this reunion- so you can guess who takes the pictures in our family.
One favorite activity is for all the boys to go shooting.   About 400 pictures are of this, they look mostly the same, so I just chose one.

We went swimming at an overpriced pool, but Spencer had a good time.

James warmed up to the water when he found a friend, thanks Annika

We did "family Olympics" which Spencer loved participating in.

I think James favorite part of the reunion were the "dance parties"  There was a huge theater room with a projector and a great sound system so all of the little cousins (second cousins maybe?) loved to come down and dance.  James learned many new moves at the family dance contest.

Carrie did not sleep much in the day, but slept great at night in her car seat.  She slept in he car seat fora bout 2 weeks straight, I was worried she would never sleep in a crib, but she prefers her crib now.
Here is Carrie with her cousin- okay Devon's cousins daughter, Korey.  They are one day apart.  Carrie learned many tricks from Korey and started rolling everywhere after she saw Korey do it.  She also told me she is jealous of Korey's beautiful hair.

We had a great time and it was a good break, we got home and moved the next day and then moved 2-3 families per day after that for a few days.  Someday we'll be all unpacked.

July

I am finally finding the time to catch up a little on our blog. It has been a crazy summer followed by an even more crazy school year, so here's our July in a nutshell.
Devon and I were both really sick for the fourth (who gets the flu in July?)  so we canceled our trip to St. George and just went to Blanding for the parade.  They had lots of trucks that sprayed water, but we were by people who did not want to get wet, so we stayed dry. 

After the parade we went to the park to check out the booths, but it was really hot and all of the food booths had crazy long lines, so we went to the bakery for lunch.  We ate cinnamon rolls and lemon bars and it was really yummy and we were the only ones there. At the park we bought one thing, paper fans for the boys that broke within about 1 hour of purchase.

Spencer had been wanting to make an apple bobbing thing, he must have seen it on some show, so we told him he could on the 4th of July.  He and Daniel and Samantha thought it was pretty fun, James and Christy just picked up their apples.

Devon thought it would be fun to set off a smoke bomb in my tupperware bowl.  It did look cool, but now I don't have a tupperware bowl.  We did fireworks in the evening and then went to the Gouldings fireworks (which lasted surprizingly long) and sat on the car to watch.  It was a fun 4th even without a trip.
We actually went to St George the next week to visit our friends.  We had a great time playing in their pool and mostly just hanging out.  Spencer was especially daring in the pool and had to be rescued twice when he over estimated his skills, but otherwise it was a great time.
Sometime in July Carrie discovered her toes, they are still a favorite.  We love having Carrie around, she is such a happy baby and she brings a lot of peace and love to our home.

Toward the end of July I met up with my sister and her husband's family on a house boat on Lake Powell.  Spencer loved the tube and the Jet skiis and even tried water skiing.  James was happy to just throw rocks in the lake, and Carrie did not like being confined to a life jacket, but she was happy once we got on the boat.
On their way back they stopped by our house.  My parents were on their way through to Texas too, so we has quite a party.

Spencer (and Devon) showed them all the sites and James loved having Ruby to play with.

While the Dicksons were here Spencer started building a hogan. He worked on it for hours every day, even when I tried to explain that we would be moving soon. This is as big as the hogan got, then we moved.  Also, my boys think they match if they are wearing the same color, and we didn't go anywhere special that day.

Don't we live in a lovely place?