December

 One sunny day in December we visited the sand dunes.  If there is no snow you can always make a sand angel

 Carrie has already reached her teenage years

 Leah wants to be just like daddy

 Helping around the house

 Hello, anyone home?

 making applesauce ornaments

 Leah really does love Ammon, she just looks frightened in this picture

 Spencer and James entered the art contest for the Hot Air Balloon Festival

 James giving Leah a ride

 Night glow, the best part of the hot air balloon festival

Christmas Tree

 We cut down our Christmas tree the weekend before Thanksgiving.  It was great weather, no snow to trudge through.  I think we got our best tree yet, it even had pre attached decorations, cute litttle pinecones

 Carrie really wanted to take this little tree home- unfortunately we were limited to one

Thanksgiving

We got to spend Thanksgiving in Logan at my sister Emilee's house. It was a lot of fun and almost all of my family was there except the ones that live in Florida- but with modern technology they still made it into the cousin picture. My kids were so surprised when I showed them the photoshop version- those cousins weren't there!

My mom made matching dresses for all the little girls, and they are so cute, my girls wear them almost every Sunday. 

We did get one good picture but most of the photo shoot was like this

The next day my grandma had her annual Christmas party, we were excited since we don't usually get to go.  Carrie won these for guessing how many kisses in a jar.

And Spencer (and the boys team) won the dress up like Rudolf contest, so a good time all around

We went to see Santa, but only the boys were brave enough.  Leah was seriously terrified of Santa this year. 

The nest day we went to Nickelcade with Gabe's family

This is a rollercoaster ride- their faces are so funny

The last nickels were spent working as an X-men team to defeat villains.  We had a really fun trip.

November

 Leah in the dress we bought in Mexico before we had any girls, she is a cutie

 James and Carrie are either best friends or worst enemies, but I couldn't resist getting a picture of him reading to her, how cute!

 Carrie is not following our example, we do not talk on cell phones while driving (or remotes while sitting in a cardboard box- how dangerous)

 Day after Halloween hair and activities.

 Carrie has inherited a love for stuffed animals from her brothers

 Spencer decided this would be a good hat for Leah, but it slipped down over her head and would not come off.  We wended up having to use Vaseline to get it off, at least we didn't have to cut it.  Devon always misses the exciting adventures, he was on a work trip.

 Spencer the Christmas tree- inspired by the book "Mooseletoe," if you haven't read it you should!

Halloween

Halloween is a big deal at our house. Spencer starts decorating in August! These pictures are not in order, but just a demonstration of all our Halloween festivities.

Our neighbor who also loves Halloween dresses up for Halloween.  His Halloween decorations are amazing, and include him.  Leah would not go anywhere near him, but the other kids were okay.

Our pumpkins, all from our garden, actually i think James' is from a neighbors because he wanted a really small one.

Our own little monkey

Carrie was a pink witch with pink hair.

Thankfully the boys wanted to reuse the costumes grandma made last year.

Curious George and the man with yellow hat.  All of our kids have worn this costume.

James won a cake at the school carnival.  Spencer wanted to host a booth to earn money for a circus tent to read in.  He did a great job and earned about $20, but decided not to buy a tent, he's more into magic right now.

Carrie and Leah before we went to the Halloween parade at the school

Carrie saw Spencer's friend and had to run give him a hug. 

Spencer hosted a Halloween party that was lots of fun.  We had a Mummy relay, a Spider toss and a few more games

Devon bought a green screen to take cool pictures and change backgrounds

Everyone's favorite thing at the party was the doughnut eating contest.  I even tried it, and decided that is not the way to best enjoy eating a doughnut, but it was really fun.

And the girls danced the night away!