Long Overdue Updates

What a wonderful time of year. I love the Christmas season. I love the decorations, the festivities, the childlike excitement, but most of all the I love reflecting on the humble birth of our Savior and His sacrifice for each of us.

I know our posts have been few and far between but I hope that you all enjoy the pictures and stories. So much has occurred since our last post in October and I must admit that I have not been very good with taking pictures so I don't have pictures from Halloween or Thanksgiving dinner. I need to be better at capturing all the sweet moments with our girls because they grow so fast and our memories dim, so I will attempt to tell you about some of our adventures.

We had fun carving pumpkins for Halloween. Jared carved whatever the girls wanted on their pumpkin. Kate was not too sure about the pumpkin thing.

Kate is fast approaching one and I find it hard to believe that so much time has past. She is still as sweet as ever even when she is throwing a fit or making a fake pouty face. Kate walks everywhere and gets into everything; sometimes I wonder if it is even worth picking up after her as I know that everything inevitably ends up strewn across the floor again. She is teething and looks silly because she has 4 teeth on the bottom and none on the top yet. Kenadee and Kinsey love to play with her and Kate loves to be in the middle of everything they are doing.

We loved our Thanksgiving vacation. Jared took a couple of days off and we went to Kat's parent's house in Idaho. It was a much needed respite for our family as our lives seem way too chaotic and it was wonderful to spend time together without any interruptions. There is no cell phone coverage and the internet was down for almost the entire time. We had a house full of family and tons of snow outside so we played games, ate LOTS of food (thanks Mom), and sled down my parent's driveway. Kenadee and Kinsey loved playing with their cousins and getting spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa.

This was Kate's first time sledding and she almost smiled a few times. She was scared of Jared though because of his hat and sunglasses and didn't want him to hold her. Kenadee and Kinsey actually fed the horses some hay (usually they won't go near them). They loved sledding even if the sled was old and cracked.

One of my little sisters watched the girls so Jared and I could go to the Black Friday sales. We went to 5 stores and were still back to Idaho by 8:30am (we have to drive to Logan, UT to shop--it's an hour away from my parent's house). I am so glad we went and stood in the cold for 45 minutes because we got some great sleeping bags and $40 worth of instore credit that we used to get snow pants for Jared and me and a sleeping pad for Jared. We also got great deals at the other stores and it was nice to have some time without the kids.

When we got back from Thanksgiving we decorated our house for Christmas and the girls absolutely loved putting up the tree and hanging the ornaments. While we put the tree up, Kate kept crawling underneath it and Kenadee and Kinsey sorted the branches. Surprisingly Kate has not really bugged the ornaments on the tree--she will touch them but not pull them off. Also the girls have not bothered the presents under the tree. One night Jared and I wrapped most of the presents and put them under the tree; the next morning Kenadee came in our room so excited and said that Santa must have come because there were more presents. We cannot wait to see them on Christmas morning as their excitement will be contagious.

These are some pictures of the girls that I thought were too cute.

Kinsey in some dress up

Kinsey in dress up again (she has at least 4 layers of clothes on)

Kenadee and Kinsey got in trouble one day and I sent Kenadee to the bathroom so they would be separated and then when I went to get her she had fallen asleep on the floor.