This year for Halloween we decorated our front yard, carved pumpkins, and did some trick-or-treating and a movie night with the cousins. A local Baptist church sold pumpkins for a fundraiser, and that's where ours came from. The pumpkin Addison chose was impossible to carve. It was like a rock! So it's gracing our porch through the month of November, too. We did a quick Walmart run to find one he could actually carve. Emmie's pumpkin didn't take long to paint, so she got to have doughnuts and apple cider before anyone else. A lady in our neighborhood invited us to come preview the spooky backyard she'd prepared for her grandkids. Decorations, actors, treats, even the Great Hall of Hogwarts where all the kids got to be sorted into houses! It was such a treat! The weather was perfect for trick-or-treating! We had the Aarons over for a quick dinner and then hit the streets for some selective trick-or-treating. We wanted to avoid going to every house in the universe, be...

Easter was unusual this year, kind of like everything else, but we dyed eggs and hunted for them. We even had some friends hide an egg for each of the kids in our yard! We had little Easter baskets, plenty of jellybeans, and sacrament meeting and nursery at home. In a way, it was nice to be able to keep it really simple and focus in my own heart, at least, on the Resurrection. In another way, the kids missed traditions with friends! Emmie was napping while we did most of the eggs, but we saved a couple for her. We mixed all the egg dye in the potty when we finished with it.  I love hiding eggs for the kids in our yard. There are so many sneaky places to put them!   Emmie threw a monster tantrum, which is very unlike her. It lasted a really, really long time. Egg salad sandwiches. A must. Enjoying a new Easter book.  These little Easter egg decorations were fun to make with the kids and brighte...

Well this post has been a long time coming! For your viewing pleasure, a whole ton of pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas at our house. With a little bit of captionage. My 35th(!) birthday! Woohoo! Addison elfing it up. He busted out the power tools for his gift to Nate. Asa and Addison busted out a breakfast casserole so we could have things ready to rock on Christmas morning.    Emmie was simply a delight. Her nursery leader made her that teeny little sock monkey for Christmas. So sweet! We broke with tradition and decided to have fondue for our Christmas Eve meal. It was a hit, and easy, and so fun!  It went without incident until the boys decided it would be fun to dip entire baked potatoes in the sauce . . .  Then it was time for presents for each other. We each drew a name, just like always. Bryn got Leah this cute hat and used Nate's scroll saw and drill to make her some beautiful beads fro...