December 25th ~

Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve at our home with the Leland's & Moss'. The kids acted out the Nativity Story - it was really cute and a bit humorous. We had to improvise on the Baby part since none of our families have anyone younger than 8 years old - Lacie played that role :)

Callie & Tess - what cute friends!

The Leland's

The Moss'

The kid's table - what a bunch of cuties!

All the kids got this giant candy bar reminding them to be good :)

We have a Mexican Tamale dinner every Christmas Eve. I forgot to get a picture of the food but did take one of these Oreo Truffles we made - yum!

Holiday Happenings...

Last night we joined about nine other families for a really fun hayride. We were driven around a part of town that has tons of lights - I think the residents are required to decorate. The weather was perfect - just chilly enough to feel like Christmas but warm enough that just a jacket & gloves were good.

Raegan & Tess

The Dudes - Luke, Brevan, Ryan & Parker

This is definitely one of the benefits of living in the South - swimming 3 days before Christmas!

Raegan & Tess

Christmas card

We're hoping this got to all our friends and loved ones in the mail - if not, we apologize and we'll try better next year.

Merry Christmas y'all!

Let it snow...let it snow!

We got a couple inches of snow last Friday! By the time the kids were home from school, it was beginning to let up and melt off a bit. We did actually get really big fluffy flakes earlier in the day. Tess couldn't resist taking Lacie out to play.

Ryan is our latest child to get home so it was really melting by then. He got on the trampoline and had fun - ended up pretty soaked though.

Lacie attempting to tip-toe through the snow ;o) She was probably wishing her adult coat of fur was in already - maybe next year!

The Musicman (I mean girl)

Tess began taking piano lessons this fall. She just loves her teacher, Angie Ward, and really likes playing. Tess is our child who taught herself a couple little songs out of Marisa's old beginner books. She played "We Three Kings of Orient Are" at the recital & did a great job!

We hope to have years of recitals with Tess!

Thanksgiving Moments

We had so much fun with the Leland's & Moss' over for the day. The kids had their own table in the foyer next to the dining room - so we could keep an eye on any shenanigans!

Here's a shot Marisa took of her place setting -

I love her viewpoint in photos

Pumpkin pies - the staple of the Thanksgiving dinner!

This was a new recipe I tried with a gingersnap layer and pecan streusel on the top - so yummy that it will now be served every year in our house!

Unfortunately this is the only picture of the bird (the back end!). He was a big 22 pounder and so yummy - he sat in a brine for 24 hours which I'm sure was enjoyable :o)

Trick-or-Treating

This was our very first year that all the kids went with separate friends. We took Tess around our neighborhood with her friends. Ryan & Marisa both went with a bunch of their good friends in a different neighborhood. It was strange just having our one little trick-or-treater - but she was really cute!

Pre-Halloween Fun

The older kids went to a Halloween church party tonight. Marisa went as Dorothy - complete with a real life "Toto" (for the picture only...she didn't take Lacie). Can you guess what Ryan is? (answer below)

We'll post more on our actual Trick-or-Treating costumes :o)

(He's a "Quarterback" - haha)

marisarose.

Marisa took Senior pictures of her friend, Madison. Here's just one of them - you can see others on her new photography blog here. They turned out really cute.

Cookies & Turtle Bread

I just found out last night that my mom is going into Hospice care. It seems so strange to me that my friends in our new town have never met her. She has never been able to make the trip down from Utah to our new home. Back in Kingwood, everyone we know loves her. She was always baking with my kids - specializing in bread shaped like animals and gingerbread cookies - wonderful memories for all of us. We love you Grandma Judy (aka - Mom).

A Tiny Sneak Peek

Here's a little preview (it's also up on there on the header) of the photo shoot we had in Provo this summer. The other shots (even better ones) will be showing up in our Christmas card -

so we won't unveil those just yet :)

Ryan turns 12!

Ryan had a really great group of boys over to help him celebrate his 12th birthday (can't believe it!!).

They were such goofs and a ton of fun!

Happy Birthday RyRy - we love you tons!

Count them - 7 really good ones

Here are seven GREAT reasons to LOVE the Amazing Race (in case you haven't been clued in yet!)

Could it be coming?

There's a teensy-tiny bit of Fall in the air.... granted, you can only feel it between 5:00-7:00 am - but it's there.  All things pumpkin are coming to mind. Aren't these the cutest little mini pumpkin pies from Bakerella?

I think we need to make these very soon!

It's almost here!

I'm an Amazing Race addict...and it starts again in only six days!! I'm giddy - it's always around my birthday so it feels a little like a present for me :)

They won an Emmy tonight for BEST reality show - AGAIN!!

Isn't he cute?

Marisa started playing around with the new camera and took this picture of our cute Sugar - most people don't see him because he's so shy - but he sure is a pretty kitty - we love him...look at those eyes!

(the Ragdoll breed only have blue eyes)

Our Labor Day

Hope you all had a great Labor Day - we sure did!

More of Lacie

Marisa took these pictures of Lacie today in the yard - she needed to get some action shots for her class at school. Marisa still has her little camera - the new Nikon doesn't show up until later this week. 

I still thought they were really cute & a fun perspective. 

She's just a GIANT among dogs :o)

Ryan running Lacie - she can almost catch up...I give her another month or two!

We dip her feet into the pool each day to help clean her off from her yard adventures. We want to train her to swim so she'll be safe outside with us. She's pretty fascinated by the water.

We bit the bullet...

Not only have we recently purchased a not-so-inexpensive puppy, but we also just bought one of these - (where is Santa when you need him?!)

We've been thinking of getting one for awhile - especially for sports in which our point-and-shoot camera just doesn't cut it. What pushed us over the edge is our amateur photographer, Marisa, and her new photo journalism class. Her teacher really expects them to have a DSLR camera and she's been dying for one. So, don't expect any great pictures from me but I'll let you know how it goes for her!

One year older and wiser too (hopefully!)

My blog turned ONE year old on August the 17th. I was in Destin and was celebrating my wedding anniversary on that day (not same amount of time - 20+1 years!)

Happy anniversary/birthday my little blog!

Happy Days are here again!

Back to School - this year all three kids go to different schools at different times. Hence, there aren't anymore together pictures. Once one leaves, the next one wakes up and so on. Our biggest change is that Ryan started middle school. I think that is the hardest transition for me - the middle school year - he's too young! I can't wait to hear how everything went when they all arrive home - at different times.