Picture and Video Dump

I have a bunch of random pictures I want to share so here goes:

This is Ally's baskelball she drew for art class.  She did so good!

Jensen took third place in Photography in his school's Reflection contest.

Holden stole my camera and took this picture.  I thought it was funny because this is how he really see us...hee hee.

Ally was asked to sing "Where are you Christmas" at our ward party.  They had a "Grinch" theme so I did some "who hair" for her.

I was actually quite proud of myself.  I'm not exactly known for my hair fixing skills.  Just ask Ally.

This was probably my favorite thing I did this holiday season.  I learned a duet to play with Ally.  I haven't played the piano very much in years and it was fun to refresh my skills.  She is so much better than me it was a little discouraging at times though.  I had to practice while she wasn't around!  The video cracks me up.  She knew the song so well she was pulling faces during the recording!  I love this girl!

Another facebook post:

"If only I could experience the magic of Christmas by being a kid again. Glad I have little ones to help me remember. "

Bubsy with the camera again.  Logan is chillin' in front of the tv.

Ally's reflections trophies.  She won first in Dance and Visual Arts and second in Musical Composition and Photography.  She won $70!  She wasn't very happy about her song she composed not getting first.  The other kid's song was made up in five minutes (we know because his piano teacher is our piano teacher and she wasn't very happy either) and Ally spent months on her song.  His song even went on to win at Council level.  Grrr!  But Ally's dance was a winner at council, so that's good.  I will post it next.

The theme was The Magic of a Moment.  They only had about an hour for Ally to teach the dance to her friend, so all in all it turned out pretty good!

Logan-piano recital.  It won't upload Ally's so I will try and do that later.

 

I'll end with Holden's self portrait.  I love his little toes!

Finishing up Thanksgiving Weekend

We got the trees home and were able to get our tree up on Sunday.

Ta Da!  The tree is up!

Holden decorates while wearing shorts and cowboy boots.  Doesn't everyone?

I got to put the star on top.  Well, kind of.  Josh got tired of watching me try and took over.  Husbands....

Awe.  Cute kiddles.

I think this was our prettiest tree yet.  It was definitely the biggest!  It was touching the ceiling (19 ft) after we cut about two feet off.  It looked so pretty by my freshly painted red wall.  And did you notice the couches?  Yep.  New couches for me. :)   After thirteen years of the green couches, we finally got new ones!  Merry Christmas to me.  Plus I got another present I will share in a minute.  I was definately spoiled this year!

After we got done decorating the tree, we made snowflakes.  It was a lot of fun!  I found some patterns to make them on Pinterest, but after a few I decided I just liked to make my own.  The kids helped and we then turned around and did this...

...we hung them in the front room with MY NEW GRAND PIANO!!!

Can you say awesome!  I've been wanting one for a LONG time!  We sold the golf cart (sniff) and used the money to buy this.  We got an awesome deal at an estate sale.  It's a 1997, but in excellent shape and pianos don't lose their value so we scored!

I love it!

Anyway...Thanksgiving weekend was SO nice.  In fact I'll leave you with my facebook post from Sunday night.

"I think this Thanksgiving weekend was my favorite ever. Spent Thanksgiving with my little family in Idaho hunting for Christmas trees and eating tacos. Had the best weather to hunt for more trees with the funnest friends. Then had the best time decorating the house and tree for Christmas. The kids even acted like they liked each other-mostly. So sad to see the weekend end, but happy for the memories."

 

Ice Skating

The Saturday of Thankgiving weekend, we still had a few more trees to cut down so we headed up the mountain again.  Gotta love (not really) how Josh always voluteers to cut down trees for half of town.

For some reason the kids don't really like to ride with me on the four wheeler.  Is it really that bad to go slow and careful?

Josh is always a popular driver, though!

We went up and the pond was completely frozen over.  While Josh looked for trees, the kids played hockey and practiced their "skating" skills.

Ally the ice ballerina.

Holden liked the ice, but liked cutting his stick even more.  Yep, we're the awesome kind of parents who hand thier kid sharp tools just to make him happy.  Being the last kid has it's bonuses.

They did not want to leave the pond!  Another awesome day!

Christmas Tree Hunting

The day after Thanksgiving is always one of my favorite days.  We were lucky enough to have the Kotters and the Roses stay with us Thanksgiving night, so we headed out for the hunt bright and early.

It wouldn't be the Christmas tree hunt without a picture of Ally and Katelyn ready to go!

This was last year's picture.  They grew a lot!  But still had the same coats-funny!

Boys with sticks.  Holden and Andrew loved being in the woods.  As you can tell, the snow was a little sparse.  We shed our layers before too long.

The Kotters and thier tree.  I love that we share this tradition every year.

I didn't get any pictures of the Rose family.  They ended up going up at a different time and place.  We did have Shelby meet up with us for a moment, though.  Yet again, no picture.  Oops!  I'll do better next year. 

I did end up with a picture with our friends, the Huffs.  We are so glad we've been able to get to know them this year.  It's been fun.

 

This is Ally doing her "picture pose" while hoding an elk jaw.  Gross, yet she's as photogentic as always.

Spencer and Logan and a "lovely" elk bone.  They couldn't get enough of the dead elk they found in the creek.

While we were off looking for a tree for the Huffs, the kids found a geo-cache. They were very excited.  They took some change out of it and we put some hand sanitizer back in.

The geo-cache spot.

It was another beautiful fun day spent with friends and our little family.  I wish every holiday weekend could be so great!