The First Snowfall of the Season

With Halloween over.. I'm getting pretty excited about Christmas!

This morning when it started snowing, it made me even more excited!!

I know some people don't like listening to Christmas music or setting up their tree until after Thanksgiving.. I am not one of those people.

I have always waited to set up our tree until after Jack's birthday, but since we have a formal living room, maybe I wont wait this year.. I'm too excited!!

Anyways..

As soon as Lilly noticed it was snowing she ran to get her boots and coat on!

First snow of the season!

If you look close.. you can see she DID catch a snowflake on her tongue!

It's so pretty!

Lilly played for quite a while, but with the older kids at school she got tried of playing alone.

We decided that since it felt like Christmas with snow, that we better make Christmas cookies!

My Grandma Mom had this same cookie cookbook when my Mom was little.

At a garage sale in Wisconsin when Ella was a baby I found the exact one!

Lilly loved helping me make the dough!

Then Lila woke up from her nap and Lilly HAD to show her the snow.

She was a little unsure at first.

I had to tell her, that it was ok.

She dared to touch it...

Her face was one of shock.. it's cold?!

Anna came by to play in the snow with the girls.

Lilly just kept making snowballs and throwing them at Anna's back!

After playing in the snow.. again, it was time to roll out our cookies!

Lila is not a good helper. She eats everything.. or throws it on the floor.

The best part- licking the frosting!

It was SUCH a nice day. Just spending it home, with the kids!

This is why I love the holidays!

The First of November

Sometimes when I'm just running down the hill to Walmart I will let Ella babysit Jack or Lilly.

I love when they send me these cute pictures!!

These are the pictures I DON'T like getting when I'm gone...

Better hurry! Poor Lilly.. she missed me :)

Wasn't it just last week that I cleaned and organized all of the toys!?

Another night out for Mexican! It's cheap and everyone likes it. Lila drinks the salsa.. no really she does. It's a problem for about two days after...

I hope that EVERYONE voted!!

Lilly and I found this while out running errands. Lilly thought it totally photo worthy!

Ryan's Christmas present came early this year. Ryan's Dad gave us HIS Dad's grandfather clock when Ella was little. But it hasn't ever worked. Something that has always bothered Ryan a lot.
My Mom reminded me of that a couple of weeks ago, so I called and had a repair man come and look at it. It took him 6 hours!! And it's still not working right, but we are heading in the right direction.
Ryan was pretty surprised when he got home, although he claims he wasn't..
Merry Christmas early Ry!

These girls had so much fun rolling on these rugs! It's amazing what entertains these ladies!

For Lilly's first birthday we got her a big bear from Cost-co.

We never thought there could ever be a bigger bear.

We were wrong!

We hosted Jack's soccer party.. this is the best I could do! Ha!

But it was fun and almost everyone came. I wish I had taken more pictures!

Lila loved all of the cupcakes!

This is totally a spoiler for our Christmas card, but I was so excited to get this big family photo!

Our last one was taken when Jack was little. It always bothers Lilly. She always asks.. where am I??

Mary came to visit! It's always fun, especially with these little girls. They play pretty well together.

This week was Jill's birthday!

Us girls got together for dinner. We sat there for WAY too long!

Then off to bowling!! I haven't been bowling in forever!

We realized that Lisa and I matched!!
It's usually our kids that end up matching by chance!
It was such a fun night! Lisa didn't kick my butt for the first time ever, so that made things even better ;)

We spend an afternoon playing with Scarlett.

Lila started doing this all on her own! How cute is that!?
Grandpa has taught her well :)

All of the kids had dentist check ups.

 I love our pediatric dentist, but he's 45 minutes away.

With all of the kids I thought that I needed to hurry, just to find myself a half hour early. How on earth did that happen? So we went and got some lunch quick.

I love Lila's new bow!

Ella and Jack both have two little cavities, Lila is good.. Lilly.. I better start saving my penny's!

DONT GIVE YOUR KIDS JUICE IN A BOTTLE!

Duh...

A nice lady in my ward was telling me the other day how together me and my kids always are.

This is for you! I am so far from perfect. Anyone who really knows me, knows that it the truth.

This is my before and after.. it took about an hour..

I caught Lila with her sippy on the couch a couple of days ago.. So sweet!

The Young Women's talent show!

We had talked about the talent show, but I hadn't realized that I would have to be a participant.

Oh my gosh. 

I have always wanted to be a dancer. I took several dance classes when I was really little and then again as a teenager. 

But I am really bad. Like, REALLY, REALLY bad.

It's so embarrassing!

We all got together and practiced several times, I think practiced at home. 

I still suck...

Us leaders are so weird! I loved Brandies bangs!

I am NOT about to post the video of the dance.. you don't want to see it.

But everyone did the best they could.. by that I mean me.

Hammer time!

All of the girls did such an amazing job!! I'm so proud of them all!

Should he be a professional magician.. I think yes!!  

I loved that all of the little girls were dancing while Jenika sang!

My favorite of the night were the young men presidency and the Bishopric!
This was awesome!!

Well.. even though the holidays are coming up I still feel like maybe things are slowing down.. Is that crazy to think?

Even if things aren't slowing down, I need to!

This little lady still loves her naps every afternoon. It's so tempting to curl up next to her.

But I would never be able to sleep.. thinking of all of the other things I need to do..

But I better! Time is going by way too fast!

Bizzy's Baby Shower

The morning after Halloween we all woke up and got ready for Bizzy's baby shower!

This is what Jack brought me for breakfast. How sweet! ;)

I helped out, just a little tiny bit with the decor. Tyler's Mom was a wonderful host!

It was a great day! I won two of the three games! Ha! 

When I saw that one of the games was matching celebrities with their babies names, I knew I would win. I watch way too much E! TV.

 Bizzy got so many nice gifts, it was a great day! Can't wait to meet baby Rosie!

After the shower I picked up Jack. He spent the entire day with Ryan at work. I love that Jack got all dress up, just like Dad.

I guess Jack helped with paperwork and even went with Ryan to show some properties.

After such a long day at work, Jack needed a little ice cream break.

Later that evening we all went over to my parents to celebrate Kylie birthday!!

Happy Birthday Kylie!

Dad loves to wrestle.. with anyone who's willing to. 

He was totally the kid that got beat up everyday at school.. because he would make fun of the biggest meanest kid- right to his face.. I swear!