Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We had a really great Christmas! Santa found us - we must have been good this year. Here are the favorites:
New boots and barrel reins- what more could a girl ask for?!
New clubs! Yes! Hogans - just like my dad's! Now, when the heck is spring break?!
Reese has wanted "toe shoes" for years and years. She is just such a dancer and she thinks they are sooooo cool. She now dances - on her toes- all around the house.
Brannen got a car to ride on - and later push around when walking becomes more important. Also, thanks for the way cool green slipper boots, Aunt Jennie!
At Grama Chris' Christmas party. We had such a fun time with them.
Grama got Brannen this awesome "Frog in a Box" - and it really scared Kelly when he was helping Bran open it. It was pretty funny. Notice-- that IS the frog flying out of the box in the upper corner of the picture.
Christmas at our house, after all of the opening was finished. So much fun! How many days until next year?

I like to eat dirt!

Bran found one of my plants upstairs - ate lots of dirt - made a big mess. I guess I'm going to have to start baby proofing!

I Do Take Requests!

So I got a call last night from my very favoritest cousin (oh, well, Jordan - if you are reading this - of course, YOU are my favoritest cousin! Oh yea, Stevie - if you are reading this - of course, YOU are my favoritest cousin! Oh yea, Nate - if you are reading this . . . Aaron . . . Diana . . . Melanie . . . Cameron - oh well, I can't pick a favorite) So, last night I got a call from my GREAT cousin Jonathan. You see, Jonathan's fondest dream is to move to Wyoming, change his name to Butch Roper (a real cowboy name), and spend all of his time in the saddle, while simultaneously reading every Louis Lamour book that has ever been written. So Jonathan can't figure out why I don't have more pictures of Rae on horses on my blog! I think my answer would be that it is WINTER, really COLD and not quite the peak of horse riding season around here! However, I dug through the 'ole iphoto and found some really cool horse pictures for my favoritest cousin (there I go again . . . .) Jon. If only we could all just ride horses all day long, everyday . . . . . right Jon!?!

Kelly really likes to ride too. He took the kids on some fun rides this summer. He kept trying to keep his favorite horse, Belle, in shape. She tends to fatten up too well.
A normal sight from my kitchen window in the summer.
During her try-outs for Jr. Princess, Rae had to "work" a cow in the arena. She did a great job - she was just wishing that she could have been riding her Grampa Barry's awesome cutting horse, Peppy. He has some serious moves. But Peppy is getting old, and she's trying to do more with Lady - the horse she rode this past summer for Jr. Princess. I love her look of focus. She is really trying here!
This is Rae's favorite picture in the whole world. I should get it made into a poster for her. She just thinks it is the best thing ever. This is a picture of her - coming around the 3rd barrel - taking it home! She really has gotten into barrel racing. She loves it, and is trying to get better and better at it.
I like this picture of Rae too. She is competing in pole bending in this picture.
Oh, the Princess wave!! She has been practicing this move her entire life. Rae definitely got her love of horses from her Grandpas. Kelly and I are just not into the rodeo thing like Rae is. She really wishes that we would love it and be into it as much as she is. We try to support and help her as much as we can (without getting a second mortgage on the house for buying a truck, horse trailer, horses, pasture etc. - this stuff is pricey!), and then we are grateful to Grampas (and Colleen too) who help us out by actually owning these horses! Taking care of and feeding these horses, and also taking her to events - hauling her horse and her around and such. Let's just say, there is no way that Rae could do all these fun things without help from Grandpas! We really do appreciate them!

Thanks for the call Jon. It was so great to hear from you! I really miss not being able to see all of you more often. You are the best kind of people there is. Get a blog or something! I need to see your own cuties more often!

Tiny Tim!

Kelly and Brannen have been getting in the Christmas spirit with their Tiny Tim impersonation. Pretty cute stuff! We are all in love with this baby!

Cute Baby Pictures of the Day

Baby Bran!

Oh Christmas Tree!

We had a great time decorating our tree over the Thanksgiving break. Now we have a 24 hour baby magnet. Watch out tree!

Parade of Lights

Each year when we go to the Parade of Lights here in Afton my dad says, "This parade is so great! We should really make a float". So this was the year. I think Colleen really liked the idea - and got busy making an awesome float. All the kids helped and I think it turned out really great. It looked SO good. They all had fun throwing candy and being a part of the parade. Farmer Jeff even got out his tractor to pull it. I think that was a great touch. Very cool! I need to get another picture of the other side - it was awesome too!

Tag!

8 Things: (I was tagged by Jennie and it has taken me a while to respond! Oops! Too much Thanksgiving fun!)

8 Things I am obsessed with right now:
1. Baby Brannen
2. Rae, Brady & Reese
3. Kelly the Great
4. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog - thanks Bekki, It really makes me laugh
5. Getting ready for Christmas (fun, fun)
6. Keeping the floors clean (they NEVER stay clean, no matter how much you clean them! Ahh!)
7. Looking at Christmas lights
8. Reading

8 Words or Phrases that I use often:
1. Dang!
2. RAE!
3. There's the cute baby! (add very nerdy - baby sing-song tone)
4. Whatever.
5. More golf channel? Really? Isn't it boring YET?
6. Clean up after yourself!
7. Really?!?
8. Be nice!

8 Shows that I love to watch right now: (Kelly and I watch together)
1. Bones
2. ER
3. Smallville
4. Boston Legal
5. Pushing Daisies (you are right - Dave!)
6. Heroes (I'm loosing interest - Kelly is still a viewer)
7. Regis and Kelly (while I'm cleaning/ doing morning stuff)
8. Good Morning America (cleaning too)

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. Went to the beautiful "Parade of Lights" and waved at cute kids!
2. Rocked a baby to sleep - so fun!
3. Cleaned the Kitchen - MANY times
4. Swept the floor - again
5. Ate lunch with Clint and Allison - good to visit with you
6. Watched yet another "cousin play" that Rae and her fellow thespians created for the entertainment of all.
7. Put up and decorated a Christmas tree with 4 cute kids!
8. Changed a diaper or two!

8 favorite places to eat:
1. Pizza Hut
2. Burger King
3. Subway
4. Agave
5. Rulons Burger Barn
6.Taco Time
7. Maverik - hot dog you know
8. Isn't Afton wonderful! So many choices! These really aren't favorites - believe me!

8 Things I am looking forward to:
1. Going to IF with Kelly tomorrow
2. Watching a movie tonight with the kids
3. A good week ahead of the regular routine
4. Getting everyone off to school - and getting the house clean. It will stay clean too - for about four whole hours!
5. Christmas with Bekki and Adam visiting!
6. Getting ready for Christmas (wrapping, buying, planning etc.)
7. Brannen's 1st birthday - it is coming so quickly!
8. My life to come! I wonder what will happen?!

8 Things that are on my wish list:
1. To sleep through the entire night
2. To go on a great family vacation
3. Get some sleep
4. Go on a fabulous trip with Kelly
5. To not be sick!
6. Spend lots of time with kids and Kelly - just us
7. Sleep would be good
8. Magic dinner - it is always hot, ready and waiting. Every night!!

8 People I tag:
1. Bekki
3. Jennifer
4. Katie
5. David
6. Allison
7. Chris
8. Rae

You're gonna smile!

Help! I need captions! These pictures are so funny - they need clever captions! I'm not feeling very clever at the moment - so help! Any ideas?! Come on Jonesy - you must have an idea or two! These pictures just make me laugh!

Reese's Baptism

Reese was baptized on Saturday, November 15 2008. We really appreciate those who were able to come, and appreciate those who weren't - but were thinking about her. Thanks for the calls and well wishes. In a perfect world we would be able to "twinkle" ourselves somewhere instantly - and be with those we love on every important day. We had a really nice dinner at our house after the baptism- and enjoyed being with everyone.

Birthday Party!

We went to Grama Chris's house and celebrated birthdays with them! Reese and Grama both have birthdays in the beginning of November. It was a great time - good food and good visit. We gave Chris a bag full of crochet cotton to "project" with - she seemed fairly happy about that (see the picture). I'm certain that I will be the recipient of some really beautiful dishcloths very soon! Yipee! A guess it was a gift for me too! Anyway, we had a fun time celebrating birthdays again. Love you Grama! Love you Reese!

Brady the Puzzler

Brady had loved putting together puzzles his whole life.  When he was little, little, he would do the same puzzle over and over again.  He is kind of obsessed with them.  Recently, he has been puzzling again.  He has some really cool puzzles that he has been working on.  After you get them together the picture also glows in the dark.  Awesome!  It has been fun to have them out on the table, and watch everyone stop a minute to put a piece or two in.  Kelly is funny to watch - he really likes to work on them too, but he gets easily frustrated.  He just says funny, odd things.  The thing I really like about puzzling - is that everyone is around and talking.  It is fun.  We missed aunt Katie while we were putting these together.  She is a queen of puzzles too.  Come on over - we'll put one together!

Happy Birthday Reese!

We just had a really fun birthday party at our house!  The youngest girl turned 8!  I can't believe it!  She had a really fun party with some friends.  They each made a little pizza to eat, and played lots of games while it was baking, ate and played some more.  She wanted "flower pot" cupcakes - they were cute.  Too bad I let her look at the cake book - it took a while to make those things.  But it was fun.  Birthdays are for fun cakes!  I'm so glad we have a Reese in our family.  She is such an easy kid to be around.  We sure do love her.  She will be getting baptized on Saturday.  She is really excited.  

Oh my heck! I can't believe I REALLY got a DS!  Wow, wow, wow wow! 

Oh my heck!  I really can't believe that they got me all of these wonderful balloons!  It is so much fun to twist myself up in them!

Now, I'm stuck.  Help me, mom!  Dad!  Anyone!

Brannen

I learned to smile while squishing my nose up and showing my two front teeth!  

 Fairly adorable!

The Kids

Happy Halloween everyone!  Here are the rest of the gang all ready to go trick-or-treating.  The mummy of the group was headed to a party at a friend's house, and is far too old for trick-or-treating.  She improvised the costume for the picture, by pulling it off of the wall behind her.  Reese had to be something beautiful - a dancer (there's a stretch!), Brady was the standard "football player" - however he gets more points this year for added creativity with the dreadlocks hanging out of the helmet.  I think it is a great touch.  They are quite the handsome group!  

Yoda Himself

                                           Let's go get some candy or somethin'!

Here he is!  The jedi master himself!  This entry is devoted totally to the one and only Yoda. He was such a great trick-or-treater.  He had a fun time, and was highly amused by the whole business.  If you look back at his newborn pictures, it will be very obvious as to why the boy had to be Yoda for his first Halloween.  He was born Yoda.  

          Getting ready to trick-or-treat with Reesie at her school

                      Brannen is totally a "Mummy's Boy"

Jack-O-Lanterns

I have a great pumpkin carvers!  I'm so glad that they are old enough to handle this messy task by themselves now.  I can just leave the room as the seeds and goo end up all over the place.  I leave them to their work - and remind them, as they are dropping goo all over the floor, that they get to clean it all up.  It is a wonderful system.  They even carved a pumpkin for Brannen!  Great kids!

Go Take a Hike!

Around here, you just gotta take advantage of nice weather when you have it!  It has been so beautiful lately.  Some really perfect fall days.  We enjoyed one such after noon by taking a hike in Grover Park.  While on a bike ride, Kelly found a neat fort that someone built, and he's been wanting to show it to the kids.  Some Sims kids wanted to go with us, so Jeff decided to tag along too.  Jeff also brought his GPS unit to find a "geocache" that was hidden in Grover park.  He put in the coordinates, and the kids found it by themselves.  They each traded a prize for another prize.  It was a really fun afternoon.  Beautiful weather for a hike.   I can just feel months and months of below zero around the corner!  Yikes!

This hike might be scary!  Oh no.  I'm not sure that I want to go.  I hope Dad will protect me!