Festival of Trees and Santa

We went to the Festival of Trees with Maria and her boys here are some pictures. We also have had a lot of sitting on Santa's lap. Here are all the pictures.

Jared with Santa

All the kids with Santa. Yes, Curtis is falling off.

Jared in the bubble. We tried to get Abby, but she popped it before we could get a picture.

All the kids at the festival of trees. Next year it will just be a girls night out. Too much for little kids.

All Jared wants from Santa is a candy cane. This is at our ward party.

Abby with Santa. She is taking her wish list very seriously.

The best Santa of all. It was at the mall. He had a big love seat to fit a bunch of kids and there were a lot of activities for the kids while they wait in line.

Thanksgiving

This year we were in Idaho. We had a weekend full of fun. The kids loved playing with their cousins. Jared really missed Idaho and the great outdoors. Curtis didn't sleep the whole weekend. Here are some pictures.

Here is the picture of the kids table. Curtis (my cousin), Marjia, and their two boys came. Becky, Brad, and Addison were there also. We had a large group.

Curtis ready and waiting for food.

Kassie, and Mark in the background rolling up his sleeves to dive in.

Family pictures

The grand kids. My dad had M & M's for all the kids that smiled. Jared was very into that. He is holding his hand out for more. Look at his fake smile.

Our family pictures. It was really cold outside.

Picture of Abby.
Another one of Abby. She is turning into a little model. Today she told me that she now has a picture smile. It is just for when she gets her pictures taken.
Jared and Papa on the tractor. This is his favorite activity when we go to Idaho. He could sit on the tractor all day.

Papa jumped off and Jared is driving the tractor by himself. We drive young in Idaho. The age of three is a good time to start.
Jared started to get really scared. He was worried he was going to hit Grandma's new tree.
Daddy and Curtis. I love this picture.

Thanks Becky for the great pictures.

Anniversary

I have so many post to catch up on. Sorry to do it all at once. I am afraid that if I take my time it wont happen.

In November Mark and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. It seems like we just got married. What can I say, time flies when your having fun. We went out to dinner and a movie the night before. The morning of we went to brunch. We took the kids with us. It was fun to celebrate as a family. Here are some pictures.

Sorry the pictures are bad. They are off my phone.
It pays to get reservations. There was a band and we were right by them. It entertained Abby and Jared forever. They decided to dance. I thought it was so cute. We had to take a picture.

Twilight

This is one example why 1-800 Contacts is such a great company to work for. When a big movie comes out they rent the theater for their employees. For Twilight they did it a little different. When I reserved our tickets they had several showing for Thursday night. It is hard to get a babysitter late at night so I got the 5:30 showing. I didn't realize what a big deal it was until we got there. We got to see the movie before it was released to the public. We had to go through medal detector and they had to check our bags before we went in. I have to admit it was cool. We enjoyed the movie and we were home a little after 8. We got a great night sleep and could still talk about the movie the next day.

Change

Mark has been with 1-800 Contacts for 6 year. It has been an amazing company to work for. They are really good to their employees. Mark is in management there. It is a problem moving up in the company because no one leaves. Mark decided to apply to be a manager at a Target a few weeks ago. We are really excited to say that they hired him. He starts as an assistant manager and then in a few years he takes over a store. They seem like a great company to work for. We are sad to leave 1-800 Contacts, but are really excited to see where Target will take us.

Halloween

Halloween isn't complete without Carmel apples. Abby thought it was great.

Jared was a little nervous to dive in.
We had to include Curtis in the fun. Even if it was only a slice.

After one lick he was hooked.
Abby had a Halloween party at school. I was working so Mark took the boys.
Abby was a fairy. Mark had the idea for the wings. They are coat hangers. The whole outfit was homemade. I was very happy with myself. I always buy. We made the skirt out of elastic band that had ribbons with flowers sown on them.

Here are the boys at the party.

Here is one of just Curtis. He is getting so big.
Mark's parents do a dinner every Halloween. He is a picture of the grand kids.
Jared couldn't find his costume so he went as a fireman.

Pre-Halloween Fun

We really love this time of year. It is full of so many fun things to do. Here are some pictures of a few places we have been.

We went to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanks Giving Point. Here is Abby jumping on the tramp.
She really got air. I was impress for it being her first time.
Here is Jared getting hooked up. He keep telling them not to let him go high. He stuck to his guns the whole time.
He really didn't go much higher than this. All in little baby steps.

Abby with her face painted.
All the girls that got their faces painted.

Every year Mark's work does a trunk-or-treat. The kids love it. This year Abby invited her friend.

Here is try number 2 at the picture. The girls wouldn't hold still.

Curtis getting all dressed up. He did okay. He didn't even cry when we stuffed him in his costume.
Just along for the ride. By the way, he is a purple dragon, not a dinosaur.
Me and my little baby, okay, he is really huge. He is so much fun. Always happy and will do anything for a laugh.

First Birthday

Curtis turned 1 last weekend. It was such a fun day. He is getting so big. Here are some pictures of the big day. This is just a cute picture of my baby.
"What in the world do you want me to do with this thing."
"Oh there is something inside. This is kind of cool."
"Okay it was fun after one, but now I just want to play."

"Grandma, I have no clue what you want me to do with this."

"MmmmM This tastes good. Maybe this birthday thing will be okay. "

"I know this picture will come back later in life. My sister always has to dress me up."

Curtis and his cousin Lauren. She is 3 months younger than him.

It has been a great year. Curtis has added so much joy to our family.