Christmas is coming!

Christmas is coming soon, and there is a lot of excitement in the air around our house. This is always a busy, fun, crazy time of year with parties, gifts to buy, talk of Santa, family get togethers etc... 

Last year at this time our life felt totally overwhelming and out of control!  We had decided  to move into a new house, so we were super busy with packing, closing on our new home, redoing and painting our entire new house, moving, finding new tenants to live in our old house.  This was all done in secret so the kids wouldn't know, until we told them on Christmas morning.  Not to mention the usual craziness of Christmas (parties, school performances, decorating, gifts to buy etc..) AND I was 8 months pregnant!  I was completely worn out and exhausted with huge swollen legs by the end of each day.  Needless to say we survived last December and the thrill of surprsing our kids on Christmas morning was magical, and so fantastic!  As we remember last year, we have great memories but we were very distracted and not able to really enjoy the magical holiday season. 

So we are super excited about this first Christmas in our new home!  I want to forget about "to do" lists, and things to get done and just enjoy the moments.  We have 4 believers in our home and it's such a magical time, I want to soak up these memories!! 

That is my goal for the month, to live in the moment, and enjoy every minute the kids excitement and anticipation.  We have been reading Christmas stories by the Christmas tree at night, talking of Santa and his elves, watching holiday movies, drinking cocoa, and dreaming of a white Christmas.  It feels good to relax and I hope to remember this time with my family forever!  

We love celebrating the birth of our Savior and want to him in our hearts and minds as we go throughout the month.

 We decorated our house and put up our Christmas tree last weekend.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pics. of the decorating.  Here are a few pics of our festivities so far! 

The kids actually cooperated for a picture before church!  This mouse is Danny's family Christmas mouse. She has a stash of hershey kisses in her apron, and she's Isaac's new best friend. 



We are so excited for Christmas!

These are Isaac's latest obsessions.  He loves these binoculars and brings them everywhere we go lately, including to bed.  Thanks to Grandma Shields for letting him "borrow" these, he is never going to give them back.  

Isaac is really into playing army lately, so these binoculars are perfect for looking for bad guys, or spotting the enemy.  

Yesterday he asked "Mom, can we go deer hunting today?"
He was totally serious in his question, and was irritated when I told him, "NO, the deer season is over!"  

He definately makes me laugh a lot, but he is so infuriating too!  He is so stubborn, and refused to negotiate.  I guess those will be good traits as an adult, I hope?!

It seems like we had Christmas early, because we got a trampoline!!!  It's our neighbors and they are letting us use it in our yard, while they move to another country for 18 months.

The kids all love having the tramp, and it's great for Isaac on these cold, days.  I send him outsdide and tell him to jump 1000 times or until he gets too cold!

Emily has had a great week, she lost her first tooth!  She was excited and didn't cry at all.  The tooth fairy brought her money, and she was thrilled!!  I can't believe she is old enough to be loosing teeth!  Stop growing up!

Just as Emily looses her tooth, Elizabeth gets her first tooth. She now has one on the bottom, and the second tooth is on it's way, I can feel it coming.
She is still so cute and so much fun! She's been lunging forward and getting ready to crawl.  She is still so content to sit and play with toys and be entertained by her adoring siblings.  I love this stage, wish it could last forever! 

She has been sick with croup this week, and feels miserable.  She is starting to pull herself up in her crib, even when she's sick. 

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love spending time with family & friends.  I also like thinking about gratitude and realizing how blessed I am.  I have so many wonderful blessings in my life, I have so much to be grateful for; the gospel, my family, good health, a good job, etc...

We spent Thanksgiving break in sunny Southern Utah at the Pondersosa Ranch.  G & G Shields rented a big house for all the Shields clan to celebrate Thanksgiving.  It was a fun, busy, crazy calorie filled, exhausting weekend and we all had a blast!

There were 25 people staying at the house including 11 kids.  Here are some pictures from our weekend. 



We spent our time hiking and biking in Zions National Park, playing outside, eating, and preparing tons of food, soaking in the hot tub, playing games, watching movies, having late night discussions and more.

Thursday morning we did a 3 mile hike before our Thanksgiving feast.  The kids all did pretty good hiking and the scenery was gorgeous.  Lizzie did great in her backpack, she loves being outdoors.



After the hike it was back to the house to cook dinner.

Emily and Mary really wanted to eat the drumsticks from the turkey.  They looks like pigs in this picture!

We enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings.  Everyone helped prep food, cook, and clean up the dishes.  Monica made these adorable name tags, they were so cute.
Dad fell asleep during all the chaos, and I had to get a picture, it's so funny!

On Friday we went into Zions and did some biking, ate a picnic lunch and played a big game of football.  The kids played in the leaves, burying each other.  It was so beautiful in the park, and the weather was perfect. 

These kids did pretty well at getting along and not fighting.  They all play great together and seem to have tons of fun! 

We are so grateful that we could spend the weekend with our family!  It was definately a memorable Thanksgiving.

Family pics.

We had some family pictures taken last month at a nearby park.   Our sister in law, Erin took them and she did a great job. 

Here are a few of our favorites. 

I love this one of Lizzie!  Her little tongue is so cute. 

Everyone was pretty cooperative, thanks to bribery of donuts and chocolate milk! 

Thanks so much Erin!

We had some cold days this week, but the weather didn't stop the kids from going outside to play.  Emily, Isaac and some cousins and friends had fun raking leaves and playing in them.

The worst part about this week was getting used to the daylight savings time change.  Now that it gets dark at 5pm, it makes for some really long evenings before Danny gets home for dinner.  We spent our time playing games, doing Play Doh, reading books, legos, doing art projects with lots of glitter (Thanks Mom & Dad for buying Emily a glitter art book for her bday, I hate glitter!), and taking nice long baths.  Oh how we miss the warm, sunny nights of summer!!!  

Grandma & Grandpa Deppe were in town this weekend, and we had fun spending time with them.  We had dinner at our house Friday night, and then walked to Emigration for some gelato for dessert.  We all love their gelato, even in the cold weather.

Then Grandpa helped us by pulling a tooth out of Taylor's mouth.  He had a tooth that wasn't coming out, and the permanent tooth was ready to come in, so we asked for some help from Grandpa. He numbed him and popped it right out. 
Unfortunately I didn't get any pics.   

Then Saturday afternoon we went bowling at Fat Cats with Grandma Deppe.  All the kids had fun bowling, even Lizzie had seemed to like it. Here are the few pics that we took.



Elizabeth is obsessed with eating.  She freaks out if she sees me chewing and I don't give her a bite.  So she ends up chewing on straws, cup lids, and empty cups when she has eaten all of her
snacks. 



We love weekends, and wish they lasted just a little longer.  Hope yours was great too!

Snowy Saturday

This morning we woke up to several inches of snow!  Taylor's soccer game was canceled and all our plans for the day were gone.  The kids were so excited to see snow, and all wanted to go outside to play. We decided to stay at home and enjoy the first snowfall of the winter.  

We made a big breakfast and then the kids loaded on their snow clothes and went outside to play in the snow.  By 10:30 AM everyone was back inside for hot chocolate with toast, and then they all went back for more snow. 

Taylor and his friends decided to build a snowfort, and this became the project for the entire day.  They gathered shovels, tools and sled to move the snow. The boys worked on the fort all afternoon, and evening until it was dark.  Talyor ate lunch and most of his dinner outside on the patio in the freezing cold snow, and never once came inside! I kept asking if they were cold and wanted to come in the house but no one did. 

 They had tons of fun, and it was a great day.

Here are some pictures of our snowy Saturday.



Lizzie stayed inside and watched from the window.
Isaac took his snow clothes on/off six times throughout the day, he really needs to learn how to put them on by himself.
Emily played with this cute friend for 7 hours.  
Taylor was outside working on his snow for for over 8 hours!!!
We dragged him inside after dinner when it was completely dark.  He was thrilled with what he made, and wants it to snow more tonight. 
Our backyard is completely empty of snow, it's all been moved to the fort.



Here are some cute pics of Elizabeth from bathtime and dinner time this week.  I love how her hair is really starting to grow, it's soft and really blonde.  She loves her food, and gets so angry if she can't eat when everyone else is eating a meal. 

I guess winter has arrived. 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We just celebrated a great Halloween.  The weather was warm, and beautiful and it was a fabulous night. 

This year the kids chose to be; mummy, witch, fireman, and lady bug.  All the kids were happy with their costume choice and excited for Trick Or Treating!

We started celebrating Halloween last Friday with the school parade, and carnival.  It was a lot of fun, but I took no pics.  Saturday we carved pumpkins, and Sunday we had a "Spooky Dinner" at G & G Shields.  It was all so much fun! I am really missing my camera, and wish I still had it!

So for Halloween we had a fun dinner with all our neighbors and friends, followed by trick or treating, and ended with scones & Hot cocoa  at our neighbors house.  It was a fantastic night and everyone was tired and worn out.  Taylor & Emily got plenty of candy and were happy with their goodies. 

Here are some pictures from our Halloween celebration. 

Taylor trying to be scary in his mummy costume.



Lizzie seemed happy in her lady bug costume.  She loved pulling at my black wig, and pulled out tons of hair!  She was great in the stroller while we took the kids trick or treating.



Hope you had a happy Halloween!