Christmas time 2013

Last Christmas was so fun!!  I feel like I can't find all of the pictures that I took, but I will share what I have.  This year our family was visited by our first elf on the shelf, St. Nicky Jr.  We had such a fun time with him.  As you know every night in December he would visit us and then report back to the north pole.  We found him in some crazy places. He also loved to play pranks on the kids.  I thought I took lots of pictures, but I can only find one!  Oh well, I am sure he will be back this year because the whole family loved it!  I loved having a few Christmas trees around the house, it really gave a special feeling to our home. We also did another new thing last year, we drove to Arizona to ride on the Polar Express!  This was quite the adventure. The kids loved the train and meeting Santa too, it was a lot of work for us, so I am not sure we will do it again for a few years, but it was fun. The kids had all kinds of parties and programs and we loved seeing them perform.  Taylor even had a special ballet performance at her studio which was really cute.  Even though it was busy and crazy we really tried to focus on Christ and the real reason for Christmas.  I can't wait for this year!

Thanksgiving programs

I love all of the great programs that my kids' school puts on each holiday.  Last Thanksgiving Joslyn and Ellie's classes both put on really cute musical performances.  Then they had wonderful feasts.  The teachers and parents at the school do a great job with all of the celebrations!  I think Justin actually took all of these pictures. It was his turn to go and see the performances while I stayed home with the little ones.  And see those tennis balls on the bottoms of the chairs, Justin cut those up for Ellie's teacher.  :)

Chester Sorensen

Last August I had a crazy idea, lets adopt a dog!  Justin was all for it!  So one Saturday I got online and looked at the dogs that were available at the shelter.  We found Chester and he has been the best dog ever!  We just got back from a trip to Fallon and he did great.  He sleeps in the car, and never has any accidents.  He plays well with other dogs, he never bites or snaps at the kids.  We are so lucky to have him!  And he also loves to cuddle as you can see in the picture with Cortney.  They got a long great!  I can't believe we have almost had him a year!

Noah turns 5!

I found them!  I didn't want you to think that I had forgotten sweet Noah's 5th birthday!  He is such a little man these days.  He is so ready for kindergarten, starting to read and write. He is also becoming very interested in Legos and playing Zelda with his dad.  He also loves playing catch and swimming.  He is so smart and I love having conversations with him.  He is also a great big brother and only fights with his siblings some of the time.  These pictures crack me up especially the first one.  Aunt Cortney knows how to make memories!

More of October 2013

Because my real camera died and I have been using my phone, I am so disorganized!  I can't find my pictures of Noah's birthday.  I will find them and I post them later.  So as  I might have mentioned last year, the fall in Las Vegas isn't really the same as in Utah.  Its still pretty warm and there aren't a lot of leaves on the ground.  In spite of that, I was determined to make it feel like fall.  So we went to the pumpkin patch!  Lucky for us there is a huge orchard very close to our house that produces lots of wonderful fruits and vegetables.  We were able to go with the Parson's and pick out a couple of pumpkins for carving.  It was pretty fun.  Later that month I was able to help out in Ellie's class for her Halloween party.  She had a great room mom that put on fantastic parties!  It was a lot of fun.

I have become one of those

I have become one of those people, you know the ones who give up on their blog and leave it for years without updating it!  Yes, I have!  I need to get back in the swing of things because I need this blog to use as a journal for the family.  I am still determined to print out each year and have it as a keepsake.  Now I am so far behind that I really don't know where to start again.  I think these photos are the next ones, because I am pretty sure we went to Utah in October last year.  These photos are from this is the place park in Salt Lake.  One of my very favorite places to visit!  It was so beautiful too with all the fall leaves coming off the trees!  We took a train ride and saw some of the old buildings.  A lot of it was shut down for the season, but the animals were still out.  The kids liked the goats until one tried to eat a button off of Joslyn's sweater, that scared us both.  Looking at these pictures I can't believe how much the kids have grown!  I am so glad to have pictures like these to remember all of these fun times.   I hope to catch up a little more on here, wish me luck!