Grandma and Papa got these nice cozy blankets for us. They are great for watching movies. Thanks Grandma and Papa. We love you and miss you!!!!

Christmas time

James enjoying Jason's toys a little too much.

Allison and her guitar. She is teaching herself to play.

Jarin and his very cool Red Wings hat.

Who knew but these la la loopsy dolls were the hard to get toy this year. We were finally able to find one on KSL. It is so worth the smile.

All Ashley wanted was a Sing-a-ma-jig. She kept asking me if I bought one and I kept saying "no" but Santa brought her one!

Christmas Jammies. Jarin's shirt says "those who think they know everything annoy those of us who do" Anyone not think that that is perfect for Jarin?

Here is Ashley in the school Christmas program(different from the choir).

Ashley is in the elementary school choir. They did the cutest Christmas concert. They all had to dress up as a "Who". The Grinch was even there.

Jarin took second place in his weight class (171) at the first tournament of the year this weekend. That thing on his cheek is a mat burn. He has worked really hard over the last 2 years and we are very proud of him. I tried to catch a smile, but he has not willingly smiled for the camera since he was two years old and we went to Oak Harbor for a family reunion.

My baby got baptized this weekend

She was so excited but acted very shy.

James was very nervous but he did an awesome job. They are so cute in their white.

Ashley got this scripture bag, bracelet and necklace for her baptism. She was very happy to have her own scriptures.

She also got a pocket children's song book. She loves to read the songs.

We are so proud of her for her choice. Thank - you to all the family and friends who came to support her in this great event.

Allison turning fourteen!!!

She wanted a fancy straightener for her birthday. Her hair looked really good this morning after she used it. We had her birthday celebration last night(11-22) because Dad had to work late tonight.

Allison is a sweetheart. She is fun and fun-loving and kind. She makes our life fun. We love you Allison.

Ashley turned eight

I thought I had already put these pictures on. That is why they are late. My baby turned 8 on November 14. She chose Chuck-A-Rama for dinner so we went there on Saturday. The table was all decorated and the servers sang happy birthday to her. She loved it. He is her dad giving her some birthday present opening advice.

She wanted her very own Christmas tree to put in her room.

Its a pillow, its a pet, its a pillow pet!!! Ashley has been wanting a pillow pet for a very long time. Thanks grandma and papa!!

She also got a bike. She still cannot ride a bike. She used to be scared, but since she rode the wicked this year we thought maybe she was brave enough to ride a bike now,

Halloween

We planted pumpkins this year and ended up with only four decent pumpkins. But that works out great cause we have four kids.

For some reason the guts were all green, but we pulled them out anyway. Jason even smiled while doing his.

This was the first year that Ashley was allowed to carve her pumpkin all by herself. She loved that and ended up with a cute pumpkin. For some reason the end products did not get photographed.

Ashley dressed up as a cowgirl using one of Allison's old dance costumes. It is nice it got worn more then once.

Allison was candy corn. Cute huh.

Sunday, Sunday

Jarin and Allison love to make things on Sunday. I think it is fun that they like to do things together. They always have fun and giggle and laugh. They also usually make a huge mess. This particular Sunday Jarin decided he wanted donuts. So the adventure began.

Jarin likes to do all the taste testing. Sometimes it is not such a good idea to taste everything.

Here is the finished product. Not too bad for their first time. They were tasty.

We went to a little lake that is in Bountiful by James' Chuck-A-Rama.

Jason likes to fish.

Allison is showing him where to cast his pole. Fish were jumping everywhere but we barely got a bite.

Jason earned his brown belt at the end of the summer I just never got the pictures up.

He had to do trick kicks all the way across the stage.

Our family went to Lagoon yesterday for frightmares(although we did not do any frightmare activities so we may need to go back). All season we have been teasing Ashley that she needs to go on the Wicked. Just so you know this her first year doing anything but the merry-go-round and sky ride. Each time someone promises her something if she will just give it a try. James even offered her a new puppy!! But she refused. So we were all in line to go and she ran away. James went after her and after only about 2 minutes came back and said she was willing to try. (This time he had promised her nothing but she did get a churro and an icee) She was very nervous. We kept telling her to breath and go to her "happy place"(for my kids that is Grandma Townsend's house.) Finally I told her that I say a little prayer before every scarey ride. So she did right there sitting in the seat. Then we took off and while the rest of us screamed and laughed, Ashley kept saying "never again, never again" over and over. When it was all over we all hugged her. Jason was so proud he kept saying "wow Ashley you did it" and giving her hugs the rest of the day. If you ask her she will say she hated every minute of it, but she did it!! Ashley--your family is so proud of you.

Here is my son driving off to school all by himself for the very first time. It seems like not too long ago he was riding off on his bike to school all by himself for the very first time.

My family was feeling all sad and depressed because school will be starting in less then a week. James was feeling ansy also so he decided to take us on a little weekend mini vacation. It was one of the very funnest things I have ever done in my entire life. (And to think we were in Idaho). We got a hotel in Idaho Falls. We swam and ate dinner and swam and watched a movie and swam and had a great breakfast and swam and checked out and..... went to bear world. It was so fun. We saw wolves.

and a rare white elk

and giant trout. Jason was so sad he could not fish for these giant trout. We told him they were for the bears

We saw a moose.

and turkeys

and deer

and lots and lots of bears. I love bears.

We fed the bears. They would sit up and wave. I think I may have been in heaven.

Allison liked the baby goat. There were so many fun animals in the petting zoo.

Such a fun vacation. We laughed and had fun and enjoyed each other. I think we may even be ready for school to start now. Such a fun weekend!!