One heck of a weekend!

Mallory shared her baptism day with her sister's birthday. Which also happens to be shared with her twin cousins Abbie and Darcie. So we decided to party all day long. Mallory's baptism program was so nice. She was the only one being baptized that day, so we got to take our time. Many family and friends came and it made it all the better. After the baptism, we had a luncheon. Later that afternoon we had a birthday party for the girls. We ran, played, toured the county, jumped, swam, partied, ate good and smiled all day long.
We tried many times to get this picture of Keith, Warren and a bunch of their grand kids right, but many of them turned out blurry. It was still great to have everybody together.

What cute girls!
The cake turned out pretty good despite having to make it twice. The first one exploded the day before in the oven. I had to chuck everything, take apart and clean the WHOLE oven, and start all over. Mallory and Mattie helped me out tremendously. As Mallory was helping she said, "Happy DISASTER Birthday Mattie". We all laughed. I seem to have an affinity for cake disasters. Good times...............(sigh)...................good times.


Wish I had pictures of the basketball games, Brad in a BYU shirt (gasp), Sam demonstrating P90x in the front yard ( sorry, but we had a good laugh), and swimming. Thank you to everybody for helping. Couldn't have done it without you!!! P.S. GO Aggies!

Our Mallory is Eight!

So I have been in major denial about Mallory turning eight years old. It just seems that it can't possibly have been that long ago that we brought her home. Then when I start thinking about how many times we have moved since then, yah--it's been a long time!
Some things in life just don't turn out like you want them to! I thought I had measured the height out just right. I knew the dress was coming up a little bit short when I was frosting, but I about died when I stuck the doll in and was so off. Good thing one of Mallory's other Barbies had just happened to lose her legs the week before. So amputee Barbie saved the day. She fit down in the cake just perfectly.
Mallory told me she wanted a Barbie cake. My mind went immediately to the dress cakes, hers went to a flat cake. So her eyes popped out of her head when she came upstairs and saw this one.

We love snow!

Snow is a gift from heaven. I do not understand people who hate it or complain about it. I always want more. Sure I get tired of it in the early spring when I am ready for it to warm up. But spring always does come and then I dream of snow and all it's possibilities throughout the summer. So I am so glad that Jared shares his love for snow, and that our kids literally eat it up.
We planned snowshoes for Christmas. The girls prefer sledding of course. So we snowshoe up (or get pulled up by mom in the sled) and then sled down. Life is good and snow makes it better!

Tasty Turkey and Wild Turkey!

Jared was the master of Thanksgiving Dinner this year. He brined the turkey overnight and then roasted it in a Dutch oven. He also cooked a giant corn pudding in a Dutch oven. They both turned out so delicious. It was nice to have the oven open for other things and not just the turkey.
MMMMM! We wish we had done a bigger turkey.

Then we have the Wild Turkey. While we were saying farewell outside to our Thanksgiving guests, Isaac was in the kitchen helping himself to the whipped cream. He was sad when he got in trouble, but he kept asking me if I thought he was funny. And then he would giggle.
When I pulled his shirt off, the cream acted like some really strong mousse and stuck all of his hair up. We all had a really good laugh.
Rides on the old Suzuki were enjoyed by all.
We thought we would try all four, but it just didn't work. At least I got a quick picture.

Isaac's Birthday

Our guy is three!


He is absolutely gonzo about horses.

My first cake with fondant. Edible playdough is a lot of fun.
We really wore him out.

P.S. "Corduroy" is one of my all time favorite books.

Family Getaway

I think it still counts as a family getaway even if it's just overnight and only and hour and a half away. Sometimes you just need a quick trip to recharge and feel rejuvenated. It's like taking a ten minute nap. You wake up and then are ready to go again. So we went to Moab. Without our Jeep...........GASP!

Long Canyon-one of our favorites you can do without a Jeep.


We hiked to Corona Arch and watched people rappel down through the middle of it. I was so jealous.


I was so glad that Jared was in charge of Isaac on the steep parts. It made me a teeny bit nervous.





Seventy degrees in November-it was heaven.
The kids were great on the hike, but the most fun they had was riding their scooters down the restroom ramp at the campground.

Halloween

Halloween was so busy this year with stuff for school, church and home. We had a mummy, a fairy princess and Dorothy again. I am so glad she likes the Dorothy costume. Our garden produced one gigantic pumpkin and 30 little white ones.