Forever Young: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I figured I should update the blog before our travels to California and Christmas. So here we go...

A little while back I took our family pictures.We took some in our backyard and on another occasion went up Spanish Fork Canyon. All in all I think they turned out ok.

My brother Mikey took these pictures of Evelyn. He is so good! I just love these. I can't believe she is 4 1/2 months old! She is rolling over from her tummy to her back. Chatting a lot more. Sleeps through the night here and there but recently she's had some crazy nights where she is up often which has been rough, but we'll get through it. She is 13 lbs 5 oz and a bundle of joy.

For Noel's 7th birthday we went out to dinner and she wanted Texas Roadhouse.

Mmmm, the traditional birthday cake pancakes on the morning of her birthday.

Her owl cake.

This is what I tried to copy.

Blowing out her candles.

Happy girl.

Our lil' Evelyn.

On election day Noel's class voted as well. She voted for Clifford the big red dog.

We had a nasty black widow in our backyard. I took a large branch and whacked that sucker. My skin was crawling for the rest of the evening. Ew!

Evelyn has some quite serious moments where she's very quiet and chill and then she has quite happy and talkative moments which are so fun and entertaining.

We had a warm day in November so Sam, Evelyn and I hung out in the front yard to get

some vitamin D.

Happy Evelyn.

I got this picture from Sam's preschool teacher. He was having fun at their Thanksgiving celebration.

Evelyn and her adorable cousin Remi who is about a month younger than her.

First snow of the season.

We have had some beautiful sunsets.

More smiles.

Sam and I went over to check out some Netherland dwarf bunnies that a friend

in our ward recently got. At first he was timid to hold them but warmed up to the idea.

His friend Emmie.

My brother Chris bought a duplex and is renovating it and asked if the kids wanted to earn some money, so they raked up leaves and walnuts.

Thanksgiving was great. We hosted at our place. My parents were in town and came and my brothers and their families came, as well as one of Morgan's friends from work who didn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving. I'm sad to say the pictures of the food is pretty much the only pictures I took. So lame!

Mmmm. Bacon Wrapped Green Bean Bundles. These were so good! These will from here on out been part of our Thanksgiving Feast.

The turkey was exploding with goodness as you can tell. Morgan did a great job on it as always.

Mikey and Caitlin brought their beautiful collie, Casper along with them. Noel really loved being with him. It was fun to see her with him. A dog is definitely in our near future;)

Evelyn and her cousin Remi in their Thanksgiving outfits that they got from their Wicked Fairy Godmother;) (Thanks Debora!)

The last time jumping on the trampoline for the year. Morgan took it down later that day. The kids were really sad but we want it to last as long as is possible.

So I got a couple of Christmas presents early this year and feel very spoiled. I got this Digital Piano which I absolutely LOVE and play often. A lot of the time it's been one handed because Evelyn is in the other arm but that's good though because I haven't played in a long time so I'm relearning a little. It sounds and feels almost exactly like a real piano. Thanks to my parents and Morgan, I was able to get it! I also got a new Digital SLR camera. I'm so excited about it and I've got to play with it a little bit and learn how it works. I sold my last camera which was such a blessing because the money from that and because of Morgan's parents and Morgan, I was able to get it. I am so excited to develop my talents. I've had so many conversations with Morgan about how I've lost myself because I'm so busy being a Mom that I've forgotten what I like and how to be ME. Taking pictures and learning photography as well as playing the piano bring me so much joy and provide a much needed outlet especially as our family grows and as life becomes more hectic.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we put up the Christmas Tree and decor.

The next day we went to the Spanish Fork Festival of Lights. Always such a fun tradition.

When it snows, Sam enjoys going in the backyard and shoveling pathways.

The kids wrote and sent their letters to Santa. Our post office has a special mail box that is for Santa. The following week they got letters back from him.

Morgan participated in No Shave November. This was just before he shaved it off after midnight on the last day in November. I have to say, his beard looked good on him.

Noel had a presentation in her 1st grade class on traditions that our family does around the holidays. I was so proud of her. She memorized everything that she needed to say. She shared the tradition of putting a piece of hay in the manger every time she and Sam do something good so that Baby Jesus has a soft place to lay.

She also read a page out of an Advent Storybook that we've read through the last few Christmas's.

Noel also had a field trip to a BYU Women's Basketball Game. She had a blast and came home with some fun BYU pom poms.

I sure love her.

We had some weird "snow" the other day. The air was so moist that the moisture turned into "snow" and it was being blown around by the wind. It looked kind of cool.

Noel's Thankful turkey.

Noel also recently brought home this little ornament that had her name on it that she got from a boy at school.

That same day she showed me that another boy from her class gave her his phone number in class. SHE'S IN 1ST GRADE! This can't happen yet!

First time putting up our Christmas lights ever. We ran out of lights. Ooops. Oh well. Morgan was out in the freezing cold for 4 hours putting these up! What a man!