Putting up the Tree

If I am being completely honest, decorating the Christmas tree has always been somewhat of a stressful chore (during my entire life). I can't remember putting up a tree without some sort of stress/fight involved (most of the time with putting up the lights when I was young). Having a pre-lit tree has helped take some of the stress away for sure. Our kids are always so excited and want to get everything out at once and that gets me stressed . For the first time this year though, after a couple minutes I just decided what the heck have at it. Who cares if something gets broken or whatever (we don't put up many breakable ornaments anyway)? I had one of the most relaxed experiences ever. Our tree only has ornaments on the bottom half and many of them were made by the kids at one time or another. I decided to just leave everything where they put it this year....lets face it you only have young kids once. They are happy and I need to get over whatever OCD it is that I have about hanging ornaments in certain spots. Our tree is by no means the tree from a magazine, but when I look at it I think about how much fun our kids had decorating it. Not many people see it but us anyway.

A cute shot before we started. I love these girls!

If I could just reach high enough!

Almost done here.

I can do it!

Hmmm...what should we put on next?

My favorite picture of the night. Tom loves his baby girl!

Reili poses while Amberly takes a shot of the final product.

Our Last Day in NC

The last day we were in NC was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Tom's mom talked me into making the donut recipe we made growing up. We spent the afternoon in the kitchen, making dough, rolling it out and cutting out doughnuts. Then cooking them up and making glaze and frosting. Everyone came to see us and say goodbye....and eat doughnuts. They were about the best tasting doughnuts I've ever had. Jane made this buttermilk glaze and I made some chocolate frosting. MMMMM! I think I am still working off those 6 or 7 doughnuts I ate that night. At any rate, I took enough of a break from our work in the kitchen to snap some "candid" pictures of everyone. There are a lot of pictures because I couldn't decide which I liked most so I put them all. Thanks for the great trip everyone! We miss you!

Sefa, Tom and Elizabeth

Tua, Jane, and Pelu wait for the fun to begin.

PopPop relaxes in his recliner.

Amberly has Uncle Greg wrapped around her little finger. It seems she is always able to finagle a shoulder ride out of one of her Uncles.

Rachael and Tom entertain the little ones.

Nate, Callie and Tua...Hmmm....what's this about?

Sweet, cute Liam!

Are we done cooking yet?...No the fun has just begun!
(Mom and Jane)

Wesley...look at all those doughnuts!! (The recipe makes 10 dozen)

Beautiful Caylyn!

Pelu and Liam pose for the camera.

Jocelyn and Reili have fun with the I-phone.

Amberly hanging out with Callie and Ashley.

Connor loves baby Elizabeth!

The two Janes.

Amberly's picture of Jocelyn enjoying a donut. I let Amberly take some pictures.

Beautiful Aunt Amy (captured by Amberly)!

Thanksgiving Day

For Thanksgiving this year, we finally took a trip out to North Carolina to visit the Schell Family. It had been 2 1/2 years since we'd been there, so it was nice (except for the drive) to go back for a short visit. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins and getting reacquainted with them. We miss having family around.

The morning before Thanksgiving the kids enjoyed raking the leaves in Gamma and PopPop's yard and jumping in them. We don't have enough trees in our yard to make it worth raking.

Rolling the ball down the ramp was Wesley's fun that morning.

Uncle Nate just loves babies (as do all Tom's brothers).

After the big meal, the cousins all enjoyed jumping on Amy and Nate's trampoline.

Amberly patiently (sort of) waited for her turn.

Wes, what is up with the broom?

Elizabeth was quite cranky on our trip. I think she was suffering some separation anxiety. I couldn't get her to smile, but I wanted a picture of her with Aunt Jane.

Amberly loved riding on all her Uncles' shoulders. Here she is with Uncle Sam.

Sweet Ellie - at 10 months!

I keep forgetting to take pictures of Ellie at her exact monthly dates, but these are some cute pictures of her around the beginning of November while my parents were visiting. She turned 10 months while they were here.

She was enjoying cruising along the furniture at that point.

Still crawling on all fours most of the time.

We just love her to pieces and are glad she's in our family. The kids still fight over her.

Veterans Day

In November, my parents (who recently finished their mission) were able to drive out and visit us. It was so wonderful to have them here. They got here just in time for a Veterans Day program put on by all the third graders at Reili's school. Since Tom was off that day too, we all went together.

All ready to perform!

Elizabeth all excited for the program (can you tell).

The two Veterans, Wesley, and Grandma.

How we entertained Wesley before the program started...by taking some pictures of his great faces. A camera is always provides loads of entertainment for our kids.

Raaaaar!

Rrrrrrrr!

Daddy and Daughter after the performance. Thanks Dad and Grandpa for all you've done!

A short rest from all the noise of 4 kids, watching the BYU game.