Hi

Well I finally did it, I joined the blogging world again. I figured that after more than a year I would get back to it. We have done a lot in a year and have captured some of it on film so here it goes.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

For Christmas this year Grandma Debbie took all of us to the Rockettes. We stayed the night at Little America and had a really fun time. Here is Cameron with his cousins at Little America.

Cameron on Christmas day, so happy that he got his bow and arrow!!!

Gingerbread houses with friends.

New years with Rock Band!!!

Obsessed

I go a little crazy for Jane Austen, so imagine how happy I was when our library decided to have a Jane Austin Tea Party. I was in the middle of making Halloween costumes and I knew I just had to put them aside and make a dress fitting the Regency era.

Thanks to my friend Foxy Roxy she completed the look by making my very short faux hawk look like a pile of Jane Austen hair. It was a fun day. But my obsession was far from over. I made the dress and still had costumes to finish when I found these....

the most adorable shoe patterns. I stayed up day and night making tiny shoes.

I was like a little elf. I couldn't get enough. I don't even have any tiny feet to put in them but that didn't stop me.

I used scraps of material that I had around the house.

These little kimono shoes are reversible.

To die for, right?

I did find an adorable little girl to put all these shoes on and I was glad. I also made several boys shoes and forgot to take pictures which makes me sad because they turned out even cuter if you can believe it. I auctioned those off for the cub scouts and it was really fun.

Home school and Halloween

See this kid? This is Jesse.

He joined this kid...

and this mutt, and we call ourselves A.J. Academy.

We love our little school. It is so nice to have Jesse with us. He is a lot of fun and very creative.
And as you can see weather having fun or being weird...

they love school.

For school lunch we made yummy, mummy pizzas.


Then off to the ward party.

I made all of our costumes. Cameron was a good sport as Peter Pan and I had fun as Tinkerbell. Jesse's costume turned out the best though. I was so excited when I was finished with it because it looked so professional. Even I had a hard time believing that I made it. To bad we only wore them for 2 hours. All that work and so little time to use them.

My Loves

I really love my home.

I love the way the porch turned out. I can't wait until that time of day when the sun goes down. I could sit out there for hours.

Then I usually beg my Hubby and Cameron to sleep out on the porch just to get more time there. What can I say, I love my porch.

I love Jesse. I love all the work he does for us. Both in the office and at home. He is a hard worker and it means the world to me.

He continued to build the fence this fall even after he broke his foot. Yes he broke it doing something he loves, mountain biking. At this point he was able to move around without crutches but it was still very painful.

I asked Grandma Donna for help in designing a cover for his walking boot so that he could still work in the yard. After not being on his foot for over a month he was going crazy. So she came up with this design which really did work well.

I love to see my kid having fun. We rented a tractor to dig holes for the fence. Every chance he could he was on the tractor, just enjoying his life....I love that!

The day was just beautiful too.

I even love this mutt. He is a good buddy for Cameron and always makes us laugh.

A bit of Texas

We were so glad when we heard that our cousins were coming from Texas to visit us. We called Jaren to see if he would join us and we started to make plans. We decided to do something that we knew that they had never done before, float the river!

They were a little nervous at first.

They each got in the water and decided that for July 22nd it was still pretty cold...

but they would have fun no matter what!

Before we float the river they needed a picture on the big rock located near the area that you put your boat in. The day was really perfect because it was a little overcast and not too warm.

Our first stop on the river we took the boat out and the boys climbed up to the rocks and found a small cave.

Uncle Jesse works his magic and tells them what fun it is to jump into the river from the cliff above.

It's not that cold, really.

Really?
Jake is the first to try it out, brave kid.

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Uncle Jesse is there, like he promised, to pull him out.

Jake is pretty proud of himself as he should be, he is more brave than I am. I would never jump into that cold water on purpose.

Jaren decides that it looks really fun.

Weeeeeee!!!

He made it too!

Now Cameron will take a turn.

Ready, Set...

GO!

It really is that cold!

Can you see Jake's teeth chattering. Logan and his mom are staying warm on the rock...Smart.

One more time for Cameron.

You gotta warm up afterward.

Krista getting a rare minute alone on the rock.

Our next stop was at a sandbar. The kids loved sinking in the sand and of course flipping it on each other. They are boys, what did you expect?

We are so glad that Jesse was there to make sure that we made it safely down the river.

A picture from the boat. Pictures really never do it justice, but it was beautiful.

Jake is still a little cold from his jump. Logan looks happy that he made the choice to stay dry.

Self photos, do they ever turn out?



PIONEER DAY

They 24th of July is a big deal in Utah so we were glad that the Texans were there to join in the celebration. The day started with a parade and a free slushy, always a good time.

Jaren enjoying his treat.

Again with the self taken photo, oh well what can you do when we want a picture of all of us together. We were glad Andrea could come out too.

This is a picture of the Parade, Jesse and Cameron are in the back of the troop. The Boy Scouts of America celebrated 100 years of scouting and it was really a neat thing for Cameron to be part of.

You can't have a celebration without fireworks. Uncle Jesse took the boys to the firework stand after the parade and let them pick out what they wanted.

Their favorites seemed to be the ones with parachutes.

That was the last time the dog got close to the fireworks. He kept trying to bite them and then finally burnt himself, poor guy. At least he learned to stay away.

Setting up for the big display.

Logan is waiting for his firework to go off so he can run after the parachute guy.

Hey its not all fun and games when you visit us. We put our visitors to work. Here is Jaren gathering wood so that we can have a hot dog roast.

Krista found a new friend in my yard.

The night was beautiful and so perfect for all the fun that we had.

Cameron and his roman candle.