Christmas Eve and all through the house...

We are trying to establish our own traditions so like

last year we reenacted the birth of Christ.  Addison

was Mary again and Clark a shepherd.  He wasn't

as cooperative as last year keeping his shepherd clothes

on.  In fact we ended up using his beloved blankie as

his cloak that fell off a couple of minutes after beginning. 

 Also the kids always get to open one present on Christmas

Eve.  This year they got Christmas books again! (Trying

to build up our collection.) I am tired of reading the

nutcracker even though we have 3 different versions.

 Earlier in the day we made sugar cookies. Yum!

Addison always gets her own little ball of dough 

and I make the rest. :)  I am a little bit of a germ freak.

It didn't help that she had a nasty cough...

 They also each get their own frosting bowl and only frost

a couple of cookies which are their very own... hmmm 

wonder why?

 Sorry the pictures got way out of order...

more present opening Christmas Eve

 Addison had to sprinkle some reindeer food out 

so Santa could find his way through our snow!!!

I was so excited to have a white Christmas. 

We had such a fun time having Grandma and Grandpa T 

here and Uncle Joe.  Addison loves sitting by Joe and playing

Scribblenots on his phone.  He is so sweet to share. :)

Unfortunately we always seem to share our germs with him. :(

We also played board games and some wii and xbox golf and 

tennis in our spare time.  It was so fun and we enjoyed having

them share Christmas with us. Also on Christmas Eve instead of going

caroling with all the coughing we had our own caroling around the 

piano while I played.  It was so much fun to hear the harmony

going on and Joe joining us!

Halloween

 Well Here we are at breakfast having jack-o-lanterns.... The kids already dressed in their Halloween shirts!

 Here lies dinner a spooky ghost and jack-o-lantern.  Tyler's Mom always does a spooky supper and I am just not that creative to think of food items and name them something, but I know we all like pizza and it fed a lot since we had some friends come over for dinner and combines trick-or-treating.  It was a lot of fun!

 Clark wet as a monkey.  He didn't like the hood but wore it the whole time once he realized he got candy! After all candy is one of his favorite words!

 Addison went as Cinderella.  I made the dress and headband... don't look too closely! (Besides the picture is blurry... so I guess it doesn't matter too much.)

It was so warm.  Weird to go trick-or-treating without coats or even jackets!

 Some of the gang we went with. We really did have a fun Halloween.  We went trunk-or-treating on the 30th.  We enjoyed mostly spending time with good friends along with the yummy candy.

Sweet kiddos!

I had just gotten done doing something in the back room when I realized it was way to quiet in the house.  As I came down the hall I started to hear Addison's voice.  Turns out she was "reading" to Clark.  There are several books that we have read so many times that she knows by heart.  This is one of them and it is one of Clark's favorites because of all the animals in it.  Addison is such a good helper and big sister.  She is so loving and willing to share (most of the time).  :)

Highlight on Clark

Our sweet little boy is now 2 years old.  He loves trains, cars, firetrucks, airplanes... If it goes he loves it!  Probably because he is always on the go!  Clark will run up and down the sidewalk in front of our house.  He loves going for walks and going in the truck with Dad.  He also loves books and songs.  His favorite song is: "I am a Child of God"  Clark weighs 29 pounds and 33 inches tall.  He has blond hair that looks red depending on the light and big blue eyes.  He loves to play with Addison and is talking up a storm.  Too many words to count in his vocabulary.  (This is a fairly new development.  I was concerned for a while because he wasn't talking much, but no need to be worried now!)

 We love you so much Clark and are very grateful you are part of our forever family!

Clark turns 2!!!

So Clark loves Choo Choo trains right now so we decided that would
make a fun cake.

He even blew out one candle before we finished "Happy
Birthday".  :)

Trying some icing!

Opening presents!

Clark had a fun time opening his presents and even more
fun playing with them!  Thank you everyone who was able
to be here in person, by computer, or just by sending their love!
We love all our family and friends so much!

Summer Fun

It has been a fun summer so far and feels like it is starting to wind down a bit.  Family has come to visit from both sides and we have truly enjoyed them!  In fact we still have visits from both sides planned this month too.  I have missed a lot of the summer blogging so there will be some main parts missed like the 4th and Pioneer day celebrations bu twe did enjoy both with friends.

There are some pictures of us playing at Lagoon.  We had a blast there soaking up some sun.  Addison and Clark both enjoyed almost all the rides they went on.  Addison's favorite she says was the skyrise; however, she made Dad and Grandpa go with her twice on the Whirl-a-Twirl.  :)  Grandpa did fine the first time... the second was a little touch and go.  We also went to the Recreation center close and went swimming.  Clark is a fish!  He wanted to take off by himself with his water wings.  Addison loved it but was way more cautious. We also went to Hill Air Force base.  I love looking at the b-42 Bombers because they remind me of my Grandpa who worked as a mechanic on them in WWII.

We also celebrated Tyler's 27th birthday!  We were glad to have some family here to celebrate it.  It seems to always make things more special with friends and family.

The last few pictures are of Addison and Clark painting.  I had the idea to just let them paint outside on big sheets of paper.  They loved it!  Granted there is still paint on the driveway but hey they loved it and I just put them in the bath right when they were done.  Tyler suggested later that I should have had them run through the sprinklers... Good thought!  I will do that next time.  :)

I have also been trying my hand at sewing the past few months.  This is the snow white dress I made for Addison.  It's a little big and was suppose to be for Christmas, but oh well.  I wanted to see how my pattern did since I free handed it.  I sized it down a bit for my next few projects that won't be seen until a later date in time!

It's been a fulfilling summer.  We have tried to make some progress on our poor yard and I think it has improved a little at least as well as a few house projects. Hope your summer has been full of fun and excitement too!

Just Catching up...

Well I have been lapsing in picture taking, but we did get some cute ones of a fun picnic the kids and I did in our front yard.  Addison loved it so much we had to repeat it the next day when dad was home.  We also have been enjoying te sprinklers since it's been so hot already.  We went to idaho to visit for Memorial day weekend which was a lot of fun even though the kids got sick again!  I think it's a curse every time we go there we get sick!  Oh well... Clark was so snugly so that was nice.  Love you all and hope your summer has had a fun start as well!  Oh Clark is pointing out his owies he got on our walk a day ago.  He was walking behind me and I heard a thunk.  I immediately knew what had happened because this is fairly common place with him... Yup it was his forehead hitting the sidewalk.  OUCH!