Christmas Prep

Saturday December 4th we put up our Christmas Tree! We had Grandpa Randy, Grandma Charlotte, Uncle Sam, and Aunt Lissa over for the day... it was a blast! They brought Papa Murphy's pizza, helped us pick out a Christmas tree, watch the BSU game, decorate the tree, watch a movie, and make sugar cookies!

Sarah Jane and Carlie in front of the Christmas tree!

Sarah Jane does this all the time she will smile but not look at the camera, she is so funny!

Decorating the tree! Sarah Jane was obsessed with that spot by the wall and we had to move five ornaments from that area that nobody could see.

The girls with Grandpa Randy... He is such a good grandpa,
they love him so much!
Mom and Aunt Lissa made sugar cookies with some help from my girls... they were so patient with the girls wanting to do it all! Thank You!

Carlie was such a good little helper!

I love this picture of Sarah Jane covered in flour and pushing cookie dough into a cookie cutter. She was helpful... until she would overlap cookie cutters to make some interestingly shaped cookies!

Love this picture too... Carlie was a little fascinated with the flour!

Everyone enjoying the Yummy Cookies!

Sarah Jane was only there for the frosting.

Can you say SPRINKLES?

This little cookie monster is just getting too cool to sit in his highchair the right way... YIKES!

We got our Douglas fur for $25 at Home Depot... probably because it was frozen when we got it and we had to thaw it out in the garage for a few hours before we could bring it in!
It is beautiful!

Happpy Thanksgiving

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
We sure had a lot of Good Food and Fun!

We had a Waltman Thanksgiving this year because my little sister, Tiffany, her husband Daniel and their kids, Wesley and Katie, came for a visit... They live in Maryland and we haven't seen them for a year and a half! I am so thankful that they could come for a visit, thanks to Mike and Julie for flying them here with all of Mike's frequent flier miles!
This isn't even all of the family...
there were four families missing from this Thanksgiving Feast!

At the end of the table we had Brandon, Gus, Bryce, Daniel, Michael (Daniel's little brother), Marena (my niece), Tiffany, Valerie, Shari, Me, and Natalie!

Here we have the head of the table
Becky, Mike, Julie, Mom, Dad, Alison, Vaughn, Lance, and Elliot.

Here is where Carlie sat with all of her cousins!

And here we have Sarah Jane and Grady at the bar with a few of their cousins!

Here we have a little post Feast Fun!
We had such a good time and the food was perfect... Thanks for letting us tear your house apart Mom and Dad! I love having a big family, we have so much fun together!

Little MONSTER

Doesn't he look so cute and harmless?

Think again...
He empties the book case everyday.

He climbs on anything and everything.... and then says "STUCK!"

He gets stuck in the cupboards.
Cute... YES!

Harmless NO... THE EGGS!

The look on his face when we put a lock on the Fridge.

He eats everything he can find... edible or not.

He likes to play on the computer... literally.

Gus loves it when the monster empties his wallet.
But at the end of the day we can't seem to get enough of him. He is a little cuddly boy. I am so thankful for him and the pure JOY he brings into our home and to me!

We love our little MONSTER!

Below is a video of Grady talking and being so cute...

Fun Times

I love my life, we have a lot of fun together...

Ready for church. It is impossible for all of them to hold still!

Playing cards with Grandpa Randy... (Carlie cheats)

The kids' favorite activity... Making Cookies With Dad!

I love the outcome! Yum!

I just love this kid!

The girls are pretty fun too!
They love airplane rides from Dad.

This girl is so funny and has some pretty crazy hair most of the time!

We love movies!

Fun Times brought to you by the Drake family.

Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween started Thursday the 21st with a preschool Halloween party at Grandma's house. It was a lot of fun. The kids danced, played, decorated cookies, and had lots of treats!
Thank You Grandma!

A Witch, a Fairy, Grandma was a witch too, Buzz Light Year, a Horse, and Captain America!

Yummy sugar cookies!

Sarah Jane loved putting the candy corn on but when it was time to eat the cookie she didn't like them... silly girl!

Carlie the Witch

Sarah Jane the Lady Bug

Grady the Lion

Trick or Treat

Pumpkin Patch

A couple of Saturday's ago we went with our friends to Linder Farms. We had such a great time and the weather was perfect... we had a very nice pumpkin patch experience and our kids LOVED it... Happy Harvest!

The Hay Ride!

Having fun at Linder Farms!

Grady is so much fun but it was a long day for him.

Gus wanted to try the Barrel Train... it was a little too small.

The Petting Zoo was smelly but we got to feed the goats and a camel!
Sarah Jane was brave...

Carlie was a chicken...
she didn't want to get too close to the animals.

Grady was a little freaked out when the animals moved but he did okay.

Carlie loved the swings... she giggled the whole time and when it was over she came running up to me and said...
"That was totally awesome Mom!"

Sarah Jane liked it too...
she just smiled the whole time and tried not to move.

The kids loved the Train and rode it twice... Grady did well with Carlie holding on to him tight! Notice Sarah Jane in the background ready for some fun!

The kids... including Gus had fun on the tires in between activities!

We went with some of our good friends the Jones family,
they were a ton of fun!

The hay maze was fun for the girls but they did get lost once and had to have their Dad rescue them!

Grady loved the pumpkins and still loves to carry them around the house. He thinks he is so big!

The kids had a ton of fun trying to find their pumpkins!

Grady was so tired by the end that he fell asleep on the Hay Ride!

What a fun day!