Thanksgiving....

I have been a total slacker at updating our blog, so before I get too far behind, I thought I would at least blog about Thanksgiving. The boys and I actually headed down to Klamath Falls a little early to meet up with all the girls. All of the sisters (and in-law's) were able to go the Saturday before and have a little "girl" time (with all of our kids too of course:)

Here are all the kids in their Christmas church outfits that Grandma and Grandpa gave them. They all looked so cute!

Grandma made sugar cookies for the kids to frost......for some reason this picture cracks me up with Andi and Calvin staring at each other witout their shirts on....

One of the nights we had surprise baby showers for Nikki and Summer. We were able to go out to dinner for Nikki's, and then when we got back home, another surprise was awaiting Summer!

The main thing us girls did was "get our craft on". We made lots of fun things! You can't really see them since they are all in a big mess, they they all turned out really cute and it was so much fun.

On Thanksgiving day Grandma had got some turkey headbands for the kids to wear....they were pretty funny!

The day after Thanksgiving, it is tradition to go up into the mountains and cut down a Christmas tree. We were lucky enough to have snow, and they boys had so much fun playing in it. Calvin reminds me of the little boy on "A Christmas Story" Any time he fell down, he seriously could not get up!

Andi, Carter, Gray and Cal showing off their snowman Grandma helped them build.

We all got to take turns with the four-wheeler.

That night we put up the tree (a different one than the one we cut down:) After about an hour of the guys trying to get it up and straight it looked beautiful!

All the kiddos in the pajamas Grandma and Grandpa got them....

Thanks for such a great week! We had so much fun spending time with Ben's family and we are so grateful for them!

Now....we are packing up to leave for another week to Utah. We can't wait to see my family too!

Christmas tree lighting...

A couple weeks ago we took the boys to see the "tree lighting" down at the riverfront park......it was really cold, but the boys loved it!



Santa came riding in on a fire truck, then they raised the ladder and had Santa turn on the lights at the top of the tree.....the boys seriously thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Home Sweet Home

Well....Here it is! We are finally somewhat settled in to our home. (And we finally have the internet:) Here are a few pictures....we still don't have a lot on our walls, but hopefully once the Christmas decorations are down we will finish decorating.

Here are a couple "before" pictures of the Family room....it was pretty plain and boring....it's amazing what some paint can do!

After long nights of Painting and a little decorating here are some "After" pictures.


Here is a picture of the Kitchen. We still have a lot of work to do in here....touch up paint, get curtains, replace light fixtures......the list could go on and on.....
(sorry about all the clutter on the counters:)

The one thing I really wanted when we got our house was a new Kitchen table and after 6 years of Marriage with our tiny tiny table, we finally have a table big enough for us all (plus a couple others) to fit!

I will post pictures of the boys rooms and our room when they are done. Grayson's is painted, but we still have a few more things to do.

Anyway, we are really happy in our home and it is so nice to finally have a place to call "Our Home"!!!

Busy.

We have moved into our new house. We don't have internet yet. We have been unpacking and painting, and that's about it. The boys love the new house. Pictures to come....sometime!

That is about all I have time to post tonight. Time to paint again since the boys are asleep:) Did I mention that I am really sick of painting?

We're packing!

We finally did it, we bought a house! We've signed the papers, and we get the keys this coming Monday. We are super excited! We LOVE the neighborhood, and it will be really convenient because it is really close to our church and only a couple blocks away from an Elementary shcool (less than 2 years before Gray goes to school:) We will post pictures once we are moved in.

The boys think it is pretty fun to pack....
except every time I tape up a box, they just want to play in it and tear it apart!

Our Little Afro Boys

Rough night for Gray

Gray took really bad tumble outside tonight and landed right on his face. His lips are really, really swollen....the picture really doesn't show how bad it is. He was bleeding everywhere. He just keeps telling us to "wipe his lips off". Hopefully by morning time the swelling will have gone down a little! Poor little guy.

*This picture is from this morning....swelling has gone down, but it looks a lot worse.

some random pictures from the week....

Grayson started a little "Joy School" once a week. There are only 5 kids and he is loving it! The moms in the group just take turns teaching, so we only have to teach once every 5 weeks, which is really nice. We had it at our house on Thursday and we learned about shapes. Here are the kids decorating "shape" cookies.....I think they had the most fun eating the sprinkles!

On Friday, my good friend Mary and her boys Morgen and Max came down from Portland to spend a few hours with us. Ben was in Law School with her husband Spencer, and that is how we became such good friends. They have lived in Portland for about a year, so we don't see them near as much as we use to...so we have made it a point to visit each other more often!

Just a cute little picture of Calvin!

We like to go on walks in the morning, but I think it is starting to get a little cold....Grayson wore his hat like this the whole time!

Ben's cruiser broke down this week....big surprise. After Ben was done working on it, he came in and told me he felt more like a man.....

If you know me, you know I hate onions. I made something with onions this week for our ward party.....and I was reminded of another reason I hate them. I can't even get through cutting one without my make up ending all over my face!

Our cute little boys settling down for the night. We normally have to let them watch a little show for about 10 minutes before they go to bed to settle them down.

Just me and my hubby...

A weekend with Grandma Sandy....

My mom came in to town to visit us for about 4 days.
Our boys just love her! (And we do too of course!)

One of the boys favorite parts of having visitors is that we get to get out our air mattress . This time they had extra fun when Grayson decided to make it into a slide. They did this almost every morning and night!
Grandma brought them some fun Halloween things too!
On Saturday the weather was nice so we headed to a Pumpkin Patch. It was just a small one, but we had a lot of fun!

Hay Ride...

The boys got to drive the tractor when we were done with the hay ride.

Riding the little tractors....

Going down the slide. This was Grayson's favorite part!
But, it was NOT Cal's favorite part.....

Family portrait on the Haystack!

Gray and Cal did a great job at leading us through the corn maze...

I just love this picture!

Playing in the big Tee Pee (not sure how to spell that:)

My little cow and pig!

We also did a lot of shopping, and running errands, while she was here. It is amazing how much easier it is to go to a store with another adult to help me! We did a lot of eating as well....we pretty much made ourselves sick every night, we we had delicious meals! We made some crafts which was also fun.

Overall, the time went by way too fast! We miss her already! Thanks again Mom for coming to visit us. I am glad that even though we live far away from my parents, my boys still know them really well!