Christmas

Christmas Eve in our matching jammies.

This is just about the best day of the year. We had an amazingly wonderful dinner at my dad and mom's. We did the nativity then we all got our Christmas Jammies. It's a race to open them and get them on first (everyone strips in the same room trying to win). This is always a shocker when we have someone sharing Christmas Eve with us for the first time!

This is everyone who still lives at my parent's house in their matching jammies.

Boys will be boys- but aren't they cute?

Christmas Morning

Checking out what Santa brought before the girls wake up.

If Santa could only see how excited they are about all their stuff!

Bake Night

One of our favorite December activities is Bake Night. We make all sorts of yummy stuff... divinity, toffee, puffed rice ball, cookies, cake balls, snowmen, fudge, etc. We take a lot of it caroling then we just get to eat the rest!

Ward Party

Shaersti told Santa that she didn't care what she got for Christmas. That sure made his job easy! Anne took a treat from him then ran away. Shaersti got to be the Star in the ward nativity. She stood up there with her arms out through the whole thing and did a great job.

Taffy Pull

Taffy Pull This was a new thing we tried this year and we never did get the recipe exactly right. It was fun for a minute but I'm not sure we will be doing it again.
This is what my mom's couch usually looks like- full.

Let the Christmas Traditions Begin...

Gingerbread Houses

Every year we make these and although we start with a kit, my mom buys WAY more candy and the kids love to help make them. For everything we eat, I'm always surprised there's still candy left on the houses.

Shaersti's Birthday

I can hardly believe that I have a 5 year old! Shaersti is so much fun to have as a daughter. She makes everything into a party and always has to be part of what's going on. She loves learning and reasoning and can find a way to talk Scott and I into anything. She loves her friends and her sisters, playing outside, and watching movies. She is just strating to learn to read and loves to try and sound things out and to read books to her dad. She just had her first "friend" party and chose to invite everyone she knows- well, almost! We had 12 really excited kids here and they had a blast playing games, breaking a pinata, and eating rootbeer floats (yes... in December). She is such a blessing in our family.

Our brand new baby Shaersti

One Year Old

2 Years Old

5 Years Old

Halloween

We had a great Halloween with our scary witch, Little Bunny FooFoo and our cute ladybug. We went to a Halloween carnival, both grandma's houses, and trick-or-treating. Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Party

Thanks to Gandpa Jim for starting our annual Pumpkin Party. He is no longer here but I'm sure he was smiling to see his tradition live on. We ate chili and breadsticks, carved pumpkins, clapped for each one, and got prizes. As always, we had a lot of fun.

Paysli with her big-mouthed pumpkin, just like her.

Shaersti did her pumpkin almost all by herself and it had a face on each side.

Scott did Anne's pumpkin with her.

Cheerleading

Shaersti, Anne, Becca and Bayli did a cute little cheer clinic with the Desert Hills cheerleaders then they got to perform at their football game. It was pretty cute to watch them. Shaersti is about in the middle of this pic on the front row.

Anne is the tiny one on the right of the teacher and Baylie is behind her on the right. They were all so cute!

Anneliese Turns 3!!!

Our sweet little Anneliese turned 3 last week. She is so much fun to have for a daughter. Someone once told me that she is a very "satisfying" child and I truly believe that. It's really hard to not just love Anne. She tends to get her way wherever she goes. She is a cute little talker and a great snuggler. She loves to play on her own and with toys but she also loves her sisters and her friends. She is still not potty trained (any help would be great). She has great tan skin (don't know where she got that) and big eyes. We love our little baby and, although she barely makes it onto the normal weight and height charts for her age, we can hardly believe how fast she is growing up.

She had a way fun party with tons of great family and got spoiled with lots of presents. Thanks everyone!
I got really creative and made her flip-flop cakes. I think they turned out pretty cute if I must say so myself!

Rodeo Time!

Check out those great rodeo bums!

I think I have this same cotton candy picture from last year.

Grandpa Scott and Jason got to play music a few hours before the rodeo started on a flat bed trailer in the middle of the stadium. It was fun to know the band and they did a great job!

We loved Branson in his studly cowboy hat!

September

Some fun things we've done this month:

Hanging out with Grandpa Scott and collecting tadpoles at the Farmer's Market.

Shaersti's first day at Little Gems (she loves school).

Shaersti loves to tend Paysli- sometimes way too much.

Lakin' It Up

We almost went the whole summer without going to the lake. Then the Ritchens invited us to go with them last weekend. I was a little hesitant to see Shaersti, Anne and Jessi on a tube by themselves but they loved every second of it. Scott loved to wakeboard but afterwards he said for the first time that he is getting old!

7 Years Ago Today...

I married my best friend, and it's the best decision I've ever made. Scott and I dated for 3 years before we finally got married. It was some of the funnest and some of the hardest years of my life. Even considering our trials, life has been bliss since we got married. I am grateful every day to be married to my best friend. 8 moves, lots of job changes, plenty of trips, and 3 daughters later, we are still holdin' strong and life is great! Thanks, Scott, for being my everything!

I got brave and decided to leave our brand new baby (and our other 2) to take Scott on a little surprise trip to a Bed and Breakfast in Zions. We had an awesome time and we never even went into Zions! I wish my scanner was working to post a wedding pic but it's not. These aren't great anniversary pics since we're not together but this is what we did!

Our Baby is Growing

Our little Paysli is growing so fast we can hardly believe it.

This is grandpa Scott giving Paysli her first bottle so that Scott and I could leave for a night for our anniversary.

This is Paysli sitting up like a big girl by Anne to go for a bike ride with dad. I forget how fast they get through the brand new baby stage!

Fuller Family Reunion

Scott and I were in charge of Scott's family reunion this year so we went to my family's property near Bryce Canyon, "Camp Mary". We had so much fun. Because my Uncle Gary let us stay in his trailer again, we were able to take Grandma Van and that was really neat to have her there. Fuller family reunions are always fun and this one was no exception! Sorry there are so many pics to look at- I just couldn't choose.

This is how Paysli enjoyed most of the Bryce Canyon hike (when I wasn't carrying her in the front pack).

My girls absolutely love Jessi and Lindsey and they hung on them all weekend.

This is Chris (Jordan's husband) acting like a Hoo-Doo. Doesn't he just blend right in?

The Ritchie girls: Lindsey, Kristen, Heather, and Jessi.
The Muirbrook Family: Parker, Lee, Tyler, Jill, Paige, Teri, Brad, and Gracie.

Shaersti cheesin' it.

Anne and Jessi

One night we did family skits and they turned out so cute. It was so much fun to see what each family came up with. This is Anne in her "diva" costume.

The fire pit wasn't exactly what we wanted to make hobo dinners so Stan got creative and made little mini piles of briquettes for each family's dinner. It was fun!

We went to Tropic to the park and to Grandma Irene's candy store. This is Jan, Gracie, Jill, and Karen having a visit at the park.

My girls' favorite part of the entire trip was the dogs. I caught Anne lying on her belly kissing Aimee's dog and had to get a pic. They mauled the dogs all weekend.

My little family hiking to Mossy Cave.

The waterfall on the Mossy Cave hike was beautiful and most of the teenagers were all about jumping right in.

Thanks to everyone for a fun and successful reunion!