'Tis the Season

We have been having fun celebrating the holidays. The kids can't wait until tomorrow! We went to Manti last weekend for some family Christmas parties. We had a great time visiting, playing games, sledding and of course eating. The only thing I got pictures of was the sledding. There is a great hill in Manti that you can drive up and sled down, it is over a mile long and you get going pretty fast. Max and Maddie weren't too fond of the snow spraying in their faces as you go down but they kept asking to go again :).

The kids on the way up the hill

I had to sacrifice myself to get these pictures! I went ahead so I could get some pictures about half way down. I was going so fast that the only way I could stop was to steer myself into the snow bank!

The sledders starting to come down the hill

Sharee, James, Charlie and Rosie

Max and Bret, you can't tell by the picture, but they are going pretty fast!

On Monday for Family Night we decorated Gingerbread Houses (actually graham cracker houses). We got messy, and the kids got on a sugar high, it was great!

Trimming the Tree

We had a fun time decorating the tree this year. Both of the kids are old enough to help. After we had it all decorated, Bret and I were putting out other decorations and the kids set up some stools and were sitting watching the tree. It was so cute, Max had is arm around Maddie and they were admiring their work.


They are so excited for Christmas this year! And I will be too once I get all the shopping done :).

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We spent the weekend in Manti and we had a fun and full weekend. Thanksgiving Dinner was delicious with everyone pitching in to make it. We were kind of lazy with our camera but thankfully my Mom got some great photos and I got copies from her.

After our dinner had digested, we all gathered around for some yummy pie. We had Pumpkin, Cherry, Apple, Blackberry, Chocolate Cream and Sour Cream Lemon.


Then we played some fun games. Catan is one of our favorites to play when we get together.


On Friday we had a birthday party for cousin Charlie. He opened presents and we played some party games.


Then we went to the Manti Light Parade. The kids had fun seeing the floats go with all the lights. They stayed warm in the back of Heather's van while they watched.


On Saturday we went up in the mountains to get our Christmas tree. It has become a tradition to get a tag in Manti and cut down our own Christmas tree. Bret and Uncle Andy went and found the trees and then we brought the kids up to "find" the trees.


We also took the kids to Wal-Mart to see Santa Claus. They were so excited to see Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. It took them about 20 seconds to figure out that it wasn't Santa, it was their Uncle James dressed up like Santa!

The weekend then had a happy ending (especially for Bret!) as we watched BYU beat Utah in overtime. It was a great game!

Silly Kids

Maddie and Max love to make funny faces and to do silly things for the camera. Here are some random pictures of them taken over the last couple of months.







We love these silly kids!

Halloween Fun

We had a fun Halloween this year. On the 25th we had a fun party and Grandma and Grandpa N.'s house. The kids got to dress up and play some fun games. Some of the adults had some unusual fun too :).

For Halloween we went down to Manti for the Trunk-or-Treat party that they do. We ate some yummy soup, decorated cookies, carved pumpkings, played in the leaves and ate lots of candy. Poor Maddie woke up with a bad cold on Sat so she didn't do much but she did go trick or treating. She did not want to miss it.

Bret made Max a great Wall-E costume. He was quite the hit with everyone. Maddie had a Eve (the robot) costume but because she didn't feel good we went with the warm cozy unicorn costume.

When the Cows Come Home

We went down to Manti for conference weekend. We went hiking in Maple Canyon (I will post pictures of our hike when I get some that my Mom took), played games, picked a lot of plums, spent time with family, watched conference and last, but not least saw the cows come home.

The Manti City Chamber of Commerce ask if the Temple View Lodge (my family's Motel) could host Manti's first annual "When the Cows Come Home" Event. It was to celebrate 150 years of the cattle trail in Manti (which runs right past the motel) and to honor the cattlemen. They served breakfast, had speakers and a live band.

We had to wake up bright and early.This picture shows some of the people heading over to watch the cows. If you look at the tables you will see the awards they gave the cattlemen. They were gold plated cow pies attached to some barn wood. (No, I am not kidding!)
Maddie sat on Bret's shoulders and watched the cows come around the corner.

It was quite the event, I have never seen anything like it. We had a great weekend, we love visiting Manti!

Playgrounds are Fun

Bret took some cute pictures of the kids on the playground.

Catching Up

Once again I am behind on blogging some of the events in our lives. I was looking through my pictures and I realized there are several things we have done that I haven't put on the blog. I decided I am just going to put them all in one post so that I can get caught up.

On August 13 - 15 we went camping at Yearns Reservoir in Manti Canyon with my Mom, my sister Heather, her husband Andy and their kids (my Mom and Andy joined us during the day). The kids loved fishing, hiking and camping and they especially loved riding the 4 wheeler around.

The next weekend we went to stay and Bret's parents condo in Midway. On Saturday, we went hiking in the Uintas with Grandma and Grandpa and Jodi, Neil and Avery. We hiked to Ruth Lake, it was very beautiful scenery.









Two weeks ago our ward had an activity. It was a Drive-in Movie in the gym of the church. They wanted each family to make a car. Bret loves to create things so he this was right up his alley. The kids decided they wanted to make a monster truck. Max wanted it to be his favorite color, which is white, and Maddie wanted it to be pink so he made it both. They did a great job and the kids are still having fun playing in it.






On Labor Day we went hiking with Ben and Christina and their boys. We drove the Alpine Loop and then hiked to Stuart Falls. That is such a beautiful, scenic place. Max and his cousin Charlie were great hikers, they hiked 4 miles without much trouble. After the hike, we stayed in the canyon and cooked up some hot dogs.