Stringing the Lights

Every year we let the kids decorate the tree, and they help Chad put lights outside. Well, they stand there and watch him and keep asking when they can plug them in. This whole ritual is always the same:

• Assemble tree.


• Cry because lights never look right.


• Chad saves the day, gets the lights perfect 1st try.


• Kids decorate...only have ornaments on the bottom half.


• Kids redecorate it everyday till Christmas.

This year was different. I got a new tree! Pre-lit. Snaps together in 3 parts...no more putting on every branch. Plus a little added bonus....a rotating stand. I had no idea it had this little feature, kind of reminded me of my grandma. But who cares, with how long Chad and I keep trees I will still have this beauty when I am a grandma. Then I can take full advantage of all the bells and whistles this baby came with!

The finished masterpiece...bring on the holidays!

The boys being wild while waiting for me to break out the ornaments.

Luke was carefully placing all his ornaments in the same spot. He thought they looked better like that.

Blake got the hang of it this year, and made sure we had ornaments all over. Thanks buddy!

Luke got to place the star on the tree this year. It took about 5 mins because he didn't get that he had to really smash it on there. I'm sure Chad's arms were killing him.

Luke

Luke came downstairs this morning wearing his church pants. I told him that maybe he should find something else to wear because those were his church pants.

It went down like this:

Luke: but mom these are my visiting teaching pants.

Me: what?

Luke: these are my visiting teaching pants and I wear them every month!

Me: you need to go put on jeans.

Luke: no! And where are my visiting teaching socks?

I darn near wet my pants! He is so funny. I am glad that he wants to look his best when we go out making our visits. At least he is trying to make people think we have it together.

New Tricks

Last week at our house everyone was full of new tricks. Having three boys really keeps me on my toes. I love it, but man they are busy. There is no slowing down.

Austin.

He learned to sit on his own! He now has a whole new view of his world. If only his brothers would leave him alone long enough for him to enjoy it.

Luke.

My brother Bryce came and put in a new kitchen fauset for us, and the new one has a side sprayer, something the last one didn't have. Luke has learned to give the whole kitchen a spray down. And if you get close enough you will get a shower...ask Blake. This little guy is so wild!

Blake.
He is our creative one. He was asked to put the clothes from the washer to the dryer. His favorite part is cleaning out the lint trap. This time he was laughing really hard. We asked him what was so funny then he came out of the laundry room holding this lint man!

Gingerbread Houses

I have started the tradition of letting my kids make a gingerbread house Thanksgiving night. This year I brought the tradition to everyone! After Thanksgiving dinner at my parents, all the grand kids made their own gingerbread house. Necia and her kids were able to join us for this. We were lucky this year to find a little mini village so all the kids had a different house to make and a huge plus they were tiny!

Luke with his masterpiece. He was the first one done and completed it in record time, about 3 mins and he was ready to eat it.

Blake carefully placed each piece of candy and and frosting to make his perfect. It turned out amazing. He is getting pretty good at these.

My handsome boys and the finished houses.

My niece Shelby. Hands down hers looked the best. But come on she's 12!

My niece Shaylee. This is house #2 for her. The first one didn't turn out right so she quickly started over. This is a trick good ole' Aunt Kirsti would have pulled. Love it!

My Nephew Gaige. He and Blake kept discussing what they thought would look good. They carefully planned out every move.

My Sweet niece Taylia. She cheated! My sister Necia took over and made this beauty. The only reason I knew this was every time Tay took a piece of candy off Necia would tell her to stop ruining it. Clearly that is not the work of a three year old. Ha..ha...

Thanksgiving

My parents hosted our Thanksgiving dinner this year. It was good food and good company. We were lucky enough to be able to share it with both of my Grandmas, my Grandma Cook and my Grandma Bingham. Three out of the five kids(Geoff, Kirsti, Bryce)were there with their families, and even Karen, Greg, and Lindsay joined us.

I was in charge of bringing some kind of dessert. So I stuck to the classic and made my own homemade pumpkin pie for the first time. Chad was pretty impressed with my pie and gave it rave reviews!

I also wanted to bring something that would be a little more appealing for the kids. So I also made these cute pilgrim hats. But when my dad saw them he decided to use them for the center piece for the table. I think he was just being nice and trying to encourage my domestic skills that are lacking.

Then the guys even got in some football. Austin is such a daddy's boy and loves to hang with Chad. These guys were two peas in a pod.

My cute Mom with Austin.

Not So Sneaky...

I had a work meeting to go to, so Chad came home on his lunch break to watch the kids. I guess Luke thought he could pull a fast one on Chad. Instead of asking for some pie he thought he would just sneak some and nobody would know. Um, I think you got caught red handed Luke. I am so happy that Chad got photos of this!

LOTOJA 2010

Back in September Chad finally got to participate in LOTOJA. He and Craig trained for this all summer long. They put in thousands of training miles to prepare for the big day. Kristi and I got to go along and be their support vehicle, meeting them along the way to provide food, water and to shake the cow bell for encouragement.

Chad's goal was to finish the race in under 12 hrs. He was a bit disappointed because he was able to finish in just over 12 hrs. I thought he did amazing and every time we saw them they were going strong. This race was so fun to be apart of. This was a huge goal for Chad, and something he had wanted to do for a couple of years. Before the race we had talked about this being a one time thing...but now that Chad has done it, of course he wants to do it again. A) being he wants to beat his goal of under 12 hrs and B) he loved it! I am so grateful to my mom for taking Blake and Luke while we were gone. This is not something that would have worked well with kids. Austin was only 2 months so he got to come along.

Chad and Craig climbing Snake River Canyon

(the only action shot I got. When we saw them I was too busy shaking the cow bell and yelling out the window that I forgot to take pictures)
2nd feed zone and about 1/2 there.

Just after Chad crossed the finish line. I would have been on the ground after the 206 miles. He was walking around like it was no big deal.

Chad at the start line.

In Logan waiting for his group to approach the start line.

Just arrived at the race. Getting all the prep work done.

Just after the longest climb of the day. He acted like it was no big deal that he had just climbed for almost 100 miles.

Geared up and ready to go.

Water....check

Food...check

Chamois butter...check

These guys were totally prepared and hit the start line with confidence. The weather was perfect and they couldn't wipe those smiles off their faces!