Halloween begins

Carving pumpkins on the porch :)

My twins are iPhone/iPad junkies! 

Happy Easter!

 Easter seemed to come early this year. It was a beautiful day for a easter egg hunt with friends on Saturday and a fun day hunting again Sunday morning. Easter Sunday is such a nice relaxing holiday. I love everything about it. Minimal gifts, beautiful music in Sacrament meeting, a spirit of hope in our future. Welcome Spring!

 These 2 should have been the twins. Identical. 

St. Patricks day and a Bike Ride

A certain crazy husband thought it was a good idea to go on a bike ride in March. It was the coldest ride I've ever been on. How did I let him talk me into it? Never again.

We had a fun little St. Patty's dinner with the missionaries a day early. As fun as the jello looks, it wasn't very solid and sorta crumbled with the first bite. Oh well, it's the thought that counts.

Happy LOVE Day

The Christmas Hangover

This is a great depiction of the Day after Christmas.
We did get a big snow fall so J.R. and Elliot couldn't resist some snow fun. Me and the twins were very happy inside the warm house :)

Christmas Day!

Christmas Day is so fun with little kids! 

Elliot is crazy with anticipation and was beyond excited when he saw that Santa actually made it to our house! Thank Goodness! :)

 The set up

 The empty plate of cookies and returned note from santa

Goodbye letter from Chippy

 Remote control cars were a hit this year!

 He was especially excited about his Power Ranger gun/sword

 The Hot Wheels track was by far the family favorite!

 Elliot trying his best to get a picture of mom and dad

 Turkey, mashed potatoes etc....YUMMY! 

 Another family favorite...a mini Air Hockey table

My little christmas elf!

Christmas Eve

These are the cookies we made and Elliot choose to leave out for Santa. 

One for Santa, Chippy (our new elf this year), and Mrs. Clause (so cute that he thought of her)

 

It's been a while since we've had a consistent Christmas Eve. Before we moved to Indiana we spent our Christmas' in Sun Valley (10 years in a row). So I really don't know how to do Christmas at home. I'm not good at it. Our first year in Indy (2009) Grandpa Larsen died and J.R. was able to get enough time off to spend Cmas day in Utah. The next year we had out Twins (2010) and I honestly don't remember anything about that Christmas except finally holding Jaxon in the NICU on Cmas Day. Last year (2011) was fairly normal...boring maybe, but normal. We spent Cmas eve cutting out snowflakes and hanging them on the ceiling because there was no snow outside. Got to be together and had a good experience. Then there was this year. We were so happy to be invited to a Cmas Eve dinner at our dear friends house (Matt & Erin Pitcher). The Chinese food supplied by all who came was DELICIOUS! The company was fun and acting out the Cmas story was neat. We enjoyed the evening with great friends who, like us, don't have family close by. We went home early enough for our own moment of singing and setting up then it was off to bed.  I'm not sure what it was about this year, but it just felt disjointed. We're in a strange place in our lives. So close to moving on and probably never going to see these friends again. Our anticipation of the future. Our lack of family and tradition. Our lack of funds for much in the way of gifts. My frustration of all the spending and semi "forced" gift giving (probably because of the previous concern)....I think everything just sorta piled on top of each other and put a strange taste in my mouth. Talking with J.R. in bed on Christmas Eve we decided we are not stay-at-home type of Christmas people. Sun Valley is our tradition. Even if we don't carol in the group again, I have a strong suspicion we will be spending our future Christmas' in Sun Valley or somewhere like it.

Beside the strange feeling there is always one feeling that is felt no matter where you are or what you're doing at Christmas. That is the feeling of the Savior and the importance of that day so many years ago.

Merry Christmas...Eve!

Thanksgiving

J.R. was on call for Thanksgiving this year...but we still managed to enjoy ourselves and eat really yummy food! Being at home with just our little family for Thanksgiving could have been a little disappointing when we knew there is a lot of fun going on in Utah without us, but we tried not to dwell on that. The time just being together was much needed and really great! We do miss family on days like this, but it's a good opportunity to be grateful for the family we do have surrounding us and those watching from above.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Halloween Night

Because they aren't allowed to dress up at school for halloween, the kindergarten teachers do an amazing hat parade where the kids get to parade through all the other classrooms wearing the hat they made using one of their "Amazing" words they've been working on. Without hesitation Elliot choose the word Rattlesnake! Fun day!!

Our halloween night began with J.R. working late and being on call (yay!) So we ventured out without him now knowing when he'd get home. The boys looked cute in their Devil costumes and Elliot was more concerned about the pending candy then what he looked like...but Power Rangers are pretty cool!

Elliot, Debbie, Jaxon & Miles

 Jaxon, Elliot, Alexa, (Alexa's friend)

 Our favorite Halloween house. As much as we love it, it's kinda exciting knowing that is the last time we'll see the house decorated like that. :)

 Once the twins got the hang of it and the sugar high started kicking in, they were off to the races. 

 Little tired Jaxon Devil

 Starting to get cold Miles Devil

 Miles

Jaxon

The after math....way too much candy....cold....tired!

Elliot wasn't so quick to stop. He stayed out with the Hamner family till the neighborhood shut down. Again....way too much candy, but so so fun!