Christmas

We had a great Christmas at my parent's house in West Virginia! It's so nice to have them close by! Have I said that before? My brother Jake was there from Colorado too, so that was bonus! We also got to talk to my youngest brother Jared on the phone from Chile, where he's serving a mission. It was really nice to hear his voice again! They had plenty of snow for us to enjoy at their house, so we went sledding and cross-country skiing. However, on Christmas day we had some freezing rain that put little bit of a damper on our outdoor fun. It didn't stop Ryley from jumping on the trampoline though. She loves that trampoline. We also played a lot of fun games, but Ammon was on a role and swept the board each time (except for Galaxy Trucker- great game, by the way!).

Jensen, in his new football jacket!

Christmas morning, so exciting!

New Christmas Jammies!

They loved the monkey playdoh thing! Thanks Kinley!

T'was the night before Christmas...and all through the house...

We had a little cookout Christmas eve and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows! A new tradition I think!

The kids loved ice skating so much at Thanksgiving that we decided to do it again! They improved a lot since last time too!


Even Jensen was standing up on his own by the end of the time.

Snow!

About a week before Christmas we had the biggest snowstorm they've had on the east coast in years! It was light, fluffy Utah-like snow too, instead of the wet stuff we normally get. We had the best weekend playing in it!

You can't even see our car!

We made a little snow cave out of the snow-plow piles.

The kids were in Heaven!!

Fall Leaves!

The best part about fall is all the leaves. Jensen and Ryley love jumping in them. Our apartment complex has a big job every fall doing leaf cleanup, but it's always so sad when they take them away. We kind of have to compete with the leaf blowers for them to have some fun.

Action shot.

Now you see Ryley, now you don't.

Please don't lick the leaves Jensen.

This is Jensen's "stop" sign. It looks like a karate move.

Momma gets to do the hard part- raking the leaves.

Halloween

Can anyone guess what our family theme is this year? probably not. we didn't put a whole lot of effort into our costumes. Captain Hook is the easiest to spot... if only he would have kept his hook on the whole time. Ryley is tinker bell, not just a princess. Ammon made his peter pan hat himself and I'm dressed as a pregnant Wendy. It was a fun night! It was super warm! But then we got rained out after about an hour. good timing i think.

Ryley was excited to wear makeup for the occasion. Don't get used to it yet girl!

Ryley designed her own pumpkin on the left.

He's making Papa Jensen's lump jaw face.

Ryley just looks possessed.

Fun Fall Fishing

We've been granted some especially nice fall days the last few weeks and so we took advantage of the beautiful weather to have one last boating trip. We drove over to Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's house over in West Virginia, just a few hours away and spent some time on Cheat Lake. The fall colors were spectacular! And it was just fun to be able to see our family!

Ryley insisted on wearing her swimming suit the whole time even though it's not exactly summer anymore.

Jensen got skunked.

Ryley was so excited to catch her first fish! A little perch!

Mommy was REALLY excited to catch a fish too! Way too excited. It's been a long time since I've caught one. We took this one home and ate it for dinner. Ryley ate the eye ball of course. At least they were cooked this time.

Despite the cold water, Ryley wanted to go tubing and she somehow convinced my dad to go with her.

Jensen decided to stay within the comforts of grandma's arms.

Baby #3

We had our ultrasound this past week and got to take a peak at our little baby. I'm 23 weeks along now- Due Feb. 2nd. We didn't find out what gender it is so that it can be a surprise. We thought that might be fun since we already have a boy and a girl. Ryley definitely is voting for a girl. So far, she's come up with Kissy or Missy as a girl name... and Boyly if it's a boy. Any other suggestions?

Ryley's Pony Party

Ryley turned 5 years old and she wanted a My Little Pony birthday party. We went to our favorite park and had some pony games with Ryley's little friends. This is my attempt at a pony cake.


Ryley loved it so that's all that matters.


Jensen helped make the cake too.


We had planned on playing "pin the tail on the pony", but we forgot the pony picture at home... so we played pin the tail on the garbage instead.



She used to only have 3 ponies, but now we have a whole stable full of ponies. Ryley has been playing ponies non-stop since. Jensen likes to play too.