Kenzee Loves the Pumpkin Guts

I have been terrible at blogging, but I had to post these videos of Kenzee. She really got into the pumpkin carving this year! For some reason the girls in my family like to get dirty. All of the "mud" pictures from the Res or Bear Lake are of Ashlee. When I was growing up my best friend was a boy named Troy (funny, huh?) and when we would play, I came home dirty from head to toe and he was spotless. I guess us girls just like to get down and dirty. Emilee doesn't seem to mind getting dirty either, it's my boys who would cry or have issues as babies if they had something on their hands. It seems Kenzee is going to fit right in. She was a slimy mess afterward, but she sure had fun! (The BO conversation in the back is kind of funny too. Ashlee asked how we liked her BO and we laughed. She was carving BOO into her pumpkin.)

Grandpa's Truck

Since it is the last day of February, I decided I should post our last real "winter" activity. Besides normal sledding over the holidays, we also got to have fun being pulled behind Grandpa's truck which is always a lot of fun.
Grandpa pulling the kids out to the pasture for some tubing fun!
Ashlee riding with her cousin, JaCee.











Derek and Jaxon riding a tube together.

Ashlee took her little cousin, Abi for a ride.
Derek sharing a tube with his cousin, David!











Derek looking cool and relaxed on his tube.

The truck pulling tubes full of cold but excited children.
When Derek was tired of riding the tubes behind the truck, I let him practice driving. It was a big open field of snow and he did great! He had lots of fun and can't wait to get back to Grandpa's big open fields to do it again.


It was lots of fun and ended with a beautiful sunset.

Holiday Sledding

Sorry about all the pics, but I have lots of cute sledding pictures I've been meaning to post. We went sledding over the holidays with the Lovell family and it was so much fun (at least until Troy made me go with him and he landed on me and smashed my head into the snow). All of my kids really had a great time. I left Emilee napping at Grandma's and Adam was with Jen, so unfortunately, they weren't in on all the fun!
Derek had a lot of fun on the sleds. Isn't he a handsome boy?





Ashlee was our little trooper. She crashed a lot and didn't care a bit. She laughed and giggled the entire time. She even climbed the mountain carrying two tubes, one for her and one for Jordan.


Jaxon had lots of fun, too. Isn't he cute all bundled up? His hands got cold a couple of times and he had to fix his sleeves to keep the snow out, but he didn't let it get him down. He had a great time anyway.


Jordan had a good time, too. He didn't even want to wear his coat. He thought his sweatshirt was good enough. He loved taking the tube up the hill a ways and then jumping on and going down a little. He is always fun to watch.

I think Troy had the best time of all. He doesn't get to play much, so when he does, he plays hard. Troy and Ashlee spent more time sledding than anyone else. They were the first ones to start and the last ones to quit. He is such a fun daddy!









These are a couple of shots of the people who did trains. I had to include the shot of them cheating, too. Sure, they climbed the hill a few times, but they also got some help from the truck:)!





These last two are shots of Easton and Kadee. They were all bundled up and John pulled them around on the sled. It was so cute and funny! I was proud of everyone, especially the kids. It was a really cold day, but everyone was in good spirits and no one really complained. It was lots of fun!

Temple Square

The last Sunday in December, we went to Temple Square with the Lovell family to see the lights. We had lots of fun and loved the beautiful lights. We did, however, miss the big red tree. I heard it may be back next year and I hope so because it is always so pretty. It was so much fun spending time with family, especially because Joe, Celeste, and Brindi were still here and we don't get to see them very much. After seeing the lights we enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies together.

Christmas Eve Party

We always spend Christmas Eve with the Petersens. It is so much fun! We have lots of fun games, basketball, volleyball, fabulous dinner, Santa, and a Nativity. Grandpa and Grandma Petersen make it extra special and have Santa bring a little something for the younger children. (I wish I'd taken a picture of them.) We love them so much and are so grateful we get to spend time with them on the holidays.

Wardle Family Christmas Party

The Utah Wardle Cousins
Troy & Jackee fighting for gifts in the newspaper game.
The kids all loved playing in the newspaper. Jacob & Madison
Jacob & Emilee
Jaxon, Kaitlynn, & Jordan








Emilee loved it lots.










The Nativity was our finale for the night. The kids did a great job.

At the end, Derek accompanied us by playing Silent Night on his guitar. He also accompanied our ward in Sacrament Meeting earlier that day.

Festival of Lights

Derek, Emilee, Ashlee, Jaxon, & Jordan
Emilee, Ashlee, & Jaxon
Emilee & Mom
Jaxon, Jordan, Ashlee, & Emilee
Jordan & Derek

We decided to go see the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork this year instead of Thanksgiving Point, and we really enjoyed it. The kids had great fun hanging out windows to check out all the pretty lights. We drove through twice because we liked it so much. Emilee kept saying "Ho Ho" whenever we passed a Santa. We especially liked the Nativity.