Halloween and Christmas Greetings

Shelby getting acquainted with her pumpkin.

Kasey helping gut a pumpkin.

Pumpkins are carved!

Kasey displaying his pumpkin.

Mom carved Shelby’s pumpkin – see the resemblance?

Our Halloween costumes: If you can’t tell – Kris is Gilligan, Tiffany is Pippy Longstocking (Kris and I totally threw our costumes together day of – obviously), Kasey is a penguin, and Shelby a spider.


Gotta love those little spider legs!

Kasey, the penguin.  I’m pretty sure he loved this costume because of the feet.

Shelby eating cheerios for the first time.  Solids, here we come!

First snow of the season!


Kasey fulfilling his role as big brother – pulling little sis through the snow.

Kasey and Shelby – having a good time together.

Kris and Kasey – peeking through the window while playing in the snow outside.

Kasey is displaying our Christmas tree and new piano.  We are so blessed to now have my Grandma Larsen’s piano in our home. It has been such a treasure – it is a beautiful piano, and I must admit, we had played the piano much, much more since it’s arrival!  A real piano beats a keyboard any day!

It may be hard to see, but Shelby found a nice little seat for herself on one of her toys. She is moving like crazy these days! She leans forward into the crawling position, scoots a little, plops onto her tummy, stink bug’s her bum into the air, and pushes herself up to sitting again in a new position. Somehow, she gets around!

Kasey, our little drummer boy.

For some reason, Kasey and Shelby look awfully guilty in this picture, like they’ve been caught conspiring. In reality, mom had had it for the day (I was trying to sew felt Christmas trees unto shirts for everyone – more on this later), and for the first time ever, I put them both in front of a movie.

More snow! Kasey and dad built a snow man and quite the slide. Kasey loves playing in the snow, obviously.

Old Slanty, arrayed in all it’s finest.

See all that hair sticking out of Kasey’s hat? Kris is still pretty proud of Kasey’s mullet, hence the picture.

Our annual trip to temple square.  We had such a nice time. The lights and nativity put is in the mood for Christmas, and the snow added to the Christmas cheer.

It has been such a busy month.  We tried so hard to have all of our Christmas To-do’s done before December so that we could enjoy the season.  We are almost ready for Christmas, and soon we will be headed to Hurricane to visit my family and see my brother Jake who just got home from his mission – hurray! It will be such a wonderful Christmas. We are in desperate need of a holiday. Kris has been working overtime on projects, and we are ready to relax and enjoy some time together. Kasey, especially, is ready for dad to be home more:

• We were talking about how our family will be together forever because Kris and I were married in the temple. Kasey’s response:  “But dad’s not home forever and ever. He goes to work!”
• We were talking about things we are grateful for. Kasey: “I'm not thankful for my dad cuz he's at work.” His follow-up prayer that night: “Please bless that daddy can come home from work. Amen.” Our favorite time of day is when dad gets home!

Other news: My sweet grandma passed away in October.  She had a beautiful funeral and burial, but we will miss her!  It was too sudden. My Grandma Larsen's life is so inspiring. At 85 years old she was still living on her own, driving, keeping up her yard, serving her family and church, and making baby blankets for the great-grand kids. Her secret to a long and happy life: "Just keep moving!" We love and will miss you grandma!
· We told Kasey my grandma had died. It was a sweet conversation with him. We were talking about how Jesus died and they put his body in the tomb. Kasey: “Not his head? Did his head not go with his body?” Oh Kasey.
Other Kasey moments:
· “I didn't even chew that skittle!” :)  (um..not sure if that’s a good thing!)
Me: “How can I get you to stop jumping on the bed?” Kasey: “Replace me.” (We had learned what that meant recently.)

· We were having family checkup at dinner, and Kris asks what are some good things happening in our family.  Kasey responds: "I'm not poking Shelby, and we're eating our food, and we're going to have family night!" That about sums it up!