Neighbor Christmas Party 2016

Human Christmas trees 

(Emma and Brother Pugmire)

Mr C, Zak, and Miss V gaze at the Emma tree

My neighbor and friend, Emma is moving with her family back to her hometown in Texas. Before the move, they decided to invite as many friends and neighbors who wanted to come for a Christmas party. We ended up having it at our church building, because sometimes you just need space, and the church happens to have lots of it. Emma and her husband, Willis had prepared many fun games and organized the potluck. They also had an ugly sweater contest, which the Bennet family totally dominated. We had so much fun!

The women triumphed in one of the rounds while using their brains. Zak very impressively pulled out the tissues one-by-one at lightning speed, using his champion percussionist skills, while the women pulled the tissues out in one large handful. The the record show that the instructions only said to pull the tissues out as fast as you can. I think the men ended up winning in the end.

Men filling pantyhose with balloons

Women filling pantyhose with balloons

Make it snow tissues

Zak making it snow

Mr C having emotions

All the speed of an experienced percussionist

A friend, Miss F and
our Mr C under a table

Cookie Shapes

 Miss V loves using her cookie cutter "shapes," so normally we use them for pb&j sandwiches and french toast, but around Christmas time she requested we make gingerbread men and other shapes.
Uncle Ammon came for a surprise visit and helped us decorate the second batch.

Someone is reaching for the cookies...

We moved the cookies so Mr C 

couldn't reach them

Adorable Miss V with our second batch

These Faces

Aunt Niki mailed both of the kids their own letter with a picture she colored for them. They were pretty excited. Mr C and Miss V just kept make adorable faces.

Miss V

Mr C on Daddy's lap

Mr C

Mr C

Me (Mommy) at about Mr C's age

It's Snowtime!

Our recent snowfall left some good packing snow, and since I have an active child, we decided to build a snowman together!

Her "beach"

Miss V loves to imagine environments, such as a campsite or her "beach."

Halloween 2016

 My sister, Cassie, and Mom found some cute kids astronaut costumes, so I decided to put together some coordinating costumes for Zak and me. I found some blue coveralls online, as well as some NASA and Discovery mission patches. Our mission had the raddest patch. Smith & Edwards, a military surplus store, carried flag patches, and I painted our name badges on some patch fabric. The kids' costumes were especially helpful for being outside, with the warm layers.
Earlier in the week, we went to Grandma's and our church carnivals. Halloween morning I took the kids to the Family and Information Resource Center, where Miss V played games and put together the Paw Patrol puzzle. We did the Halloween tour of the local Associated Foods Store, did a last-minute trunk-or-treat. I took Miss V out afterward to a few neighborhood houses. She mostly wanted to stop and play with the kids. It felt kind of weird to take her out after dark (even though it was about 7:00). She loved carrying around the Halloween kids' meal bucket she got from our friend. We've used her candy as a post-potty reward.

Seventh Post-It Note Day

Zak and I met after my friend and I left a post-it note on his car as a joke. We didn't leave our numbers, just our first names. We met the following week in passing. One year later, we married. We still celebrate the event that started it all with our very own "Post-It" Note Day.

Collecting Pumpkins

Every year we like to get pumpkins for Halloween. Sometimes we paint; sometimes we carve. This year we bought a few from the store. I've taken an art class from a wonderful woman about to leave on an LDS mission to Lithuania. She and her husband grew pumpkins in their garden, so she offered them, free for the taking. I took a couple more. Last week my parents invited us for a tractor ride at Mt. Naomi Farms. At the end of the ride, we each got to pick a pumpkin. We convinced Miss V she didn't actually need to pick a gigantic one.

Bundled up for our trailer-pulled-by-tractor ride at Mt Naomi Farms

Our unicorn pumpkin collapsed almost immediately, but Niki's Sharpie pumpkin and Zak's jagged face jack-o-lantern lasted quite a while.