Bobcat Boy

Kyle is really getting into Cub Scouts.  That program is just MADE for little boys to learn, grow, and have SO MUCH FUN DOING IT!  Here he is at Pack Meeting this month...

It was kind of a big night for him because he was receiving his Bobcat Badge!  The Cubmaster put him on this pedestal.  Kyle is such a ham!

I got to come up and stand with him while he got his award.

With the award, he received a "Mother's Pin" he pinned on me...

Like I said...total ham!  LOVE this guy!!

Then the Cubmaster had us a play a game where I had to toss a toilet paper roll to Kyle from across the room, and he had to catch it with his eyes closed...

He missed the first roll, but caught it the second time.  Way to go!

My dad was there to watch Kyle get his award.  He works with the Boy Scouts in his ward, so he came appropriately decked out.  He fit right in!  My parents are so supportive of my kids.  They come to everything...and that is no small feat!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

I really love having the house decked out for Christmas.  I think next year we may start before Thanksgiving just so we can enjoy it longer.  This year we put up our tree for Family Home Evening the Monday after Thanksgiving.

I love seeing my kids reaching way up high to put that special ornament as high as they can...

The funny thing is, later that week we decided we needed a new tree (the old one was pretty old and small and beat up - we'd had it for 13 years!).  We bought a new one and ended up redecorating the tree.  It was twice the fun!  We put our old tree in the game room upstairs.  It's always fun to have a second tree.

Thanksgiving Festivities

The boys started Thanksgiving Day with the typical Turkey Bowl with our ward.  This is a very big and well attended event!  There are usually around 100 men and boys out there for the big games.  This year was no different.  Mark and Bryan played on a team together.  Here are some pics of their fun!

While the big guys were playing football, the little guys (who didn't make the age cut-off a.k.a. Colton and Kyle) were catching fish with their bare hands and little pieces of donut in the pond next to the fields.

Once they caught them they released them back into the pond.  This provided hours of entertainment to them and their friends...

I only left the house for about an hour to see the fun, and then it was home to take care of all the yummy cooking left to do!  Finally everything was ready and we sat down to tons of delicious food.  I LOVE Thanksgiving!

The next day we drove about an hour away into the mountains to go shooting. Mark's friend had a truckload of pumpkins to use for targets.  They had a whole table set up with all kinds of guns and ammunition.  Everyone had a great time.

My sister, Jamie...

My sister, Kacie...

 Colton, Bryan, and Mark...

The poor pumpkins didn't have such a good time.

My favorite is shooting the shotgun at clay pigeons...

Kyle love to shoot, but he also LOVES throwing the clay pigeons up.

Kacie's husband, Matt...

 Jamie and my mom...

Their looking pretty serious here.  Bryan is always looking to beat his dad.  When Bryan throws clay pigeons he likes to punch out the centers and throw them so they're harder to shoot.  He never gets very many by Mark though!

Another one of my favorite traditions I had growing up and now continue with my family, is to have a puzzle out all Thanksgiving weekend for people to work on.  When that's done, we pull out another and another.  It's fun to have one just sitting on the table for people to work on all through the holiday season.  Mark and I picked this one up when we went to Salt Lake together the month before.  It had all kinds of fairy tales in one big picture.  It was very colorful and a lot of fun to do.  My kids are really good at it!

welcoming CARTER into the world!

Our close friends, Josh and Sarah, welcomed their newest little boy into the world today.  Jace has a brother!  His name is Carter and he's ADORABLE.  We went to the hospital to meet Carter a few hours after he was born.  Here are the first few pics of him with his admirers...

Carter, you are SO LOVED!