Straw Maze

The Saturday before Halloween we decided to take the kids to the straw maze that Will works at. We drove up to Archer and I was amazed at the size of the maze. It was huge!! I tried to take a few pictures to show the size of the thing, but I still don't think they do it justice. It took us over an hour to get through the maze, and that was with Will helping to guide Carson (who was our leader) through. I can't image going through it without a guide, let alone at night when it is haunted! No thank you!

We let Carson lead the way and he thought it was cool to be in charge. He actually did a really good job! Brooklyn had fun walking around in her squeaky shoes following her big brother. I love that she looks up to him so much and always wants to do what he is doing.

We really had a great time going through the maze and will probably try and do it every year. The kids wore their minion hats because it was pretty chilly that day and they looked adorable in them. It was also fun for them to hang out with their daddy because he has been so busy with work and school.

After we were done at the maze we went to Big Judd's to eat. They have HUGE 1 pound hamburgers. Jason and I split one and we could only finish about half of it. While we were at dinner, Brooklyn and Carson filled up on soda, which is a very special treat for them. They thought it was pretty amazing. :)

Boo at the Zoo

Last year we went to "Boo at the Zoo" and loved it, so we decided to go again this year. Jason was in class every night of the week, so we really wanted to go at a time when he could go. On Monday night he had a break between classes and that was the only time we would have enough time to go together. The week before Halloween we had BEAUTIFUL weather - the week of Halloween was awful. The Monday night we were going to "Boo at the Zoo" was rainy and cold. We decided to brave it anyways since the next few nights were supposed to be just as bad and Jason wouldn't be able to go.

We bundled everyone up, grabbed some umbrellas, and went for it. Carly came with us and it was a huge help. We had someone else to help keep the kiddos dry and warm. Brooklyn stayed wrapped up in her stroller, covered in blankets and seemed quite cozy. Carson trudged along in the rain and had a blast, despite the cold. He loved all of the lights and especially loved the Giraffe that followed us around. After "Boo at the Zoo" he started putting his slippers on his hands and pretending to be the giraffe at home.

We had lots of fun, but by the time we were done we were all freezing. We came home and I put the kids in a nice warm bath and we all had a cup of hot chocolate. "Boo at the Zoo" is going to be a tradition we continue as long as we live in Idaho Falls.

Girls Camp

I love my calling in the Young Women program for our church. I love working with our amazing girls and getting to know them. I also work with some of the best ladies I have ever known and I am constantly learning from them. I couldn't ask for a better group! 

This year for camp we went to the Big Springs Campground outside of Lava Hot Springs. My mom was wonderful and stayed with my naughty kids so that I could go be a part of camp. Thank you, Mom! Although camp was a ton of fun, it was also FREEZING cold!! Jason came up for the day on Wednesday to help and to cover Priesthood duties, and even though I told him it was cold and asked him to bring me more warm clothes and blankets, he didn't realize how cold I was talking until he got there. I think he was a little worried about leaving me there knowing I was freezing!! We made it through and survived. :) We ended up taking the girls to the hotsprings instead of floating down the river like we originally planned since everyone needed a little warming up. It also gave us a chance to shower!! 

Jason and I right before he left me

One of the awesome crafts the girls did while they were there for the week. 

All of the leaders on the morning of the hike

The leaders and most of the girls - some of them were still getting ready in their tents

On the hike - don't we look lovely?

The hike was really pretty - but it was a lot of climbing up hills and I was pretty tired by the time we were done. 7 miles going uphill/downhill/uphill/downhill does amazing things for your calves. :)

I love going to camp. There is something about being in the middle of nature that allows the Spirit to touch your heart in a way that is hard to duplicate. I always leave camp feeling overwhelmed with the desire to be better and with an increased testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to belong to this wonderful Church and to have a knowledge of my Savior. I hope we were able to strengthen the testimonies of the girls that week as well. 

January in review....

January was a challenging month in our house (more about that in a future post). For the most part, we stayed inside and hung out together. Not only was it a lot of fun, it also kept us nice and toasty warm since most of the month we were in the negative digits outside! I went to a YW retreat in Island Park and it was -18 while we were there. I thought that was bad, but the Sunday we got back it was -25 in Idaho Falls. That's really cold, in case you were wondering....

Jason has been extremely busy with school and work. He is gone all day, poor guy. Weekends are spent at the library, and for the most part we have part of Sunday with him and Monday nights for FHE. I'm grateful he works so hard for his little family, but we sure do miss his face. 

Sam's Club! One of our favorite places to go. :)

Brooklyn's first pigtails. Super cute little girl!

Brooklyn LOVES the cat. She will crawl and follow it all over the house, squealing and laughing the whole time.

Brooklyn loves seeing herself in the ipad camera. These are a few pictures of her looking at herself.

Carson's favorite shirt - his MONSTER Shirt! It has a cape on the back which means he can fly!

This is how Carson helps feed Brooklyn her snacks - dump out the entire bag of yogurt bites.

 Not only do my kids love their baths, but they love their bath toys. Brooklyn loves the little foam circles with letters on them and she will put them in her mouth and just leave them there. It's so funny and cute. She cracks me up!

 My kids always feel the need to get up super early no matter what time they go to bed. Last Sunday, they felt the need to get up at 5:30am after I had gotten up with them both several times during the night. Jason had been at the library all day on Saturday (8am-3am on Sunday) so we went into the living room to play. If they weren't so dang cute I would probably be a lot crankier with them. :)

 We had a lot of snow in January. A lot!! One weekend most of it melted and then we woke up Monday morning to about 8-10 inches of snow. The wind had created quite the snow drift back by the garages....up to my waist. It took Jason and I an hour to dig out a path for him to get to work. Carson wanted to help shovel too, so I told him he could take care of the front porch. He is so cute in his snow gear.

 We had a follow-up appointment for Brooklyn's ears with Dr. Hanks. Carson is so used to going to the ear doctor that he climbed right up in the chair to wait. Brooklyn's ears look great and she hasn't had an ear infection since her tubes. Yay!!

 The kids have had a blast playing with their toys from Christmas. Brooklyn loves her Jungle toy and tries to pull herself up on it. Once she stands up she lets go because she thinks she is ready to walk. Silly girl needs to slow down! Carson loves his car toy and has a lot of fun sending any toy down the spirals that will fit. They are getting to the point where they play really well together. Brooklyn loves to follow Carson and play with whatever he has, and Carson likes to bring her toys and show her how to use them. I love it. Mostly, I love them.

Sledding!

The week of Christmas we got a ton of snow!! It was great! Carson and Papa went outside and Papa pulled Carson on the sled. He thought it was awesome, and thought it was hilarious when Papa fell. It lasted about 5 minutes until he face-planted in the snow and then he was done. Brooklyn rode with him a few times, but she didn't find it as fun as he did.

After he was done sledding, he helped Papa shovel the driveway. He sure does love his Papa!

Random Happneings of December

 December was full of days spent at home enjoying the warmth inside and reading Christmas books or watching Christmas movies. Carson has a new obsession with The Polar Express and can sing the "Hot Chocolate" song word for word. He also likes Home Alone and will randomly put his hands to his face and scream like Kevin does in the movie.  Here are a few pictures of how we spent our time this month....

 Brooklyn is completely in love with the iPad and my iPhone. She wants them ALL. THE. TIME. She is definitely her daddy's child. Carson also thought it was pretty awesome to put stickers on his sister's face. She didn't seem to mind.

 Jason and I went out on a date this month and we brought back some frozen yogurt for Carson. As you can see, he loved it.

 This adorable little girl melts my heart. Some days all she wants to do is cuddle. I don't mind. She is also extremely fond of any sort of cord. I had moved the laptop cord about 50 times and she still managed to get it every time. I finally snapped this picture before moving it for the billionth time.

 Carson told me one day that he wanted to dress like papa. I wasn't sure what that meant but he pointed to a pair of overalls in his dresser. I don't think my dad wears overalls anymore, but whatever works! We had to take a picture and send it to papa. :)

 One night we were sitting at home and Jason was in class. I was listening to Christmas music on the radio station and they announced that they were at a dentist office just down from my house giving out cookbooks. Since I'm a little bit obsessed with cooking and cookbooks, I loaded the kids up in the car and drove down the street. We got donuts and hot chocolate and Carson got to take his picture with Miss Idaho! Random! I also won a drawing for a free professional whitening kit for my teeth. Also random, but worth the trip down the road!

 We invited some friends over to make a Christmas craft with us and the kids had a lot of fun. They made a mess of the frosting and sprinkles, but that's what it was for, right?! I think they ate more frosting then actually ended up on their trees. :)