Merry Christmas!

We hope you all have a wonderful and warm Holiday Season.  Unless there's snow.  Then it's okay if you're cold. ;)

*image credit Holly Aprecio Photography

*image credit Puzzle Piece Photography, yep that's me. :)

Snow, Snow, Snow

We've been enjoying the weather the past few days.  Especially after all the freezing cold rain we've been having.  I'll take cold and snow over that any day!  Yesterday morning we were all surprised to wake up to the fluffly stuff outside.  The boys couldn't stop looking out the window.  Doesn't this picture remind you of Dr. Seuss.  It must be the hair, and the way he's pulling on his jammies.  By the way, I didn't even know they made footie jammies in size 4t until someone gave these to us.  Preston loves them and wants to wear them every night, even if he has to take them all the way off to go to the bathroom.  ;) 

Once he realized I was taking his picture...

he decided to be shy for the camera.

Gabe got back from his church meeting in time to enjoy the snow with the boys.

Just in case you were wondering why he's dressed in a shirt and tie and the boys are still in jammies.

I was surprised at how excited Carter was about the snow.

and how excited he was about getting his picture taken....

I swear, I've never seen this face before. :)

Before bathtime and church we played with some legos (correction duplos...)

and had tickle contests on the couch.

This morning we woke up to even more snow.

Preston's preschool was only an hour due to the snow, and Gabe decided to come home early because we knew more snow was coming and he didn't want to get stuck in traffic.  We're glad he came home when he did.  His boss had a 4 hour commute.  He does ride the bus, but still, that's crazy.  The snow had melted some on the roads, then froze over so the ice was bad.  On top of that salting the roads is a new experience for people here so they're still trying to figure out how that works. :)  I'm not complaining.  We were just glad to have daddy home during a lot of the day, and he gets to work from home tomorrow too!  The boys had tons of fun playing with their "Moon Dough" barnyard while I started cooking dinner.

We probably should have gone out to play in the snow before we played inside, but we still had fun out in the cold even though it was almost dark when we got out and dark by the time we got in our house.  If you look closely you'll see even Bentley has a little jacket.  I would have gotten a picture of him but he didn't stand still long enough for me to get anything in focus in that light.  He was having WAY too much fun. :)

Gabe decided to use his shovel since he bought one last year and never had the chance to use it since we didn't have any snow.  He just piled the snow up for the boys.

Preston wouldn't hold still long for me either.  He just really wanted to make footprints in the snow.

Carter was trying to figure out where the rocks in the neighbors gravel driveway went.  He usually throws them down the grate.  It would probably help if he could see under that hat. :)

He also enjoyed running into the street as always.  Hopefully one day he'll learn...

Preston did a great job making footprints in the snow if you ask me.

Carter just made footprints on the sidewalk.

Our neighbors were kind enough to share they're sleds with us in their front yard. :)

Carter loved it!

Preston was too busy making footprints,

and jumping off this rock to try.  Maybe he'll learn someday...

We're hoping we'll just more snow playing in during the daylight hours tomorrow!

Dirty Day at the Park

A few people, including my mom have requested more pictures... of course. :)  So here are a few of Preston playing in the sandbox at a park he's been waiting to go to all summer.  

He enjoyed digging...

and building...

and getting completely covered in dirt.  Patched eye and all. :)

Playgroup Halloween Fun

Okay, so I WAS going to do better at blogging this year, but of course I haven't...  I do have a few excuses, it's been a crazy couple of months and I just got finished teaching my month of preschool for the co-op Preston is in which took a lot of time.  We were also in Utah without internet access for almost  a month this summer, and in Hawaii for a week.  Pictures of that to come sometime, I promise.  A few people have given me a hard time for not blogging (including my mom who want's to see pictures), so I figure it's best to start with today.  These pictures are from a few halloween parties we've had the last week.  

The playgroup Halloween party was today.  All the mom's did a great job putting together fun activities, and of course all the kids looked cute in their costumes.  Preston's a firefighter if you can't tell, his hat was shed early on during the party.

Candy toss.

For this activity they had to find the eyeballs in the noodles, I think they were bouncy balls.  Of course Carter just wanted to eat the noodles, and kept eating them... He's the dalmation dog.  Did you guess right?

I moved him away, but he kept going back for more.  Silly kid.  I promise I do feed him. :)

These last two are from our ward "pumpkin party" we had last Friday.  Of course we carved pumpkins, and Preston was determined to help Gabe with his scary faced pumpkin.  I know it's kind of hard to tell, but Carter is also hanging on Gabe's legs.  What can I say, he loves his daddy. :)

Happy Halloween everyone!  We're hoping it won't be TOO rainy when it comes time to trick-or-treat...

Carter's First Birthday Party

We had a lot of fun putting Carter's very first birthday party together.  Or should I say I had a lot of fun...  Gabe did a very good job supervising the boys. :)

We invited just a few of Carters little friends his same age to enjoy the party with him.

and aren't they cute!

We were kinda able to get a picture or two of a few of them together...

As you can see the homemade balloon bouquet was a hit... for Sam anyway!  He had a lot of fun until he got tangled up.  I don't blame him for getting upset about that.

We tried to get into the party spirit, but he didn't seem to be too fond of the hat, even though he looks darn cute.

Then it was time to enjoy the cake!

Preston enjoyed it a little too much... and a little too soon. :)

Carter had his own little cake for the occasion.  I had a photo shoot with him the morning of which is why half of it was already missing by the time the party started.

He started out by slowly examining.

Then he dug right in!  I personally find this next series of pictures rather hilarious...

Watch it fall!

He was sure proud of himself.  You should have seen his shirt pocket, it was filled to the brim with cake!

Sam is only a few months older than Carter and was doing an awesome job with a fork!

On to the presents we went.  By this time Carter was down from his sugar high and ready for a nap, but we still think he had fun, and Preston sure loved helping him!

He's such a little man already!  Happy Birthday Carter!

After the opening of the presents we of course did enjoy spending a little time enjoying them!  Thanks Holly for taking these pictures for me!

To see more of Carter and the oh so fabulous decor and details check out my photography blog, it's too many pictures to put in just one post.  One-year pictures of Carter to come soon!