2011 - First Quarter

I know, I know, I haven't posted on here for a little while. Life has been busy. Our house is now on the market and we are praying that it sells quickly so we can get going on something new for our family. I am not really going to go clear back to where I left off and post about Thanksgiving and Christmas...let's just say we had a fabulous holiday season! Today was Carter's birthday so I was going to post pictures from his party and I realized I never posted any from Pason's birthday so here goes. Pason just had a family party this year. Carter turned the big #5 this year so he got to have about 10 friends over for a pirate party. It's a good thing the party only was an hour and a half, cause that many kids in our house was pretty crazy. But lots of fun!

Signs of the Season

A sure sign the holidays are here...too busy to post. But I need to pause for a minute for a real quick update. Thanksgiving in Cut Bank this year. We actually made it throught the trip without anyone getting sick. Good food, good family, not so good shopping, but hey, that's what the internet is for right! Got to celebrate Jared's parent's anniversary with them...which meant Scott walked around the restraunt with crabby Eli while the rest of us finished eating. Sorry about that but glad we got to spend more time with them. Made it safely home despite not being able to see where the road was the last 30 miles into Billings. Boom it's December...I didn't eat lobster at Jared's work party, or shrimp, or stuffed mushrooms...desert was fabulous! The next week was the ward dinner which I was in charge of. It's always crazy, but it went great! We had a great turnout, and great food. Kept it simple this year. Now I am waiting for the phone call that brings a new calling since the activities committee no longer exists. Christmas shopping is mostly done, a few odds and ends left. I haven't even started my Christmas baking/candy making yet. Eli's stocking is still not done, which is what I should be doing right now so just want to wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! Be sure to take the time to count your blessings and give thanks for our Savior who is the real reason for this oh so busy season. Remembering Him and what he has done for us is the real joy of Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

I have to admit, Halloween is not my favorite holiday. When I was a kid I loved it, mostly because I liked all the candy. Now it is trying to figure out costumes for the boys, and then dealing with them after they've had too much sugar! That being said we did have a really fun Halloween this year. We carved our pumpkins for Family Home Evening last week. Pason did his pretty much all by himself this year, the designing and the cutting! I helped Carter with his scary ghost, and Jared did the haunted house for Eli's pumpkin. I thought they all turned out great!














Costumes this year were pretty simple, but were oh so cute! The boys dressed up as the Chipmunks - Pason/Simon, Carter/Alvin, Eli/Theodore. Jared was Dave. They were adorable and their personalities fit so well with their costumes!



























Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, we only did Trunk-or-Treating at the church Saturday night. Then on Sunday/Halloween I made a special dinner of snake, brains and bloody eyeballs, rotten fingers, and witches brew. We turned off all the lights in the house and ate by candlelight. Then we watched a few Halloween cartoons, took turns trying to scare each other in the dark, and then went to bed. We had so much fun with our dinner that I think we are going to make that a Halloween tradition, so if you have any good recipes for finger sandwiches let me know!

Happy Birthday Jared!

Well since Jared's birthday falls a week after the October deadline, it seems we are always doing something fun for his birthday. The last two year we were at Disneyland, but this year we stayed a little closer to home. We went to Missoula for a Griz game. Actually Jared had to work. He went to some tax thing put on by the U of M Law School all day Friday and Saturday morning. We got to do some birthday shopping Thursday night, had birthday dinner with the Gage clan Friday night, and of course the Griz game Saturday afternoon. Friday while Jared was in class, the boys, Grandma and Grandpa Gage, and I went to the Children's Museum. The boys had a blast engineering water fountains and pipelines, digging for dinosaur bones, and creating paper projects. I did get a few pictures at the museum before the battery on my camera died, but I haven't got them off my camera yet. Since we hadn't had any cake or anything in Missoula,I made a pumpkin roll for Jared on Sunday. It was a fun weekend. It's always good when busy season ends and we get to spend more time with Dad! We love him so much and hope he had a very happy birthday!

"Good Time" Prayers

I love listening to my kids say prayers. It is such an insight into the way their minds are working and what is important to them. Carter usually asks that we can have a good time at least 3 times if not 4 or 5 or 6 times in his prayers. Whether it's for everyone in general, or for Pason at school, or dad at work, or Eli, Mom, and him at home, he always blesses us to have a good time. I sometimes wish that I could go back to being 4 1/2 years old when the most important thing you had to worry about was having a good time!

More Pumpkins

For Family Home Evening tonight we made these super easy pumpkins. The boys were so excited that they got to make their very own Halloween/Harvest decorations.

Pumpkin Fun

Carter's Perfect Pumpkin



















Isn't that the saddest pumpkin you've ever seen.



















The 3 amigos Owen, Carter, and Gage.














We got smart after freezing our rear ends off at the pumpkin patch last year and decide to go a little earlier this time around. So this year we were sweating in 80 degree temps as we followed a bunch of 3, 4, and 5 year olds through the corn maze. Luckily they had a good sense of direction and we made it through pretty quickly. We also actually got to pick our pumpkins out of the patch rather than the barn this year because we haven't had a freeze yet. Carter had a good time trying to find the perfect pumpkin. Eli just liked any pumpkin he was close to and tried to pick them up like the big kids.