Black and White

I've been loving the look of black and white lately.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Wowza Piper

 These two pictures were taken the day of Tysons baptism.  I just came across them and had to share! The reason there are so many pictures of  Piper is because she sticks around for me to take them. Plus she's kind of a ham, (obviously) and enjoys being the center of attention!

Tyson's Baptsim

* I am trying to get caught up, but wanted to write about this before I forget all those mushy feelings!*

 Tyson was baptized on January 5, 2012!  Josh baptized him and Grandpa Scott confirmed him a member of the church. Grandpa gave him a wonderful blessing. He was reminded that the Holy Ghost is his friend and that as long as we makes good choices, He will always be with Tyson.

Tyson has been so cute about the whole series of events.  He giggled the whole time that the stake baptism director was introducing him and he was so sweet. I love that he's a giggler.  He's been so excited to get the Holy Ghost. He was so nervous about the whole thing.   But he does love to be the center of attention.

I am so proud of Tyson and his decision.  We talked about this decision for the past year. Lot's of special conversations, because I wanted Tyson to make sure that he knew what he was committing to.  He has such a sweet spirit and heart.  We are so blessed to have him in our home.

 This is the only picture I got with my guy and it's blurry, but oh well.  We didn't even get a chance to have a family picture!  There were so many people and so much craziness in between it all.

We had so much family come and we were so excited.  Uncle Danny and his friend Stacie came down from Salt Lake, Great Grandma Doty was here as well.

We are missing a few kids in this picture, but here are most of the cousins. They had so much fun running amuck and bouncing in the bounce house.

January 1, 2013

 We were inspired by our Christmas excursion to the snow, to break the tradition of shooting on New Years Day.  We opted instead to take the kids to Pine Valley and spend the day sledding with our friends the Schwendimans.  We had so much fun!  The wind was freezing, but we survived.

 We took the snow mobiles up and pulled the kids around on the tubes and let the kids sled down the hills.  We had a bonfire going and had hot chocolate and hot dogs to roast.

 Kids love snow!  It's a fact that you will have a good time, if you keep them warm and throw them in the powder.

I love this collage.  JD got to ride on a snow mobil for the first time.  Tyson kept sliding over the snowbank and each time he would pop up and say, "I'm okay, I'm okay!"  And Pipers hair was frozen.  That last trip on the tube was what did her in.  She came back with frozen hair and was done.

It was such a fun day though!

Christmas 2012

The days leading up to Christmas were extremely rough.  Poor Piper was sick for the five day's leading up to Christmas, but woke up on Christmas, happy and cheerful.  Thank Heavens!  The boys each got new bikes!

JD with his letter from Santa.  It was once again his wish to have Santa help feed the hungry families in the world.  He got a gift certificate to Lins, so that he could help with that goal.  These were probably his favorite 3 gifts.  His Harry Potter chess set, a Nerf Gun and Shark Mouth plane.

Oh Tyson!  He got 2 Captain America shields.  One from Santa and one from a secret Santa. He was so excited about his Lego's and even got excited about his gun.  He got that more because he turned 8, and not really for Christmas.  We may make a hunter out of him, yet!

Pippy got tons of make-up, pet shops and barbies!  Her hat is my favorite though!

Christmas afternoon, we took a drive up to Pine Valley to play in the snow.  It was freezing! We didn't have any snow pants on and everyone was soaked after about 20 minutes, but kids never seem to mind.  Well, at least until you put them back in the warm truck, then they mind.

The top pictures of Tyson kill me.  He's like a magnet for those who want to throw kids around.  Throw him into a pool or the snow and he'll always come back for more!

Temple Lights

This picture isn't of the temple, obviously!  It was the the BACA fundraiser house and it was amazing!  We sat and stared at it for atleast 30 minutes!  So very cool!

Nativity

This may be my very favorite Christmas tradition.  We take the kids up to Tuachan for the live nativity. 

It's freezing cold every year, but well worth freezing for!

 Waiting for the nativity to begin.  Man those chairs were cold! Thank heavens for hot chocolate.

 Love this kid!

 And this one too!

 Pip and Santa.  She had a list a mile long: Microphone, guitar, drums, make-up, pet shops, and barbies.

 Tyson was really cute with Santa this year.  He chatted his poor ear off.  He wanted a Captain America shield that shoots bullets.

 Oh, this picture!  JD is at that age, where he was really embarrassed to sit on Santa's lap.  I think we are beyond that stage and I won't press the issue again. He got really embarrassed and was kid of a brat there at the end.

 He did whisper his wish to Santa.  Told him that he wanted him to feed hungry kids around the world.  He's really a sweet kid.

 Some family photo ops!

 Oh look, there I am.  I do exist!

Took a train ride to end the evening.  Gosh, I love this guy!

Gingerbread House

 It's a tradition to do gingerbread houses in Kindergarten!  I love, love, love it!

 I had so much fun going into Pipers class to help her make our masterpiece!

I love this girl!

Tysons Family Party

Look Who's 8!!!