It's Christmas Time!

 We love Christmas!

 We enjoyed a fun, chilly night at the Ogden city lights with the Collier Grandparents.

 The kids struck poses like the ice-skating light figures.

 Our kids decided to line up like railroad cars for this photo.

We loved looking at the cute houses and lights with Grandma and Grandpa Collier.

For one FHE during December, we held our annual Christmas pageant.  Leia is always Mary...one of the perks of being the only girl.  This year Peter was Joseph, Ammon represented the shepherds, and Talmage held the treasure for the wise men.

 We had a fun ward party where all the kids got to visit with Santa.  I was a little sad that, for the first time, Talmage decided he was too old to sit on Santa's lap...but he helped all our other kids wait in line, and he did wave "hi" to Santa.

 

 We celebrated the holidays with cousins and family at Grandma Rollins' home.  Even though someone always ends up getting hurt, the kids love sliding down the stairs together.

 The kids patiently listened to a Christmas message while waiting to open presents.

 We also enjoyed wandering through the Layton City lights with Jake & Quin and Steve & Alysha.
Such a fun time of year!  Merry Christmas!

 In January, we finally got enough snow to build a snowman.

Leia decided to name the snowman Uno because he's holding up one finger.  Our kids loved having Daddy help them build a huge snowman.

Haaaalloween...Haaaalloween...Lots of fun with Halloween!

We love the beautiful fall leaves up at Fernwood near Spencer's parents' home.  

 We enjoyed a nice nature walk on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

 Such cute and fun kids, and what a handsome Daddy!

 Grandma Collier took everyone on a fun hayride at Day Farms.

 We enjoyed the fun ride, then we all got to choose a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.  My kids all wanted the largest pumpkins, so I got a bit of a workout carrying several huge pumpkins to the trailor.

Our kids enjoyed carving their own pumpkins this year (with just a little help from mom and dad).  Leia and Peter both ended up getting cut a little, but they recovered once they had bandaids on their hands.  Leia and Ammon wanted their jack-o-lanterns to look happy.  Talmage and Peter wanted their pumpkins to be scary/happy.  They all did a great job!

 This year, I was Little Bo Peep and Spencer reluctantly agreed to be my sheep.  He was so cute and a really good sport.  He wore his sheep costume to the ward carnival and to our family party.

 Ammon and his cousin, Caleb, both ended up being ninjas for Halloween.

Peter is our Little Stinker!

 We enjoyed a fun Halloween Carnival with our ward this year. 

Ammon and Leia had a tough time eating the doughnuts on a string.

 Peter got to eat a doughnut on a string at the Halloween party at Grandma Rollins' house.

 Spencer and Ben conducted several fun games at the Rollins Halloween party. 
The kids loved wrapping each other up like mummys.

 Talmage and Ammon wrapped up their cousins Caleb and Shaylee.

 Leia and Leah loved playing together the whole night.

Our kids enjoyed going to Spencer's office on Halloween to show off their costumes and sing a few spooky songs.  They loved singing "Mean old witch with a hat" and "Lots of fun with Halloween" to the office staff.  Then we went to the Collier's Trunk-or-treat and saw several friends we know in their ward.  Afterward, we rushed home so our kids could trick-or-treat in our own neighborhood.  Sheep, Bo Peep, Darth Vader, Ninja, Witch, and Skunk all enjoyed a wonderful Halloween season!

Leia's & Ammon's Birthdays!

We celebrated Leia's 9th and Ammon's 6th birthdays this week!

 Leia invited several friends, and Ammon invited his favorite friend to a party at Grandma Collier's house.  The weather was just warm enough for the kids to enjoy playing on the slip-n-slide.

 After they were done sliding, they all piled into the hot tub.  When they were dry, we went inside to eat pizza and cupcakes, play games and open presents.  We all had a wonderful time!

Grandma Rollins arranged a fun night away for our family in Midway for Ammon's and Leia's birthdays.  She even made them both their very own cakes.  We stayed the night in the condo, then spent the next day playing together.

 We went to Trafalga and enjoyed the fun rides and games.  We all got soaked on the bumper, spray boats.

 We raced around the slick-track.  Spencer was, once again, the blocker.

 Cute Leia and her cheezy mommy!

 We like riding their ancient carousel.

 All of our kids enjoyed climbing the rock wall.  Talmage and Spencer raced to the top of the wall...I think the race ended in a tie.

The kids rode this ride over and over.  I got a little nauseous just watching them go up and down forever. 

We loved celebrating Ammon's and Leia's birthdays, and we're so grateful we have these two amazing kids in our family.

Labor Day Camping

 My Dad reserved the Valley View stake camp for the family over Labor Day weekend.  We hiked through the beautiful campground with my parents.  We ended up having a wonderful trip with the Colliers and the Rollins.

 Our kids loved exploring through nature, finding all sorts of weapons and treasures.

 Peter and the other kids worked hard collecting rocks and firewood.

 Our kids loved sleeping in a tent on the hard ground.

 We enjoyed time together and kept warm by the huge fire.

 Clint is spinning Talmage in the tube.  We all took turns rolling in the tube to see if we would get hurt...pretty smart.

We enjoyed tubing down the chilly Ogden River.  We loved getting away from busy life for a few days!

Summer slips by

 At our house, everyone is dreading going back to school next week.  We LOVE our summers!  We have enjoyed many fun days at the park playing volleyball while the kids played in the truck-pool or "trool" as Spencer calls it.  This photo shows the trool being emptied onto Isaac, Peter, Leia, and Jayne.  Talmage, Ammon and Jeffrey sat in the pool and tried not to be washed away.

 We have enjoyed several fun days boating at Pineview.

 Talmage and Spencer had fun splashing each other on the knee-boards.

 Spencer tried to get Leia to go with him outside of the wake.  Leia was a little concerned about that idea.

 Both Ammon and Peter were brave enough to knee-board this summer.

Peter is such a daring little boy.  When he was about to knee-board, we told him to hold on really tight to the rope.  But when the board slipped away from him, he continued holding onto the rope while submarining through the water.  We were concerned when we heard Spencer scream, "Let GO!"  Eventually, the rope slipped out of Peter's hands...and he was ready to try again.

 Ammon and Leia enjoyed a nice, calm ride with Grandma Collier.

 Then they endured a wild ride with crazy Grandpa.

 Leia and Ammon relaxing after their hard work out on the water.

 Our kids enjoyed a fun day at the County Fair.  Peter loved feeding all of the animals.

 Leia and Kat liked watching the baby goat stand on the larger one.

 Talmage admired the horns on this huge animal.

 Leia and Laura liked brushing this enormous cow.

Ammon didn't like feeding the animals because he didn't want to get their spit on his hands (just like his mom), but he enjoyed watching the tiny pigs.

We are sad to have our summer end, but we're already excited for Spencer's fun plans for Labor Day vacation.