Christmas Morning

Evan woke up at 4:30 in hopes that it was time to see if Santa came and open presents. I sent him back to bed and 1 1/2 later he got out of bed. I'm not sure if he actually fell back asleep or how much sleep he got. I told him he could go downstairs and watch TV until someone else woke up and then we could open presents. At 7:30 there was knocking at the door and the door bell rang. Lynn and Karen came over thinking that we would have already opened presents and to see what the kids got. So we all got out of bed and opened presents. We didn't have anywhere to be on Christmas, it was nice to relax and let the kids play.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we go to my mom and dads and have dinner, this year we had breakfast, biscuits and gravy, sauage, bacon, eggs and waffles. Then we act out the nativity. Makayla was the angel, Evan was a wiseman, and Tyson was a shephard, Ryan and I were Joseph and Mary. Then we all open our Christmas pj's.

Christmas with Clarke's

The boys got cool pillowcases that Granny made and pillows and Makayla got a cute pink coat that Granny made her. We played games and had lots of fun together.

Sledding Fun!

Ryan took the kids sledding behing the Ranger, they went around and around the little block that we live on. The kids had so much fun. When they were done, were comes a police car! Someone called the cops on us for taking the kids sledding behind the truck!!! Fun haters!!!! The cop told Ryan that it's a safety hazard and to not do it again, fine we'll just go to Hooper and go sledding!

Makayla's 8th Birthday Party

Makayla really wanted a friend birthday party this year, so we did. She wanted to have a Christmas birthday party, we had pizza, played pin the nose on Rudolph, decorated Christmas sugar cookies, opened presents, sang "Happy Birthday" and played "Down by the Banks". The girls were crazy and had lots of fun. I can't believe that your 8 and getting baptized! We sure do love you!!!

My Family

LOVE THEM!!!!

Houghton Family Christmas Party

The annual Christmas party with Aunt Tammy and Grandma Verna. Grandpa Houghton plays "Santa" and hands out presents from Aunt Tammy. The kids really look forward to sitting on Grandpa's lap. We had a yummy ham dinner and Misty had the kids make reindeer cupcakes.

Happy Birthday Makayla, Bryon and BranDee!!!

On Sunday we celebrated all the December birthdays. Sunday was BranDee's real birthday! Makayla and Bryon share a birthday on December 16th. We sang "Happy Birthday" 3 different times and my mom had the right amount of candles on the cake for each person. (3 times is a little overwhelming if you know how my family sings "Happy Birthday"!) Happy Birthday guys!

Gingerbread Houses

Every year we get together and make gingerbread houses. It's so much fun to have such fun traditions we can count on doing every year!

1st Snow Fall of Winter

Evan was so worried that the snow would be melted before he could go outside and play. No need to worry Evan it's WAY too COLD for the snow to melt. Evan is definitely my kid that LOVES to be outside. The minute it starts snowing he is outside shoveling off the driveway. Makayla and Evan had lots of fun sledding down the driveway. Tyson kept running from me, he didn't want his picture taken!

Happy Halloween

Every year we have a Halloween party at my parents house. My mom makes homemade chili and scones, we carve pumpkins and eat donuts from a string:) This year my mom came up with some different games to play for the older ones. One was we had get a piece of bubble gum out of some cool whip, and get an Oreo from our foreheads to our mouths. It was pretty hilarious! We also have a Halloween party with Clarke's, but for some reason I'm not very good at taking pictures there. We ate chili and the kids ate donuts from a string. I really need to be better about taking pictures there.

Crazy Hair Day

This week has been red ribbon week at school and today was crazy hair day. It was fun to do crazy hair!!!

Evan's 1st Hunt

Evan was so excited to go deer hunting this year! Everyone knew when the deer hunt was because he told everyone! The deer hunt was the same weekend as the Primary Program. Evan was so excited to find out that he wasn't going to be here and that he didn't have to learn a part. (Little turkey doesn't like to give talks or say prayers in church, it scares him to death!) Bryon and JT both shot and killed a deer. Ryan shot at one but didn't get it. But he did end up getting a flat tire on the truck and on the way home the wheel and hub on the flat bed trailer he was pulling came off. They were so blessed to not have gotten hurt.

Painting Pumpkins

These pumpkins turned out so cute. Evan and Tyson made spiders and Makayla made a witch.

A Day with Granny

On Friday Granny took us on the Frontrunner to Salt Lake to the Gateway Mall. She took the kids to Build-A-Bear, which they LOVED. It was so cute to see them pick out their animal and put it together. My favorite part was when they rubbed the hearts on their foreheads and hearts and knee and gave it a kiss, then they squeezed it a few times to get it pumping, then put it in their animal. So CUTE! They got to pick out 2 outfits for their animals. Makayla picked a Hello Kitty which she named "Kitty". Evan picked out a wolf which he named "Lightening". Tyson picked out a horse which he named "Horsey". They love their animals and each of them sleep with them every night. Then Granny took us to eat at Applebee's. It was such a fun day. The train ride was pretty exciting too. The kids thought that was pretty cool:)

My Little Cowboys

Evan has always been into horses and the whole cowboy get-up. Tyson loves it too, but he also loves to do whatever his big brother does. It was a little too chilly to play outside so I moved the van out of the garage and they played cowboys in the garage. I love Tyson's version of a cowboy hat. (I guess he needs his own!)

The Elk!

Ryan has been hunting since he was 14 yrs old and this is the first year that he shot and killed an elk. He was SOOOOO excited!!!! Evan and Tyson LOVE to look at these pictures. Tyson is obsessed with them! He can mimic a elk call pretty good too!!! Makayla didn't really want anything to do with it. (As you can tell by the picture of her crossing her arms.)

Jr. Silverline

Makayla loves to dance and it's so much fun to watch her! She loves to to the Jr. Drill and Jr. Cheer with her friends and cousins.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

Ryan and I went to Gardner Village with Michelle and Spencer. The whole place was decorated for Halloween with lots of pumpkins and really cute witches!

The kids picking there pumpkins out of the pumpkin patch in my mom's garden.

Canning

I guess this is the only picture I took of the canning I did this year. Tyson liked to help with the tomato sauce, which was a HUGE mess. I also canned beans, carrots, peaches and peach jam (with the help of my mom, thanks a million Mom!), stewed tomatoes and salsa. It's nice to see my food storage grow! I didn't plant a garden at my house because I was afraid that we would move and I'd have to leave it all. So my mom let me do a garden with her this year and it rocked!

St. George

Last year we started a tradition to go on a girls weekend before all the guys are gone every weekend in October hunting. Last year we went to Huntington Beach and this year we went to St. George. We had SO much fun. We shopped A LOT and went to see Tarzan at the Tuachan.

It was fun to spend time with my sister's and mom.

Happy Birthday!

Evan just turned 6! All he wanted for his birthday was a guitar and a remote control truck. Ryan and I gave him the guitar and he bought the remote control truck with his birthday money. Tyson and I took Evan to lunch at Arby's. Later that day Clarke's came over and we had cake and ice cream.

My dad, JT and Evan's birthday's are in August all within days of each other and Auston's birthday is September 6th. So we celebrated them all together! Lot's of birthday's lot's of FUN!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

This year for my dads birthday we got lunch at Burger Bar and ate at a park. We sang Happy Birthday with the candle in his hamburger bun. Misty put a collage together with all the things that the kids love to do with Grandpa.

The 1st Day of School

It is a bitter sweet day when the kids start school. Its fun to have them home and play all summer long, but it's nice to have them back in school. Makayla started 2nd grade and Evan started Kindergarten. Tyson really wished that he was 3 and could go to Teacher Misty's preschool. I can't believe how fast they grow! Love you guys!!!!

the Discovery Center at The Gateway

This was our second time going to the Discovery Center. The kids had lots of fun. We went with Misty and her kids and my mom. The kids spent a lot of time playing in the store.

Michelle and Spencer's Wedding

Michelle and Spencer were married in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful day!!!! I hadn't been back to the Salt Lake Temple since I was married 9 years ago, it was really special. We are so happy for Michelle and Spencer, we love you guys!

Browne Lake

We love going to Browne Lake! We rode 4-wheelers, played in the dirt, went fishing and relaxed.

We went to the visitor center at Flaming Gorge Dam. It was really interesting and the kids had fun playing with the antlers.

Michelle and Spencer

Michelle is getting married on August 14th and we are so excited for her. This is the fam in front of the Ogden Temple after Michelle received her endowments.

Loving the Warm Weather

The kids have so much fun playing outside with each other. Gotta love the poses!

Idaho Falls Air Show

Bryon and Misty invited us to go to the Idaho Falls Air Show with them. Bryon's best friend from elementary is a pilot in the air force and gave him some tickets. It was so much fun! We had VIP seating right up from by the runway, a big area gated off just for us with shade and our own porta-potty!

Phillips Family Reunion

This year we went to Aberdeen, Idaho. The kids played in the American Falls reservoir, blew bubbles, played with cousins, jumped and slid in the bounce house and had tons of fun playing with their cousins.

Due West Concert

Misty introduced us to Due West. We went to one of there concerts at the Odgen Amplitheater. They're awesome and we had SO much fun!

Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

Celebrating Ryan's birthday at his parents house, with his family and my family. Love you!!!!

The 4th of July

Playing at Grandma and Grandpa Houghton's house.

Playing at the Hooper Park. Ryan and Bryon were competing in tug-a-war (I think Bryon won). The kids loved playing on the cannon's by the flag pole.

The best part of the 4th of July is the parades! We went to Hooper's parade and to Farr West parade to support Appleseed Academy.

Houghton Family Reunion "Warriors of Christ"

The kids making their shields.

Grandma took us on a hike (walk) and we stopped along the way and talked about putting on the armor of God. She made little camo bags to put their stuff in on the hike.

Grandma talked about the sword of faith. They all made newspaper swords at camp.

Misty talked about the helmet and protecting our minds and thoughts and keeping them clean. She gave each of the kids a white hat to remind them to have pure clean thoughts.

I talked about the breastplate and that it protects our hearts. Our hearts love, so we need to remember the first commandment to love God. If we love God then we will want to keep all of the commandments.

Michelle talked about eye protection, and that we have to make sure that we are watching things that are clean and good. So they all got some pretty cool sunglasses.

Tenille talked about prayer and the kids found a prayer rock and they all wrote "prayer" on it.

Cassie talked about all the fiery darts that Satan throws at us, so we need to make sure we always have our armor on to protect us from them. She gave the kids marshmallows shooters.

JT talked about having foot protection. We either need to run away from danger or stand firm in what we believe and that we need to obey our parents which is the 12th commandment. So he gave the kids little socks with the number 12 on them.

They are holding up their socks in this picture:)

All of the kids were saying "We are warriors of Christ!"

My mom had lots of fun games for everyone and everyone played it was really fun!

She had nylons that she put water balloons in. Yeah it got a LITTLE out of control!

They had to try and knock off each others marshmallows off the spoons. They licked the marshmallows and stuck them to their spoons. Cheaters!!!!

The pinata!

Evan knocked the head off!!:)

JT liked the helmet:)

Tyson eating his candy.

The guys were sniping the poor little chipmunks and were shooting at them.

The kids loved throwing rocks in the creek. Tanner, Evan and Auston were fishing out of it and catching little fish. Makayla and Ady found all the crystals (white rocks) and made a collection.

Saturday night we all did skits.

Roasting biscuits over the fire! YUM!!!!

Tyson and Spencer hanging out by the fire.

Tyson got a mosquito bite on his forehead and it swelled up HUGE! His forehead was deformed for a few days:( It was sad.

Playing in the dirt:)