4th of July...

We had lots of fun on the 4th of July.

We kicked things off by heading to a parade in Middleton- it was hot- but it made it way fun that we were sitting in the "soak zone" and we able to get cooled off by all the firehoses.

On our way home from the parade we walked past a sign that said Cornell and had to take a picture for Grandma Walker.

We then came home and had a BBQ with my family and then took it easy until the fireworks that evening. Ty discovered the water in the grass and just played and played in it- and Cory and I just sat watching him for the longest time. It is amazing how even though Ty is the fourth child- we still marvel and adore the little things he does!

Last year we were walking into The Island right as the fireworks started so this year we made sure to get there a little earlier which made for some fun preshow activities...like playing with toys, taking a little snooze, eating some chips, playing Frisbee as other people lit fireworks around us and playing with our own sparklers.

Emmett does such a nice little firework show that is perfect for our children at this point in our lives. We are so grateful to live in a country that allows us our freedom! God bless the USA!

Happy 2017...

It certainly wasn't the craziest of New Years but we were all happy with the turnout...

We rang in 2017 by banging pots and pans and toasting with orange soda. At "midnight." My greatest accomplishment for the celebration was moving our clocks forward a couple hours so that when everyone still had 2 hours to go...we were putting kids in bed...and they were pleased as punch that they got to stay up so late. Cory then hurried off to help at the Stake Youth dance and I worked on our taxes...party!

Looking back at 2016 here are a few things to note:

We welcomed Ty into our family!

It was one of the busiest, most stressful years yet! Cory was under so much pressure with setting up a new irrigation system on 65 acres, taking over complete management of his dad's business and a demanding calling.

We moved into Cory's parent's house for the next 3 years.

We realized that even though things were super stressful we still tried to capitalize on the time we were able to be together and we squeezed in lots of fun things!

We are so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the many blessings we enjoy!

Here's to 2017!!

Christmas Snapshot...

I needed to get Christmas cards out but I also knew that we would never have time to get a family picture taken- so one week in December I made sure our clothes coordinated and after church forced everybody to smile for 5 minutes...they turned out pretty cute!

I am so grateful for these blessings in my life.

Christmas 2016...

Christmas was great! This year we actually didn't have as much family around as we usually do since Cory's parents are serving a mission and my mom was helping Taylor with her sweet, brand new baby. So last minute on Christmas Eve we got together with the siblings that were in town and did a little nativity and some sledding.

We grabbed whatever scarves and pillowcases that we could find and I must say- I think we are getting better- this was a lot less chaotic than years past. Ellie really wanted to be Mary but she was able to be that role last year and so we wanted to let someone else to have a turn- she was pretty upset for a minute but when she decided that she would be a shepherd- she really nailed her role and was the best shepherd ever! Tanner was the sheep and Jase was the dog...? Ellie kept those two in line with her staff and then took worshipping baby Jesus very seriously also (she bowed very dramatically over and over...so great!) It was pretty sweet.

  

Here is our crew! It was adorable as always.

 

Then after the cousins all went home we opened up our Christmas jammies from Grandma Madsen, set out the Christmas cookies (Ellie insisted that we make "Christmas Cookies" and not any other type!) and said good night!

  

The next morning these happy little faces came up the stairs and we all smiles!

 

It was Ty's first Christmas and he was pretty content as long as he was close to mom! We kept Christmas pretty simple this year and we all loved it! We felt like our kids were extremely grateful and not overwhelmed by too much "stuff" and it gave us more energy to focus on what really matters!

 

The sledding pictures are actually from Christmas Eve... it has been such a cold winter but we took advantage of all this snow and played outside until our fingers were numb.

Brig really was a natural on the snowboard and everyone had lots of fun...until they decided their hands were freezing (which they lasted longer than I would have expected considering none of my kids were wearing their gloves!!!)

   

   

Grandpa and Monica came over on Christmas morning and made our traditional crepes (Grandpa is the BEST crepe maker ever!) but when the power went out for a couple hours we moved the cooking in to the wood stove and it worked perfectly!

 

Halloween 2016...

Another Halloween and we successfully coerced every member of our family to dress up with our theme. We...meaning Brig and I. And I am pretty sure I am close to getting Ellie to see the light of everyone dressing up together. In fact, Ellie chose the theme this year- well, she chose what she wanted to be and then we based everyone else's costumes around it...but it worked!

I present to you...

Halloween Under the Sea

The cutest little sea creatures ever! Cory was a shark and I was supposed to be an octopus but my rather large and obnoxious costume was a bit of a bust...I did however get lots of comments when I wore it to Brig's school...cool to weird, spider to squid...occasionally people got it correct.

Brig was a scuba diver.

Ellie was a mermaid.

Jase was a shark. He wanted to be a boat and so we were almost finished with his submarine costume (a box) and then he changed his mind and we made a shark.

Ty was a crab. Because he is crabby...although he sure put on a good show for everyone and acted very un-crabby all night.

And I decided that being "Octo-mom" had it's advantages...

Past Halloweens...

See them in all their glory and homemade wonder...

Christmas 2015...

This Christmas consisted of lots of playing in the snow! We had a beautifully white Christmas Eve and the snow stuck around for a few days- making for lots of fun!

 

This coat is the only one that I can zip up- it's one of Cory's work coats and it hideous...but I roll with it!

You would think that the Nativity reenactment was a super solemn activity by the look of this picture! no one is smiling! But it was cute as always...they just don't have the longest attention span so getting a picture at the end usually isn't the top of their little priority list. And Jase was insistent upon him getting to hold Baby Jesus.

 

Luckily, Santa must have known we would have snow...or he lucked out...and he gave the kids sleds. After spending some time with Grandma and Grandpa Madsen on Christmas morning Cory and Brig got to try his out and sled down their big hill. It was pretty quick!

 

 

More gym time. Jase did not have fun though. He woke up so sick that day and just wanted to cuddle. Poor boy!