Christmas Sledding!

We went sledding on Christmas up in Layton. The kids loved it! Ashley had fun playing with Grandma.

Here is Derick going down holding Ashley and Andrew on his own sled. He has no fear!

Uncle Ryan was having a lot of fun with Derick too. It was an all around good time!

I love my cute kiddies!

Time to catch up!

It seems like we have been so busy lately, but I don't have many pictures to prove it! Here are a few I came across...

She may be stinkin' cute, but she is into everything! I can't keep her off the table or counter!

We had a few girls nights the last little while. Here are some of my good friends around Lehi!

I took Andrew to go see a movie. I thought the one on one time might be good. He sat covering his ears the whole movie. Oh well, it was a good thought I guess.

My good friend and neighbor Branden went through the temple! It was such a special day and I am so glad she invited me to be a part of it! Here we are early in the morning heading in, and the whole group that came to support her!

GO LEISL!

My cute sister-in-law, Leisl, ran the St. George Marathon! It was so fun to take a quick road trip down there and cheer her on!

I made these shirts in like 20 minutes right before we left. Andy had one already, and we thought it would be so fun to have matching ones!

My cousin James and good friend Nancy were running too!

Andy ran with Leisl the last few miles. They were so cute!

At the finish line. Look how good Leisl looks and how tired Andy looks!

We walked around the St. George Temple before we left and had to stop at the big rocking chair on the drive home! Way to go Leisl, it was a lot of fun to cheer you on!

Halloween pictures....finally!

We had a lot of fun this Halloween. Andrew had a party at preschool and Derick took the kids out trick or treating while I passed out candy with some neighborhood friends! Ashley looked so cute in her tutu and pigtails, and Andrew was a dinosaur (Thanks Carrie Ann for the costume, it was perfect!)

The kids had a lot of fun at the ward party too. The YW were in charge of face painting. Here is Ashley getting hers done. When they were cleaning the party up, Andrew was towing Ashley around on the cart for the tables. I had to take a picture before I made them get off. It was too cute!

Ashley loved getting up close to the pumpkins. I was afraid her tutu was going to catch on fire! She also snuck a lot of candy out of Steff"s bowl...

Here is Andrew after eating WAY TOO MUCH candy! He was rolling around on the kitchen floor that night saying he was too sick to go up to his bed!

Thanksgiving fun with the Newman's

We were so lucky to have my parents come down from Alaska for Thanksgiving. They were here to help my Grandma move, but we got to spend a little time with them. I don't have any pictures of our actual dinner that we all made, but these are the ones I did take....

My mom and dad had flown all night so my dad was a little wiped out. He crashed on the couch, and Andy took a nap on his shoe! After their nap, Andy thought he would try to take down my dad....its never worked before and it didn't work again!

When my grandma moved she gave us all a HUGE barrel of wheat each. I had all 6 in my garage and was ready to have them out! We decided to borrow our Stake's canner and canned it all. It was fun to work together as a family :)

(Paul-oldest brother, Dad, Kara-Paul's wife, Andy-brother, Leisl-Andy's wife)

This is one of my favorite pictures from the time Grandpa Wesley and Gramea were here. She was reading Andrew a book and he was just snuggled up to her totally loving it!

This would be a lot easier!

My mom sent me this picture the other day, I think I might go this route this year for Christmas decorating. A lot less stress!

(Look at the neighbors house if you don't see what I mean)

Zumba Party!

Our zumba instructor is a part of this fun zumba party! I am excited to go, and if you have ever been curious about zumba you should come too!! (no I am not trying to sell tickets or anything, just excited about it!)

Myringotomy with ventilation tube insertion and adenoidectomy

Sounds pretty fancy, doesn't it?! Ashley has had well over her fair share of sinus infections. It was about double the average! After yet another trip to the pediatrician for her gross nose and fever, we went on to the ENT. We love our ear, nose, throat doctor, so I was glad to pay him a visit! He did his ear tests, looked at her nose and throat, and decided that we should put tubes in her ears and take her adenoids out.

We woke up extra early for our appointment with same day surgery at AF Hospital. Thank you Britney for watching Andrew! The hospital has this lady that comes through to entertain the kids while we wait to talk to the anesthesiologist and doctor. She gave her a doll, played toys with her, and blew bubbles. Ashley was all over the place on that hospital bed. She kept climbing up the bed and sliding down where the pillow was. Finally they took her away and we went to wait for her to come back.

After an hour they brought her back fast asleep. I was expecting a screaming child because that is how Andrew always comes out of anethestesia. She was hooked up to an IV and a monitor on her toe, she when she did wake up, she started freaking out! Poor little girl didn't know what to think of anything! When she calmed down she started falling back asleep and holding her breath, so her oxygen numbers would drop. Because of this I had to hold the oxygen in front of her for her to breath. She did not like that! But it helped her wake up more fully.

After another hour of being monitored they finally took the IV out and let us get her dressed and head out! Poor little girl did not feel good the rest of the day. She doesn't like her ear drops, she loves her antibiotic (she is on one because the dr said he had to suction a lot of junk out of her sinuses), she has the worst breathe which the dr warned us about and she will have it for about 2 weeks. So that is the latest with Ashley!

One of the best fall desserts...Pumpkin Sheet Cake!

Moist, yummy cake with fluffy cream cheese frosting! This cake is soooo good and serves a lot.

1 2/3 cup sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 cups pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix altogether and pour into a greased jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (*stir in chocolate chips before you pour into the pan if you want*)

Frosting-
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup butter, softened
4 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Mix until creamy. Spread on top of cooled cake. Cut into 40 pieces.

I think I have a problem...

I like to bake. Sometimes I get an idea in my head about recreating some treat we like to buy. It has been thin mints, samoa's, Kneaders fruit tarts, truffles, and so on. This time it was the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Apple Pie apple. After 3 different caramel recipes, stirring for over 1 1/2 hours combined, washing, sanding, chilling, crockpot, double boiler, parchment paper, mashing, dipping, rolling, etc, etc this is what we came up with! Thank you Derick for being my taste tester (he always enjoys that). I think we got it right on!

Something fun with the kids....

Today we actually had a day that Derick didn't have to work! So what to do? We wanted to go camping this weekend, but that didn't work out. We drove by Cornbelly's and that was PACKED! We headed up towards the Discovery Gateway kids museum, but decided to stop at Gardner Village to see the witches. Andrew loved them! He sat and watched them forever! Ashley absolutely loved the petting zoo! She was not scared of those animals whatsoever! She would wave at each one, say hi, then grab a horn, or try to ride one or feed it bark. It was really cute! On the way home we got lunch together as a family then came home and put the kids down for naps. It was a good day!

Happy birthday to my longest and bestest buddies!

ennazil, It was so great to see you this summer! Looking back through pictures I couldn't stop laughing at some of the things we used to do....and wear! Hope you had a great birthday!

Kristy, I love you! You are always good for a great laugh and fun times! You're the best!

I miss you Carla! We had fun back in the day! A word of advice, never sit in front of her while sledding in the same sled.... :)

"Excuse me, I work here so I will help you..."-Andrew

That is what Andrew was walking around saying to people after the kids workshop we did! It was pretty cute!


Here he is hard at work hammering. We sanded, glued, hammered nails (and my finger), and made a bean bag toss game! Thanks for the FREE project Home Depot!


And look at this wonderful dad taking his kids when his wife was out of town! (Your kids are too cute, Amy!)