December 2016-- Magical!

Baby Grace! One of my most favorite things during the holidays is snuggling with an infant while watching a cheesy Christmas Hallmark Movie. It brings me back to when I would do that with Kate and Tanner. It's such a magical, relaxing and sweet time.

Spencer went into work late one day so we could take the morning off and go skiing together! It was cold but so so so much fun to just be with him and ski down the hill without stopping! I think we are pretty darn cute, too!

The same day we went skiing we also were able to attend Lakeviews Christmas party thanks to Spencer moonlighting for them. Every year they hold it at the Grand America hotel and serve an amazing dinner! One of my favorite parts is getting dressed up for it.

After a spectacular dinner we went to see Jim Gaffigan. He's a hilarious comedian-- and is super clean too. We laughed our heads off and then I was exhausted from our fun day. Our friends Heidi and Ben Allen got us some sweet tickets.

This is Tanner's main meal. I felt like I needed to document it.  This meal has now rubbed off onto many of his friends and has become known as "Tanner's treat". It's a ritz cracker with soy butter and Trader Joe's cookie butter mixed together sprinkled with chocolate chips on top. It's actually really good!

First day on the sloped with the family. The kids were in heaven and so were we! We got season tickets to Alta this year and are so excited to spend the winter skiing together as a family. The now at Alta is incredible. You can almost always find powder. We've also found some really fun trees to ski through. This year we took up walkie-talkies so we could send the kids down by themselves while we skied in different areas. It was a genius idea from my Dad.

Christmas Tree hunting! We found this cute place that had great Christmas trees with a little area with real Reindeer in it.

Kate LOVES to help me cook. Her favorite position is on the counter. She says, "I help, I help".

Traditional picture with the goose before heading to church.

Watching "White Christmas" while we decorated our Christmas tree.

Benson's turn to put the star on the tree.

Tanner wanted his own Christmas tree in his room. He LOVED this tree and decorated all on his own.

This is Tanner's stash of Christmas ornaments.  He would sit here and talk to himself while playing with these ornaments. It was precious and tender to watch.

Basketball Season. This year Spencer was able to coach Reece's team and assist on Benson's team. We are lucky to have such an awesome Dad who loves to play basketball.

Christmas Outfits! They are so adorable!

Baby Grace is using Kate's old carseat. Kate thinks its super fun to sit in it. Brings back so many wonderful memories of her being a little baby.

Tanner likes to make traps around the house. His latest inventions are with bungie cords. The traps are honestly really impressive. I make him take them down at night so I don't get caught in the trap while checking Bensons blood sugar.

These two girls are either best friends or enemies. I had to capture this moment because they've been on each others nerves lately.  Kate teases Tess and Tess tries to Boss Kate around. It's kind of funny to watch.

This girl is a magnet to Oreos. She can find them anywhere in the house. I came into the kitchen to find her enjoying some Christmas oreos all by herself.

Christmas cards are my favorite. I wait all day for the mailman to arrive so I can check to see if I got any cards.  My 4 favorite cards are in this picture.  For some reason putting us all together again made me feel like we didn't live so far away from each other. These families are like family to me.

Tanner had a preschool Christmas program and it was darling! He sang songs, danced, and even saw Santa Clause (who he wasn't going to get close to!). He made my heart melt watching him.

We were at Trader Joes and Kate picked up a Strawberry and started eating it. When I got home I had them on the counter and these two rascals ate the entire batch of strawberries.

She knows exactly what to do Sunday before church--- sit at the piano and pose for Mom to take a picture.  My mom loves Sunday pictures so we take lots and send them to her.

I was EXHAUSTED one evening and had 10 minutes before I needed to leave for Young Womans.  I laid on the chair and honestly caught a tiny nap.  Kate kept climbing on me saying, "wake up, Mom wake up!".

Reece participated in the Science fair. Spencer and him got really into it.  They checked different areas in the school to see which area had the most germs.

Thanksgiving 2016-- Boise

The boys went hunting while the girls stayed home and enjoyed a warm home while cooking!

Tanner has been obsessed with Grandpa "Chad" because we named him after Grandma Chad.  He literally was by his side the entire day. They had a lot of fun together.

Our family with my Grandma (92) and Grandpa Dunkley (94).  They are such amazing people. They still come to family events and are always cheerful, kind, and interested in your life. We are so lucky to be part of their heritage.

These two cousins thought it was funny to push each other off the floor! They are tough little kids.

Festival of Trees

and then to a movie-- TROLLS! Such a great movie. When I was a little girl I was obsessed with trolls. I had over 50 of them. I never really liked dolls or barbies, just trolls. I was pretty excited to see this movie.

Reece playing the piano for Grandma Dunkley--- she LOVED it!

Spencer and I have been running at night together.  We decided after a massive Thanksgiving Day meal we needed to go on a run.  My parents give us money each year for Christmas and so we decided to spend it a little early and get us some running gear so we can continue running when it's cold.

These four LOVE going rabbit hunting at my parents place.  They love the catch, and Kate loves to hold them.  Makes us one happy family!

Tanner's 5th birthday!

 Mr. Tan Man turned 5! We had an awesome friend party with a BYU football theme.  He is completely obsessed with BYU football right now. He is constantly running around the living room playing both the offensive and defensive side.  We played a bunch of games, had some ice cream and cupcakes (he only ate the ice cream), and then opened presents.  The kids were so excited for his party! I'm not sure what was better--- the anticipation for the party or the party itself.  However, I do know that there were lots of happy faces and Tanner felt special on his birthday.

Tanner is a pretty awesome kid. He's super happy and loves to talk. He loves all sports but reminds me often that he's a great soccer player because he practices really hard like Stephen Curry (Golden State BBALL player).  He loves to play games--- ALOT of games and is very imaginative.  One of my favorite things is when I'm in the kitchen cooking--watching him play by himself in the living room having full on conversations with himself while pretending to be in a different world. He is fun and loves everyone.  His preschool teachers tell me he is super smart and is the most popular kid in the class.  He's a great friend to everyone around him.  He's well behaved and very confident.  I truly love this kid. He makes our lives so much happier. He brings so much joy, strength and character into our family.  He also tells me he's a "wolfie" and because wolfs don't get cold-- he never gets cold either.  His preferred outfit is shorts and a short sleeved shirt--even if it's snowing outside.  He's a night owl and will talk, and talk, and talk until he finally falls asleep.  We are so blessed to have Tanner in our family. He makes the world a happier, friendlier and more exciting world to live in.

Happy 2nd birthday KATE!

Happy 2nd birthday Kate! This girl is all about sugar and spice! I put her outfit on and told her we were going outside to take pictures.  She loved being in front of the camera.  I seriously love this girl.  She is very independent, strong-willed, happy, gives great hugs and kisses, loves to read, goes to sleep easily (thank you!), adores her brothers and wants to do everything they are doing, loves her cousins Tess and Charlotte, loves going to church and picking out her outfit the night before, has an opinion about everything, and is just my sweet baby girl.

We went to Costco and she fell in LOVE with this giant bear. I told Spencer she needed it, but the price tag was outrageous and lets be honest-- the bear is a little outrageous as well.

Kate cake this year had a personality of its own.  You can't tell in the picture, but it actually collapsed and continued to collapse during the night of her party. But it's so darn cute so who cares?!

We had a birthday party with the family. She got all kinds of girly things which were needed in this house that is full of cars, trains, and nerf guns.  She got a stroller and baby doll from Grandma Miller, purse with a Dog in it (I feel in love with it), lots of cute boots and shoes from Grandma Blo, and some books.