The One-Year old, the Christmas candy and the Wedding

So, I think that I was the only blog with Halloween pictures still up. I was in desperate need of an update and lo and behold, my camera gets swatted (accidentally) from the counter, which causes it to break and be in need of repair. So I don't have any new pictures even though we had a recent holiday and a slew full of other things going on. I will try to recap.

Thanksgiving was spent in Viva Las Vegas with Josh's side of the family. LOVED being there, hanging out, swimming (kids), eating, shopping, playing cards and laughing. HATED driving with our one- year old 9 hours each way. Unfortunately for the rest of us, Teag has ruined our chances of making that trip anytime in the next year to eighteen months, or whenever he decides that watching a movie in the car is awesome. So until then bye bye, Viva Las Vegas, I will miss you!

The Christmas tree is up and my December is booked as always, but even more so since my dear sweet sister Jenna has decided that December 23rd is a great day to get married. So on top of regular December stuff, we are throwing in a temple session, bridal shower, bridal pictures a wedding and a reception and I'm making the cake, all before the 2nd of January when her newly wedded husband will return to the army. Sounds crazy but we are very excited for her. They make a great couple.

All during this month I am trying to keep Christmas special for our kids and I want to share one tradition that we do. I wrap 25, thats right, Christmas books and put them under the tree. Each night the kids get to open one and we read it together. They love it and it really gets us in the Christmas spirit, especially on the fateful night that "A Christmas Dress for Ellen" gets unwrapped and mom can't keep her sobs under control. (Thats my favorite night too!)

I love Christmas and all the candy and good feelings that come with it. Bring on the online shopping and ABC Family Christmas movies, "Christmas in Handcuffs" anyone?

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

Halloween time again, and boy do we love it! We got all dressed up for our friend's annual Halloween party. We even won this sweeeet skeleton trophy for most Creative costume. Josh also won for being the most in character. He had us laughing all night. It was great!

My little kiddos, a genie, a butterfly and a cute little bat a.k.a Fat Bat.
Trick or Treating in Wyoming. Actually it wasn't too cold. I was thankful that the wind died down from the day before. (Our trampoline flew across the yard. We had bags of rocks on the legs, so the legs stayed and top blew into the corner of our yard. Needless to say it is now down for the winter.)
The kids had fun trick or treating but had more fun handing out candy. I'm going to be sad to see the days go when two streets of trick or treating is satisfying enough. Ahhhh, good times!

Teag's 1st Birthday

Thursday was my baby's 1st birthday. I can't believe it. The time has flown. Teag is a ball full of energy and we just adore him. He keeps us running and laughing and life wouldn't be the same without him. We're so grateful for him.

This is Teag checking out the cake ( which took me the better part of two days to accomplish)
Big ole grin since he's just thrown chocolate everywhere but in his mouth basically.
This was probably his favorite gift that he received. Kids are so crazy huh? Although the walker/bike/scooter in the video below was a close 2nd.

We love you Teag and please stop growing. I can't take it anymore :)

Down We Go

Teag learned to go down the stairs the way that does not involve big lumps on noggins and loud cries. FYI- he has not fallen down the stairs, I just wanted to teach him how to go down as soon as possible to avoid such things.

As you can see he is still struggling with the initial take off but does just fine once he finds the stairs. He is my absolute favorite almost 1 year old in the world. What a cutie!

Happy Birthday Presley Continued....

I didn't have time to finish my post for Presley's birthday, so here is low- down on the events.

We spent the weekend in SLC. Presley decided that she wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese for her birthday. So all of Josh's family that was in town came and we had a crazy couple hours at Chuck E Cheese.

Presley shares a birthday with her cousin Brooklyn so we had a joint party.
This is some of the cousins that were there.
This is Brooklyn and Presley. Brookie is allergic to lots of stuff so her mommy made these adorable Vegan cupcakes that everyone loved. Presley's cake was not vegan but was delicious none the same ( and very adorable, if I do say so myself :)
Opening presents
Trying to win tickets with Daddy. I think the Dads got into it as much as the kids did. We won about 1000 tickets, enough to buy each kid a cheap toy that broke in the car on the drive home. Well worth it though, right?
Yummy....I think?

It was a great birthday and she is a beautiful little four year old and certainly my favorite 4 year old in the whole world. We are so glad she is in our family. By the way, Chuck E Cheese was actually really fun. I would recommend a weekday instead of a Saturday but still fun.

Happy Birthday Presley

Bear Lake!

This post is approximately 2 months late. But better late than never, I guess. This year my family had our first Mark and Stella Mackey family reunion in Bear Lake. It was a good time had by all. We camped for two nights had dutch oven, rode bikes, hit the lake, played cards, had a hot dog roast and every other great thing that comes with camping and family reunions. Josh is one that hates family reunions, I'm not sure how this feeling came about, but he actually had a really good time at this one. These are some pictures of our events. This is us playing in the sand. My kids were astonished that there was actually sand at the lake. They are used to the Flaming Gorge where the beaches consist of rocks, mud or sagebrush.

Teag is intrigued by the a couple of things 1) he can see his toes in the water or 2) the feeling of sand up in places that it probably shouldn't be.
Presley has OCD about toe jam in her toes. She checks her toes(and Teag's) for toe jam several times a day. The sand between her toes was killing her. She just couldn't take it.
Josh lookin' hot on his pontoon boat. He brought it to try fishing but my nieces and nephews ended up having possession of it most of the day. They all loved it.
Teag is trying to escape the play pen, but to no avail.
It was a great weekend. Gotta love Bear Lake and Raspberry shakes. Just wish it was a bit closer so we could enjoy it more often.