Christmas Eve

Our Christmas in Jaffray

We spent this past weekend in Jaffray. We're not able to spend Christmas there this year as Tim has to work from the 22nd until the morning of the 28th (stupid shiftwork!). So anyways, we went into Jaffray to do our Christmas there with family. It was a busy, fun filled weekend!

We left for BC first thing Friday morning. But along the way we had to stop and mail Kinsey's letter to Santa. Let's hope he gets the letter in time!

And Friday afternoon we had a gingerbread house making party at my sister Jenn's house. Ya, I totally sucked at that. My roof kept sliding down and the walls caving in. So I don't have a picture of our gingerbread house/pile as it really was that bad! And Friday evening we had a house warming party at my sister Kimmy's house. Yep, she moved back to Jaffray after being in Castlegar for the last two years. We're so excited to have Brendan, Kimmy & Kamry closer!

Saturday we went to the Live Nativity at the Church. And Kinsey got matching shirts for her buddies Danyca and Kamry to all where to the Nativity and to the carolling thing afterwards. Kinsey was very excited about all the animals at the Nativity. She especially liked the "gonkey" (donkey) and Daddy even got a ride on it for her. She didn't stop telling me about how the donkeys says "ho haw" for the next two days.

And here is Kinsey and her cousins on Sunday in the beautiful Christmas dresses/clothes. Sunday night we all went to Jenn's and had an appetizer party (so yummy) and watched The Nativity movie.

Monday Me, Tim, and Kinsey went out a visited all our extended family in Jaffray and dropped of Christmas cards. Then that night we had our big turkey dinner at Mom's. After dinner we did some gift exchanges. And the little ones loved opening some presents early.
Here are Mama & Bupbup's favorite little people: Kinsey, Jayda, Kamry, Parker, & Danyca.
Here's the whole family:
And now that we're back at home Kinsey is having a blast playing with her new table, blocks, and books. And all day long she asks me where "Ganca, Parper, Jaja, and Kware" are. I'm not joking. She asks me a million times a day.

Tis The Season...

We have been crazy busy around here. As I'm sure you have been too. Getting ready for Christmas is a ton of work. Especially because our Christmas is starting early as we head to BC tomorrow morning! Eek! So here's a quick peek into what we've been doing this last week...

Got Christmas pictures done:

Went and found Santa at Tim's work Christmas Party:

"Helped" Mommy make Nuts & Bolts:

Made two double batches of Sweet Addiction Nuts & Bolts:

UNdecorated the tree for the millionth time:

Sent out a TON of Christmas cards:

Did a bunch of baking (this is only some):

Wrote a letter to Santa:

Wrapped presents with Kinsey's "help":

Finally got around to decorating the sugar cookies:

Found Santa again at our Ward Christmas Party:

Tried to be crafty (I suck at it) and made these:

And got into the stickers:

We've been hard at it here with all this stuff. PLUS Kinsey's been teething. And yes, if we don't leave the house, then Kinsey stays in her jammies all day long. But she does get clean ones before bed.

We're exhausted!!!

Ho Hooooo

My Kinsey is hilarious! This little girl keeps Tim and I in stitches all day long. She just doesn't stop....ever. Seriously, there's not pause or even a mute button on this little one. She talks non-stop. Ya she's only 15 mths but she can say anything. I think her favorite is "no, no, no" and she always says it three times just like that. My favorites are "mommy" and "I love you". I love it! Ball, puppy, and buffalo are the other ones that we hear a ton around here. When Tim calls us from work she will actually talk to him on the phone. It usually goes like this "Hi! Dad! I love you! Buh Bye!" And she's always very animated!

Kinsey's new favorite thing... Santa! I know! I was so prepared for one of those screaming/crying pictures of my Kinsey on Santa's knee this year, but no. She loves him. We had no problem getting her picture taken with him at the mall. Well, there was one little problem -- she wouldn't stop saying "Ho Hoooooo" long enough to smile for the camera. :) And then we went to Tim's work Christmas party and once again there was Santa. She had to keep going over to him to show Tim and I that "Ho Hooooo" was here. Oh ya, and according to Kinsey Santa doesn't have reindeer. He has a "buck". Yep, there's Mr. Ho Hooooo and his Buck! (Yes, she can say Santa but prefers to call him Ho Hoooo.)

Kinsey is so friendly. She would sit with absolutely anyone at church - even if we hardly know them. I chase her around church trying to save people from her. I've told my Mom that I can't let her out of the shopping cart when we go places cuz Kinsey would honestly take any stranger's hand and walk right out of the store with them. She's so trusting that it scares me. She's a handful, but such a sweetheart. I'll have to make a new video of her doing her "surprise face". It cracks me up! It's gonna be the perfect face for Christmas morning. Christmas is going to be a blast. Kinsey's so excited about everything. She's loving our Christmas Tree. She's pretty much stopped pulling the balls of the tree now cuz I showed her how to lay under the tree and look at the lights. She points to each light and says "pitty" (pretty).

And that's our Kinsey. She's a busy one, but way too much fun! We love her to pieces. Life must have been boring before her!

PS I no longer have to chase Kinsey around church on Sundays. She's not old enough to go to nursery, but Tim and I got put in as nursery leaders so she comes with us. I'm totally loving it! What a fun calling!

Truck Time!

Over the past year Tim's been working on some upgrades and accessories for his truck. You see, Tim has been collecting pop cans for money and he fills up our vehicles at Fas Gas to get the cash back promo that they do. He's been saving all these $20 bills that he's been getting here and there from those two things and calls that his "Truck Fund".


He started with some stuff that can't really be seen like load levelling air bags with an onboard compressor and gauge. He's also done a 2" levelling kit, the headache rack and box rails, 3" tube running boards, chrome handles, chrome door spears, and a remote starter (okay that one was for me). But he is really excited about his most recent upgrade... his wheels. He got the big, chunky tires like he wanted and new rims. To be more specific they are American Eagle chrome on black rims and 35" Kelly Safari TSR tires. We're loving it! The truck barely even looks like the truck we bought a summer ago (the pictures just don't do it justice). We still have more that we want to do to the truck, but the Truck Fund is running low after the last purchase. But we're really happy about our new wheels and just love our truck!

BEFORE:

AFTER (well in progress...):

Disney on Ice

We had the funnest weekend! It was a super long drive, but we went to Spokane. It was Mom's birthday and she wanted us all to celebrate with her there. What a great idea! It was a busy weekend. Saturday morning we left the Daddys at the hotel with the little ones and went to the Spokane Temple. Oh wow is it ever beautiful! I've only ever been to the Cardston Temple as there aren't too many around these parts. Then Saturday afternoon we went to The Olive Garden for Mama's birthday party. And after a little shopping we headed over to the ice arena for Disney on Ice. It was fantastic! Kinsey was in awe the entire 2 hours. She squealed and pointed and clapped and loved it all. It was so great to see her. I ended up staring at her with a silly smile on my face more than I did the show. To see your little one love and enjoy something so much is the absolute BEST thing. She spent most of the show standing on Bupbup's lap. You couldn't peal her eyes away from the skaters. The show was Mickey Mouse, The Lion King, Cars, Little Mermaid, & Tinkerbell. Kinsey loved all the animals in the Lion King and also loved trying to catch the bubbles (from the Little Mermaid) and the pixie dust (from Tinkerbell) that they shot out over the crowd. We had such great seats. It felt like we were right there on the ice too. haha So much fun!

Watching the show with Mommy:

Kinsey & Kamry loving it all:

Kinsey wearing her Tinkerbell tulip hat that Bupbup got her:

Kamry rockin' the Tinkerbell hat:

Kinsey with her worried face. This is the part in The Lion King where Moufasa is trampled by the wildebeasts. Kinsey was pointing, shaking her head, and saying "No no no". Bupbup told her the lion was "just sleeping". Oh boy!

I so wanna go back next year. Maybe Daddy will join us next time. I have a feeling he will!

We've got Attitude!

So it's November and most people are thinking snow and Christmas. But in this house, we're still thinking camping. We're always thinking camping. We went to Calgary yesterday and got some Attitude!
Yep, we bought a new trailer. Actually we bought an Eclipse Attitude Toy Hauler. We're in heaven. Tim wants to load up his quad and go camping today. Too bad he's at work or we just may have. Tim's favorite part is the whole loading up the quad thingy, but mine is the two queen beds that lower from the roof. Awesome eh? Well that and the microwave. (Cuz it isn't camping unless you have a microwave right? haha) We're really excited about our new toy hauler. Is it camping season yet?

The only problem is now we have two trailers sitting in our driveway. Do you want the other one?

Ugh! Tim wins again!

Why do I even bother? Tim wins ever year! So yes, Tim did the monster. Kimmy & Kamry did the wolf and Minnie Mouse and they came in as a tie for 2nd. Kinsey and I lost....bad. We did the bat the the Trick or Treat. Next year I'm doing a smiley face. It'll be easier. haha

Happy Halloween

We had a super fun Halloween around here. Kinsey loved every minute of it and that totally made it for us. It's so great to see a little kids face light up. She's so excited about everything. What a fun age!

She was very interested in carving pumpkins:

The gooey insides didn't bother her one bit. She kept saying "Ohhhhh":

Here's our little ladybug:

She loved looking at herself in the mirror (such a girl eh?):

All set to go Trick or Treating:

Knocking on Granny Dodie's door:

Trying to steal some pumpkins:

Taking a little break cuz Trick or Treating is hard work:

Family Pic:

Showing off our pumpkins and her Halloween jammies (Judging by her face, I think the cement was cold. Ooops.):

5th Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest

Yep, this is the 5th year! So just like all the other years pick your favorite. You have to choose only one. The contestants this year are Tim, Ashlee, Kinsey as well as our guests Kimmy and Kamry. Remember Britnee's wasn't invited back (hehe).

The entries are:

Bat

Wolf

Trick or Treat

Minnie Mouse

Monster looking through blinds

So leave a comment to vote. But if you don't have a Blogger account here's how you vote (please vote!):
-At the bottom of this post click "comments"
-Type your vote in the "Leave your comment" section
-check the "Name" dot
-type your name in that field
-then click "publish your comment"

PLEASE VOTE!