HO HO HO...

We made it see santa at the mall. Not sure what his hair is all about... But the kids ate it up. Bode wants a blue tractor and Rylie wants an american girl doll and a me doll. She just sat on his lap and started saying what she wanted, he didn't even have to ask.

its all worth it...

Bode had just woke up from a nap and I left the room for some reason, came back and this is what I saw! I snapped a picture and they didn't even know it. It made my heart drop, just seeing them all snuggled up and reading the night before Christmas in front of the tree.

Being their mom is the best, I wish it was always this simple.

I love my kids!

the latest happenings...

We made some graham cracker gingerbread houses and they fell apart pretty quick. The roof fell flat, but they still had fun doing it and eating the candy. Rylie and her friend Hannah showing me crazy faces.
Bode ENJOYED the candies, but look what happened to his house

After finally getting some more lights, we got the TREE decorated. This tree is all MOOSE and I love it. The moose ornaments have came from all over and they all have some meaning to me.

One of my favorite mooses

Decorating sugar cookies! Look at those faces, how do you not love em!

Jingle Bell Rock...

Rylie rocked out to JINGLE BELL ROCK at her winter dance recital. She did such a good job and its the cutest thing ever to see all these girls dancing. Her grandma and grandpa Smith, grandma and grandpa Beckstead, Aunt Sharon and cousins Holly and Annie come to her recital. It made her night! I could not get her to stop posing and hold still for a normal picture.
Rose from dad!

Elf...

We got home from Thanksgiving Dinner and quess who showed up at our house. The ELF that night he brought the kids Christmas Jammies to wear during the Holiday Season! He has been a little crazy at night and showing up in the craziest places like the fridge, chandelier, tree, our reindeer decorations, rylie's barbie house... He even showed up in our hotel in SLC. The kids go crazy every morning trying to find him. They are definately putting their best foot forward since he came. :)

SLC...

What a fun time to get to spend the weekend in SLC, we headed down with Mike's brother and his family. Its so fun for the kids to stay in a hotel a few nights.

Here are the hightlights from our little getaway...

• 
  
  seeing the lights at Temple Square


• 
  
  shopping


• 
  
  going to Living Planet Aquarium


• 
  
  swimming at the pool


• 
  
  getting Rylie's build a bear a new outfit


• 
  
  jumping on the bed


• 
  
  just having good ole family time.

Mike was showing me how excited he was to have his picture taken!

We got a little bored/ tired on the way home.

It entertained the kids to take their pictures on the drive back.

getting the Christmas Tree...

Once again we made the trek to get our Christmas Tree! We headed up Strawberry Canyon, snowshoed in for a bit, started getting frozen cheeks, so hurry and cut down TWO. One for upstairs and one for downstairs and headed home. Rylie snowshoed and Bode rode in a sleigh, its quite the adventure.

Self portrait while Mike was searching for the perfect tree. We always think they are perfect when lit up and decorated. My snow angel, she takes after her mom and loves the snows! The boys not so much.

The basement tree is the believe tree and whatever else the kids have made over the years. Bode new pose for smiling.

I am one to get my trees right up, because I love them all lit up and decorated. I love the smell of pine trees. When I tried the lights for the upstairs tree, I was in trouble... 5 out of my 8 strands were out. I shopped for days, literally, and hit every store in Logan and they were all out of white lights on a green strand. I finally found so garland lights in SLC that did the trick this year. How is they all go out at the same time, they were fine last year. But the trees up now and I will post pics later.

Nutcracker...

Rylie's first nutcracker experience. She sat at the edge of her seat the whole time and was pretty excited. She almost lasted the whole two hours. It was fun to experience it with her. We had Grandpa Meyer's funeral earlier that day and so through swollen eyes, we sat back and enjoyed the ballet. Rylie totally made it worth going. Plus we stopped at Bluebird for a chocolate.

Thank you Grandma!!

MRM

Melvin Ralph Meyer

October 25, 1924 - November 25, 2011.

My sweet Grandpa passed away November 25, he was 87 years old. It was a beautiful service. It was so neat to hear the stories of him and to hear what a wonderful grandpa he is. I will miss the pancake breakfast at Christmas, being slipped $20 dollars just because, his wood workshop, his strong handshake, being called sammy, and seeing him happy that you stopped by. I do have to say that Erica and I tricked him one Christmas Eve so he wouldn't find out who was doing the 12 days of Christmas to him, I hope I am forgiven. My mom and her sisters ; Grandpa's little honeys.

Almost all of my family.

My Mom & Dad, My Aunts and their husbands.

"Well, Gotta Go!" said Grandpa

November 2011

Here is the month of November in a nutshell. For some reason we have been busy and its only going to get crazier in December.

We created our own "BECKSTEAD THANKFUL TREE". Each leaf represents something we are thankful for. We have so much to be thankful for. Thanksgiving was spent with my family at my mom's house. She had an excellent dinner and it was a nice day. Too bad I forgot my camera. The first snow storm dumped on us! It was great, we pulled out the snow gear and played!

We went out to Kneaders one night with the kids and they got these little stamps in their kids meal. On the way home, I wasn't too worried about Bode with it because it had a plastic seal on it. Boy was wrong. He was covered! I think he thought it was chapstick. It took some serious soap to get it off of him too. See the stamp on his cheek.

The joy of trees! we really enjoy playing in the leaves each fall. The kids make forts and houses. Then comes the raking and raking and raking and hauling and hauling and hauling them off. We have truck loads of leaves to get cleaned up before snow falls.

I love this picture of Bode sleeping with his tractor. He is such a boy!

oh Rylie!

Bode was trying to comb his hair with one of the little hair brushes that came

with Rylie's barbies. She says to him

"Bode don't use my barbie brush, I don't want it to get lost in your hair".

What a gal!

halloween ....

Trick or Treat! Rylie and Bode got to venture over to our neighbors by themselves and they were awfully excited. Turned out to be a fun night of trick or treating. Can you see the excitement?
Carving pumpkins, happy, pretty, monster, and scary!

Our fairy can even fly!

The shark!