Late night sledding :)

Last Monday we got quite a bit of snow throughout the day, so that night at about 7:30 we decided spontaneously to head up to our favorite sledding hill and we had the whole place to ourselves.

So much fun!

Love these little angels :)

Family Pictures 2012...

I guess I never did post any more of our family pictures we had taken back in August.

Here are my favorites :)

This year we kept it short and sweet and the boys did great...I love them!

Thanks Brittany Cascio :)

I'm already excited for our next year's photo shoot.

We went to a fundraiser dinner last week put on by my cute friend Brittany for her own best friend whose name is also Brittany. She has recently been diagnosed with melanoma, so it was a great opportunity for us to go to the dinner and support her. We bought some raffle tickets and I put all of my tickets into the jar that was for a free mini photo shoot with Brittany and she called me the next day to tell me that I won!

Lars also won 2 tickets to an upcoming Aggie game and a $15 gift card to Angie's Restaurant.

Anyway I love getting our pictures done each year by my talented friend who has taught me so much!



So glad Gunnar still wants me to lay with him every night after we read...

These are the best days, and I am so grateful.

Elvis...our Elf on the Shelf :)

Not long after we put our tree up, one morning Ashton sleepily walked into the bathroom and when he turned the lights on he found this!

"What the heck?" he said.

 

And so our visits from Elvis (or ELFIS if you're Gunnar pronouncing it) began. Every morning since then Ashton and Gunnar get up and search for him and find him doing silly things.

The one rule is that they can't touch him or he will lose his magic. Every night he uses his magic to fly back to the North Pole to report to Santa about their behavior.

He has been pretty fun to have around :)

Here are some of the things he's been up to...

 He was even sick one day...poor Elfis 

 One of my favorite things he's done...he snuck into Gunnar's room and took Shockey and washed him!

Another favorite...smart Elf.

Can't wait to see what he does next!

Putting the tree up...

A couple weeks ago we put our Christmas tree up...it is always such a fun night. We turn on Christmas music and the boys love getting the tree out, helping Lars put it together, plugging it in and seeing it light up and of course remembering all of the ornaments and hanging them just how they want them on the tree. I will forever treasure the memories of putting up our tree...

 

Ashton's First Reconciliation...

Last Monday night, December 10th, Ashton was scheduled to have his first Reconciliation. He has been preparing for it by going to Monday night classes since September as well as practicing lots of prayers at home with me.

We got to the church at 5:00 and sat down with 96 other kids and their families. Father had the service and talked to the kids about making their first confession, then the woman who is in charge of Christian Formation talked to everyone about how the process was going to go.

We were in the second to last row of the church, they were just going to go row by row and have the kids go in to do their confession. There was supposed to be another priest there that night helping, but he was unable to make it apparently, so it was just our priest Father Francisco Pires. After a few kids had gone in and come out, Linda (who is in charge) got up to speak again and explained how long we all might be waiting since it takes at least 3 minutes per child and there were like I said 96 kids. With us sitting in the back, we could have been there for hours. I, as an adult could have waited it out, but there was no way Ashton and Gunnar would sit there for 3 or 4 hours and we didn't expect them to. So she gave people the option to leave and come back the next Monday.

I admit that Lars and I, and well Ashton were all kind of frustrated at that point. We'd had this date on the calendar for a month and it was an important night for Ashton. Unfortunately it was very poorly planned out, so we chose to leave. However we already had plans for this next Monday so I asked Linda on the way out if there was any way Ashton could do his confession on a different night. She isn't the friendliest or easiest person to work with and immediately said "No. It has to be tonight, or next Monday." So I said, okay...I guess I'll call Father and talk to him about it.

I left him a message that night and his secretary called me the next day saying that we could bring Ashton in on Wednesday the 12th at 5:45. I was so glad.

On Wednesday I was also scheduled to do all the sorting for our Sub for Santa tree at the church at 6:00, so I figured that would work out well. I thought at first maybe Lars could just drive separately and take the boys back home after Ashton was done, but then I thought. No. This was a perfect opportunity for us as a family to help out with the sub for santa stuff together. I have to admit that sometimes it's just easier to do stuff like that without them, but I need to be better about making them come along.

After Ashton did his confession (we were so proud of him!), we got started sorting gifts and the boys jumped right in and were so happy to help. Gunnar collected boxes and brought them to us, while Ashton helped us check things off as we looked through all of the donated gifts. We explained why were doing it and who the gifts were going to and as I sat there, once again I saw God working in our lives...After that frustrating situation with having to leave Monday night, here we were doing something great together as a family. Such a blessing in disguise and so obvious to me that it worked out that way for a reason. So many times in my life I see things like that.

I didn't get any pictures that night, but here is a recent one of Ashton.

 He is growing his hair out and it is longer now than it ever has been his entire life.

It's been driving me a little bit crazy, but now that it is a bit longer and lays down better, it's growing on me and I actually kind of like it ;)
He sure is growing up fast...

Thanksgiving in Price...

It was our year to go to Price, so we left on Tuesday after Lars got home from work. The boys were out of school the rest of the week.  We stopped off at Red Lobster for dinner that night, then made it to Price a little after 9:00.

Ashton and Gunnar were so excited to be there, they stayed up till at least 10:30 that night.
As usual when Hunter arrived, the 3 of them played non-stop all day every day that we were there. Hunter slept over one night and they honestly think that it is the best thing in the world.
I'm so glad that they have the relationship that they do with Hunter. :)

Thursday morning Lars, Shelley and I got up early and did the Turkey Trot...an 8 mile run out by the fairgrounds. We didn't run it, but we walked 5 1/2 of it. It was a bit chilly and windy, but it was fun and a good way to start off Thanksgiving day!

It really is a fun relaxing time when we go there since the boys are so entertained with Hunter. They hardly even know we're there...haha.
I read 2, yes 2 whole books!
One night we played lots of games of Bingo. The boys loved it...

Prizes :)

  Lars and his Dad went fishing one day and then he and I went on Saturday.

We still can't believe this big fat carp he caught! We tried for a few minutes to catch him with a fly because Lars thought what he saw was a huge trout in the water, but then when he realized it was a carp, he followed it for a minute, then it swam right into his net. It was so big and so gross!  

 We walked a LOT that day too to get to where we were fishing. It was such beautiful weather the whole time we were there.
Thanks for a fun time Nana and Papa!