Christmas Prep!

We were a little bit late getting out tree up this year, but it we did it and had a great time doing it.  Now if only I could get motivated to wrap some of the presents so there is something under there!

Trey had the honor of putting the angel on top of the tree this year.

Ty is such a goof ball!

Santa's lil' helpers!

SLEDDING!!!!!

We have had a very mild winter and it finally snowed enough for us to go sledding!  We went with all of our Colorado family and we had a blast!  It was freezing cold, but walking back up the hill kept us pretty warm.  Ty wasn't scared to go down as long as he rode with someone, but one Trey flipped them at the bottom he wasn't too happy anymore.  We can't wait for it to snow again so we can go again!

Reina and Ty going down!

Trey falling as he's coming back up the hill...It was hard work!

Tucker going down!

Most of the group at the top of the hill.

Trey and Ty going down...it was great until Trey flipped them over and Ty got a face full of snow!

Trey had a blast!!

Ty was not happy after his face full of snow...but I had to get the picture!

Trying and actually succeeding...a little bit anyways :)

I have had my camera for quite a while now....however I still use it as a glorified point and shoot camera.  Sure I have gotten some pretty awesome pictures, but that was just the camera and not really me doing it on purpose. 

I have to give credit from all of true photographers out there because it is not easy, even when you have good camera helpping out the process.  Anyways....

A while back I found this awesome website(I'll post the link at the end of the post) that tells me exactly what it do in a way I actually understand.  And so far I've been pretty successful!

This was the first shot I took of Trey, my goal to get the Christmas lights in the background to look like little pretty bubbles of light....Not perfect yet, but I'm proud I am actually doing something I set out to create in a picture. 

In this one of my youngest nephew I wanted to capture the light in his eyes..this one took me about a million tries to get it but, I finally did.  I love this little guy, especially because he still lets me do these photo shoots with no complaints!

Hopefully with some more help from iheartfaces and cooperative boys I will finally use my camera the way it is ment to be used!

In the Christmas Spirit!

I know it's a little early for me to be changing to a Christmas themed blog, but I have to admit I am in the Christmas spirit after spending 12 hours Christmas shopping....I'm seriously not kidding...I ventured out Black Friday Shopping with my brother, Kim, Eric, Isaac, and Jenny....Kim and I were the only ones who made it the full 12 hours....but it was worth it and we actually had a lot of fun!!!! 

P.S....yes, yes we are just a little bit crazy!

Turkey Day 2012

We had an awesome Thanksgiving!!!  We started the day out with a 'friendly' football game...I put it in quotes because we are all pretty competitive, but we did have a good time....My team won...oh ya!  I scored 5 of the 8 touchdowns on my team and my boys learned why my elementary school teacher still to this day calls me Tackle Machine!  After the game we went to Kim's house and had a nice relaxing day hanging out and eating!  I love Thanksgiving and it was a wonderful day. 

I don't think I will ever be able to express how thankful I am for these people I spent the day with...we are most likely the most random 'family' in the state and I'm not even going to try to explain how we are 'related' but I love them and I wouldn't trade any of them.

Touchdown!!!

The girls at half time

The guys at half time

We are serious...we aren't afraid to take out a kid....haha....just kidding it was only 2 hand touch...well most of the time!

The kids playing on the playground

Almost everyone at the 2nd annual Turkey bowl

Kim got an awesome table cloth for the kids they could color...and even the adults colored too!

Happy Thanksgiving from my littlest Turkey!

November 11 -- 3 YEARS!!

My baby is 3...I'm still in denial, but he really has grown up so much this past year!  He had an awesome birthday with our closest family.  I'm proud to say he spent his 3rd birthday diaper free with no accidents! 

Got snow for his b-day!!

All his CO cousins!

Now he is officially the Red Ranger!

My niece, Kaedance helped me make Ty's baseballs!

Happy Birthday to TY!!!!

So excited to be 3 years old!!!!!!

Colorado Fall

Colorado weather is CRAZY, you can't always count on winter in actual Winter, and whatnot, but you can at least always count on the leaves falling in Fall!  We had a super mild Fall (if you haven't been able to tell by the lack of jackets on Halloween and the fact all the kids are wearing shorts and t-shirts in the pics below).  Grampa worked hard to make this gigantic pile of leaves for his grand kids to play in!!!  Such a good Grampa!!  They seriously played for hours...jumping and playing and then making a leaf house!

Halloween '12

We got a lot of use out of our costumes this year, we had the school carnival, Halloween Party, and of course Trick-or-Treating!  Trey really wanted to be Hawk Eye from the Avengers,but little did we (or the costume providers) know that Hawk Eye was extremely popular and we went to pretty much every store in the city and only found a couple of those costumes and they were only size small...which on my growing boy is WAY too small.  Both big boys needed a medium which was a 7-8 and they were almost too small.  So Trey got to be a Ninja, which he was super excited about it anyways.  Tucker was always sure from the beginning and he was Iron Man.  Ty was undecided for the longest time, but finally settled on Thor because of his awesome hammer!  He is still pretty stuck on Thor and good thing Thor's Hammer is foam, but Ty isn't afraid to use it!  I even dressed up this year and I was Rosie the Riveter.  It was super easy, thanks to Vinny and his work coveralls..the only thing I had to buy was red lipstick and the red polka dot fabric for the bandanna!  My parents were hippies and they looked awesome, I wish I had a picture of them.  It was a pretty fun Halloween!!

Our Trick-or-Treating crew!

My Iron Man won't wear his mask

The big group at the Halloween Party

"We can do it!"

Pumpkin Carving!

Pumpkin carving is always fun, but it was a lot of work this year.  We ended up carving SIX pumpkins!  Ty is my dirty, messy boy and he has never hesitated sticking his hand into a pumpkin, but this year he would NOT stick his hand in the pumpkin or even touch the seeds with his hand..He would only use a spoon!  The big boys dug right in and did a great job cleaning out their pumpkins.

A Hikin' We Will Go

Kim and I have been wanting to go on a hike for months now, but we are always busy!!!  Finally last Sunday we had a free afternoon and it was a gorgeous day outside so we, with our herd of kids and Gramma, went up to the mountains!  The trail was a mile to the top and a mile back down.  Despite a little whining, the kids did great!  I ended up carrying Ty up the last third of the hike, but it was worth it!  Hopefully we will get a chance to explore a new trail soon.

Finally made it to the top!

This kid is a goofy one!

On the way back down

Such a big kid now.

Fall Soccer 2012

We just finished up fall soccer!  Tucker and Trey played on separate teams and I helped coach both their teams.  They both did great!  This was Trey's first season of soccer since he was about 3 years old, but he played as if he has always been playing!  He scored at least one goal every game!  Last game he scored 2 goals and personally stopped 3 goals!  He had such a fun time and asked to play indoor soccer too (which starts next week!). 

I don't know what he is doing, but it was a cool pic!

There goes my boy on a breakaway!

He was all over the field after that ball!

 Tucker is such a good athlete!  He had so many breakaways and scored in almost every game too.  I am so impressed with his foot skills.  He dribbles and shoots with both feet.  He also plays goalie too and had a ton of awesome saves!  He really loves playing and is so competitive!

Tucker was the breakaway king of his team!

Tucker can't help but flash that smile when he sees the camera.

Working hard for that ball.