Let's Get Ready For Christmas

I know....I know....we are the biggest blogger slackers in the world.  We finally started getting ready for Christmas so here is the rundown.

Decorating the gingerbread house

What a cute little cottage complete with the smoke rising from the chimney.

Kate sitting on Santa's lap

Sam wondering if that beard is real

Lilly doing a "fly by" just for the candy cane because she just wasn't too sure about that guy

After Santa Claus, Aunt Heather took the kids to make a bird feeder pine cone 

Kate and Sam in their Christmas program.  It was so funny to watch them sing with the actions.

We brok down and bought a fake pre lit Christmas tree this year and it was the best decision of the season so far.  It was so great to unfold the branches and poof.....we are ready to decorate.

 

Halloween at Aunt Theresa's

Steve and Theresa throw a heck of a Halloween party every year at their house in South Jordan. This year, it was complete with a mini train to give rides, blow up slide in the backyard, and a spook alley downstairs that was so scary, most of the kids wouldn't go through.

Here are my little trick or treaters.....two wicked little witches and a big, tough Army guy.

This was a huge blow up slide in the back yard that Lily just loved.

This little train was a big hit for all of the kids and even some adults

Aaargghh, Matey!!!

Lily is ready for some candy!!!

What a cute bunch of kids

Lily on her first trick or treat adventure

Lily was so cute trick or treating....she just loved it.

Let's Carve Pumpkins!!

We went to our freinds home, Aaron and Lori Driggs, for a fun night of food and carving pumpkins. It was a good time had by all. Thanks Aaron and Lori!

Sam's friend Kayden came over riding his motorcycle. Sam quickly bummed a ride and was in hog heaven.

My little Sammy takin' it over the hills!

Sam looks cute carving his pumpkins....Trav looks like a dork.

Here is Kate and her friend Kylie looking cute carving their pumpkins.

The finished product pose. Those are some great Jack-O-Lanterns!

Ride to Red Lodge

Trav and I went on a moterbike ride last weekend with Matt and Heather to Red Lodge, Mt. We started in Victor and rode through Yellowstone and went up to Red Lodge. It took us about 7 hours Saturday but it was a beautiful day and it was awesome. We woke up Sunday morning to ride back home and it was raining! So we got on all of our rain gear and headed out, but it stopped raining before we left. So we went home through Cody, Wy. and it was awesome I want to go back to Cody. It was warm and we all took our rain gear off and we were in Yellowstone and of course it started raining on us, so we pulled over and got our rain gear on once again. We still had 2 hours left to ride and it rained like cats and dogs but we had to keep riding cause it was getting dark. Its hard to explain how miserable the last 2 hours were but i'll tell you this much Heather was crying it was so cold and scary and did I mention how cold it was. So we finally made it home and I have the best in-laws ever. Travs mom and dad came up on about a 5 hour notice to drive the bike to us and to come watch our kids. Travs mom had dinner ready for us, she is the best! So Travs mom and dad had to ride the bike home the next morning and it was only about 40 degrees and they got rained on to. So after this long explanation of our little road trip I do want to say I had alot of fun. Thanks Matt and Heather and a big Huge thanks to Travs mom and dad we owe them Big time.

Thanks Grandpa Mallory for letting us use your bike. We were riding in comfort and style!!

Matt and Heather on top of Bear tooth pass.

look at those road warriors go. Don't mess with those

My Babies Go To 1st Grade.

I can't believe this day is here. Kate and Sam are in 1st grade. They were so excited for school to start and to eat lunch at school, they love school lunch!

In front of Kate and Sams class on the first day of school. Kate loves to pose. I love my babies!

On Fridays at school Kate and Sam have "Popcorn Fridays" they get to take money and this is what they chose to buy. Cute huh!

Lily is 2 !!

This is Lily's 2nd birthday. We were at my mom's house getting ready for my brothers wedding.


Lily loved her cake.

Lily blowing out her candles.....does anyone want a side of spit with their cake?

Grandpa and Grandma Mallory bought Lily this sweet new ride for her birthday. She absolutely loves it and motors around all day long. Look at her kicking a leg up.

What's New!

We have officially been named the worst bloggers in the world. The memory card went out in our camera so it has been a while since we have updated. Here is a little to catch up with what we have been doing:

We went to the Matthews family reunion in Island Park. Here is Lilly loving her morning hot chocolate.

Kate enjoys hers in the unusual "squating" style.

Sam is our little frog. He hates to get out of the water.

We were also lucky enough to partake in the.....get ready.....Famous Preston Night Rodeo and Carnival. Here is Sam and Kate on a ride.

We took the kids to the rodeo with Grandpa and Grandma Rawlings. Kate now wants to be a Rodeo Queen for a job when she grows up.

The fun of the rodeo kind of wore off as time went by.

We took the kids boating while we were in Preston. Here is a picture of Sam tearing it up on the ski board. We couldn't talk Kate into trying it.

We had a hail storm a few weeks ago that was putting down golf ball sized hail. It was a little scary.

Seriously.....Who Falls Asleep Like That?

I have to share this one. Sam was spending a little time in his room in "time out" because he was once again fighting with his sister. It was a little quite up there, even for time out, so I decided to investigate. The pictures below are what I found:

Just an update....

Sam and Kate had their 6th birthday party and they invited 14 of their little friends from school. It was quite the event. Holy Moley was it loud!!!

Sam is usually the shy one when it comes to pictures

Kate took the shy route on this one.

Lilly loves to ride her horse.

She thinks she is the coolest kid on the block because she can drink her milk out of her cereal bowl like her dad.

She actually makes less of a mess than Trav does when he does it.

Pura Vida Costa Rica

Sorry for the lack of updates lately but as you will see below....we have been suffering on the beach for the past couple of weeks. Trav and I finally took our first ever vacation and it was amazing. We spent 10 days in a house on the beach in Costa Rica. We really missed our kids but it was an awesome experience. We went with my sister and her husband, Matt and Heather and a couple of friends of ours from in Driggs, Cole and Lyndsay. We did everything from bushwacking in the rain forest to scuba diving with reef sharks....yikes!!!

We spend out first night in the city of San Jose in Costa Rica where we rented a car to drive 4 hours through the jungle to our house. San Jose has a population of nearly 3 million and is the dirtiest city we have ever seen. Prostitution is legal there so that was also interesting. Trav and Cole are tying down our luggage to the top of our SUV. This small pyramid on the roof of our car generously provided us so many crazy looks and laughs from the locals.

This is a sunset picture off of the patio from our house. The sunsets were absolutely beautiful on the horizon of the ocean.

Trav and I eating lunch in the famous Tortilla Flats restaurant on the beach of Dominical

We met a local girl named Wendy who kindly served as our local tour guide. She was so funny. We went bushwacking through the jungle to a local waterfall. She brought her machede because Costa Rica is home to many poisonous snakes and spiders that you need to move out of the way as you progress through the jungle. She didn't seem to be to worried about it but the Americans were scared to death.

A picture of the waterfalls that we hiked to. The picture doesn't really do it justice. The waterfalls were over 100' tall and the boys jumped from the cliffs in the middle.

Our exploring group.

A picture of the crew next to the pool at our house.


In front of our house. Everything is gated and barred in Costa Rica.


Getting ready for the zipline tours in the canopy of the rain forest. It was so hot hiking through the jungle. We saw two and three toed sloths, Tucans, termites, and lots of bugs.


Me on a zipline......cow-a-bunga!!!


Trav and I on some rocks on the beach.


We went scuba diving at an island called Cano Island which was an hours boat ride out in the middle of the ocean. We did two 40 minute dives at 50 feet where we saw 8' long White Tip sharks, Manta Rays, Eagle Rays, Moray Eels, Sea Turtles, and lots of other cool fish. It was really cool and really scary.


A beach shot of Cano Island. It was a beautiful place.


This is a beach shot of the beach in Dominical where we spent most of our time laying out and surfing. It was a great beach.