Festival of Trees

My mom has been decorating a tree for the Festival of Trees since before I was born.

I have never been able to help her until we were in Utah this year and I extended my stay so I could be there.

It was a blast-especially since I'm really not much help.  I'm there for moral support.

I did help Heather with her Despicable Christmas gingerbread house.

Until 2 am.

It was fun watching my uber-creative mom at work…

And the finished product!

We all stood back and documented the days' work!

It was really fun and a little emotional and special too!

This is a fun tradition that I'm glad I could be part of this year.

And I loved seeing my mom's friends all support and help her out too!

What a fantastic bunch of women-

So glad I could spend a day here with all of them.

Bunting Family Pictures

Since we were all together, we decided to have family pictures.

(or I persuaded everyone else that we should have family pictures)

Heather's friend Dixie took these for us and did a fantastic job…

The whole familia

Grandma & Grandpa with the grandkids

Mom & Dad with their kids

A good one of Mom and Dad together

The Newlyweds!

Not so newlyweds--Chad & Jordan 

Garrett looks super excited and Luke not so much 

Paul, Me and our kiddos

And Troy, who's flying solo

(maybe he could use this for a dating profile picture)

All the cousins 

(lots of personality here!)

Thanksgiving!

We went to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with family this year.

This is the first time we've traveled back home for Thanksgiving since we moved to Chicago almost twelve years ago.  It was fun to be with family again and to pack a lot into our week there!

I made my dad and early Christmas present--a quilt with pictures of all of us the last few years.

I told him then we'd always be watching him when he hangs us on the banister by his chair!

Aunt Brittany, Aunt Sarah and Aunt Kelsey entertained the girls one day with gingerbread houses!

The girls love to hang out with their cousins and having a fun activity made it even better!

We introduced our kids to the lights on Temple Square-

it was beautiful and fun, even with the crowds!

 And just hanging out with Grandma is always a good time!

Nora loves to cuddle-and Grandma and Grandpa are happy to be the cuddlers of choice...

Halloween

We're lucky to have a grandma who makes Halloween easy for us:

We put in our costume orders in September and voila!

Even Paul sort of dressed up.

He went along with his Pirate Queen and Pirate Princess..

 Halle wanted to be a BYU cheerleader-

Go Cougars!

The girls are happy to pose!

Afton and her friend Mallory went as 80s prom queens

Ahoy Pirate Princess Nora!

and Matthew wanted to be a WWI flying ace.

This is the only picture he'd give us.

Grandma really came through this year with our variety of requests!  The kids love coming up with ideas and knowing that Grandma will make it happen!

Catching up….Halle's Birthday

I figured I should catch up on our fall activities before I get really behind for December!

On October 12, we celebrated Halle's 7th birthday!

She was so excited and had looked forward to her day for months…

We stayed at the Marriott on the Magnificent Mile for a girls' night.

(Paul and Matt were on the ward youth trip)

Halle opened her presents on the bed after we had room-service breakfast!

We walked around downtown Chicago and Uncle Troy joined us at Chick Fil A for lunch.

Finally, it was off to the American Girl Store for dinner and shopping!

Halle has been eyeing Saige for 10 months now!

She loved having the waiters sing to her!

It was a super girly, super fun weekend!

And Halle got one more cake so Dad and Matt could help celebrate too!

Halle is such a fun, spunky, creative, silly, energetic girl-

What a fun way to celebrate her 7 years!

Bragging about my awesome husband on his Birthday!

I have been a blog slacker (as my family kindly reminds me)

but I wanted to make sure everyone knows what a wonderful husband I have-

and today is his birthday.

There's not much in the gift department that he wants, 

so I'm publicly giving him the recognition he deserves!

 He is constantly thinking about other people.

There is not a selfish bone in this guy!

He is a hard worker and is excellent at what he does-

people like working for him and he consistently delivers results.

(which also benefits me in terms of work incentive trips!)

Paul is a faithful priesthood holder and constantly magnifies his callings.

He is serving as Bishop right now and sincerely loves the people he serves.

(there is his, bishopping in the background)

He is an awesome, fun dad.  The kids love him and they love to be with him.

Paul recognizes the influence he can have with them and strives to be a great role model and example for them.  Even though his time is precious, he makes sure they know how much he loves them!

And Paul is fun!  I love to be with him. And so does everyone else!

(yep--Chad too!)

I feel so incredibly blessed to have Paul has my husband and best friend.  

He is a caring, devoted husband who always puts me first.  

 Happy Birthday!

First Day of School

The big kids started school last week.

So I made a nice big breakfast to start them out...

Matt was nice enough to pose for me.  He really liked this pink shirt and he searched for weeks to get the right pair of sneaks.

His sisters made sure he got on the middle school bus.

(I decided not to embarrass him too much and took the picture from far away)

Our cute 1st grader Halle

And Afton is ready for 5th grade 

(last year at the intermediate school before she heads to middle school  with Matt next year)

And Nora doesn't start until after Labor Day, but wanted a picture too!

Everyone is anxiously waiting for the bus!

And the girls are off!