Early Christmas with Grandpa & Grandma

Carson was so excited!! He got a remote control motorcycle! He loves it!Ellie loves her blocks! Together they got a huge thing of Play dough and the fun things to play with it. They were so happy! It's all about the frosting!

Carson really got into it. He had a lot of fun and his house really looked so good.

Ellie mostly wanted to eat the frosting!
Grandma came over and made Ginger Bread houses. They had a lot of fun!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

sAnTa SaNtA sAnTa

We had our ward party and they had Santa come. Carson was so excited. They handed out tickets with numbers on them to try and organize the line but It didn't work the kids were too excited to wait. Poor Carson was one of the last ones in line. He couldn't wait to sit on his lap, Ellie on the other hand was terrified. Todd wouldn't let me traumatize her so we didn't get the crying picture this year! We love our ward, we are so blessed to have such great friends so close by!

This is as close as Ellie got to Santa, you can see him in the background. This is Carson's good friend Corbin. These guys are such great friends, they could play everyday all day long and not get sick of each other! He was so excited. Last year he was terrified so it was a nice change.

Carson thought that he needed to give Santa the ticket to sit on his lap.

He was SOOOO patient-- which is not him. He really couldn't wait to see him.

tEmPlE sQuArE

I am so happy that my parents were able to come with us and the kids were so excited!
Sorry, there will be NO pictures of me until I lose the baby weight, but know I was there! :)

Ellie had fun watching out the window for the other train to pass by. I think she had just as much fun watching everyone.

We all had so much fun!

He was so excited that he got a TICKET! He probably thought we were on the polar express! :)

I wanted to take the kids to see Temple Square, we haven't been for so long and I knew the kids would love it. We decided to make and evening out of it so we went and ate at the Mayan. The kids loved that, they were so mesmerized with the divers, we were right down in front, close enough to get wet! We rode the tracks to Temple Square, Carson and Ellie were so excited! They had never been on a "train" before.

The light were really pretty and I think the kids thought it was really neat. I thought for sure that they used to go above and beyond with the lights, there were only a few of the really big tree's done, I guess they were trying to be a bit Conservative this year, it was still really pretty and the place was packed because it was the first night they were turned on. I was so happy to be there with my family and to have my parents there with us too. What a great way to start off the Christmas Season!

Houghton Thanksgiving

Bridger wasn't quite sure if he wanted to go in the sled but he sure had a lot of fun driving with Grandpa!

They had so much fun on the sled

Stan was trying to get Ellie to hold a chicken and that is as far as she got, she was TERRIFIED!

Bridger was not afraid of the chickens, he picked one up and it started freaking out and he held on pretty good.

Carson was so excited to find an egg.

So happy

I thought for sure that someone was going to lose teethm they had so much fun running and sliding on the ice.

Avery, Berkley, Carson, Ellie

This year was the Houghton Thanksgiving. It was a great day and the food was YUMMY. It was nice to be all together.


Ellie and Carson had the time of their life! They LOVED the snow. That was the first thing they wanted to do when we got to Houghton's. They fed the chickens, slid on the ice and Grandpa and Todd pulled them around in a sled behind the 4-wheeler! I was surprised Ellie loved it as much as she did, last year she was terrified, it just shows how fast they grow up. Of course Ellie and Carson were so excited to see Maggie...(the family black lab) they were even more excited to see Ruger (todd's brother's tan lab) and good ol Musky came too. They had so much fun. I do have to say that I don't miss the snow one bit, well only a little because it was so fun to see Carson and Ellie have so much fun playing in it!

SocCer

Carson and Corbin.

These two are such good friends but when it came to playing soccer they would always try and steal the ball from each other! They were fun to watch!

Nana, Papa and Noelle came to watch Carson's game. He was so excited that they came to see him play. My parents have always made an effort to go to things that are important, it is a lot harder now living far away but thye still make the effort! Thanks Mom and Dad! :)

I am such a slacker! I have not been posting important things. My friend Liz called me at the beginning of Soccer and said that they had a spot open on there soccer team and asked if Carson would like to play. Carson and her son Corbin are really good buds, so I said sure since I know Carson loves to play any sport. We told Carson that he would be playing on a team with his buddy Corbin, he was not excited about the idea at all. I think he was just nervous because he had never even watched soccer let alone play it. We had the hardest time getting him to go, he finally said that he would watch but not play. We got there and he started practicing with his Corbin and then the game started. You would not have guessed it was the same little boy who we had to pry and beg to go and play. He was all over the field. He is really a good player especially for not ever playing. Wherever the ball was, Carson was. We had to keep reminding him that he can only try and steal the ball from the other team, not his own. He loved it and it was so much fun to see him do something new and I was so happy he wasn't crying on the field not wanting to play! He sure is getting big. Love you Cars!

One Year!!

I can't believe is has really been a year since Todd had his bad 4 wheeler accident. It is still amazing how everything turned out, he is so lucky. It took a long time for him to recover, he could hardly move for months. It was a long haul but he made it through! We were so lucky that it wasn't so much worse. He is still dealing with really bad back pain, the doctors say if he swims every day for the rest of his life he should get by without surgery! (but he will still have pain for life)

I am so thankful that Todd is still her with us. I don't know what I would do without him. He is my best friend and I love him so much. He does so much for us and we are so lucky to have such a wonderful dad and husband. He is always making sure we are taken care of.

We don't realize how fragile life is until it is almost taken away from us. I am so thankful he had people watching over him that day! Thanks again to all of you that have helped us through this!

Congrats on one year Toddy! We love you!

GOING PRIVATE!

I am going to make my blog private on November 22, 2009. If you would like to continue to view our family blog, please leave a comment with your email or email me at nicole@foreverbynicole.com and I will send you an invitation. Thanks!