Audrie: 5 1/2 months

Audrie will actually be 6 months old next week, but I thought I'd put up a few cute pictures now (who knows if I'll even get to a 6 month update). Audrie likes to be wherever the action is, so a lot of times she will play happily on the floor with anything as long as Ashlyn, or Carter, or Mom or Dad is nearby.

She is a drool monster!

I love this shot of her stretching for a toy. She just barely started doing a little army crawl, so she can now move forward and get what she wants. I think it has been frustrating for her because despite her best efforts, she could only push herself backwards.

Success!

Carter Man

Carter . . .

loves bananas (and every other fruit),

likes to join in when anyone is playing band hero,

and really loves to rock out with his dad.

Taking Juston to the MTC

Yesterday Juston went into the MTC. He is going to be there until February 14th when he leaves for the Tacoma Washington mission! We always love having Juston around because he is so chill and fun, but we know he's going to love his mission!

Here are some pictures we took in front of the temple right before dropping him off (at the curb!)

A Very Merry Christmas!

It was a very Merry Christmas! I just love celebrating this holiday with young children . . . it's magical!

Let It Be Written

Ashlyn can write the names of everyone in her family!

Let it Snow!

Although our winter here in Utah started out quite mild, we have still enjoyed a good deal of snow. We've had it light and we've had it medium and we've had it heavy!

Here are the kids outside playing in the snow on a light day. You'll notice that they are just wearing jackets and boots with their normal clothes (for Ashlyn that would be a dress). They've made quite an impressive little snowman, haven't they?


Here are a couple of pictures of them outside on a medium snow day. To me, this is the perfect snow. Fluffy, plentiful, but not on the sidewalks or roads.

Then there are the heavy snow days where even Brad can't resist going outside to play. Here he is building a snow fort:

And here is Juston's snow fort:

Ashlyn is digging with Daddy's shovel trying to find her shovel buried under the snow somewhere. I guess that's what happens when we leave our toys/tools out.

Carter enjoyed the mountains of snow too.

I don't think I'd like snow like this too often, but once in a while it's pretty fun!

Deck the Halls

I've wanted to have a real Christmas tree for several years now, but we have a fake tree so it hasn't been easy justifying a tree purchase. But . . . this year we were at Lowes the day after Thanksgiving looking at kitchen appliances and we swung by the live Christmas tree section and discovered that they weren't really all that expensive. So, we went back the next day and bought our first live Christmas tree! I must admit that I am truly in love!

It is big (to us) and smells marvelous! We don't have quite enough ornaments to do the job and we had to buy more lights, but I think it looks pretty good.

I used some of the cut off branches to make a little swag. This is about the height of my creativity.

Here's a little picture of our nativity. It is surprisingly still intact. Carter will climb up on the piano to look at it while saying, "no touch."

The only other decorations we have are some stockings hung downstairs in the family room. I definitely want a few more festive things, but I'm not sure exactly what. It is, however, beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around here!