4 years later...

I know that every mother says this but... I can't believe that my little girl is 4!!! She is everything to me!!! After waiting 6 years to get her into our family, she is more than I ever could have imagined she would be. She is adorable, funny, kind, spunky, social and perfect! She makes my life so happy. I love her more and more each day as she grows and learns.

Any one who knows Josie knows that she LOVES animals. So Charles came up with this great idea to get her a pet.... a pet rat. As we researched rats as pets we both decided that it would be a perfect gift for her. She was shocked and surprised and soooooooooooooo excited!!! Of course she assumed that he was a she and wanted to name him Butterfly. When we told her that he was a boy she decided to call him Butters which has turned into Mr. Butters.

She was pretty nervous to even touch him at first, but that lasted a whole few minutes. Now she carries him around like he is her little baby.

Charlie has gotten over his nervousness too.

Josie loves to go bowling for her birthday. We have gone twice in the last two years and it was for her 3rd and 4th birthdays. It is so fun with the kids. This year Brighton, Josies big cousin came with us. I think their favorite part is waiting and watching the balls come back.

Brighton is really a great bowler for only being 7.

Charlie LOVED it! Anything with any type of ball he loves.

He would get SOOOOOO excited when the pins would fall.





Josie wanted to do it all by her self now that she is 4 years old.

We all had so much fun!

One cake and one party down.

Josie really wanted a Fiesta for her birthday, so having all the Pinegar's and Patten's over was a HUGE fiesta!!! She borrowed a "fiesta" dress from her cousin Tori. She felt so beautiful and special in it.

What's a fiesta without a pinata?

What a fiesta it was! She told me that she was so excited for the Patten's and the Pinegar's to meet. :) She loves them all so much!

Happy Birthday sweet Josie!! We love you!!!

The most wonderful time of the year....

What a Christmas!!! Every year it gets better and better. As the kids get older it gets to be more and more fun! It is so fun to get together with friends and family and follow traditions and make new traditions.

I love getting the kids Christmas outfits for church.

We weren't fast enough to get a whole family

picture before they started melting down.

On Christmas Eve the Patten's came to our house for a party.
This is only a portion of the Patten cousins.

Cute Josie and Eliza!




I don't know how Charles fell asleep during all the craziness. Frances was having a great time!

Emilies friend came dressed as Santa and most of the kids were excited.Eliza was not that stoked on Santa this year. I love how she is peaking around her mom to catch a glimpse of Santa. That was good enough for her.


Getting ready for bed in new Christmas jammies.

Josie was so excited for put cookies and milk out for Santa.

Charlie polished off most of Santas cookies and milk before he went to bed.

Reading Twas the night before Christmas just before bedtime.



I love staying up late and getting everything ready for Christmas morning.

Josie LOVED her princess castle...

...and dress!

Charlie LOVED his scooter so much he was riding on it before it was even put together.

He could hardly wait for Charles to put it together.

Frances loved her new toys and hopefully she will fit into her hat next year.

We had the best Christmas yet! And I am sure that they will get better and better!

update...

So... I haven't updated my blog in a really long time and figured that I had better try to catch up before Christmas and the new year, so here is what we have been doing this month...

Last year we started a new tradition. We went with Andy and Melissa and their family to cut down our Christmas tree. We had such a great time we thought that we should do it every year. Andy and Clark were so nice and went super early to stand in line and get tree permits for our family. We cut them down near Woodland UT. The kids loved being pulled around in the sled.

They were having such a blast!

I saw our tree down a steep hill so I hiked down there to cut it down and had a rough time getting it up the hill.

But it was totally worth it! It is a beautiful tree!

Trying to stay warm by the heater.

Charles took me to San Fransico for my birthday! What a spoiler! Our good friends the DeGraw's came to help celebrate and we had a GREAT time! Thanks Charles!

We ate at the BEST "Euro-Asian Seafood" restaurant and the roasted crab was unbelievable!

Of course we shopped in China town!

We made gingerbread houses at the Peterson's house and the kids had so much fun making them and eating all the candy.

December 5th is Sinter Claus day in Holland and growing up my family always celebrated. Sinter Claus would leave us oranges and a yummy chocolate letter for our name. The kids loved waking up to find their letter and having it for breakfast.

Santa Clause came to the ward primary party. Josie was SO excited to tell him that she wants a mermaid doll for Christmas.

We went sledding with my brother Spencer's family down in Fairview. Josie and Katy LOVE being together!

We all had such a great time! We love sledding! It is one of our favorite things about winter!

The cemetary where Chalres' day was buried last Feburary has one night before Christmas where they put lanterns throughout the entire place. It is really wonderful. The kids thought it was amazing! This will be a new tradition that we do each year.

What a wonderful time of year! There is so much going on and so many fun things to be doing. We love spending time with our family and friends. We can't wait for Christmas this year... the kids are so excited! It will be so much fun!