Birthday Party Fun

Michael's first buddy would have to be Stetson Horne. Isn't he a cutie?!
Andrew and Lisa Horne (Horne's from Pinetop) were in our old ward and we became reacquainted with them there. Around the time they had Stetson and we had Mike, we would play games at each other's houses. We still try to get together every once in awhile. Just this December, their little boy Stetson turned a year old. We were invited to celebrate with them at their cowboy themed BBQ.

Here is the cake and cowboy hat Andrew and Lisa made. Such cute ideas! They also served some really yummy BBQ food for lunch.


There was cowboy vest making for the older kids. Abigail loved doing that.

And then pin the star and the sheriff. Followed by the all time kid favorite... Cowboy boot pinata! Okay, maybe not all the kids favorite. Stetson was a little unsure of the whole hitting the pinata thing!

But look at all the other kids waiting to have a go! Abbey was lucky she was the shortest, and therefore the first to have a bat.

She is a pinata veteran!

The babies of the party enjoyed the pinata candy.

Here's Abbey's happy face after picking up her candy! Very rare to get this on camera!

Mike loved the suckers! No way was he going to let anyone take it away!

It was a good day. Thanks Andrew and Lisa for the good food and fun!

Bed Head

Mike was sleeping hard during one of his naps the other day. Tim brought him out of his room looking like this! Look closely at his hair... the shadow makes it hard to see, but it is standing up pretty high up there! We had a good laugh.

Tree Decorating

There is something magical about sitting in your living room, relaxing after a long day with the glow of your Christmas tree right beside you. I love it! Decorating the tree was always a big deal growing up in my family. There had to be Christmas music, everyone participating and one of the following drinks, apple cider, hot chocolate and/or eggnog. These traditions have continued with Tim and I. This year Carrie joined in the festivities too. Tim did a great job of putting the lights on and topping the tree with the final touch... the star.

Carrie and I put on the ornaments. In between we watched Elf.

And of course drank some hot chocolate.

A nice cup of eggnog to enjoy the finished product!


Here is a close up look of our tree this year...

Our newest ornament is Michael's first Christmas

It matches Abigail's first Christmas ornament, which was given to us by my mom aka "Grandma Kathi." (I try not to get sad when looking at this one and our first Christmas one too)

My Grandma Jeanne Hunsaker gave Tim and I this police angel. (if you can't see he is holding little hand cuffs!)

This was mine and Tim's first Christmas, again given to us by my mom (man I miss her!).

I love the vintage looking Santa. Its also special because Tim's Grandma Beverly Brewer gave it to us. She usually gives the grand kids ornaments every year.

Last but not least is one I grew up loving. I stole this rocking horse from my parents. I loved it as a little girl because, like Abbey, I loved horses. Abbey loves this one too and broke it... with a little glue he is back on the tree! This ornament is special not only because I remember it when I was little, but my parents had a whole bunch of wooden ornaments like this that I believe were from Germany? I need to confirm this with my dad, but they were always special.


A cute story...
Abigail loves the Christmas tree. She gets up and makes sure to turn the lights on first thing in the morning. To my surprise she has done well with not taking the ornaments off and pulling the tree apart. One morning she woke up super early, ten to five!! Tim heard her and got out of bed to catch her sitting in front of the tree, plugged in and lit, staring up at it. She heard Tim and turned asking... "Santa?" Tim said... "no its just Daddy!" She responded with a disappointed "Ohhh." This Christmas has been so much fun with her!

Santa Letter and Tree Decorating

Abbey is totally into Christmas and Santa this year. It's been a lot of fun to see her get so excited. Anything she sees that is related to Christmas she yells out "Santa." We have been focusing on why Santa gives us presents. I think she is getting it. If you ask her she will, hopefully, tell you because its baby Jesus' Birthday. Anyway, since she is starting to understand Santa, Tim helped Abbey write her first letter to him. I have been prepping her in the car for the past few days... you know, the "what do you want Santa to bring you?," "do you want a bike?,""how about a Barbie?" I suggest the things we have already bought her of course. So when Tim sat down with her to "write" her letter, this is what came about.

These two together are just so cute to me.

She went to town on drawing a picture for Santa. I think she drew Santa with a beard. And there is definitely a horse in there.

I love that she is a lefty... she always has been too. She gets it from my mom. It runs in Tim's family too, his brother Peter is a lefty.

look at that concentration

She even drew pictures on the envelope

We had her put it in the tree so Santa could pick it up.

Then it was on to the decorating of the tree before bed. We let her put a few things on so she could be apart of the tree decorating.

I love how Mike wants to be in on the action too... look at him checking out the Christmas box

It was hard to get Abigail to settle down enough for bed after this! This picture shows the true Abigail though, red juice mustache, hair in her face and being sucked on (bad habit that I can't seem to break her of!), scab on the chin from ruff playing with Wyatt, food on her pj's and arms up in the air while shouting!

She had lots of fun putting the ornaments on. She would yell "yea" after each time (that is what she is doing in the picture above).

Do you think she noticed that we moved her decorations around the next morning?

Christmas Tree Shopping

Last Friday was our Christmas Tree day. We went searching for the perfect tree out on Power Rd. I know... not as charming as finding one up in the mountains. But the excitement was present all the same. Here we are getting ready to find our perfect tree.


Abbey and Mike enjoyed going into the "forest"


I so badly wanted to get Abbey looking around between the trees... but all I could capture was her running away from "the mom with the camera." It was a game of tag for her.

A rare moment of semi stillness for Abigail



We enjoyed the hot chocolate, cookies and candy cane mints while the nice boys helped tie the tree down on the car.

Ahhh, mission accomplished... now for the three mile trek home!

Abigail really enjoyed her hot chocolate on the way home... I think I'm a little camera happy with my new camera!



The sunset on the way home was beautiful, I couldn't help but try to capture those pretty colors. The pictures still don't do it justice!