Girl's Weekend

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Seaside with my sister-in-laws and mother-in-laws. Erica was kind enough to invite us to have a weekend away with just the girls (and her son, Stevie). The view was amazing. I forgot to take pictures of the hotel itself, but the view from our balcony and livingroom window was AMAZING. We were right on the corner of the building over looking the circle and watched the waves of the ocean into the night.

I don't do things, like go to the beach, without my family ever, but we may make this an annual event or at least do it again next year if all works out because we shopped, talked, played games, went hot tubing and just relaxed. Thank You to my Hunter sisters and mom for a fabulous weekend, I really hope we can do it again next year!!

This is the view we had from inside the livingroom. GORGEOUS!!!

These are the views outside on the balcony. It was gray, but not raining for most of the weekend, and we didn't care if it was raining anyway!

Hunter Family Snow Day 2011

A month or go Kyle decided he really wanted to take a day at the beginning of this year to go to the mountain and play in the snow. His family knows of a great place to go tubbing. There is a shelter with a wood stove, so you can bring a pot of whatever you want to keep warm and water to boil for hot chocolate and play for several hours without too many cold problems. We kept our kids out of school, bundled them up and drove to the mountain for the day.

Eddie coming down the mountain with cousin Breanne. They were coming so fast, Eddie ended up with snow in his eyes and he never did go back up that particular hill. Don't worry though, there were other hills that he had no problem going down all day long!

Celeste had a great day. She started off with the easy hill, but after several rounds, decided that she needed more adventure and went for one of the larger hills.

Auntie Erin with Stevie 3. It was Stevie's first time in the snow and he enjoyed every minute of it!

Aunt Cheryn and Uncle Brandon bought Gordon snow toys (sand toys, but Gordon could care less what the original intent was for!) This is Stevie 3 playing with Aunt Cheryn in the snow.

Kyle going down the big hill. He went almost to the top before he was too tired and decided to just go down. There was ice under the snow, so it was rather slippery and there were ice bumps, so Kyle got some good air.

The cousins sharing a sled down the little hill. They loved going up and down that hill all day. They would climb up themselves just so they could get someone to push them down.

Gordon's nap time was right during our trip and he was NOT going to let the fun stop him until he just couldn't cope anymore. He fell asleep by the fire, so we laid him on the table net to the fire to keep warm. He didn't sleep long, but it was long enough that he woke up in a good mood!

Grandma figured out that the birds loved corn bread and started feeding them. Then Breanne started feeding them and Stevie 3 wanted to try it too.

The bird landed on Bre's hand many times, but when it finally started perching there long enough to get pictures, we were all excited! It was so cool!!

It was a beatiful day at the mountain. The weather was perfect for a day of sledding with the kids and we didn't have any accidents to worry about. Heavenly Father sure showed us His love that day as we enjoyed a day as a family! I can't wait to do it again next year!!

Gordon's 2nd Birthday

Gordon had a birthday! His second one and boy was he ready. We have been practicing singing to him for a week and he sings with us. He was actually singing to himself while everyone else was singing at his party as well. Gordon LOVES Mickey Mouse, Elmo, trains and anything boy, so it was no surprise that all of the gifts he received were so exciting to him. He was in heaven!

Gordon was so excited when he saw Elmo on those jammies!

Gordon gave Elmo loves when he opened it.

Happy Birthday my Gordon Boy! I still can't believe it has already been two years.

Hunter Family Christmas Party

It is officially the Christmas Season! We celebrate Christmas with Kyle's family the Sunday before Christmas as a new tradition because Christmas Eve and Day are so busy, that it is just easier to celebrate before hand. It has really worked out well so far because then we can have Christmas Eve dinner at home and invite Grandma over and the kids can go to bed at a decent hour. We are also going to reinstate a tradition that the Hunter family used to do and go kazooing. They couldn't always remember the words to songs, so they would kazoo the songs at people's houses, so we are going to try it this year. (Those pictures will come later!)

We are fortunate that Aunt Erin is married to someone who has a father who LOVES to play Santa. This is the second year Santa has come to our family party. At first Gordon wouldn't go to Santa, but then when he heard that he could have a candy cane, he was all for it. Unfortunately, my camera wouldn't turn on in time, so I'll post the picture when my sister-in-law has a chance to email it.

We were just in the middle of getting ready to open gifts from Grandma when Santa showed up, so the kids didn't know what to do. They wanted to see Santa, but they didn't want to leave their gifts. We had to tell them they could put their gifts down to go see Santa!

This is the gift that I got from Marla for Christmas. I have the BEST mother-in-law. She has known for a while that I would love to have a fainting couch and she found one at an estate sale. Apparently it was pretty yucky, but after cleaning and painting, it is beautiful and I can't wait to put it in my house!!!

Eddie's Birthday

Honestly, I still can't believe my little boy is 4. He's getting so big. He can't go to kindergarten for two more years, but he is going to be able to go to preschool next year and he's really excited about the thought of being able to go to school like Celeste.

Eddie wanted a Lightening cake again like every year, so once again, I made him Lightening.

What are Eddie's likes this year?

Toy Story is a new like, but he loves it. He also loves Cars, cars, and anything boy!

Kyle and I decided to buy him a Leapster 2 for his birthday because he is constantly taking his sisters without asking, so we remedied it! He is in love with it and we are love with it because it often keeps him occupied while other things are happening!

Aunt Erin and Uncle Spencer got Eddie a Cars tent for his bed. This is Celeste and Eddie on Eddie's bed playing their Leapsters together. It was too cute not to take a picture!

Happy Birthday my Eddie Boy, I love you!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

So, I'm catching up slowly, but surely! After Thanksgiving we took out or Christmas decorations and our Christmas tree to decorate for Family Home Evening. We talked about Baby Jesus and we put the ornaments on the tree. I decided to not worry about what the finished tree looked like and let the kids completely decorate the bottom of it, so if you come to my house, don't look too closely at the tree!

Gordon LOVED decorating the tree. Often the ornaments would fall off after he put them on, but he never got frustrated and just tried again until the ornament would stay on!

Eddie got to put the star on the tree this year. Next year is Gordon's turn and Celeste is so upset that she has to wait for two years to have a turn again, but she'll get over it!

Our finished tree. It doesn't have the tree skirt on in this picture, and the ornaments are perfect, but the kids LOVED every minute of it and we are ready for the season!

Happy Halloween

This year, Halloween has been lots of fun. Gordon is older and understands what is going on a little more, so everything has been a lot of fun for all of our kids. I think the only thing we missed this year was making sugar cookies, so we'll try and add that to our activity list next year!

A week before Halloween we carved pumpkins. Casey and Roy'l came over with Javin and brought Roy'l's brother to carve their pumpkins. While we were starting, Kyle's sister, Erin, called to see what we were doing. When she found out we were carving pumpkins she wanted to come over and join in the festivities. She's still newly married and with it just being the two newly weds, it doesn't seem as fun to carve pumpkins without lots of people around. We had a house full, but had so much fun.

I do have to say, Gordon LOVED all of the pumpkin activities. He was even eating the raw pumpkins and seeds. It was slightly gross for the rest of us to watch, but he just loved the whole experience!

These are most of the pumpkins all lit up after they were done being carved.

Friday before Halloween Casey called to see what we were doing, so we came up with plans! We decided to have homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner and then make caramel apples for dessert. Eddie was supposed to go with Nana that night to spend the night with Leann, so we invited Nana and Leann over for caramel apples also. It was a sticky mess, but the kids LOVED all of the yumminess. Okay, the adults loved it too, but you can tell from the little boys that they definitely loved it!!

Javin and Gordon enjoying their caramel apples!

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

Gordon did great with keeping his costume on this year and being able to say "Trick or Treat", but he definitely prefered the candy! Kyle always takes the kids out and I stay home to pass out candy. I don't seriously know how he did at the door, but he sure loved going out. He was so upset when he had to come inside! (He's an elephant, but has been called an aardvark by Uncle Casey!)

Celeste was going to be a zombie Little Red Riding Hood, but a few days before Halloween, she decided she wanted to be Sleeping Beauty because Auntie Erin's dog was going to be Sleeping Beauty. So, here is my princess instead of my zombie! Eddie wanted to be Lightening McQueen over a month ago. I was looking for used costumes because I didn't want to pay for the costume, but I wasn't able to find anything. Then I went to a consignment sale and found Mater for $5! It was the best day ever to be able to find the costume for so cheap. So, I brought it home and we talked Eddie into the costume and he has been excited to be Mater ever since.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. We sure did. Now it's on to Thanksgiving!!