Happy to see Santa?

Evan came home from his pre-school Christmas program so excited,"I saw Santa, I sat on his lap, and he gave me some candy!!" He kept saying it over and over. Then I saw this picture, I couldn't help but laugh. Does he look excited or scared to you? Don't you just love Santa's dark roots? This is why I have had to explain to the kids that it's not always the real Santa, sometimes it's just Santa's helper!

Evan's program

Evan had his pre-school Christmas program last night. Jason said it was pretty funny, he would stand up when everyone else would sit down, and sit when everyone would stand. He only sang a couple of songs and during the rest of the songs he just sat and yawned. He did do a really good job on his part of this song, he was pretty excited about it. Evan really hates to be up in front of a lot of people, so I was surprised that he did as well as he did. Good job Evan!!! Jason didn't have the best view so Evan is a little hard to see. He's the hansome one in the blue shirt!

Dress-up

Ava and Mallory came over, and Isabel was so happy to have some girls to play with. She dressed them up did their hair and make-up, she even painted their nails. They were strutting around like runway models! It was so funny. She doesn't like the fact that I don't let her dress up Lillia yet. She is such a girly girl some days, and other days all she wants to do is play soccer and football. Girls are so much fun.

Welcome Home!

Jed, Emily, and Ava are home for the holidays!! HURRAY! The kids are so excited they can hardly contain themselves. (as you can tell from the video) The video isn't that long but this went on for quite a while. It finally ended when Jed gave up, he was so tired, he could hardly breathe. The rest of us just sat back and laughed! It's good to have them home.

deck the halls

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! LOVE THE ERICKSONS
Bennett noticed that all the red balls were on the bottom of the tree and tried so hard to get them on the top. I had to tell him to stop when he fell off the arm of the couch and landed on Isabel!
Peek-a-booWe finally decorated our Christmas tree! The kids had such a good time, they have been begging us everyday to decorate. I finally gave in and got everything out. Will keeps asking me,"is it Christmas now?" He is so excited to see Ava again and he knows that she is coming for Christmas, so I have to say no, its not Christmas, so he doesn't get his hopes up that he will see Ava that day! I thinks it's funny that he cares more that Ava is coming and not Santa.

Lillia and Great Grandma

While we were in Utah we tried to visit as many family members as we could. We stayed with Mac and Kelly the first night, and stayed with Trena and Kirk the next night. It was so nice to see everyone, but I really enjoyed seeing my Grandma . I hadn't seen her in a while and she had never met Lillia. She had just had surgery on her wisdom teeth the day before so she was pretty embarrassed when I pulled out my camera, but I think that she looks beautiful.

BYU vs. Colorado State

Jason and I were able to go to the BYU/Colorado football game at BYU. We had such a blast! First of all, we got to get away from the kids for two days, not that I don't totally love and adore my kids, but it was nice to have a little break. J.T. and Amanda came and stayed with them, and did such a good job! We thought it would be good birth control to come and stay with our crew, but I think they might be ready for a few of their own. They had them clean their rooms and rake the leaves in the yard, took them to the park, played games, made cookies, the kids are still talking about how much fun they had! But back to the game, we arrived a little early so that we could enjoy the gourmet pre-game meal, which was awesome! We took our seats on the second row at the thirty yard line, we were so close you could hear the hits! Then in the third quarter we were able to go down on the field!! We were standing right next to the players, it was so cool.(can you tell I don't get out much?) BYU ended up winning by a lot, Colorado wasn't much of a challenge for them, but Jason and I had an amazing time.(thank you Trena!) I might just turn into a football fan after all!

Happy Halloween

I love Halloween! I love to make the kids costumes, the candy, the parties, trick or treating, everything! I think I got that from my dad. I don't go as crazy as he did, life size electric chairs and coffins in the living room, but I think I do pretty well. The kids loved their costumes this year, the boys were all pirates (I think Bennett is passing his love of pirates down to Evan and Will!) and the girls were mermaids. Seriously, how cute is Lillia! We went with the sea theme this year. We even won the costume contest for the "best dressed family" at the ward Halloween party! I love Halloween!

Snow day!

This was the first week in October if you can believe that! We had about seven inches of snow that day. There were down trees and powerlines all over town. The kids had a blast, we just had to make sure they didn't stand under any trees. Every few minutes we would hear another branch fall. Luckily no serious damage was done, and we really did have alot of fun! Two days later it was in the 70's and everything had melted.

Evan's surgery

Evan had to have surgery, well more of a procedure than surgery. He was such a trooper, not to many boys would be smiling knowing that the doctor was going to make a larger opening on their sensitive area! To be honest, once they gave him some "happy juice" he didn't care about much! Once he woke up, you never would have known that he had anything done, he was running around like a normal kid, wondering why everyone was giving him gifts. That is until he had to pee, I have never heard such screams coming from the bathroom!

family day

The boys, what a crew!

twins?

I had to laugh at this picture, I always knew that me and Isabel looked alike, but wow!

Mesa Falls

We took a family day to mesa falls, we do it every fall to see the leaves change. It makes for a great picture backdrop, so we always take quite a few. I was shocked to see the difference from last years pictures. They are growing up way to fast!

The kids

We took these at my parents home in Bozeman over the summer, I know that I am bias, but I think that I have the most beautiful kids ever! I am not sure what the deal was with Bennett, but we could not get him to smile all day. He is at that stage were he is too cool for everything!

What a beautiful family

We tried so hard to get everyone to hold still, look in the same direction, and smile all at the same time. Trying to take a good picture with five kids, what a joke. This was the best one of about fifty!