Getting Ready for Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving this year because we finally have a house big enough to have our family over. Uncle Brent, Aunt Emily, and all their kids came. We ate lots of yummy food and decorated Gingerbread houses. Mommy made real gingerbread houses with red and green windows and the kids had a lot of fun sticking as much candy to their houses as they could hold.

James is 1 year old!

Our baby is 1 year old. He is such a happy, playful troublemaker. He loves his brothers and hates feeling left out when mommy gates him into the living room. He can hear the big boys playing down stairs and it doesn't seem fair.














We made him an apple cake with cinnamon buttercream. He knew exactly what to do and was chowing down before we finished singing "happy birthday"

James needed a little help opening his presents but his big brothers were happy to help.

Happy Halloween

After all the Halloween parties and trick or treating we did this year, there was enough candy at our house to rot the teeth of a small army. The boys enjoyed it all and had as much fun handing out candy as they did stuffing their mouth with the candy they had collected. Evan was a Lego minifigure again, Bennet was a Train, and James had his turn with the baby shark costume.

Family Picture

We added a new family member, so we needed a new family picture. This time we headed out to Manassas Battlefield, where a few major Civil War battles were fought. We wanted something that said "Virginia" and nothing says Virginia like a Civil War battlefield.

We think we have some really cute boys!

Go Cougars!

This year we were lucky enough to have BYU come play a game at FedExfield in Maryland. That is only a quick metro trip from our house. We couldn't pass up the chance to go cheer our cougars on. Grandma and Grandpa Saunders as well as Uncle Alec and Aunt Tania flew out to go to the game with us. Unlike last time we went to a BYU game in Virginia, the weather was perfect. It was a very exciting game, but sadly we lost to West Virginia 32-35.

Philadelphia Temple Open House

We don't live that far from Philadelphia, so we were so excited when our friends said they had extra tickets to the open house and invited us to go with them. It is such a beautiful building and I was impressed with the how well they incorporated the colonial architecture that Philadelphia is famous for into the exterior and interior of the temple. Though we have a pack of rowdy boys, they were very reverent throughout the whole tour. Even Bennet, as little as he is, seemed to understand how important it was.