Gingerbread Houses

 We have the greatest times with the Petersons!!  Here are some pictures of the gingerbread adventures we had with them:

Not sure if I'd recommend the little itty-bitty gingerbread houses that we got this year.  I thought it would be really cool for each person in our family to decorate their own house, but - those little guys were triiiiiiiiicky to put together!  After some intense puzzling :) among the grown ups - the kids got to start the decorating:

... er ... make that TASTING and decorating!

 

Aaron and Ellie both pose in true 8-year-old form.  ;)  Lookin' pretty fancy and yummy, yeah?

Marissa's mini house fell apart - so we bagged that one - and she and I worked on this cute apartment building.  Not too shabby!  Ty artfully constructed the tee-pee.

 

Here are the final results.  What a fabulous night!  Thanks good buddies!  (Krystal was already crying because it was time to go ... it is so hard being the youngest.  :) )

Marissa ... in Excellence

Marissa just participated in Young Women in Excellence in our ward.  What a fabulous night!  They put together a Super Hero Value Theme, and Tyler and I quite enjoyed it!  I'm kicking myself for not bringing my camera.  But - we got some pictures back at home.

The Young Women put together a Super Value skit - and Marissa was "Choice and Accountability" - hence the orange.

Each girl also made a unique shield to show off a value project or goals they passed off this year.  Marissa chose the value project she accomplished under "Divine Nature" - the 10+ hour cooking project to show off.  Isn't that shield cute?

The girls were each given a CTR ring in whatever "language" they chose.  Marissa chose Russian because it "reminds her of Kent and Leisy" (her words!).  So - I thought that was really sweet.  The girls also got to keep several silly bandz that were decorating the tables - they were awesome - they had shapes of the SLC temple, the words PRAY and FAITH and CTR ... stuff like that.  SO CUTE!

 Anyway - it was a fun night, and I especially enjoyed Marissa's Super-esque poses in the skit.  :)

And, on to more excellence -- Marissa had another hair change! She decided that winter would be a good time to go back to her own dark color.  We had forgotten how dark her hair was!  The rust highlights are fun too, eh? 

This chic, short look on her is really growing on me.  It really looks good on her.

And then - just for fun ... Marissa and I saw these two awesome bell ringers at Wal-Mart!  We both had a good laugh, got a picture, and donated another dollar (haha - we go to Wally World way too much, and those donated dollars add up!) 

EXCELLENT!!

WOLF

So - Tyler was released from Cub Scouts - and is no longer the Cub Master for this awesome Pack of cub scouts.  This Paper Airplane Derby ended up being his last official pack meeting ... and, it just so happens, that Aaron earned his Wolf Badge this pack meeting!  Woot!  Woot!

Here is the gang folding their paper airplanes to compete:

Here is Aaron competing in the Accuracy Test and Obstacle Test.  He did fantastic! 

 

Aaron was able to earn his Wolf the same pack meeting as his good friend, Isaac.  Way-ta-go, boys!  He also earned his gold arrow and 3 silver arrows.  He's still earning more silver arrows until he becomes a Bear!  Aaron also completed all of the requirements for the "Year of Celebration" patch AND ribbons.  That was something you could ONLY do this year.  So proud of this boy! 

 
Forward ... Pressing Forward!

The Rest of November

Krystal and Aaron have very fun teachers at school.  They both had rockin' Thanksgiving parties:

Pretty cute lil' Indian girl, if ya ask me!

Pinecone turkeys:

I made these silly "snoods" to play the game Sneak the Snood (like the "Spoons" game).  The game was a hit with Aaron's class!  I had fun too!

It tuckered Miss Krystal right out!

Pre-Winter

Mom crocheted some darling slippers for the kids to keep warm:

The kids boned up on their puzzle skills:

And they all got as much play time outside as possible!!  There's just something magical about all the neighbors gathering at one house to hang out and play spontaneously.  I love it so much!

*sigh*  Now it's cold and dreary and gray.  I wouldn't even mind some white, soft snow coating the ground to bring some magic.  :)  

Ode to the Turkey

A little Thanksgiving Melody by the Kryssie-roo:

Turkey and Aaaaaaallllllll the Trimmin's

Ty and I coordinated (not hosted - just organized) the Jenson Family Thanksgiving dinner this year - and, of course, we managed to have enough food for about 100 people! hahahaha. Oh man - we had a yummy dinner ... with lots of left overs. I have to admit that it was REALLY fun working all together to make this feast happen.  We were all in the kitchen laughing and talking and preparing food and setting up and working hard ... maybe I'm crazy - but, THAT was just as great as the lounging in my book.

Tyler got a personalized and professional tutorial on the proper way to carve a turkey, and the kids got their own crazy kid table.  :)

 

Cute girlies ... and Ty and his amazing dad.

 

Oh, how we love this gang!!

After we were full to the brim - we headed over to my parental's place for more munchin' and lotsa gamin'! M won mostly, but I do believe Tyler kicked on ONE round.  Nice job hubster!

The kiddos got some excellent coloring in ....

... and we had a rambunctious round of Bingo!  I love how Mom runs into her room to bring out a "surprise" when someone gets Bingo - and we all cheer loud.  It's just my favorite!  :)

A little movie watchin' - and then we had to get a few hours sleep for Black Friday adventuring!

... which I forgot to get pictures of.  One of the hardest parts of Black Friday is all the putting away, wrapping, and organizing it involves afterward ... here's a portion of what I have to take care of when I finally finish all the kitchen mess I made from cooking and preparing and leaving in a hurry.  ;)

 

It's always worth it for these two cuties - I sure enjoy spending my Black Friday with my Missy Dee, Anaka - and my awesome Mom and sisters.

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and shopping day :)!  I DID finally get my Halloween decorations down ... 

Dancin' With the Dymocks :)

Oh - how lucky we are to be surrounded by such fabulous friends in this neighborhood!

For some reason, every time we get together with these guys - the kiddos end up piling up with different dress ups - and putting together some kind of show.  HA!  They have so much fun together!

This night they entertained us grown-ups with multiple dances ...

... which included much booty shakin'! (and all of their non-stop smiling ... Krystal too, of course!)

 I have no idea how they are posing here .... but, they were picturing something amazing, I'm sure.  :)  Marissa sports the sunglasses and fancy collar(?); Aaron is either kneeing Thomas in the behind - or creating some new groovin' move;  Abbee is doing a new take on the robot; and the 3 littles are taking cute to a whole new level!  LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!

I'm not sure if it looks like they're having enough fun or not! 

Dancin' the night away!

A "Hail" of a Halloween

Halloween has come and gone ... big time, I know.  :)  But - here are our pictures of Halloween night.

Right as the kids were ready to head out to trick or treat, a hail storm came - huge ... with big thunder claps and everything.

Brave .... brave ... brave!

So - the kids kept as warm as possible, and we just waited it out!

Before ya knew it - we saw a huuuuuuge double rainbow in the sky ... and little by little, the weather cleared up!  How's that for a "Spring-y" looking Halloween?  haha.

 

The rainbow seemed to go across the whole valley!

And the kids ended up getting tons of trick-or-treating accomplished.  :)  Look at these scary dudes we came across.  They were cool. 

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!