Snow Day

I love Snow!!! I was so excited to wake up to snow and then it just kept snowing. Tate also loves the snow, he begged me the second he woke up to go outside and play in it.
Haylie was terrified of the snow. Apparently she doesn't share me and Tate's love for the cold stuff. She didn't want to even put her foot in it.

We built this beauty of a snowman. Tate thought it was so cool. I love that he's still young enough, that simple things like building a snowman makes me the coolest mom in the world.

Of course, Tate being all boy decided that right after we finished frosty that we should knock him down so we could body slam him.

Haylie had the most fun when I shoveled all the snow off the tramp so she could jump without any possibility of the yucky white cold stuff touching her.

Halloween

I love Halloween! Haylie was so funny, after the first couple of houses (which were the grandparent houses) she figured out that all you have to do is knock on people's doors and smile and they give you candy. She thought that was about the coolest thing ever. I also happen to think that my kids were stinkin adorable in their costumes!

Haylie the Ladybug

Tate the Bat

Pumpkin Carving

We carved pumpkins as part of family night on Monday. Tate wanted a nice pumpkin this year. Kyli told us last time we talked to her that she wanted a scary pumpkin with fangs so in her honor Kalun carved one for her. And of course Haylie's had a bow carved in hers to make it a girl pumpkin.

Itty Bitty Football

We signed Tate up for football. It is for ages 3-5. It is so funny, hardly anyone gets what is going on. It has been good for Tate because he is very shy and it has helped him come out of box a little in public places.



This is Kalun trying to teach Tate how to do a football pose.

Cornbelly's

Kbull 93 was having 93 cent night at cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point. That's a steal considering it is usually $10.50/person. (It is still going on today if anyone's interested you go to kbull's website and print off a coupon) It was fun except I had to go to work so we didn't get to stay long, maybe we'll go back today.

Elder Harper Comes Home!

My youngest brother returned home from his mission in Hondurus Thursday night. I was so excited to have him home. It was nice to have him finally meet Haylie for the first time. He and Tate already started having wrestling matches.

Merrill Family Time

Kalun's brother Jason came out here to visit from North Carolina. He brought his adorable daughter Chase who most of us haven't gotten to meet yet because they live so far away. Chase is 2 months younger than Haylie. It was so fun to watch the two of them together. We did a ton of activities while they were here and were able to get almost all of the family together which rarely happens because of distance. Here are a few pics from our adventures.....

Aren't I pretty?

I don't know how I ended up with such a girly girl, I have always been more the tomboy type. Haylie is very girly. She's always putting on pretty shoes and playing with her hair (the tiny amount that she has :)) and carrying a purse. So, we bought her some play purses, however, those are not good enough she knows they are fakes. She has to have one of my purses. Then the other day she apparently found some very old lipstick (I don't think I've worn lipstick for a least a year, probably longer) and decided to put it on. It is always funny to watch her be a little lady.


Tate didn't want to be outdone. He gets jealous when I take Haylie's picture and not his so he hurried to grab some purses and told me to take his picture too.

A moment to brag...

In my life I'm often very proud and excited about things my kids and husband are doing and accomplishing, however sometimes I find it hard to be excited about things I accomplish. I mean really, it's hard to brag about changing 10 diapers a day and doing laundry. It's hard as a mom for me to take time for activities that are just for me and that I enjoy. Anyway, this last month I did two things that I am really proud of, so I thought I'd take a moment to brag about two things I did I'm proud of.
The first one was that I ran a 5k. Even though I've been working out a lot, I haven't ran on a treadmill or other since high school. So, my goal was to at least jog half of it. However, I jogged the whole way without walking and finished with a fairly descent time for my first 5k. The second thing was that I actually used my sewing skills I haven't used since like jr. high. A girl in our ward works for Adoption Exchange, which is a place that places foster kids for permanent adoption. They had just placed a family of 8 children with the same couple which is remarkable. But, of course the financial burden of taking on 8 kids was stressful for the young couple so she decided to make quilts for them. The catch was that we ended up making 8 quilts in 24 hours, tieing and binding them and everyting. For anyone who knows anything about quilting, that is crazy. But we did it, and they turned out so cute. A super nice lady donated all the fabric. And then we worked like crazy. I can't believe we got them all done. It was a super gratifying experience. Well, I'm done bragging about myself, but here is a picture of all the quilts wrapped and ready to be delivered to the family.

Uncle Kalun

All of our nieces and nephews have always loved Kalun. He is the fun uncle that will wrestle with them, play with them, and teach them things their parents don't want them to know, but they love. Anyway, we babysat our nieces the other day and as usual Kalun was their source of entertainment....