Snow in Dixie!

I don't think we'll ever forget the "big" Dixie snow of 2013. For St. George this was a lot of snow! The kids were in Heaven! We woke up the the morning of December 4th to this...

The kids have never gotten ready for school so fast! 

They could not wait to get out and play in it!  I felt bad it was a school day.

My cute girl in her beloved Hello Kitty hat.

Beautiful Snow! 

This boy had so much fun!  Thankfully I had Madi's old Hello Kitty boots still hanging around the garage, they worked perfect for him.  After the kids left to school we came in for a bit and soon he was ready to go back out, I let him out in the backyard and he was so funny, in these pictures he kept saying "look Mom, I found grass!"  He was just amazed at all that snow and looking under to find the grass.  Notice he is wearing his Spider Man pajamas.



Saturday December 7th, We got MORE snow!  It was really coming down all day I could not believe it!  Here are a few shots of the kids early in the day when it first started coming down...

Kaden & Pierce 

That evening we went to Annie's baptism, which was a great night that I didn't take any pictures of!  Annie was so sweet and beautiful for her baptism, I just love that girl and I am so thankful Madi has her for a friend.  When we left to the baptism the roads were pretty covered in snow, I really couldn't believe it was St. George!  After the baptism we came out and it was just a beautiful blanket of perfect, clean white  snow all over!  It really was so beautiful!  What a special day for Annie's baptism!  We went to the Woodbury's house for dinner and we parked on the side of the road and I could't believe how much snow I was getting out into!  While we were at the Woodbury's our kind and generous neighbor, Jon Olsen, came over on his 4 wheeler and plowed our driveway.  I was very grateful because I don't think our van would have made it our of our driveway the next morning if he hadn't.  But I was a little disappointed I didn't get a picture before the driveway and walk were plowed.  Such a novelty for St. George.  Here is our house that night.  

SO much snow for St. George!  I always say that I don't miss the snow of Northern Utah, and most of the time I don't.  I don't miss driving in it, I don't' miss being cold to the bone, and I don't miss the snow when it's dirty and ugly and stays in Huntsville until May!  But I do miss it for Christmas.  In my perfect world it would snow for a week for Christmas and then be gone.  I very nearly got my wish this year, I really was loving it so much, the only thing that would have made it better would have been it happening two weeks later.  But we can't have everything we want.

The next morning I was SHOCKED to find out that church was cancelled for our whole stake and most of the stakes in St. George.  I couldn't help but think it was silly, I think school only got cancelled twice in my life in Huntsville and it was when it had snowed several feet in a day and people couldn't even get out of their driveways.  But understudying that the city and the people down here aren't prepared for the snow, I just laughter and enjoyed it.  The kids had a GREAT day!  We enjoyed having a fun day at home as family and of course playing out in the snow.  The best part was having Dad play with them and build a snowman with them.

An Indian, Pumpkins, Spiderman & Being Thankful

In other words: November Highlights!  Ug, I can't believe I am reduced to one post to wrap up the whole month and posting it 3 months late!  Really wish I could slow time down!  Anyway, here is a look at some of our memorable moments from November...

 Pierce's 5th Grade did a Thanksgiving feast and they were each assigned to a family and had to wear a costume and bring something for the meal.  He was pretty happy to be an Indian and I was very happy for an easy paper bag costume that satisfied him.

 While we were snapping a picture of the Indian, we had to get one of Madi out in front of our fall leaves.  We don't get a lot of them, but these colors were so beautiful I was really loving them!  I only wish they would last longer. 

 My girl still loves her Hello Kitty hat.  She wore it to school every day for about 6 weeks.

Oh and we couldn't forget Madi's Halloween pumpkins.  She had really enjoyed making these for a Halloween decoration, she was disappointed I said we couldn't keep them so I promised her we'd take a picture before we took them down.  She is so funny, she loves to "craft" things and does not want anyone's help, just loves to do what she thinks of with what she's got.  I surely enjoyed these little pumpkins smiling at me everyday. 

This boy is growing up way too fast and is so funny, he really keeps us laughing!  I wanted to buy him a new pair of warm pajamas when the weather was getting colder, I was at Costco, with him in the cart, looking at my favorite Carter's footie pajamas and I asked him if he liked the snowman ones.  He said to me, "I don't want snowmans!  I want Pider-mans!"  And pointed directly across from the table of Carters things I was looking at to the Super Hero pajamas he had spotted!  What?  I could not believe he was telling me what he wanted to wear already!  I bought him the pajamas and he very nearly did not take them off for over a month.  He wanted to wear them day and night.  I would try to convince him to get dressed in the morning so we could keep Spiderman clean for night night, but he wouldn't have it.  He would wear them for about 3 days straight and then I would finally convince him to let me wash them.  He would be completely aware of when they were in the washer and dryer and one day he even went and pulled them out of the dryer and already had the pants back on before I even saw him.  He would always insist on putting the pants on by himself and then let me help him with the top and always say "fix the tag", to make sure I tucked the tag down.  He was pretty much either in these pajamas or "maked" every day for weeks.  He loves to be "maked", more on that later.  I am so completely in love with the fun, adorable stage that he is in.  He is stubborn as can be, but makes me laugh everyday, I really wish I could keep him 2 for a long, long time. 

Thanksgiving 

Thanksgiving was great this year!  It was our big Robison year and the kids were so excited to see all their cousins, every one was here but Steve and Katie (Uncle Steve is in Dental School in Chicago).  It has become tradition to have dinner at our church since we are such a big crowd, and it works out great!  I made my traditional yummy rolls (Thanks to Aunt Val for sharing her recipe with me, it's our family favorite now) and my to-die-for Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake.  Just thinking about it now makes me excited for next Thanksgiving.  Ryan was on potato duty this year and well,  it was a fantastic feast for sure!  I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few favorites...

This boy loved his pie!  And I just love this face!

Madi was excited to wear her "Thanksgiving sweater" (she wore this on Thanksgiving before and since then it has been her Thanksgiving sweater) and I was glad she could still wear it!  She was also very excited to wear her Turkey hat that she had made at school.  She was so proud of it and wore it all night. 

Cute Kelton made these mustaches on straws fore everyone to use, too cute!

Pretty good for being forced by mom to sit together for a picture!

The rest of the weekend was busy and fun filled with cousins!  I had photo shoots on Friday and Saturday (this was my busiest week ever with a shoot on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday!  Wow, it was busy but awesome!) and the kids were lucky to go with Grandma and cousins to see the movie Frozen.  We all met at the temple Friday night to see the Christmas lights and then had leftovers for dinner at Crystal's.  Love Thanksgiving leftovers, love the Temple, love our family. 

Here's the crew!  Well most of us anyway.

Gracie, Madi and Lily.  Cute cousins.

Great month, great Holiday, great family!  I am so grateful for all that we are so blessed to enjoy and to be a part of such a strong and loving family.  I married good. 

Halloween 2013

Halloween was especially fun at our house this year, thanks to a certain 2 year old.  Jens was so funny, he was totally into Halloween and knew exactly what was going on.  He had been watching a Little Einsteins Halloween episode and he was into it!  First up, pumpkin carving...

There was no hesitation here! He loved helping Dad carve his pumpkin! You can see his lovely artwork that he enjoyed before the carving began.  He may have had some help from Sissy.

The big night!  Here's Pierce, the Ninja!

Madi was a lovely Dorthy this year, and she was beautiful!  She had wanted me to buy her these red sparkly shoes early in the year and I told her I would buy them only if she would wear them for Halloween and be Dorthy.  She liked that idea and that is how Ryan and I became the Scarecrow and Elfeba.  We had tried going for the whole matching family thing again this year, but Pierce was not going for that.  We were lucky to have our wonderful neighbors, the Hancocks, bring their cute puppy, Jersey (who we all adore!) over for some pictures with Madi.  Jersey is a perfect little Toto!

Jens was so funny about his costumes this year.  He was very excited when I first got out Madi's old Rocket costume for him, he loved it!  But after wearing it for about 2 minutes he was done, I think he didn't like being slowed down.  I had just enough time to snap one picture and he took it off.  I told him he could not go Trick or Treating with out a costume, so he decided on the puppy.  Madi was happy about that since Jersey couldn't go Trick or Treating with her, now she still had a Toto! 

Madi & Annie 

After a fun night of Trick or Treating we come home and enjoyed our traditional Halloween sugar cookies.  Here's Pierce with his goods and his angry cookie.

And here's Miss Madi, too busy organizing her candy to look at Mom, and very pleased with her happy face pumpkin cookie.

A very happy Halloween! 

Couples Halloween Party 2013

Ryan and I hosted our 6th Annual Couples Halloween Costume Party, and it did not disappoint!  I say this every year, but we have the funnest friends!  I had not laughed so hard for a long time, I definitely needed it! The costumes just keep getting better, here they are...

 Meyers - from "Breaking Bad" - 1st Place Best Couple Costume!   Some were also sure that Shane needed an award for the best "Look Alike", I haven't seen Laura's weird shows, so I don't know, but apparently Shane looks just like the guy!

Archibalds - very good looking Flinstones

Monsons - Very outstanding Frankenstein and His Bride - 1st Place Scariest, 2nd Place Best Couple Costume!

 Hancocks  - Medusa and her statue - First Place Tie Most Creative! 

 No Explanation Needed, at least if you live near Colorado City, Angie joined as a Jr. wife  with Schofields & Woodburys - 1st Place FUNNIEST!

 Binghams - Flo and that other guy

The Esplins -Andrea outdid herself again, Dia de la Muerta - 1st Place Most Outstanding!  First Place Tie Most Creative!  2nd Place Scariest!

 Bergesons - The Nerds

 Poultons - they really enjoyed their cruise this year, apparently they met Dr. Sam and he had quite an impact on them

 Ryan & Me, scary I know, The Scarcrow and Elfeba

 Pratts - The Black Widow and the Exterminator - 2nd Place Most Creative!

 All the girls, well mostly, sorta

 These guys had us laughing all night long!  Brother Dustin seemed a little to comfortable with his roll!

This year for our games we did the guys vs. girls and each couple faced each other in their game.

 April schooled Jon in getting the Oreo from forehead to mouth, and one of Dustin's wives tried to keep up with him stuffing marshmallows in their mouths.

Terra and Curtis were neck and neck keeping balloons in the air with no hands, and Ryan and Chels were heating things up with their Vaseline and cotton ball routine!  I hate to admit that they guys beat us by one point, but we had some great laughs and that was what made my night.

 I had to include this shot because Greg Poulton just makes me laugh.

And this was probably the gem of the evening!  Long night Dustin? 

Great Friends, Great Costumes, Great Food, Great Laughs, Great Night!