Oh Christmas Tree!

Tonight we went to the Castle Rock Outlets and saw the HUGE Christmas tree, and then we came home and decorated our own. We had Christmas music and football in the background because it was a pretty important game I guess. The kids had tons of fun; after we had put on all the ornaments, they kept going in their room and finding toys and things to put on. I kept looking over and would see blankets and sippy cups on the tree and had to keep telling them to stop putting stuff on. Anyway, it made me really excited for Christmas and the trip to Utah. It does seem really weird to not have any snow and pretty good weather. Utah will give us a white Christmas I bet.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we went over to Sam and Becky Knowles house and some of Sam and Becky's family were there also. I spent almost the whole day before Thanksgiving making desserts and preparing the turkey. I made three things this year that I always considered 'hard' or 'scary' so I was kind of proud of myself (not to brag or anything). I made a turkey, a dutch apple cheesecake, and a pumpkin roll dessert. For some reason, turkeys are just scary to cook; maybe because it is the focal point of Thanksgiving dinner and would be horrible if messed up, or maybe because it is the biggest piece of raw meat (a whole bird) that I have ever handled, who knows, it is just scary. I love to make cheesecakes but it always makes me nervous because the first time I tried to make a real cheesecake that you bake, I totally messed it up. The pumpkin roll was scary because although my mom had taught me how to roll up the cake, I had never done it before by myself. All turned out pretty well I thought. Anyway, we all had a great Thanksgiving dinner, followed by playing cards and hanging out.

Playing Cards

Jonah, a little tired after Thanksgiving dinner

Tyrel, look how big he is, I just laughed when I saw his big cheeks and chin. What a cutie!

Emily and Mikelle

Mikelle with the cute turkey hairbow that Grandma made...

...and wearing the cute Thanksgiving dress.

Pumpkin Roll, Turkey, Dutch Apple Cheesecake

Baby Shower

Last night Becky Knowles and I had a ward baby shower. It was pretty fun and we each got a lot of awesome things for our babies. However, I had to borrow a friend's car to drive to the baby shower since Matt needed our car, and I got pulled over for both of the tail lights being broken, and the plates were expired and not registered (I had no idea) and I also couldn't find the car insurance anywhere. So I also got my first ticket. The cop said he was being nice and only ticketed me for the lights being out which was $25. DANG, I really wanted to say I have never gotten a ticket before; at least I can say that it wasn't really my fault and that I still have never gotten a speeding ticket. Anyway, it was still a fun night out with the girls (and baby boys).

Jordan and Julia (young women in our ward) loving the boys. Notice how much BIGGER Tyrel is than Kai.

More love

Becky and I

Getting ready to leave

Tyrels' new things

Three Months!

Tyrel is already 3 months, I can't believe it. I kept telling people he was 2 months old, then I looked at the calendar and realized he would be exactly three months today; it went by so fast. He is an awesome cute baby. He is HUGE! At two months he weighed what Mikelle and Jonah weighed when they were six months and he is growing out of his clothes so fast (opposite problem with the other kids. Seemed like I had to wait and wait and wait for them to finally fit into clothes). He pretty much never cries up until about 4 nights ago. Now he is whiney at night and I wonder if he is teething. My mom said I had 4 teeth when I was 4 months old, so I guess it is not too early. He hates lifting his head up and having tummy time. We are still working on that. He is a big smiler now though. He smiles quite often and easily now and even does baby talk which is so cute!

Naptime

Jonah missed his nap and was very whiney so I picked him up and sat him on the desk and held him while I was on the computer, and within a couple minutes, this is what happened:

I guess I will take what I can get.

My attempt at fall pictures

I love taking pictures and just really wish that I had the talent. I can't think of good ideas or poses or just have that knack like a couple of my friends do. I had some weird sun/shadow issues going on, and then there is the huge factor of getting the kids to smile. I guess just having pictures of all the kids is nice. Anyway, here they are:

The worst shadowy picture

Ty would not smile, I got a kind of maybe smile

Jonah HATED laying on the grass

You take what you can get I guess.

Jonah gave me one perfect smile, that of course had to have the parking lot in the background instead of the trees I was going for.

They wanted to do sad faces too; apparently it's even more fun than doing happy faces.

Baby Ty

What we've been up to

What Kylee's been up to:

I haven't posted anything since I was like 24...yep, I had my birthday, I'm now 25!

(me at 25...so different)

I made an awesome birthday cake for myself that was layers of cake..brownie..cheesecake..cake, then all frosted with chocolate mousse frosting. I also took myself to the dollar store and went crazy (spent $8)!

(not my actual cake. this picture is from the recipe. mine was delicious but her picture is a lot prettier than mine. just so you know so I don't feel dishonest.)

My presents from Matt; an awesome dish set from Crate and Barrel and a box of Godiva chocolates.

What Matt's been up to:

He got Modern Warfare - which is an XBOX game for those of you who don't know which I wish was like me - he played for quite awhile after he waited in line for 3-4 hours at midnight to get it. His eyes turned a little red, he wouldn't even look at me to take the picture.

I actually got these pajamas for him for Christmas and I just couldn't wait to give them to him. I hate myself now for it, but he does like them!

Being a silly daddy

What the kids have been up to:

Tyrel is working on holding his head up

Jonah feel asleep in the baby swing

Mikelle playing with photobooth, yes she took this picture herself

Sitting on dad's feet

Tyrel

So I sound a little bit like a chipmunk on helium,

you still get to see the adorable little guy smile!

Chocolate Swirl Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake

This is a very good recipe that is very fallish. I got it from

Rookie-Cookie.. Very cool blog, anyway, here it is:

Chocolate Swirl Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake

6 oz. (1/2 bag) of semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup boiling water

Whipped cream, for serving

Set oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with non-stick spray and set aside. Melt chocolate chips in microwave.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Whisk and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and butter and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix until incorporated. Stir in molasses and pumpkin. Finally, stir in the boiling water.

Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Blob half the chocolate in a swirl pattern. Pour on the remaining batter and then top with the remaining chocolate. Run a butter knife through the batter to better swirl the chocolate, but not until fully incorporated.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.