Big huge long update

Well, it's that time of year again. That's right, the semi-annual downloading of pictures from my camera! It's been so long since I've blogged, I'll try to catch up on everything that's happened since we got home from Taiwan...First is Ashton's 3rd birthday, which we celebrated at my sister's house in Idaho.

Next is Evan's first day of school (Yes, I'm one of those camera-happy moms!)

Now, THIS is how you celebrate Fall!!

One of my favorite thigs about Fall is canning...There's something really satisfying about all those jars of yummy goodness lined up neatly on the shelves!

And of course, it wouldn't be Fall without Nate bringing home some dead things. Ashton's face says it all. Sorry about the graphic nature of this picture! (turn away, kids!)

This is my favorite mountain. I took this picture from our street. Ever since we got home, I can't stop staring at the beautiful mountains that are everywhere in Utah!

Nate put a chicken coop in our backyard with 5 chickens, one of which died by the hands (well, teeth, I guess) of the neighbor's dog. Ashton loves to tell the story.

My dad passed away in October. My aunt took some pictures at the graveside service.

This is Jared, my sister's brother in law, and my dad's good friend. He came into the funeral home and branded my dad's casket with a homemade brand that he and Nate and Joel and Mathew stayed up all night making. (my dad is a cowboy from Texas, and he always put his brand on everything!) It set off all the fire alarms in the funeral home, and the fire truck was halfway there by the time they got the news that it was a false alarm. I know my dad had a good laugh!

And this brings us to HALLOWEEN!!

Evan wanted to be Harry Potter again, and Ashton wanted to be a 'ticken' (he loves having "tickens" for pets) This is our neighbor, who dressed up and stood really still in his driveway, so I thought he was one of those statues that people put by thier doors...and just as I was walking by thinking "where did they plug it in?" he jumped at me and scared the life out of me. This, of course, was the hilight of my kids' night.

And of course we had our traditional Halloween meal eaten out of pumpkins...

Sometime in November we ran a 5k together. Nate pushed Ashton in the jogging stroller, and I ran with Evan so that people would think I was being slow on purpose to stay with my kid. But the truth is that he could have left me in his dust. He kept saying "Come on, Mom, let's go faster!" and "Can't I go run with dad?" Then, when we got sort of close to the finish line, he said (with a little disgust in his voice) "I bet dad's finished already." I would like to point out for what it's worth, that I had been used to running at sea level, and the altitude here is really hard to get used to!!

Which brings us to CHRISTMAS!!

The boys got to put up a tree in thier room and decorate it how they wanted, and I got to do my tree in the living room!

We had fun decorating a gingerbread house...

But what do you do with all that extra frosting? Mmmm, yummy...too good to waste, right? It started with this...

Then this...

And ended up with this!

Next we have ice fishing in January

Chinese New Year is way more fun in Taiwan, but we did try!

Well, that's all the update we have for now! Whew!

Here's Evan and Ashton blowing you a soapy kiss!