I love the snow! It's been here for about a week now. In fact, last week there was 1 'late arrival day (Mon) and THREE snow days (Wed, Thurs, and Fri). I know, only in the Northwest!! So Clayton has quite the Christmas break. At least they've been able to go out and play in the SNOW!! And it's still coming!! Is there really a chance that we can actually have a white Christmas?? I know that's unheard-of for us, I won't get my hopes too high! But for now, we are sure enjoying it and it is so BEAUTIFUL!!!

This first snow is a little pueny. We started out excited and it just got better and better!! Clay, Ashton and Carlie went for a walk down the hill at the back of our house and Car had a hard time getting back up. Clay was trying to help her but it got a little muddy. When I got out there, she was crying but I had to snap a few!

Snowball fight at Grandma's house! My brother Shawn, and his kids were at my Mom's house so the kids had to have a snowball fight. Big kids too!! Ben had to bury some of his nephews in the snow. What are uncles for?

Ok, ever since I had Averie, I have an even more desire to Blog, but definitely a lot less time. When I do have any time to do whatever, I just want to sit and hold Averie because she is already growing so fast. She is 5 weeks old today. I won't think about it too much or I'll start to get a little sad. I just have to keep thinking of all the fun baby stages and look forward to them. She is sleeping through the night, in fact, she's never really not slept through the night. We've had only a few rough nights, but that's all I can really say. She really is such a good baby and she is so FUN!! And yes, that is a smile up there!!!

We're getting ready for Christmas in our house! We better, because it's sneaking up on pretty fast. For FHE Monday, we dressed the kids up in some costumes and talked about the Jesus' Birth.

Averie got all bundled up for the cold!!


Here's our adventure to find our tree. The kids helped pick out a lot of good ones! Unfortunately, our ceiling is a little too low and our living room didn't have quite enough space for most of the ones they picked. We finally settled on one that looks just perfect!!

Carlie was helping show Dad where to cut it down!! It's a good thing she's around!!

Averie's Blessing Day was the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We were so lucky to have Ben's parents, his brother's Russell and Luke and Russell's wife Jamie. They drove up and spent Thanksgiving weekend (and Dinner!) with us and we were able to bless Averie that Sunday. The day was so wonderful. Averie was awake and looking around at all the awesome men in the circle. Ben gave her a very special blessing. Thanks for all those who were able to share that time with us.

Our Baby Girl is here! She was a fun surprise!! Baby Averie came at 9:21 pm on Friday, November 14th!! Me and Ben got to the hospital at 8:00 pm, we pulled up in front of the 'Family Birth Center' and the car stayed there until after Averie was born and Ben could go back and move it!! It was very fast and intense, (no epidural, aahhh!!) but always, what an awesome experience!! She came into the world mellow, the nurse had us rub her back to get her to cry to clear her lungs, but she had no reason to. She just looked around at me and her Dad and was so sweet!! We decided she was just a mellow baby, which we were very happy about!!

This was right before we left for the hospital. Yes, those are tears in my eyes, it was already painful and the contractions suddenly came fast!!

One last family picture with Mom's belly!

We ate watermelons for dinner that night!! Ha! Ha! I did get asked that a few times!! This was fun for the kids! 5 days before the baby came!!

We took a family trip to the pumpkin patch this year. It was so fun that Ben could join us. The kids loved the hay maze, the hay tower, the animals, and the hayride out to the pumpkin patch!! And then the carving party!!!

Ashton is the one in the middle, giving his 'Road-Runners' cheer!!
This little boy was so excited about getting his first trophy!!