Merry Christmas from the Cartier's!

Snowflake has arrived!

The girls (and mommy) were anticipating the day that Snowflake would arrive from the North Pole to visit us and watch over us to make sure we are good before Christmas!  Once again, she brought us breakfast!  That is so nice of Snowflake!  She also brought fun new shirts this year!

Sophie was up early and was so excited to see everything!  Especially the little train as it drove around the tracks! 

Anne, on the other hand, was tired but she played along!  Mommy woke her up so Sophie didn't have to wait any longer!

The girls in their new shirts...they love them!  Sophie's says Daddy's Lil Elf.

Decorating the Tree

We finally got around to decorating the tree!  The girls thought it was just great!  Anne has started showing a real interest in taking photos.  This is one that she took.  I love the different perspectives that she takes her pictures with. 

Dan loves to turn off all the lights and take a photo with the tree lit up!  It looks so cozy! 

I accidentally cut off Dan's head but I was mostly going for a photo of the girls anyway.  They were so happy to finally have ornaments on the tree because just as Anne said "It just isn't Christmas without ornaments!"

Thanksgiving

The girls and I headed up to Nana and Papa's for Thanksgiving with the cousins!  We went up the day before so when the kids all got up the next morning, we started in on the fun!  We made a fruity turkey!  They had so much fun! 

Bracken couldn't wait to eat it up! 

This is Papa's idea of "staying out of the kitchen"...he premade the mashed potatoes and gravy! 

I love this picture of Bracken.  He looks so much like his dad! 

Aunt La took the kids out to play and they had a blast playing catch!  Here is one with the ball in action.  Such a great aunt! 

Sophie preferred just swinging on the porch. 

One of my favorite babysitters growing up was Jodi Maxfield!  She is now married and lives across the street (and down just a little) and she also just so happens to have small horses that pull carts!  The kids were so excited to go on rides!  The girls loved doing this on PEI in the summer so they were set! 

Little Sophie did a good job staying on the seat! 

This girl LOVES her Papa!  She was in heaven hanging out with him! 

And Anne loves horses so she was also in heaven! 

Nana and Papa took a turn!  I wish I could remember what mom was telling dad! 

Mom said she likes pictures with the people driving away...so I took one of them!  

When it was time for dinner, we all got a leaf to write what we are thankful for... 

and then put them on our thankful tree!  It was fun to read all of them and we weren't put on the spot at dinner time! 

The kids coloring while we waited for the final dinner prep.  I love Bryce's face in this picture!  What a fun kid! 

No, this wasn't our dinner but he sure is a turkey!!!

Putting up the Christmas Tree

Since Dan had to work on Thanksgiving, we decided that we'd celebrate Thanksgiving with him on the Sunday before.  That meant the day after Thanksgiving at our house was on Monday and that is when we put up the tree.  We decorated it after the real Thanksgiving...more of that later!  So, a little tradition we have started is that the girls get Christmas pajamas to wear all December long the night we put up the tree.  They were very excited!!! 

Even though Dan doesn't look very happy in this photo, he really is.  It only took him a few minutes to put it together!  We are loving our new tree that we bought last year! 

The girls then put their ornaments on the tree.  This year's ornaments were purchased on our trip to PEI.  Sophie has an Anne hat with red braids... 

And Anne has an Anne doll.   

This is my favorite!  I love that these two girls are such great friends! 

The girls love posing for photos! 

Pretending to sleep under the tree!  Silly girls!

Halloween

While on our trip visiting Nana and Papa, Nana took the girls to pick out pumpkins!  They were so excited!  So, when we got home, I let the girls each paint their own pumpkin.

Mommy was rethinking this choice after I saw this!  Good thing it is washable! 

Mommy also carved one of the pumpkins.  I let the girls each take a turn pulling out the "guts" and Anne thought it was pretty weird.  Sophie wouldn't even try it! 

Here is a photo of our finished work! 

Trick or treating in our neighborhood is so much fun...especially when we go with friends! Anne dressed up as one of her favorite princesses - Cinderella!  And Sophie went as Minnie Mouse!  Such cute little girls.  And, of course, the Park boys went as Star Wars characters.

The girls with their loot! 

Our ward also had a trunk or treat.  So much fun!  This year that did that before the dinner so we could actually SEE...such a brilliant idea! =)

Staycation in Uintah County

After a very crazy summer, mommy needed a little getaway.  So, we all headed to Nana and Papa's to drop off the girls and then mommy and daddy went on a little retreat in Vernal.  We stayed in a honeymoon suite.  It was fun!  Here is Dan watching a game with the fireplace going. 

The next day we went to do an endowment session in the Vernal temple.  It was so nice. 

After lunch, we were headed to Walmart to pick up a pie before heading back to Whiterocks and saw this sign.  We just had to turn around and take a picture.  Only in Utah! 

Nana and mommy took the girls to get their own pumpkins and then decided to take some fun photos with the girls.  Mommy has learned to get the girls to smile in a more natural way, I first need to get them to make some faces. 

 

These turned out pretty good, don't you think?

Sophie's own little pumpkin face!  She was loving this popsicle! 

I just had to take this photo of Sophie getting fish feed out of this bucket with the warning picture on the side saying to not have kids lean in the bucket like this.  Haha! 

The girls had so much fun feeding the fish! 

Anne decided to be a little photographer and this is one that she took of us with Papa's birds!

Anne holding a pigeon.  She loved the colors. 

The Cartier girls swinging! 

Sophie was having so much fun! 

Anne and Nana! 

Antonia loves Bucca! 

Time for some more fun!  Papa decided to rake up the leaves for the girls to play in. 

Weee! 

Sophie is such a great little helper! 

Running into the leaves!  Anne is on her way! 

Hmm...who do you think was having the most fun here? 

Some more cute photos of the girls in the leaves 

Anne was enjoying being buried in the leaves. 

These two are great buddies!  Sophie loves her Papa.  Sophie's birthday is the day before Papa's and so we had yummy pie and ice cream and sang happy birthday.  Then we stayed up late playing a fun game!

 

Thank you Nana and Papa for a great time!  We had a blast! And mommy is feeling much better after her break!  Big thank you from me!