I guess I should be thankful it was my kids ... we had a friend (and you know who you are!!) who liked to take pictures of toes, ears, noses, etc. with unattended cameras ...
This view of the house is pretty standard for the last few weeks ... We get dumped on, we shovel, it melts some, we get dumped on ... I guess the state is trying to live up to it's name of "the Greatest Snow on Earth" ... (if you ask me, the greatest snow on earth is wherever I am NOT.)
Shelby & Spencer (and I think maybe Devin?) made the first snowman of the season ...
Darren's mom created a service group in her neighborhood called We Can. For the past couple of years, they have decorated and donated a tree to the Festival of Trees. All money made at the festival goes directly to the Primary Children's Hospital. Spencer, Shelby and I met Grandma Shirley, aunt Tese, and Jessi & Sierra at the festival. We got there around 1:00 then Spencer & I left around 5.
Spencer & Shelby in front of Grandma's tree ...
The tree also came with the quilted tree skirt, 3 large reindeers (that uncle Bry made), and another lap quilt ...
The tree sold (of course!) ... 
Besides all the trees, there are door decorations, quilts, centerpieces, and gingerbread houses that are auctioned and sold... plus a couple gift shops and sweets stands (cinnamon rolls, scones, fudge, chocolate, etc.)
Some of th houses were quite amazing!
We had to get a shot of the Scrabble tree for the Shirley boys ....
The military tree complete with coins was fun to see as well ...
And for Devin ... the ping pong tree ....
There were so many fun trees to look at! House divided trees (half Ute, half BYU), snowman trees, book trees, camping, halloween, countdown, pink, classic, fancy, simple ... it was amazing.... The stories and dedications for many of the trees were very touching ... definitely a worthy cause....
We had our own Mormon Mini Bar ...
Gotta have grandma's green bean casserol ...
Turkey, potatoes, cranberry relish, stuffing, rolls, yams with apples, and tons of desserts!
Spencer was a good sport and sat with the younger cousins at the shorter table ... afterall, someone had to help them cut their meat!! (he is the cool older cousin to the youngest 5, and they all love playing with him)
Since we didn't eat until 5ish, we had snacks during the afternoon, and the other cousins went to see Harry Potter.
Thanks to my big sister, Kimberly, and her tip of a great website/blog ... 
We were particularily thankful that little Lanie was doing better and able to make it ... She had had a high fever and ended up having a seizure at home and going to the hospital (having another seizure) and being put on antibiotics the night before ... So, we are very thankful for our health and our family!! It was a great day! (especially since uncle J was able to humble Devin and win the ping pong tornament!)
Like this before shot? You may notice the slight line through this front teeth -- where he broke them off doing the "ice skating" merit badge last year ... I still think he should have gotten the hockey merit badge as well!
The dentist was able to shape and fill his teeth in about 1 1/2 hrs. Beats a year of braces & the price of braces!!
Good thing Spencer is tall ... Did you know that Abraham Lincoln was our tallest ever presidents? 6' 4", without his hat!
Spencer gave 16 facts about the 16th president ...
This (below) is a photo that Talon took of me and Lanie ...
Spencer found Devin's cool outfit from when he was in the Fiesta parade in San Antonio ... So, risking being very UN-policitally correct, he was a mexican for the ward party & trick or treating!
The happy mexican with his Frightful mom ...
Halloween Day, we headed to Grandma Shirley's for a party ...
Even if it looked scary, it was still yummy to eat!
Lizard guts, mummy pizza, mummy dogs, and more!
must have a spider pizza as well ...
Shelby & her friend, Laurel, dressed as Mermaids for the ward party. Then they decided it was too wet to trick or treat in their pretty costumes (Laurel's mother made them!) -- so, they changed into their thriller Zombie costumes and roamed the neighborhood collecting candy.
Devin had been hunting with Grandpa & uncles, so he was in Utah county (safe BYU territory) for Trick or Treating. Everyone told us we would turn into "Utards" by moving to Utah ... So, Devin was a "UTE"- tard, for Halloween ..
How do you get a U of U grad off your porch?
Grandpa Shirley, fresh from his escape, stealing food ... Caught ya!
Must have a contest ... 
I'm not sure it's fair to have to compete against the pastry chef!
Although, Thing 1 & the Cat in the Hat's family had a strong showing as well ...
The final projects!
Had to get a shot of Bo-peep and her Sheep!
Hope you all had a great Halloween!
How cool is that? To have the temple in the background of flag football photos? I have to say, that is what I love most about where we live. We can see the temple from our back porch and kitchen windows! We are the only zip code in the world to have 2 temples!!
Spencer is a quick runner & great at snagging those flags!
So ... here are some of the work in progress ....
Humpty's nose is a little low ... oh, well ...
They already had the rock "wall" on the wall -- matches the cute built in play house (not pictured, except the very tip of the shingled roof top below)
After Black sheep had his wool, it was empty in the corner, so I added a tree ...
I got Humpty, Black Sheep, and the Hickory clock done on Saturday. I had started the tree & sketched Hey Diddle diddle before I left... When I came back Sunday afternoon (4:00ish), I had just started to work and the power went off for an hour. So, I got to hold Lanie while she napped. Then the power came back ... for a couple of minutes! ugh! I had wet paint and brushes! So, we got a large flashlight, and I finished the tree by flashlight ...
The dish & spoon, cat & fiddle, and little dog laughing were all done on Monday ... As was the grass throughout the room ....
Tori was so cute while I was working ... She would come in a say, "egg!" or "dog!" Then when the dog was dry and I was working on the cat and dishes, she would "hold" the dog's hands and dance with him ... too cute! I'm glad she loves it!!
I went back and added words to the nursery rhymes in vinyl ... didn't get pictures with the words ...
The clock was done on a wall that we could drill and then add the clock mechanism from behind ... so, it's a "real" clock ...
Ann-Marie also added a water spout made from pvc pipe next to the play house, complete with a plastic itsy bitsy spider climbing up ....
