we LOVE grass...

...the green kind, that grows in our backyard!  I have to say having grass to let the kids out to play on is heaven!  Seriously, no more tracking in dirt and dust.  I love it as much as the kiddos!  Archer is now to a point where he wants to be outside when Caden and Lexi are.  It's fun to see them have fun and play together!

Baseball Fun (nose drippin' and all!) 

Saturday mornings...lounging around in our pj's and playing in the backyard!   

the vacuum

Yes, Archer has a new love...the Vacuum!  It wasn't but two months ago that he was scared to death of the thing.  I would break it out and have to hurry as fast as I could knowing that he would scream the whole time I attempted to clean my carpet.  Just recently he had a change of heart.  He follows me around trying to attack/get on the thing.  From the second I take it out he gets this grin on his face.  You'd think I was taking ice cream out of the freezer (which he also gets a huge grin on his face from)!  It is actually quite hilarious and makes it awfully hard to vacuum!

Archer...

Yes, he is now 10 months and I never even posted his 9 month stats!  My life has seemed crazy lately...busy, but good!  Here are his stats at 9 months and some of the fun things he is doing now...

Height:  28 1/4"

Weight:  19lbs. 5oz

Head Circumference: 17 3/4

This little guy loves to eat!  Seriously...he has started to chunk up.  The other day I made hamburgers and Clint laughed when I made a half of hamburger for Archer and you better believe that he ate it!  Also, I took the boys to Chick-fil-a on Wed.  I figured I'd probably better get Archer his own meal and it's a good thing I did.  He ate all his nuggets plus half of his french fries!  We laugh because he only has one tooth but still manages to eat just about anything!

He loves to clap.  I've been trying to teach him a few signs and he thinks that for "more"  he needs to clap his hands.  

He also gives high five!  All you have to do is put your hand up and say, "High Five Archer!"  

He is a cruiser.  No steps by himself yet...but he likes to walk around with his push toy.

He likes to dance and wave.  If he hears music he usually starts bouncing to the beat.  He also just got the hang of waving "hello".

He is starting to get into everything!  Clint just put cupboard locks on our cabinets last weekend because he seems to always get into everything he shouldn't.  He also loves to pull all the toilet paper off the roll. It's funny how we buy him all kinds of toys, yet he's is WAY more interested in toilet paper!

He loves to play at the park.  I can no longer contain him in the stroller when we are at the park.  He has eaten loads of sand and doesn't seem to get the idea that it's yucky, gritty and just plain gross!  I've come to accept the fact that Archer will get dirty as can be, eat sand, and give me a heart attack every time he tries to climb up the toys while we're there, but he will have a great time!

I tried to get some video of his dancing, but we ended up with just a wave!

Slumber Party!

The week of Christmas Lexi got invited to her first sleepover.  She was so excited to spend the night with her cousin's Gracie and Sophie.   I wasn't home when she left, but thanks to Clint he thought about taking a picture of this "memorable" event!  She had lots of fun and loved the pink breakfast they had!

Christmas best...

The Sunday before Christmas, my father-in-law decided to get us all together (minus our Mississippi cousins) for a last minute effort at a photo for his Christmas card! We all dressed in our Sunday best and this is what we ended up with...

Three handsome boys

Archer was definitely more interested in the grass!

best shot of all 3 kiddos!

let the fun begin...

It's hard to believe another Christmas has come and gone! Oh, how I LOVE Christmas! I love the magic of the season, the yummy holiday baking and the smells of the season, the many decorations and lights, and most of all the reminder of how blessed we are and how grateful I am for our Savior.

We were lucky enough to have Clint's grandpa staying with us for a week and was here on Christmas morning. I forgot to take photos of him, but did get some good video. It was fun to have him here and spend some extra quality time with him!

Once we did our own thing and spent the morning here, we headed to the Jensen's for lunch and more fun! We had a great time and all conferenced in on a call from my brother Jordan serving in New Jersey. It was fun to hear from him and what a positive great missionary he is! We then headed to the Albright's for Christmas dinner which is always amazing! I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such great family on both sides!

One of my favorite moments this year was taking Lexi to the store because she wanted to buy her brothers a gift with her very own money. It was fun to let her choose something for each of them and even more fun to see her excitement as they opened her gift. She came into our room at 3am because she couldn't sleep due to her excitement for Christmas. She was up about every hour asking if it was time yet.

Caden loved every gift as usual! He loves the trampoline from Santa and spends much more time outside now instead of in front of the tv. Thank goodness for that! =)

Archer was content playing with the wrapping paper and climbing on the boxes!

Clint had my brother Joel this year and was so excited to give him his gift. It was a t-shirt with a guitar built right in and an amp that attaches to your pants so you can really play it! Way cool and we can't wait to see it in action! He also gave him "misfortune" cookies. Instead of a kind uplifting fortune, these cookies "hate you". The things they say are so funny! For example: "You will die alone and poorly dressed" or "Your friends don't really like you". We thought they were especially funny since he works for P.F. Changs.

Archer playing with Grandma Jensen's pink phone!

Lexi and Caden opening one of their many gifts from Grandpa and Grandma Jensen. (It really pays to have the only grandchildren on my side!) They love their new scooters! Thanks so much!

Fresh Cut...

Christmas Tree! That's what we get EVERY year. It used to be a matter of discussion every year that went something like this:

Me: "Can we go buy an artificial tree, babe?"

Clint: "What? No, I always had a live tree and LOVE the smell of a fresh Christmas Tree! There's nothing like it!"

Me: "Oh yeah, there is! You know Gold Canyon sells a candle and the scent is called Christmas tree. I'll be happy to light one every day and that way I don't have to deal with the pine needles, and getting my lights just perfect on the tree, and go to every Home Depot and Lowes around to find the "perfect" tree!"

Clint: "It wouldn't be the same. It's what I always grew up with and just love it!"

So how do you argue with "good memories". And so after all these years we've spent hours (literally) finding the perfect Tree. This year though, I saw a sample tree and a sign that Costco would be selling Noble Fir's, just what I like. I called them the day they got them in and they told me that you don't get to look through the tree's and find the one you like, rather you buy it, pull up and they throw it in the back of the car. (Basically a drive- through service.) The best part: they "guaranteed" that all their tree's look like the display! So I sent Clint on his way and he came home with a beautiful perfect looking tree. Now I know some of you would argue that half the fun is finding the "perfect" tree on your own, but for me this set up is perfect! And if you're wondering if the tree was just like the display...it sure was!