Merry Christmas

We had so much fun this Christmas. Ashlyn was so excited to open presents. I dont know how many times I told her that she had to wait until Christmas. Riley gave Steve and I a couple of presents that he made at school and said that his teacher told him that we could open the presents before Christmas. I said no and that we would wait until Christmas. Steve said yes and opened the presents. I dont know who was worse about opening presents, the kids or Steve.

We made the kids take turns opening presents. Ashlyn wasnt having any of that. She wanted to open everyones presents. Waiting is not a word in her vocabulary.
Every Christmas Garry and MaryLynn visit all of the grandkids to see what they got from Santa. Riley and Ashlyn were so excited to see them. We had a very nice Christmas and are so thankful for all that we have.

Happy 5th Birthday Riley!

Today is Riley's birthday and like every year we have a birthday party with family. Steve's parents, my Mom, Clarissa, Tyler, and Marquesas all came over. I asked Riley what he wanted for his birthday dinner and all he wanted was meat. So we had a roast, funeral potatoes, steamed veggies, and rolls.


We finally let Riley open his presents. Steve's parents gave him a Transformer car, 2 little matchbox cars, and a bag of M and M's. My mom gave him a Transformer plane. Steve, Ashlyn, and I gave Riley a pair of pants, a belt, the Transformer movie, and a mini pool table. When Riley opened the pool table he said, "This is totally what I wanted."




































Once presents were opened and played with we had cake and ice cream. We asked Riley if he had a good day and he said that he did.

Bowling Party!!

On Saturday Riley had his first "Friends" birthday party. He got to decide between bowling and McDonald's. Of course he chose bowling. He invited a few friends and cousins. There were so many kids at his party.

They bowled and had a corn dog or a hamburger and a drink.










When they finished their game we opened presents and had cake and ice cream.












Riley got lots of fun things. I hope everyone that came had a blast. A big Thanks to the parents and grandparents that came and helped.

Santa Visit

On Friday night we decided to take the kids to the mall to see Santa. I thought Ashlyn would love Santa but she didn't want anything to do with him. I was able to get one picture of the kids with Santa.










(Look at Ashlyn's face!)

Our Tree

Here are a few pictures of our crazy kids and our Christmas tree. We told them to make silly faces and this is what we got.













Riley is holding an "Aflac" duck.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was a little different for me. First because it started at 5:30 A.M. and second because I was crazy enough to go to Kmart to get a few Christmas items. Yes I was one of those crazy people. My mom went with me and I told her that I had to be home by 7:45 A.M. because we were meeting Steve's family in Idaho to get our Christmas trees. I got home at 8:15. AHHHH! I couldn't believe all of the people at Kmart. At least I know that I am not the only crazy one because I saw Brad, Alyson, Braxton, and Jamie.

We always meet at a gas station in Preston and then head up the canyon. When we got to where we were going we all told Garry not to get lost (it usually takes him FOREVER to pick his tree :)). We started hiking to find the perfect tree. I do not know how far we hiked but it was more than far enough. We finally found a tree that we thought was perfect. Steve cut it down and to our surprise it was kind of bald on the one side. Good thing our tree goes in a corner so you will never see it.

HALLOWEEN

Here are a few pictures from Halloween and the annual Jorgensen Halloween Party.













Our Ninja Turtle and Pumpkin!










Mackenize, Braxton, Brody, and Ashlyn











Some of the Jorgensen Grandkids!











Ashlyn and Kiley

Hunting with the kids!

Ashlyn has been wanting to go hunting with Steve ever since the elk hunt began. Steve has always been kind of nervous to take her because frankly, she is very LOUD and full of energy. On Sunday we decided to go up Logan Canyon for a drive. Steve had a deer tag and decided this was the perfect opportunity to take her hunting. It was a really good thing he didnt take her elk hunting. She didnt stop talking the whole time. At one point her and Riley decided to pick up rocks and pretend that they were phones. She was actually having a conversation. It was hilarious. Quite the hour hunting experience.

Crazy Kids

I just wanted to post a few pictures of Riley and Ashlyn. They are so cute and most of them time they play really well together. These are a few pictures from the other day so enjoy.

Haircut

I finally decided to get Ashlyn's hair cut the other day. I really didnt want to put it is constantly in her eyes and I could tell it was driving her nuts. I took her to the "salon" where Tracina's friend Candace cut her hair. When we got home I wasnt to sure about the cut but after a few days it grew on me.
Here are some before pictures:












Here are the after:

Elk Hunt

Saturday was the opening day of the elk hunt and we decided that we would go camping. We knew the weather wasn't going to be great but we didn't expect what we got. We decided to camp up Logan Canyon across the streets from the State sheds. We had camped there once before and really liked the area. We got up there and it was raining and cold. We stayed one night and decided we had better leave because if we didn't we would have never got our trailers out (We almost didn't get them out.) Steve pulled the horse trailer out first which was extremely scary because the truck felt like it was going to tip over. After about 5 minutes of this, which felt like hours, I told Steve to stop and Ashlyn and I walked the rest of the way. We parked the horse trailer at the "Pooper" and Steve and Scott went back and got the camper. We made so many trips up the canyon this weekend. We have done some crazy camping this year but this trip was the craziest. I was only able to get 1 picture the whole day and a half that we were there.

Shooting the BIG GUN

Steve decided that he wanted to cite in his gun so we headed up to the Gun Range.

The kids had a blast. Steve brought the 22 and we all took turns shooting it. Ashlyn was afraid when Steve shot the bigger gun but she had fun with the 22.

Riley loves everything that his dad loves so it was no surprise to us that he wanted to have a turn. He asked his dad if he could shoot the BIG Gun but that was out of the question.

I am glad that we are able to spend time together even if it is to shoot guns.

Campin' in a Parking Lot

Steve's brother Brian had asked us if we wanted to camping with his family in Wyoming. (He had a deer tag.) We are always up for camping so we said YES. The day before we were supposed to leave Melissa found out that she had to work all weekend. The camping trip ended up being Brian, Steve, Riley, Ashlyn, and Myself. What was I thinking?
We drove the canyon towards Jackson to try and find a camping spot. Little did we know but they close down all of the camp grounds Sept. 1st. It was getting late and the kids were getting tired so I really didn't care where we ended parking the trailer. I wasn't quite expecting to camp in a parking lot at the mouth of the Grey's River but that is where we camped. Oh well. The kids had lots of fun and what a great story it makes.

Grey's River

This year we went to the Grey's River over Labor Day weekend. The weather was so nice except for when it started to pour on us. We had lots of fun and as usual did some crazy things. Scott introduced the family to a new game. We brought Ashlyn's little red car for her to play with. Little did we know that it would later provide us with a little REDNECK action.




Scott and Jamie brought their BB Guns and the kids shot at orange targets. Grandma and Grandpa even took a turn.











Because our garden was overloaded with zucchini we thought it would put them to good use again. We let the kids make boats and then went up to the lake and let them float them.










While at the lake the kids were trying to catch baby fish.



















And as usual, Ashlyn is being her crazy self.













I had to include this very sweet picture of Ashlyn and Garry.
Marylynn brought up stuff for the kids to make their own ice cream. You put your ingredients into a Ziploc bag and put that bag into a bigger Ziploc bag that has rock salt in it. The kids had to shake the bags until the mix turned into ice cream. What a great way to have ice cream in the mountains.