Decorating our Christmas Tree!

Hann's Christmas Tree Farm.

Surprise Visitors!

We enjoyed a surprise visit from Aunt Tam(Paul's sister) and Uncle Jimmy(her husband and competitor for the favorite uncle contest) just before Thanksgiving. I checked the kids out of school and we headed for Chicago's O'hare Airport. The kids had no idea where we were going. There were a few tears thinking we were going to Utah and they were going to have to endure an endless car ride. Finally things clicked when the started to see signs for the airport and planes flying above. We had a great visit with them and a wonderful Thanksgiving with them and the Johnson crew!
Tamara and the kids painting the ceramic animals that Aunt Tam gave them.

Picking the perfect Christmas tree at the Tree Farm on Thanksgiving morning.

A visit to Wisconsin's ocean, Lake Michigan. A few weeks before the ice bergs formed!

A stop at the Jelly Belly Factory on the way home from Chicago to get a little sugar high!

Our first stop was the Chicago Temple. This was the kids first trip to the temple since our move to Milwaukee.

Time moves so quickly...

Here's the last few months in a nutshell. Joshua celebrated his third birthday on October 15th! He's growing up so fast! He loves anything cars and got a "hugemongus" racetrack for his birthday. However, he loves his Daddy more than anything else and counts the minutes until Daddy gets home and he's no longer the only male in the household! We hope to have him fully potty trained by age five! His sisters were trained at age 2!
Halloween was great and the kids had many parties and dressed up in multiple costumes! Sydni was "Nancy Drew", Mikelle was a witch, Abby was "Cinderella", and Josh was "Batman"

Fall in the Midwest...a little piece of heaven.

We have officially decided that fall is our family's favorite time of year! I could eat glazed donuts and drink fresh cider for breakfast, lunch and dinner! We officially started our fall celebration this last weekend. Saturday we drove to Burlington, IL to visit my great uncle and aunt and my grandmother who was visiting from Utah. Uncle Bob treated the kids to a ride in his old car. The girls loved riding in the "rumble seat!" After a picnic lunch, we went to Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm. This farm had it all! A spook alley, a corn maze, a hay bale maze, an incredible petting zoo area, pig races, camel rides, donuts, cider, pies, a million varieties of pumpkins and they even had a pumpkin eating dinosaur! It was a great day and a great visit with people we love!

DARN GROUNDHOG!!

Schools canceled again! Serious cabin fever has hit the Fawson's! What we sing while we shovel snow, "Sweet home Arizona, where the sky's are so blue........"

Abby the Fairy Four-Year-Old Birthday

Our sweet little Abby is four!! She is growing up fast and loves fairies and magic wands! We made magic wand cookies for her dance class and a castle cake for her birthday.

New Year's Eve and FIREWORKS IN THE SNOW!!

We had a fun New Years! The Johnson's came for lunch and brought us some fireworks. Mikelle, Abby, and Josh had never held a sparkler before! They were illegal in AZ. It was great fun to do fireworks in the snow! Paul and Sydni and Mikelle stayed up until midnight and watched the ball drop! Another highlight of our day was that we finished reading the Book of Mormon!!

Ice Skating

Ice Skating with their new skates from Grandpa and Grandma Palmer. It didn't take them long to learn how! Ballerina's on ice!!

Christmas

We had a relaxing Christmas at home. The kids woke up at five, but waited patiently until 6 a.m. Santa brought a wonderful dollhouse and many gifts!

We spent the day playing games, eating sweets and making a yummy Christmas dinner.
Our new tradition this year was to make a gingerbread house. We found this cool log cabin design and spent a few nights and lots of royal icing putting it together.

Christmas Tree Hunting with the Johnson's at Tannebaum Acres

Dasher made a pre-Christmas visit to the tree farm. The kids enjoyed seeing a real reindeer.

The hunt was on for the perfect tree......

We found the perfect tree! We then took a hayride around the tree farm and ended the night with a warm cup of cider! Yum!

Little Ballerina's

The girls first dance recital with Rising Stars dance company! They all did a wonderful job!

Backup a little bit, Thanksgiving with the Johnson's

We love having family close and we love the Bryan and Robyn Johnson family!! It's great having Paul's aunt and uncle just an hour away! We had a fun and very filling Thanksgiving with them! The girls loved playing in the snow and making a little snowman with Rose!

Abby loved all the sweet treats, Aunt Robyn's homemade grape juice, and cousin Joanna!!
Our little turkey made a chocolate covered turkey!