Christmas Tree Hunting

After many, many, many years of hunting for trees in the mountains, this year was by far the best!! Jake and I went to McCall with my family and stayed in their condo for the weekend. This time we stayed in one of the new presidential suites! It was so nice!!! Jake and I had our own room and bathroom with a king size bed, flat screen TV, jetted tub and dual head shower! Plus, the condo had it's own private hot tub on the balcony! It was so much fun!! We left after work on Friday and drove up with my parents. On Saturday we set off to look for some trees. We drove about 15 minutes from our condo, got out of the car and in a matter of about 5 minutes we found two beautiful trees; one for us and one for my parents! The rest of the weekend was spent by napping, watching movies, hot tubbing, making smoothies & milk shakes, and just good old RELAXING!!!! We LOVED IT!! Thanks mom and dad!

Thanksgiving Family Photos

The whole Root gang. I have to say that we're a good lookin' bunch! We all met Thanksgiving morning to have family pictures taken. After pictures the boys all played football in a mini turkey bowl, while all of us girls fixed dinner! We ate at mom & dad Root's house, it was such a fun day! I love it how we are all on the same holiday schedule, so we are always together!
All the girls All the guys (us girls are completely out numbered)!
The two pregos! Jennie is due January 22nd with granddaughter #2 & I'm due April 9th with grandson #7

It's a....

BOY!!! Introducing....Peyton Jacob Root in all his glory!!!! I had to put this one up, this is the very first shot we got on the day of the ultrasound! He is head down & wanted to reveal his manhood! Don't worry his legs are longer, those are only his thighs. :) So, we're taking a poll, here is his profile...more Jake or Candice?

Football Champs

Team Powerhouse strikes!! :) Jake played on a city league flag football team again this year. His team won the division and the tournament championship. It is so fun to go watch and I know he loves getting a little bit of his football fix in!

Chubba Bubba-18wks

OK...so here are some chubby baby bump postings! These were last weekend(18 weeks). Keep in mind that they are after a long day of work so just focus on the belly! P.S. Yes, Rusty has a cone on his head. He got irritated after a haircut & wouldn't stop licking himself...our little lampshade doggie!

Happy Halloween!

Our front porchMy fall wreath that I made this year (spider & web comes off after Halloween so I can keep it up for Thanksgiving)!

Our front yard decorations!

Isn't he scary!!

The full outfits! (I promise I'm really not as fat as I look in this pic, prego pics will follow)

Ok...so apparently we got a new camera! I really don't think I need to remind anyone about how much the both of us love dressing up for Halloween! We had fun going trick or treating with the niece & nephews, and we went to a costume Halloween party! Jake got scariest costume award and I got the best all around costume! Hope you enjoy!

Broken Camera

So, yeah, I am kinda ticked cause we have a lot going on and I haven't been able to document! Our camera is now officially broken! So for awhile, no pics of baby bumps, home remodel updates, new purchases, Halloween decor pics, etc. I will let you know when we get a new one!

Sweet Blessings

Yay!! Yes, I know this pic stinks, but you read it right! I'm PREGNANT!!! We didn't believe it so we took a few more! There's no doubt though, we got to see the little one a couple weeks ago in my first ultrasound! (picture below) It was SO incredible! We are excited and we both feel so blessed and humble to have the opportunity to be parents. We can't wait to bring this sweet spirit into our home!

This is our first ultrasound!!!! Doesn't it look like Casper the ghost!? The baby turned right towards the camera so we didn't get a profile pic, but the little one did do a "wiggle" dance for us! It was so cute and amazing!

FLORIDA (Tropical Storm Faye)

Soooo tired on the plane ride to Florida (sorry so blurry). I'm apologizing ahead of time for the crummy pics! Our camera stinks it's partly broken and the humidity made the pics even worse! My mom has better ones, so if I remember I will post some of hers later. (Don't cross your fingers, you know me!)
Jake boogie boarding (my favorite thing to do in the ocean)
Jake and my brother Dustin taking a break from the intense storm waves!
Beach patrol was hard at work the whole time we were there. We even watched them "rescue" a lady(there were a bout 6 beach patrol cars, 2 police cars, a fire truck and an ambulance)but it was really sad because we heard later on the news that she ended up dying. It was really weird too, because she was middle aged, and the water was really shallow, there wasn't a strong under tow and she was swimming right next to her husband. Still, a very sad ordeal.
The sad beach patrol experience didn't keep us out of the water. Despite the wind, grey sky, scattered showers, and watching a lady pretty much drown...we all had fun in the water and playing on the beach!
Our resort! Right on Daytona Beach!
Our balcony over looking the ocean
One of the 3 pools! Don't worry we only swam in them one day, cause they were only open the very last day we were there due to the storm! The last day was sunny and beautiful! We all (even my dad!) played in the ocean & ate dinner at a nice seafood restaurant out on their patio right by our resort! That night while we ate, there was a jazz band playing at an amphitheatre (that we could see from our table) and the pier in the above pic shot off fireworks!

Summer Lake Campout

Jake and Derek skipping rocks
Relaxing by the fire...man that sounds like a GREAT plan right now!
All the boys chillin' in the water (Jake, Todd, Derek, Shay)
Don't you love our "diapers" we used to float around!

(Kira, me, Charyl, Kim)

All the boys rockin' the "diapers"!

Derek & Jake's makeshift water lounge chairs

Look at how happy my boy is!!

We all had such a great time! The weather was perfect and the water was glass all day, so we had amazing wakeboard runs! I can't believe fall is coming and school is back in! Oh, well...we'll survive-FOOTBALL season starts!

Rusty has a Buddy!

Meet Laney! She is so cute and very smart!
I know in the picture it really doesn't look like Rust likes her, but man he sure does! They are so cute together and we are glad he has a full time buddy now! Rusty just adores her!

Summer O' Family Reunions

June 21st started our 3 weekend run of family reunions!

First stop is Seattle, Washington for my mom's side of the family!
My cousin Jonathan had his missionary farewell and his sister Nikki had her baby shower so we made it a weekend family reunion! It was such a blast!

Kim, Grandma, McKenna, Nikki, Me

Jake, Me, Casey, Nikki, Aaron, Kim, McKenna, outside on the ferry boat

Hanging out on the ferry!

Playing on the beach finding miniature crabs like this little guy under the rocks!

On our last day we of course had to go to Pike Place Market that overlooks the ocean! Always a must when you go to Seattle!

Nikki, Me, Grandma

Look at that HUGE fish! This vendor at the market is where you go to see fish "fly" through the air!

We have a tradition when we go to Seattle, we always go to Mee Sum Pastry and get a hombow! If you have never had one they are a must! It's a homemade big roll stuffed with meat! BBQ pork is the best!

I have to say...this is a good lookin' group!! It's not a professional picture by any means, but we thought it would be nice to take an up to date family picture while we were in Seattle. This is my aunt and uncle's backyard, it's a forest!!

Next up (the weekend after Seattle), Jackson Hole, Wyoming for my dad's side of the family! It is definitely harder to get everyone together with our busy schedules but I think everyone who made it had a blast. We golfed, rafted, played volleyball, horseshoes, Frisbee, went to a play (The Ballad of Kat Ballou) in an old playhouse, relaxed in the hot tub, and just enjoyed each other's company! The legendary antler arch in downtown Jackson Hole!

Getting ready for our white water rafting trip!

Headed to the river!

Just cooling off on the river! Our boat crew included; my dad, my mom, Dustin, Jaret, Shalee, Ryan, Jake and me. It was so much fun & our guide told us we were pros! Believe it or not no one fell out!

Finally, came Park City, Utah the weekend after Jackson Hole, with the Root family! We were there for Independence Day! How blessed we are to live in such a beautiful free country! We stayed in Park City but we spent most of the time in a small nearby town called Oakley. We blended in with the townsfolk! There was a parade (one of the best I've seen), a tribute to our country and those who fight for our freedom put on by the local choir and high school band, a luncheon at the town hall, and a rodeo with a fireworks show! It was such a great weekend!

P.S. I have to say THANK YOU again to my wonderful cousin Shalee! On our way to Park City Jake and I stopped in Ogden and she did some laser hair removal (no more shaving armpits & bikini line) and did a laser treatment on my face! I love it!

Jake & Aleah having fun in the car on the way to the parade!

So cute! Now that is family love! Lars and Aleah (nephew & niece)

Fun at the parade

Aleah (our future rodeo queen) & me

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Jake and I did the alpine slide! It was really fun but the line to wait was so long! Can you tell, we were ready to make our own slide!