Our nephew, Spencer, came home from his mission this month so we went to Post Falls this weekend to hear him speak in Sacrament meeting. It was great to see him again and fun to be around Scott & Shari and family.
Santa was loaded up on treats this year! Cookies, chocolates, milk, Diet Coke (Todd has convinced the kids that Santa is lactose intolerant and would rather have D.C), and carrots for the reindeer. The kids still talk about the carrot crumbs the reindeer left in the bowl. Carter left a note for Santa so he wouldn't over eat!
Santa delivered just what everyone wanted. Carter was so happy to have the Nerf machine gun.
And Paige was excited to get a princess piano!
Hali's house was very organized and neat. She and Brooke had a fun time sitting next to each other.
Carter went for a log cabin look on his house! It was all brown, with the exception of candy canes on the back. He even had a campfire in the front with rocks around it!
Carter, Paige, Brooke, Hali, Kaden, Koy and Kelsi with their finished houses. We missed Kreed in our picture. He got his done in a jiffy and they were off! We look forward to making houses again next year!
We spent Thanksgiving in Utah with the Sanderson's.
We made an assortment of yummy chocolates!
The kids loved getting their hands on Kolby anytime he would let them.
And we even made it to see Santa! 
A BYU pillowcase!
Making a wish on the morning of his birthday.
He chose to have orange sugar cookies on his birthday. (We are done with cake for a long time!)
Carter is full of energy and life. He is a wonderful big brother and loves to teach his sisters the proper way to play sports. He loves Legos! I'm not sure if he will ever out-grow Legos. He is becoming a better reader and is a good friend. Carter is a well-rounded kid! We love you, Carter. 
We celebrated Hali's 7th birthday today! She chose french toast for breakfast. We had a birthday party with the Sanderson side of the family at Kent & Jaci's house, celebrating all 3 kids birthday's.
Hali wanted a sunflower cake this year and I remembered this cute cake that I saw on Hannah's blog over a year ago. It was easy and yummy!
Hali is such a sweetheart, always concerned about others. She is easy-going and selfless. She loves to play games, read, play school with Paige, and anything art & music related. We are so glad you are in our family, Hali! We love you!
We had the Pingel Family Reunion August 7-10 at Redfish Lake in the Sawtooth National Forest. It was great to see everyone! We had a large group with 46 people at one point, missing 7 family members who could not be there. We missed them! It was raining the day we got there, so we set up our tent in the rain. What a great start! It rained off and on through Saturday. I was amazed at how cold the air got when the sun would go behind a cloud. We always had to take a sweatshirt with us! The temperature fell to the 30's at night. I think we took every blanket we own, but we stayed warm!
We had a great time fishing out on the lake. We didn't catch anything, but the kids had a great time holding the poles and Carter became a pretty good little caster. 
When we came back from fishing, it was a little warmer and Scott's family was playing in the water. So the kids rolled up their pant legs and they played too. They loved having Briana and Nick cover their feet with sand!
On our way home, we stopped at the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge and walked through it. I could write about this for hours, but I will spare everyone the bordom. I absolutely loved this! It was so fascinating to see and learn how gold was mined. This is the front of the dredge. The rocks were scooped up in the black buckets behind the kids and dumped inside for sorting out the gold. 
This is the back of the dredge where the rocks were deposited back out into the river.
Inside the engine room of the dredge.
We drove up the road a little to Custer, an old mining town and enjoyed walking around there.
It was a great weekend and we are looking forward to the next reunion. 
