Christmas traditions...

Christmas arrived & flew past in a whirlwind! We had such a great time w/ the kids & seeing family too!

Here are the kids at the end of Christmas - all of them had a great day!

Hailey & her best gift ever - a sewing machine :)
Derek & his RED KITCHEN! WAHOO (Can i just add - assembly was required & took 3 hours!! - that sucker will last for all time!) He loved it though!

Every Christmas eve we get new jammies for everyone in the family - and that is the gift we each open on Christmas eve :) Here we are sporting them :)

Dave's parents came over to enjoy my family tradition of having a mexican fiesta on Christmas eve. We ate yummy mexican food!

This is the second year we went to This is The Place to see the Candlelight Christmas. We had a great time going, and got to see our old neighbor Cliff who works up there - he's a great friend! We all bundled up & had a great time riding the "train" around the park, stopping for dinner & hot cocoa and seeing Santa & the Reindeer of course!

Jenna stayed nice & toasty in her winter gear!

Sunday my family did our Christmas get-together. We did a yummy dinner & the kids performed the nativity. It was super cute. Hailey was an angel & Derek was a wise man (I pieced his outfit together last minute! Turned out pretty funny!)

THe kids had fun visiting w/ the cousins!

Me & my girls! Christine, me, Jenny & Michele

Christine & Jenna :)

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas!

Fun fun!!

Last week Derek was asking CONSTANTLY for someone to take him to the park, but Dave had the flu, and I wasn't about to take Jenna out into the FREEZING cold, so Dave told Derek that he'd take him on Saturday. Derek was SO excited! They got all bundled up and headed down to the park - sadly this one ball is all they got, since the snow didn't pack down :(, but Dave & Derek had a fun time. So much fun, in fact, that they went back down later in the afternoon to sled. Derek told me all about the "bump" (aka jump) that they went over w/ the sled. It was too cute!

Hailey thought Jenna needed to become a present, so she stuffed her in one of our boxes :) She makes a cute gift!

What have I done?!

Rules are: Anything you have done has to be in bold. How much have you done?
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower (That's where Dave first professed his love for me - ah, romance!)
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (Almost had to get an earlier flight to take Hailey home she was being SO naughty!)
8. Climbed a Mountain

9. Held a Praying Mantis ( ew!)
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped (from the 59th street galleria!)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Been to the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice - (Does the one in the Venitian in Vegas count??)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (One day - I will visit Denmark!)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (only a few key phrases)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Tied a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Fish count!)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (no way!)
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy

My little Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Snow, Lights & Laughs

We've had some fun this past weekend, enjoying the holiday stuff :) Yesterday Dave's mom brought over our "package" for the week. It was a cute stocking filled with spring topped headbands (w/ santa, snowmen & reindeer on top). They were for us to wear while we went around looking at lights. WELL ---- We decided to go down to temple square on Sunday night to see the lights, and Dave had the great idea that we should wear our headbands around the square. Okay, so I'm a little self-conscious about things that make me stand out in an unusual way... so this was somewhat EXCRUCIATING! It was fun and the kids got a kick out of it, but I was totally embarrassed, walking around with wobbley santas on my head! A few people commented, others chuckled, others stared...... <> but, it was pretty funny to see the kiddos. Sadly(or fortunately) my camera broke before we could get a family shot. So - you can see how cute Dave, Hailey, Derek & Jenna look w/ their holiday headbands :) (Yes, Jenna is wearing them, under all her layers... )

This one is a little fuzzy since I had to take it w/ Dave's phone.

Derek kept wanting to stick his hands (gloves & all) into the fountains all over the square... He thought it was GREAT fun!
Isn't this one adorable of the kiddos?

Sunday morning after the snow hit, the kids were determined to make a snowman. They got a base done, and had used all the snow up.. so they were out of luck. :)

Although this video is a little dark, you can totally hear Jenna laughing it up - SO FUN!

Hailey's Choir performance

Hailey had her first choir performance tonight - they sounded GREAT! They did some Christmas songs, but also a variety of others they had been working on, like "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" :) It was super cute! I'm so glad she wanted to join the choir, because she has such a wonderful voice! Go Hailey!

Holiday fun!

Dave's mom has been spoiling us this December with fun little surprise packages. Last week she brought miniature christmas trees for each of the kids, each with their own colored bulbs - Pink for Jenna, Purple for Hailey & Blue for Derek. They have loved having their own little trees in their rooms! Tonight - she brought over a care package with some cute snowmen decorations, and then the kids got to cut out some snowflakes, and make some snowflakes out of tortillas (the yummy ones from Costco!) - covered in powdered sugar. THe kids (& us) had a great time!

We had our ward party last week - and the total highlight was SANTA! When he walked in, Derek was standing on Dave's lap waving FURIOUSLY yelling SANTA, SANTA, SANTA Come see me! Come talk to me Santa! It was really cute! He could hardly contain himself to wait in line :) The kids had fun seeing Santa. Derek told him he wanted a red kitchen and lots of stoves.

Look at the excitement! on that face!

Gratitude

We just returned home after a nice long holiday at my sister Melanie's. We had such a great time! I always love spending Thanksgiving with their family -- as do our kids!

I have so much to be grateful for - wonderful family and friends. Health, the gospel, living in a free country, education... there are SO many things I'm grateful for! Below you'll find a little recap of our trip... I slacked on the pictures, but you'll get the gist.

Here's Hailey & I w/ my neice Abbey after her performance of The Nutcracker. She is SO talented... and so adorable w/ all her animated expessions on-stage :) I was totally cracking up at how expressive she was!

Mel (my sis) Britt & Abbey

Britt & Hailey :)

BLACK FRIDAY!

Okay - I have to elaborate here a little - we totally knocked out a new method for avoiding all chaos in stores on black friday! As soon as we would walk into a store - my mom would immediately go get in the front of the line & let one person in front of her at a time while my sis, niece & I shopped - then, When we were all ready, we just went to the front of the line where she was waiting for us :) So we hit... Kohl's at 4am, Old Navy at 5am (OMGosh! - 50% off all Jeans!! Yay!), Target at 6, and the Mall afterwards (where I got Jenna the CUTEST christmas dress that is White w/ black polka dots!)

I love this tradition of going shopping the day after!

Hailey & Abbey gearing up the "kid" table for Turkey dinner!

My favorite part - Dave & Bill (my BIL) doing the dishes after dinner... also one of my favorite parts of THanksgiving :)

My Nephew Ben playing w/ Derek - arent' they cute guys!?

Brandy & Koby & kids - a family in my sisters ward - came over for dinner - and Brandy made the dang cutest little place setting pieces - Turkeys out of Oreos, candy corn & whoppers :)

My mom & Mel - gearing up for the final touches of food :)

Hailey & Abs were so good at keeping Jenna busy while we were getting the food rolling! Yay for good helpers!

If I can find the pictures from our TUrkey Trot 5k from Thanksgiving morning I will post them - I was pretty tuckered out... only did it in 30.15... definitely not my best time - oh well :) It was a great run, and a great tradition that we do to start off the day! :)

Oh my stinkin' cute!

Okay - here are Jenna's official 3 month pictures. I can NOT get over how DARLING she is! I love when good pictures just capture how sweet your child really is! Once again - I "heart" Dana Holcomb - she did a great job w/ the pictures ;)

Not to toot my own horn, but... HONK!

Okay - so today I got my oil changed, and I had a headlight out. They wanted like 25$ just to replace the light. I told him I'd take care of it myself... he looked at me like yeah right.. So - I went & picked up the light... changed it - and.....

...VOILA!... Light's a working :) I love it when mechanics treat women like imbiciles... seriously! Although I prefer not to be a grease monkey - I can figure out a thing or two... :)