Christmas

We had a wonderfully fast Christmas. The kids said Christmas should be a week long. Maybe next year we'll celebrate Hanuka in stead of Christmas so it will "last longer" We woke up to the sound of kids rifling through stockings at 1:30 in the morning. Brett apparently couldn't sleep so he woke up Sam. After some scolding from me they went back to bed reluctantly only to wake up periodical ALL NIGHT LONG! Terry and I finally got up around 7:00 and let the kids start opening presents. After that we had cinnamon rolls (Grands rock when we get left of the Lisa and Brandon cinnamon roll list) and then headed out to Logandale. We got some fun stuff and darling new dishes so now I can entertain! It was a very laid back Christmas day.


Sam's Favorite was her Cabbage Patch Doll

Colby loves his new bike.

This is the only picture of Brett's with his favorite gift. A video camera.

Bonnie loves her phone from Aunt Shell!


This was my favorite part of the whole day. Rebbecca has been babysitting for us while we go to our parenting class for the last 10 weeks FOR FREE, so we wanted to do something special for her so we got her a new IPod, she cried and that just made my day. We love this sweet girl and appreciate her sacrifice.

Cousins Camp

Cousins Camp was a big hit again this year. I thought we were fortunate last year to have all the cousins but this year everyone made it a point to be there. The babies were bigger, Kirsta and Maddie are no longer blondes, and once again Chase made a mess with frosting. We started camp off by taking the gifts we bought for needy families to them and that was neat. Then it was pizza, pictures, cookie decorating, a story by Grandie which all the kids sat still for amazingly. And then we played the chimes with no help from the MEN!!! Needless to say they made it not a fun chime time! The t-shirts made by yours truly were a bit of a nightmare (never buy red t-shirts from jo-anns) but in spite of that they were really cute. The kids looked great in them.

"Now give me some friggin pudding!"

A great time was had by all.

Elf Yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I Finished It

With the help form my mom doing the lining, I finished my first crocheted dress for Bonnie. I went up to Utah and spent a few days with Gram to learn how to make this lovely little dresses, She has been making for her granddaughters and great granddaughters for years. It is definitely my "first" dress and mustn't be examined too closely but I am pretty proud of myself. I hope Gram will be too!

Magical Forrest

In the midst of all the crazy holiday things we had the opportunity to go to "The Magical Forrest" at Opportunity Village for a field trip with Colby's pre-school. It was a really fun day. These pics are kinda snapshotty but you can see a bit of the fun we had. I didn't get any good pictures of the train which was a lot of fun.

We rode the Carousel



The kids loved the giant slide. We had to do this one twice, I am now Rosie's favorite because I took her on the slide again!

I thought this reindeer was too cute.

And of coarse we sat on Santa's lap. Bonnie screamed her head off when we got close so only Colby sat on Santa.

A great day at Opportunity village!

Later that evening we went back to the Magical Forrest for Samantha's dance performance.(No pics and video was terrible) It was way cooler going through the "Forrest" when it was all lit up with lights. If you get a chance go check it out!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well from the lack of comments on my last whiny post I will concede that the holidays are extremely busy for EVERYONE!! I did however pick a winner and it is........ drum roll please.......................................................................

Melanie Hartzell

Melanie you are the winner of a custom made banner of your choice!! so let me know what kind of banner and if you have a color preference and I will get to work!!

We have also been very busy between violin concerts and dance things we haven't had a night to catch up on our tivo'd shows. We are like 3 weeks behind on Heroes, so don't tell me what is going on because I want to be surprised! This past weekend we got to go up to St. George where Samantha's violin group "Desert Strings" performed a concert with the NW Children's Choir at the St. George Tabernacle. It was wonderful, the kids sounded beautiful and the ambiance was breathtaking. They played a mixture of Christmas songs and some Irish Fiddling music. I wish you all could have been there. I would put the video on here but it just doesn't do it justice

Saturday we headed out to Boulder city where Sam was dancing in the Boulder City Parade of Lights. She was darling but somehow I didn't end up with any pictures of here in her snowman costume. I did however get some cute shots of the kids while we waited for the parade to start!!

I hope you all are taking time to enjoy this holiday season. We are trying to have a good attitude as we shuffle kids from recital to field trips, and so on but It truly is the best season of all.

Up Next on our agenda..

Filed trip with Colby to Opportunity Village tomorrow

Sam performing at opportunity village, later that evening

Brett Piano Recital on Saturday

Sam Violin concert with Mormon Youth Symphony on Sunday and Monday Nights

Sam dancing at the galleria mall on Wednesday

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

Really???

Only 2 comments, come on guys, I know it's Christmas an all but ya can't even tell me how cute my Christmas village is. I don't mean to whine but I'm feeling a little neglected lately!! I just need some love!! Do I have to have another contest???

OK OK... I'll Have another CONTEST!!

If you want a really cute banner saying whatever you want leave me a comment telling me how darling my village is and I do your bidding! the contest will stay open until Sunday night!! I know ya'll are busy but if you want a cute banner like this one you know what to do!!

My ABC's of Christmas

As Terry has been away for the last 8 days I decided to take advantage of my "stuck at homeness because I'm not taking 4 kids anywhere by myself" So I got out all of the Christmas stuff. My dear brother came to get a haircut and told me they just got a new tree and I quickly asked if I could have the old one. He promptly called his wife and brought it over later that afternoon. We have always been pro-life trees!! But I really wanted to get my house decorated and real trees in Las Vegas don't work unless you wait until about 2 weeks before Christmas. I really wanted my house decorated because it is so empty and devoid of furniture and little snowmen and stockings fill up the space nicely. But I digress...So I was able to get everything set up and took a few pictures this morning. I wanted to make an ABC book with my holiday photos, we'll see if I can come up with and X and Z Christmas thing!! Any ideas, leave me a comment! But here is my beginning...

{S}

{P}

I may change this one to {D}ishes so I can use {P} for presents

{O}

{V}

village

{M}

{G}

{C}

I hope you all get out your Holiday decorations soon because It has made me so happy and so excited for Christmas, Remember we only have 25 more days, which reminds me, I better get wrapping on the kids advent calender, It starts tomorrow. That one will be {A} by the way I get a picture after all the gifts are in it!!

Happy December

Thanksgiving Day

I am thankful for patient subjest who were very cooperative for their family pictures. Here is a sneak peak for you guys. I'll have your disk ready soon!

Click on image to see a larger version.

And my personal favorite from the whole day....

Grandma and Grandpa even jumped in for a few!

WHEW!!

Well with the 4 day weekend and kids having no school we decided since nobody would go with us to the dunes to pack up the trailer and head to California. We found a place that was really nice to park the trailer and headed out for a few days to explore LA. We spent a day at the California Science Center and Space Museum. We also went to the Long Beach Aquarium and did a harbor cruise. We found that excluding jaunts to Ikea and Walmart we could take a trip in the trailer for about $200. Not bad for a family of 6 for 4 days!! We ate all of our meals in the trailer except for one lunch at P.F.Changs. We had a great trip. Here are a few of the highlights.

The Bon Bon has been sporting some funny new faces and I caught a few.

Oh, and here is where we will be in 2 1/2 months. The diet starts on Monday!