Christmas Day '09

Christmas morning everyone woke up bright-eyed at .....







almost 8 am. Wahoo!!! We even had to wake Carli up! Ha! I could hardly believe they slept in so long. We got Grandpa and Grandma up, too, and all went into the game room and read the Christmas story from Luke 2. I loved waking up and centering on the Savior. Then the madness began. :)

Here are the kids waiting at the top of the stairs.I'm going to jump right to the end, almost, with the pictures. Here are Brandon and Kate discovering the last gift hidden behind the tree. They knew what it was and could not wait to get to it.Oh the joy!A Wii!!!!! They love it. We played bowling as a family last night and it was really fun. I like that we can all play together.Megan had asked for an art easel, canvas, paints, and brushes. She got right to work on a masterpiece for Grandpa and Grandma to take home.Then she moved on to the next canvas. She's quite a budding little artist!Brandon and Kate both got skateboards. Since it had snowed and was not quite skateboarding weather, they made good use of our long hallway. :)Kate is trying hers out. Gotta work on the helmet. We did get it to fit better later in the day and she should be good to go.My mom gave the girls the cutest Fancy Nancy books and dolls to go with them. Kate and her explorer doll.Here is part of the aftermath...can you find the baby in the midst of it all?! Brooke just kept crawling around seeing everything. Another shot of the craziness.

Carli had been asking for roller skates for months and was so excited to get them! She put them right on and tried them out. It's going to take some practice, but Grandma was a great helper!

Carli in her new fancy dress up shoes. She loves to dress herself and often is seen in Wal-Mart and other stores wearing fancy shoes such as this. She causes quite a few turning heads with her outfits. LOL! (btw, I believe this is the only shot with me in it...see those striped socks in the bottom corner?)

Carli also wanted a new kitchen for her room. She was pretty excited that Santa brought it to her!An ice cream set to play with.

Playing with the ice cream. Good thing it's not real! That's quite a cone she's got going there. :)

Carli and her Fancy Nancy doll. She has the butterfly one. Sooo cute!Brooke playing with her new toy.

She loves her new cup, too!

Playing with Grandpa

This one is actually from Christmas Eve, but I had to include it because this is the typical pose--Grandpa holding Brooke in the crook of his arm and she's sucking her thumb.

I made Brooke a fleece blanket like I have all the other kids in the past. Here she is snuggling with Grandma and the blanket.

What? A banana? Where's the chocolate?

She found some...Brandon and his skateboard.

Putting together the Lego set from Grandpa and Grandma. He is a whiz at these sets. Once he puts them together he ends up taking them all apart and creating little vehicles with the different pieces. He's quite a little Lego engineer. What a wonderful Christmas season this has been! We had such a great day together as a family and with my parents here. They gave me a new temple dress and I can't wait to go use it! We had our usual abelskiver breakfast which is a favorite for everyone and then we just hung out and played with everything. Soon enough, though we began prep for Christmas dinner. My mom ended up doing pretty much everything, though, as she and Dad watched the kids while Ben and I went out for a little date. When we got home from seeing The Blind Side dinner was practically ready. It was sooooo yummy! Thanks Mom and Dad for helping out so much while you were here! Your visit went too fast, but we were so blessed by having you come.

One of the highlights of the day was getting to talk to my brother, Brett, who is serving a mission for our church in Romania. He is doing so well and it was neat to hear his voice. The kids loved talking to him and telling him all about Christmas. Then we put the phone on speaker and all sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas and then we hung up. Hopefully we'll get to talk to him again next Christmas! Then he will be home in June of 2011.

I hope all of you had a meaningful and special Christmas season and I am excited to see what 2010 has to bring to us all!

Utah trip (post #2)

I forgot to include this picture in the previous post about graduation. Here is my Dad with two of the red-headed grandkids, Harper and Brooke.

After the graduation Friday night we drove down to Cedar City. We got up early and headed down to St. George because my cousin, Lauren, was getting married in the St. George Temple. It was so neat to be in the temple with so many family members. It was a simply beautiful and perfect day in St. George. She was beautiful, the groom was handsome, and it was so lovely and peaceful on the temple grounds after the ceremony. We even saw Elder Holland walk up into the temple! He stopped to wave, shake hands, and say hello to everyone. That was very neat to see him in person!

Me and Brooke after the weddingAfter the wedding there was a lovely luncheon and then we headed back to the temple to go through a session with my brother, Brett, who is leaving for the Romania Bucharest Mission in a few weeks. That was really special. My parents and all of my siblings were there as well as my Grandpa and Grandma Morris, my Grandma Johnson, and a cousin and an uncle. It was wonderful to have the entire family (except Ben and a sister-in-law) in the temple together. I am blessed with such a special family! The siblings went in on a camera for Brett to take on his mission. He was pretty excited about it. Here he is after he opened it.Brooke loved spending time with Grandpa. I love this sweet picture (Brett, sorry, but you kind of ruin the shot back there on the couch. lol!) She was so content on the trip.My mom has the most beautiful lilac bushes in her backyard. We tried to get some cute pictures of Brooke after church on Sunday, but she was more interested in looking at the dog than looking at the camera.

Duh, I didn't even think to get a picture of me and Brooke on mother's day or one of my and my mom. Oh well. It was a wonderful day with my dad fixing yummy crepes for breakfast and then we had all the Cedar City family over for dinner. Dad grilled salmon and it was soooo good. All of the food was great. I was able to talk to Ben and the kids. I missed them on Mother's Day, but it was nice to have a relaxing day. :) Thanks so much, hon, for taking good care of the kids while I was gone! I love you!

Time with Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Brett

My parents and youngest brother made the trek down her from Utah after Christmas. We had so much fun with them! I am sad they had to go home already, but am so happy that they took the time to come visit us. The kids were all so thrilled to have someone to dote on them so much for a few days.

Monday was such a beautiful day that we couldn't stay indoors. We went to the park to enjoy the warm weather (when you've got more than a foot of snow at home in Utah you would love to enjoy the 75 degree weather, too!). Brett, my brother, was having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to the warm. He thought it was warm to be so warm in December. lol! :)

As soon as we got to the park the ice cream truck pulled up and, of course, Grandma couldn't resist the cries of "I want ice cream!" from the grandkids and they got their treat. Here are Brett, Carli, and Kate enjoying their treats.

Grandpa with MeganAfter the treats they headed off to play. Brandon and Brett had some races on the scooter and on foot.
Grandma helped Carli on the monkey bars. She really is a monkey when it comes to climbing and swinging.

Brandon enjoying the monkey bars as well.

Kate took off on her roller blades.

Megan waited for so long to have a turn on the tire swing. She was so patient. She and Carli and their little friend they met there had an absolute blast with Grandpa pushing them.

It was a really fun afternoon at the park. Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma in the next post!

Brett's Graduation

I am so behind on here so I will slowly try to catch up. :) Last weekend I flew home to see my youngest brother graduate from high school. It was such an awesome trip. I had a great time with my family and Ben was so great to hang out with the kids while I was gone. I have awesome friends who helped out, too, and I couldn't have worked it out without them. Thank you!!!

Me and Mom before the graduation

Here is Brett with his diploma.
Charisse (my sister) and nephew, Harper, at the graduation partyThayne (brother), Brett, and Dad at the party.Saturday we had a graduation picnic for Brett and our cousin, Seth. Here are the graduates!

We also celebrated my Grandma's 90th birthday! Wow!!! Here she is with all the grandkids who were there that day.

The view from the park. It was really stunning!

Here is a view from the hill just above the park looking down on it and past to the beautiful mountains. It was just so gorgeous.Just before I had to leave we stopped by to see this precious little baby! He is my cousin's newest addition to their family and he was just 2 weeks old. So sweet and cuddly! I just love newborns.It was a really wonderful weekend. We shopped, ate yummy food, and just hung out together. I did miss my hubby and kids, but I have to admit that a part of me enjoyed eating when the food was ready adn hot, got up when I wanted, got ready as my pace, sat through sacrament meeting and heard every word (mom and dad spoke so it was a great day to be there!), and didn't have to worry about anyone else for a few days. Of course, I worried about everyone being ok at home, but you know what I mean. ;)

I got back and went right back into the whirlwind that is my life. I will update more on that in the next post! ...another field trip, kindergarten memory books, a birthday party, feeding missionaries, last days of school, church calling, award ceremonies, preparing for our summer trip...