More December Fun

I needed to document the rest of our December fun!



Kalli (my kids 2nd mom) got married! Love you Kals!

Annual Gingerbread House making party at Grandma Debbie's and Papa Bruce's

Pickleville Christmas Show, Family pics, and Christmas Eve at Grandma Nae and Papa Jer's

Phew! I think I am finally finished with December....but what a great month it has been.

Christmas Roundup

I LOVE Christmas. Always have since I have been little. It is so magical and wonderful. Kids are excited (and can be easily influenced into being good), people are kind, the decor everywhere is so beautiful, there are family parties galore, lots of good food. I just love the feeling!

As a mother, my favorite part is giving to my kids - and in turn teaching them about how exciting it is to give to others. I love teaching them about the ultimate gift we have all been given - our Savior Jesus Christ. It is just an all around wonderful holiday!

So here are a few pics to celebrate the occasion!



Christmas Morning: the kids all sleep together on Christmas Eve, wait at the top of the stairs...and then race down to see what Santa brought.



The "Christmas Hangover"



The party never ends!

Oh Yeah!

Merry Christmas! December has been so crazy, I forgot to post our Christmas card, for those who I don't have addresses for.





Hope you all had a restful holiday break. I am organizing pictures, and can't wait to post about our Christmas fun!

6 Months of Joy

The past six months have been nothing short of pure enjoyment for me and our entire family. Ava has added such a sparkle to our lives, and we all love her so much. It is so wonderful to have the kids speak so kindly when they are around her. They shower her with hugs and kisses constantly. I think every family needs a baby in the house - to keep that loving, calm, peaceful feeling that babies bring.

I can't believe she is already 6 months (well, actually almost 7 now) and I am trying so hard to take advantage of every moment I have with her. Time goes too quickly, especially when they are so young.

Thank you Ava for blessing us with so many things....her are a few we love:

beautiful toothless grin
chubby hands and feet
rolly, squishy thighs
soft bald head
totally laid back personality
shiny blue eyes
jibber jabber voice
contagious belly laugh

Love you "chubba bubba" (Halle's nickname for Ava)

My Boy is 11!

Kason turned 11 years old last week. How is it possible that I have an 11 year old? I can't figure that out....since I am sure that I am still 25 :)

I love the excitement a birthday brings for kids. Don't you remember that as a kid you would make sure everyone knew you were 10 1/2 and not just 10? Or, that it was your birthday in 2 months and you would be 11? Funny that as adults we no longer do the count down!

Kason had been counting down the days to his birthday for weeks.

He woke up ecstatic to open presents, go to school, and then celebrate his birthday with dinner and bowling.

I love this "big boy" so much!

He has a wonderful spirit about him, and I am amazed by his wisdom everyday.

He has a sensitivity for others' feelings that not many other people possess.

He has a drive to be the very best at whatever he does.

He loves all sports, especially basketball, soccer, and baseball!

He loves to watch the Utah Jazz with his Dad at night - in fact, he sneaks out of bed at night(when he is supposed to be asleep)to finishing watching with his Dad...and I usually don't know:)

He loves music....even the piano (although he doesn't admit it).

He is extremely responsible and takes great care in following instructions that are given....this makes him an excellent babysitter!

He loves his sisters and brother with all of his heart - and they love him back!

He has a special relationship with Braden....they just "get each other", and it is so heartwarming to watch.

He is very inquisitive and has been since he could talk.

He asks very good questions....and keeps asking more until he feels satisfied with the answer.

He is so extremely honest. His innate sense of wrong and right is amazing!

He is a great friend.

He respects girls (even though some boys at school make fun of him for opening a door for a girl)

He gives his coat to girls when they don't have one and are cold....(seriously, I love this boy!)

He wants to be "doing something" constantly. In fact, he knows what is on the calendar before I do - he is my "human calendar".

Kason, thank you for making me a mother. You are a wonderful person, and I am so proud of you. You make our family complete in every way. I love you so much! Happy Birthday

Halloween, Birthday, Thanksgiving (in that order)

Since I am so far behind in blogging....my list keeps getting bigger and bigger of things I need to write down....I am just going to do a "bulk blog"!

I realized I haven't even posted Halloween pictures! I am not a huge fan of this holiday....I think it would be fun, if I would actually take the time to plan out costumes. But, who are we kidding, costuming five kids is a lot of work!

So here is the end product :


Kason was a rapper, Jaicee a doctor, Halle a pirate, Braden was Spiderman, and Ava a butterfly.
The picture with all of the kids is the cousins on Brandon's side....can you believe how many there are? 20 kids, all under the age of 11! Nice picture of my Dad as a beautiful butterfly! (Sorry for always doing collages....my great friend Sherine got me hooked! )

Next up was my birthday. Somehow, it is just not as exciting to have a birthday as when you were a kid. (go figure?) I did however, get to spend it with Jaicee at a benefit dance concert called "Art with Heart". She did a great job and I was so proud of her. I even got in a little shopping and lunch with some other "dance moms". And, I went out the night before with my hubby for a yummy dinner and Christmas shopping! A pretty great weekend!!




And last, but not least....one of my favorite holidays - Thanksgiving. I love to get together with family and eat to your heart's content. And, boy did we ever do that! It was even better because my sister Sharielle and her family were here for the event. We all got to meet sweet little Sloan.


It is so fun to have babies with your sisters....nothing much better than that.

The food was great, and the company even better!!

Oh yeah, and we got to watch the annual Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving football game. This is Brandon's favorite part of the day!

And if we didn't eat enough on Thanksgiving Day, we were at Brandon's parents the next day to eat even more. (We even got in our annual Thanksgiving football game that day.)

All in all, it has been a fulfilling last month....now let the holidays officially start!

The Happiest Place on Earth....Part 2

Disneyland was definitely the highlight of our trip. But on the days we didn't go to Disneyland, we still had a great time.

We went swimming....(why is it so fun as a child to go swimming at a hotel?)




We shopped at Downtown Disney. Braden just died when he saw all of the "Buzz Lightyear" and "Cars" items that were everywhere. He just started loading his hands, saying "I want dis and dis and dis........". He ended up getting Buzz Lightyear pjs. He wanted them on immediately - and didn't want to take them off....ever!

We went to see High School Musical 3 at a new theater across the street from Disneyland. The movie was great, because there was NO ONE ELSE IN THE THEATER! The kids thought we had bought out the show for them. They could talk, laugh, run around, and kick the seat in front of them as much as they would like. That is my kind of movie theater experience!




We also took a trip to the beach. Who can beat a day of basking in the hot California sun, while playing in the sand, and listen to the waves. Doesn't get much better than that! (We did have to convince our kids that there were NO SHARKS before they would get in the water).

We saw this in the sky the day before election day. Pretty cool.....



It says "Save Traditional Marriage".....a plane left this in its wake.


We had one more surprise on the last day of our trip.......



Oh, how I LOVE Wicked! I have seen it twice, and I wanted Brandon and the kids to see it. My kids love the music and know all the words (you should here Braden sing "Popular"), and are always asking when they can see the "real live play".

They loved every second. I stayed at the hotel with Braden and Ava while Brandon took them. I wish I could have seen their faces while they were watching it. Needless to say, they couldn't stop talking about it when they got home. (It did take 2 hours to drive there - when it was only 30 miles away....love California traffic).



And, I had to add in a collage of "Disneyland foods". Do you ever wonder why a churro, pickle, cotton candy, etc. just taste so much better in Disneyland? It is because you are paying gourmet prices....so they better be gourmet!



So, if you want a fabulous family vacation....head to Disneyland in November. It was definitely one we will always remember!