Sending Christmas Loves from us!

Hey ho! Hope your holidays were as memorable as ours have been. I have had fun seeing what everyone did in their homes (through blogs, of course!) and since we no longer make the long trek down to EC for Christmas, I thought I would post a little of our own fun. PS- we missed seeing lots of you! (sniff, sniff)

We made an attempt at visits. In fact, we actually made it to the Mower Christmas party in Eagle Mountain. It was great to get together with everyone, except for the fact that whenever I visit my sister-in-law's home, I come away wanting a new house.

Even Mike and Steph made it from Arizona! Loads of laughs that night! A few tears too. Then we headed down to Fairview and I'm sure from our history you can guess the rest. Our jinx has returned. Lukie and Jeff got sick and that ended the trip. It was a disappointing end for all of us, but especially for the kids. I was almost wishing we had just stayed home, but we were able to get in a really good visit with Jeff's parents, which we were very grateful for. Jeff's dad has recently been diagnosed with some formidable health problems, and I think being together is just what the doctor ordered. Not just for Jeff's dad, but for all of us.

So since the early end of our Utah trip, we had some time to kill before Christmas. Jeff took advantage of the opportunity and got some use out of those season passes to Bogus. The kids were stoked to try it again! Jeff decided Zack was ready to join the ranks this year. He's doing great! I have some cute footage- but it's too long. I'll have to edit it on my camera and post it later. (I love it!) I still hang out at home with the non-skiiers and be nervous until they come home.

Here goes Brookie-

There's Kobe- check out that form!

I didn't have a Lexie one, so I'll have to post one later. Here's Lucas putting dibbs on what pair he wants!

So Christmas came and was sort of a challenge. It is very against my personality to be elaborate in- well, anything I guess. No one notices this flaw when we are at someone elses home for a holiday, but when I alone am in charge of the whole Christmas Eve/ Christmas Day experience, I really have to try hard not to just pop open a can of Campbell's soup for dinner and send the kids to bed early. So I made a conscious effort to plan our time and do some special things; read the nativity, sing songs by Christmas tree lights, open special 'Christmas jammies'...

but the highlight of our Christmas Eve night once again was nothing of my own doing, but from the thoughtfulness of others. Just as we had changed into our jammies and were preparing for dessert, something loud pummelled the door. I thought we had been egged!!! ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!! We jumped up to open the door and there on the doorstep was a beautiful little manger filled with 'straw' (raffia :), homemade soup and bread, and a book. I'm sure you can imagine the kid's excitement- and my emotion! To make it worse, I sat the kids down and we read the story, 'The Last Straw' and it was so tender and touching I bawled through the whole last page. Of course the kids want to know why. Oh brother, what a baby I am. I look forward to the day my kids will understand why I can't read them a story out of the Friend magazine without getting a tissue.

The kids played with the manger all the rest of the night- putting Lukie in it and posing for pictures as Mary and Joseph. (see Lexie's veil?) What a perfect and fun way to help the kids think about that first Christmas night.

So, I knew immediately who the culprit was. No one makes soup and bread like my friend Polly. Oh! And she has a similar manger in her living room! ;) How blessed we are to have such great friends.

I can't wait to get my manger out next year. The idea in the book is to draw names and secretly do service for your 'secret family member' --and every time you do you add a piece of straw to the manger to make the bed softer for baby Jesus. So sweet! Such a good idea! I love you Polly!

Look Misty! I found a whole bunch of your socks at my house! Just kidding- Misty made my family's stockings last Christmas. Then this year she added a table runner to go with!! (yes also homemade!) They are my favorite Christmas decorations!

So Christmas Day came and went. I think for the most part- everyone was excited with their surprises, especially the grandparent gifts which always seem to be big winners. Jeff spoiled me- after we had decided our gift to each other was going to be our vacation we were taking right after Christmas. He's pulled that trick on me before and luckily I'd gotten him a few new shirts for a couple of bucks each at an Old Navy sale. Hopefully he won't compare price tags.

My pictures of Christmas Day were actually pretty sparse. I did manage to pull off the turkey dinner which- while I was making it I kept thinking, "This is WAY too much work for this many people! What am I thinking!" But the kids were so complimentary of everything (quite unexpected) that it made it all worthwhile. The biggest hit was the cubed, multi-colored, jello salad! YUM! Any of my fam remember that one?! The kids are still talking about it!

I know it's late to be saying this, but I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! We are so blessed to have family and friends who make our lives so full and complete. We love you. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go grab another tissue.

More San Rafeal

Check out this amazing Indian Pictograph/Petroglyph panel! How super-cool is that!

This is an Allosaurus footprint- you just pull right off the road and there it is!!! In the middle of nowhere! Amazing!!!! (EC is mega dinosaur country)

More of the Indian drawings...

They are even cooler in person. Our last stop was the old swinging bridge. Haven't bummed pics of that one off dad yet.

Happy Thanksgiving all!!

Yes, another memorable Thanksgiving has passed us by, and look at all I have to be thankful for!

Lexie was so thrilled there was a horse down there to ride- (I am just thankful it behaved itself)

I'm thankful for the memories I have of building the pasture fence with my dad that you can see in the background. He shared my childhood passion for horses and I am so grateful for all those times he took me riding... Look, its my old riding saddle! :)

It has been a while since we got all of the brothers and sisters together. What a good time we have when we get together! Hmmm- these pictures could give somewhat the wrong idea of what our family is really like... or are we really this odd?

It didn't take long before Moydie was giving Misty wierd looks...

But don't worry, Melissa was there to stick up for her.

Yeah, she takes family offences very seriously.

I didn't get a very good pic of the food and table- it was beautiful! I sorta got the kid table here- Lexie looking cute (and that is Matthew behind the paper).

Lexie made a place marker for everyone. They turned out awesome! Way to go Lexie!

Poor Addy had a fever :( we hope she is back feeling chipper!

Payter doing her lovely pose with her turkey...

I wanted to get Lukie, Addy, and Becca all in one shot- (maybe I should've kept trying, Addy only got one eye in)

Don't you LOVE seeing the guys in the kitchen?! Is was a little hard on my ego to find my brother in law can make a better pie than I can- and he does killer mashed potatoes.

Thankful for brotherly love!

Lukie wouldn't cooperate so I could take his picture with Grandma, but then this was the only picture I ended up with Grandma in it, so I thought I would put it on anyway. I was so glad to get to spend some time with her. What a special lady she is.

Here's dad killing- I mean carving the turkey

Karen doing finishing touches

The day after Thanksgiving a few of us were able to take a day trip on the desert
to see some of the awesome stuff EC has to offer. I love our desert. It is incredibly beautiful. This was our first stop, The Wedge. I have never been to the Grand Canyon, but that is what I would want to compare this amazing view to. I thought it was spectacular!

We only took Kobe, Brooklyn and Zack, so we made sure to divide up the kids and stick to them like glue. It is a long way down.

My camera battery died, so luckily my dad's got my back and he is going to send me the pictures of the other places we went on our little excursion :)

to be continued...

Yeah, we're still here-

I know it has been awhile... The bad thing about being too busy to post, is that when you do finally get around to it you are very far behind. Once again, I am playing catch-up post. At least I am in the mood to veg tonight- all my friends are at New Moon (I waited too late to get my ticket) and Jeff and Kobe are overnight winter Scout camping again. So, since I have nothing better to do, here I go!

October was somewhat of a crazy month, and I will blame it all on soccer. The worst part is there is no end in sight. Kobe has moved on to the traveling team, which involves more practices and of course, traveling different places to games. Since Jeff coached Zack and Brooklyn's teams, this meant I took him by myself if we had conflicting game times, which ended up being about half the time. I am amazed how much I get into Kobe's games. They are really fun to watch.

So now that soccer is over... oh- just kidding! Soccer no longer 'gets over'! We simply have moved on to 'indoor'. At least it is only one practice a week. Which is a good thing because basketball has now began. (I know, I know)

Inspite of how good I usually am at action photography, I wasn't able to get any better shots than this. Sorry bud.

I guess that wasn't entirely true to say soccer wasn't over- it has wrapped up for Zack and Brookie. Phew! Look! This year Zack actually kicked the ball! The light must have finally came on! :)

October is boy birthday month for us. We do friend parties on odd years, which I am thinking I may need to revise that rule since everyone hits them on the same year (It's a killer).

Zack turned 5 and got his first big party. He wanted an army themed party, which I was slightly concerned about since all his friends seem to be girls. Luckily because of soccer we were able to scrounge up a few boys to invite, and the girls were very good sports- though a few of them did refuse to take home their super-cool army helmets.

Happy B-day buddy!

Next up in the birthday line was Kobe. His party was WAY easier than Zacks- I didn't have to do much entertaining, he just wanted a bunch of his buddies over to play football. I turned Jeff loose on that one. I would make a crummy quarterback.

What a bunch of wackos! I think they all had fun, but what shocked me is that the last 20 minutes Kobe talked me into letting them play Super Smash Bros on the N64 while they ate cake and waited for parents, and get this- only like 2 boys would come into the kitchen for cake and ice cream. Those video games are tough competition, but 9 year old boys passing up on sweets???? I don't get it!

So my brother-in-law Nate saved Kobe's cake- I was dry on ideas and he helped me do a quick cake for the party. Too bad I didn't get it's pic quicker- the cool whip in the frosting made the food coloring run and you don't get the full 'awesomeness' effect. He even melted candles together to make the goal posts. (brilliant!)

My sister Misty and her family came up to visit in the midst of the birthday stuff. They are schooling at the U and Jeff said if they were careful not to wear red they were welcome in our home. (just kidding!) I LOVE it when people like me enough to come visit me. I have way too much fun with those guys.

I was most excited because Misty promised to tell us what the sex of her baby was when she got here, but we had to play her little game. (funny, I'm glad she's around to remind me of what it's like to be young and cute) So, she made two kinds of cupcakes- and you picked pink or blue depending on what you thought the baby would be. As soon as you take a bite you know whether you were right- and I am not a very good guesser. Bleeck. I should've gone with the pink. I am so excited for her arrival!!!

My parents also made the trip up, and made it just in time for Kobe's party. We had such a fun weekend with everyone, and m&d even got to stay until the next wednesday, which is actually when Jeff's parents came to stay for the rest of the week until Friday when we headed down to our niece's wedding in Utah!!! What a mouthful! I love when our parents come to stay. I need to figure out a way to spread out their visits a little- they don't come very often, but for some reason it always seems to fall on the same week!!!! We get a big dose, and then we are lonely again. Thanks everyone who came up. We sure loved the time we spent with each of you.

Here are some cute pics of Brooklyn's soccer party-

She was super excited to get a trophy!

On to Halloween...

I couldn't get all of my kids together for a group picture- this is the closest I got. Although I do love seeing the kids all cute in their costumes, I must admit that I dread Halloween somewhat. Expensive, cold, hassle, too much candy, wrappers everywhere for weeks, ect. I never can figure out why we go to so much trouble to get the kids so much candy, when we really don't even want them to have that much. Now I will hop off my soap box and say that it really wasn't too bad this year, thanks to the weather, friends lending me costumes, and kids eating the candy REALLY fast. Most of my kids are pretty content to dig through the costume box and be whatever- Luke was a lion, Payter was a pumpkin (I think everyone has been that at least one year), Zack was a Power Ranger, Brooklyn was a spider princess (a modge podge of a witch costume, jedi cape, and spiders in ratty hair), and Kobe was a karate guy. Boys are so easy.

Lexie was the only one who really threw me for a loop- she decided she wanted to be Malificent off of Sleeping Beauty. I confess I tried to talk her out of it. I had NEVER seen a costume for it and wasn't willing to spend $$ on it anyway, so she researched her options and came up with a rocking costume!! We borrowed the cool capes, covered PVC and a tennis ball w/ tin foil for the staff, and the horns are paper mache that she mostly did herself. It turned out so much better than I thought it would. Way to stick to your guns, Lexie, even if your mom is a pessimist.

The annual candy swap

Any of you ramen fans?

If you have stuck with me this long, you are a true friend (or you have a lot of time on your hands). I'm sorry to say that is my last picture, and I still have the urge to type. Sorry.

I guess I am really proud of this next part. I would like to let you know that you CAN teach a middle-aged dog new tricks. Despite my doubts of overcoming the debilitating personality trait of procrastination, I would like you all to know that I am nearly all done with my Christmas shopping. I mean done and wrapped! For 6 kids! I even have my white elephant gifts for the Mower Christmas party all ready in a bag!

I am one of those who usually does all this the week before Christmas, finishes on the 23rd, and wraps on Christmas Eve night. I can't believe I actually followed through on my vows to 'not do that to myself next year'! No stress for me this year! My hope is to be able to focus on the spirit of the season and have time for all those wonderful little extras that I usually miss out on from lack of time. I can't wait!

So I guess that is why this month has been a little extra busy busy. I hope things are going as well for all of you as they have been for us.

I can't wait to see many of you for Thanksgiving!!