Merry Christmas!

HO HO HO! Looks like everyone was on Santa's GOOD list this year!


Stunt Psychos, ZhuZhu pets, Makeup and Phones! Wow! Santa is sure a nice guy!

It was a very busy morning that extended into an all day event with the kids playing with their new things until I forced them into bed late at night!




We had a wonderful Christmas and we hope everyone else had a wonderful one too!

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve party! Lots of food, family, friends, laughter, and visiting!



The kids thought it would be great fun to steal Uncle Dustin's hat and sunglasses.. then dog pile on top of him!


After we stuffed ourselves, the kids had their gift exchange between each other. They received things from jewelry, to bockagons and earphones, to movies from each other. Then they received the classic board games from grandma.. so much fun!

For Cameron, my little brother, this ended up being a pretty awesome Christmas! We saved his for last!




When Cameron first unwrapped the box, it was filled with coal! He was smiling and then he noticed the keys! He was shocked! He jumped up and gave our mom the most heartfelt hug before he ran out to see his new car..it was really sweet. He was still in shock when he walked out to look at his new car. John had the windows tinted and put in a sweet stereo system that really thumps! Just what every teenage boy needs! Merry Christmas Cameron!

We normally end our evening with the gift exchange but this year, we decided to add the nativity story. I don't know why we haven't done this before. I'm amazed as to how many people have never heard the story of our Saviors birth. Our kids did a great job of bringing it to life this wonderful night. With Carson as Joseph and Charlize as Mary. Breanna as the angel. Danielle, Makayla, and Mason were the sheep with Siarah as the shepherd. Eric, Brayden, and Philip were the wise men. Wyatt was our baby Jesus! Body cast and all.. he was a good sport!




Merry Christmas Everyone!

'Twas the Night Before Our Savior Came'

'Twas the night before our Savior came and all through the house
Not a creature was praying, not one in the house.
Their scriptures were lain on the shelf without care
In hopes that our Savior would not come there.

The children were dressing to crawl into bed.
Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head.
And Mom in her rocker with baby on her lap
Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.

When out of the East there arose such a clatter.
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash!

When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But angels problaiming that our Savior was here.
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray
I knew in a moment this must be the day!

The light of His face made me cover my head
It was our Savior returning just like He had said.
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth,
I cried when I saw Him in spite of myself.

In the Book of Life which He held in His hand
Was written the name of every saved man.
He spoke not a word a He searched for my name;
Then He said "it's not here" and my head hung in shame.

The people whose names had been written with love
He gathered to take to His Father above.
With those who were ready He rose without a sound.
While all the rest were left standing around.

I fell to my knees, but it was too late;
I had waited too long and thus sealed my fate.
I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight;
"Oh, if only I had been ready tonight."

In the words of this poem the meaning is clear;
The coming of our Savior is drawing near.
There's only one life and when comes the last call
We'll find that the scriptures were true after all!

So, here is my little buddy Carson and my dad. On Wednesday, the day before Christmas Eve, Carson and I were having a hard time. We were remembering my dad, and Carson began to sob. So, the only thing I could think of to help him was to tell him that we would go out to the cemetary and bring grandpa a little bit of Christmas. He and I sobbed and hugged for a few minutes and then we set out to do just that. Makayla, Brayden, Carson, and I grabbed some garland from the house and some bows and drove to the cemetary. We wrapped his head stone with some garland and each of the kids put a bow on for him. Then we sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!" This helped them and me.
This holiday season has been hard, but as I have thought about the many memmories that I have of my dad, I have been comforted and I hope as I have shared the kids' memmories with them, that they have felt that comfort too. My dad was a very special guy to all of us and I know that he is spending a very special Christmas with our Savior! We love you Dad!

Family Fun Night

Where did the year go?? Christmas is fast approaching.. this is my most favorite time of the whole year. I love the snow falling and baking goodies for neighbors and friends. Stringing lights and drinking hot chocolate, running here and there getting ready for parties. Its busy and exciting. But the best part about christmas is the celebration of our savior and spending time with our families. For family night last monday, we made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers.



We had a great time together laughing and chatting. Of course we also had fun smearing frosting in each others faces! All great family food fun must come to an end in a food fight!



I will be looking forward to our next family night of baking goodies for all our friends and neighbors! Tis the season to love, serve, and give!



The finished product of our eventful night!

Halloween

I am way behind! We had a great halloween party! I tried to make a mummy and instead, it turned out looking like some sort of alien with big beady orange eyes.. wish I had a picture to show but somehow I lost the one I took. We had lots of creepy food like scattered brains, frankenfingers, and bat wings.. with tombstone cake and monster munch for dessert..pretty tasty.


After dinner, the kids had a contest to see who could unearth the bones and reassemble the skeleton the quickest.. winning gummy body parts for a prize! They had so much fun. They also got to play csi detectives when count dracula was scattered all over the road and they had to figure out what the smashed up body parts were.. they identified an eyeball, some scattered brains, his cold stone heart, a couple bones, his sharp fangs, and his tongue! Grouse!!


We had good food, great costumes, fun games and a ton of chaos! What a blast! Thanks to everyone who came and made the night a success!



SCARY!! My little Vampire and Vampire Cheerleader!


The after party entertainment! Siarah, Danielle, and Carson are dancing!



While trick or treating on Halloween night, we came across a house that had this cool Skeleton hot roddin on this sweet street bike. Carson wanted to take his picture with it and the guy who owned the house sat him on the bike. Rock on dude!

Fun at the Fair!

It's that time of year again.. time for food, fun, family, games, and rides!! Of course, it's all at the Blackfoot fair!




I love the fair. The kids had a blast! They rode everything they could all day long and still weren't ready to leave at the end of the day!:) I had a great time with them and it was sure nice to spend the day with my husband.


We also had a great time with our adopted daughter, Maria, her mom Yinking, and her niece Camille. Thanks for coming and hanging out with us!

Welcome home Jessica! We are so excited to have Jess come home from South Carolina. She's been away for 3 long months! The kids are stoked and we can't wait for all the fun we are going to have while she is here! Love ya tons!

Today is a very special day. Brayden was baptized this morning by his brother-in-law, John. He was so excited to receive his very own set of scriptures with his name engraved on them.


Brayden is a sweet little guy who just has a happy-go-lucky presence about him that you can't help smiling at. I am so proud of him for making the choice to be baptized and I'm feeling very grateful to have the gospel present in our lives. We are incredibly blessed with the knowledge of knowing the plan that was set out for us and knowing how it works and what we have to strive to do to make it complete. I want Brayden to know that he is a special boy who is loved and supported and will be very blessed because of his choice today. I love him tons and hope he keeps that beaming smile that brightens everyones day!

Well, all good things must come to an end.. in exhaustion. Carson had an awesome 2nd day at school, but it was his first full day and he is just tuckered out. He fell asleep on his big red bull dog that he won at lagoon this summer. He came home and was so excited shouting "Mom, I got to count to 100. Guess how many times? 10 times!" I was cracking up. This is truly going to be a fun year!

Back to School

Well, it seems like summer was such a whirl wind and now here we are.. going back to school. Makayla,Carson, and Brayden are pretty excited!


Here's my little rock star! Makayla just started 2nd grade at a new school. She's very outgoing and cheerful so I'm not too worried about her making new friends. In fact, we found out she already has one friend in her class from her last school. I've been so amazed at how much she learns each new day. It's really fun to see the excitement in her eyes as she comes home and tells me all about what she got to do and when she sits down to read me a book, my heart just melts. She's going to do awesome this year! I love that little angel of mine.


Carson is my youngest and is starting kindergarten. I thought I was going to have a super hard time when I walked him in on his first day.. but I was so excited for him that I was just fine. However, today, only his 2nd day, when I watched them ride their bikes to school, lock them up, and then Carson just walked away with the rest of the kids.. I got all teary eyed. My baby is growing up. He's trying to be just as independent as Makayla and that's a little harder to choke down because he's my youngest. He's also completely opposite from her. He is my shy, sensitive little guy and makayla doesn't have a shy bone in her body! :) I love him to pieces. I can't wait to be amazed by how much progress he makes throughout the year. He's going to do great!

Happy 4th of July!

Today, we have taken our kids to the parade and had our faces painted and just enjoyed each other. Tonight, we will celebrate with friends, family, fireworks and food! We celebrate our freedom today and give many thanks to those who have served our country and are serving now, fighting to preserve our freedoms. We give thanks to those families who have had to make the sacrifice of having a loved one out there serving our country. We are very blessed. Hope everybody has a Happy and safe 4th of July!
The Parade
Here's a bicycle dude jumping over a kid out of the crowd! Crazy!


This is a sweet, restored old car!


The kids are patiently waiting for some candy.. but they didn't throw out a whole bunch!




Danielle and Makayla with their faces painted... adorable aren't they?!