Calendar 2010

I was able to do calendars again this year (although I haven't ever gotten them done this late in the Christmas season before) and I gave myself carpal tunnel doing them (which I hope will stop at the end of this pregnancy). I did 8 of these bad boys!

They are always fun though! These pictures are from my parent's calendar, which I had to send right after Thanksgiving so that it would arrive in Moscow by Christmas. Enjoy!

The North Pole Express

For the last few years, I have wanted to take the kids on a "Polar Express" train ride at Christmas time. They are at great ages for it and this year, we decided to do it. We had planned on taking the kids to Disneyland right after Thanksgiving, but decided we just didn't have enough money to do it, but told them that we'd do a couple of extra special things instead. A train ride to the North Pole was perfect!

My sister-in-law, Candy, was sweet enough to get us 4 free tickets from her work, so we only needed to buy 2. We drove up to Heber, Utah on the night of the ride. The kids wore their pajamas and loved riding on the train.

The train ride started and they gave all the kids a name tag and then a cookie with hot chocolate. The train made it's way down the track about 30 minutes, while someone told us about the train, told jokes, etc. Mrs. Claus rode in our car and was a cute, sweet Mrs. Claus. As we approached the "North Pole," they told the kids to look out the side of the car. Jon had taken Jack & Kate to the bathroom, but Emily, Lindsey & Hannah were able to see Santa (who was standing in the sage brush), waving as we approached.

We stopped at the North Pole, long enough for Santa to get on and for the train to move it's engine to the other end and pull us back. The kids got to talk to Santa and tell them what they wanted and then got a little wooden top from his bag. We sang Christmas songs on the way back and the kids had a great time.

The snow storm that was coming held off until later that night, so Jon was able to get to work for his overnight shift. We had a great, magical time! Thank you again Candy for the wonderful treat!

Christmas dance shows

A week and a half ago, Kate, Lindsey, & Emily had their Christmas dance shows. I was really lucky that this fell on the weekend of the month that Jon has off, otherwise, I don't know how we would have done it. On Saturday, Kate had dress rehearsal from 10:00 a.m. to noon. I drove her home and then picked up Emily & Lindsey for their dress rehearsal from 12:45 to 3:00 p.m. I then had to be back with Kate at 4:45 and then she danced in the 5:30 and 7:30 shows. Jon brought the kids for the 7:30 show and my brother Mike came as well.

Kate was so excited for the chance to finally wear her costume (we only let her wear it for the show because she'll have a spring show too in the same costume, and if it gets ruined they won't let her dance). They danced to "I'm Giving Love for Christmas." I think it's a song from a Beauty & the Beast Christmas. She was did great and held up really well, considering how long her day was. Great job Kate!

This picture cracks me up because she posed herself and I love her legs.

Sorry for the blur...she's the glowing blonde in the middle (4th one from the left)

Then, on Monday night, Emily & Lindsey had their dance show. The three of us went to the school about 4:00 so that we could get in line for good seats. Jon brought the little kids for the 5:30 show, but didn't get there in time to find where I was, so we just watched it seperately. The girls did great and had a lot of fun with their dance..."Christmas Time's a Comin'..." Way to go girls!

Both girls are on the front row - Lindsey is the 2nd from the right and Emily is the 4th from the right.

Gingerbread Houses

A couple of weeks ago, Jon's brother, Bob & his wife, Debbie invited us over to decorate cookies and gingerbread houses. For years, they have done something special for us or sent us special Christmas surprises in the mail. The kids have loved it and this year Debbie had the fun idea of decorating houses and cookies.

The kids (and us) had a wonderful time! I was amazed at the time and thought she put into it and we loved every minute of it. Uncle Tom came too and was the master of getting the houses to stay up. Thank you so much again Debbie and Bob for the super fun Christmas activity!

Tom helping glue Jack's house

Hannah was perfectly content to frost one cookie over and over.

Lindsey, Caleb, Emily, Jack, Kate & Hannah

12 Years!

I can't believe that it's been 12 years since this guy & I got married!! Wow! What a great 12 years it has been! I can't imagine my life without him and love him more and more every day!

Kate's morning comments

Kate had a morning off today. No preschool and no dance. So, her and I (along with Hannah) decided our time was best spent at the kitchen table working on crafts. She and Hannah were trying so hard to get glitter glue to come out of the bottle. When Kate realized that Hannah had left a lid off she said "Hannah! Before you go to college, you need to learn to put the lids back on."

A few minutes later, her Uncle Tom came upstairs to eat a bowl of cereal. She said to him, "Tom, I like boy toys." When he responded with "Oh." She replied "Yeah, I'm a fan of boys."

Thanksgiving Celebrations

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend (and week before!). As the holiday approached, I dreaded it a little bit though. With my parents being gone, I knew the bulk of the weekend would be on me and I was hoping that I could do it in a way that our family felt like not much has changed. My parents were missed terribly, but I think we all had a great time!

The Friday before Thanksgiving, the PTA put on a turkey trot. Lindsey & Jack were both pretty sure they could beat the entire 3rd and 1st grades to bring home a turkey. Emily was just happy to participate. The race was a bit chaotic (as I literally watched several children knocked to the ground). Jack's race was first and he was so excited. I knew he rushed as fast as he could through lunch so that he would be sure to not miss it. He had a little indian headband on and once the race started, it flew off. He turned around and went and got it and race his little heart out. He didn't win a turkey, but as you can see by the pictures, he loved it.

Lindsey's race came a few minutes later and she was a speed demon. She started near the end, but I watched her pass person after person. I could tell there was 1 girl in front of her that had a commanding lead and then Lindsey started walking. I was all the way across the field, or I would have yelled at her to keep going. She ran again at the very end and finished. But then....she found out that each class had a girl and boy winner. The other girl she saw ahead of her was not in her class and that is why she started running. She cried and cried and cried when she realized that she would have won a turkey had she only kept running. Ah, you live and you learn!

(Lindsey almost at the finish line..I haven't showed her this picture yet, but this is the little girl from her class that won. She passed Lindsey after she had been walking a little while).

On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, we had been invited up to Betty & Marc Mortensen's home. Betty & Marc are my sister's in-laws and they have been so kind to us. We just love them and think so highly of them. They were going to be out of town for Thanksgiving, so we had a "Pre-Thanksgiving feast." Their home smelled soooo good and the kids had a wonderful time playing with their grandchildren. It meant so much to us to be invited to someone's home and fed such a wonderful meal.

Hannah & Kate playing with toys

Becky & Hannah

The adult table

The kids playing Guitar Hero. I didn't realize this, but my sister is an expert Guitar Hero player. Like usual, good at everything she does!


The day before Thanksgiving, we spent the morning shopping and then Jon & I made pies all afternoon. He loves to do it and is such a good pie maker. Then, on Thursday, we got up early and started cooking! We cooked a turkey, stuffing, creamed corn, mashed potatoes & gravy, creamy cranberry salad and raspberry Jell-O salad. We had our dinner at my parent's ward building and it was a huge success. All the food was so tasty! It was wonderful to be with aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sister & friends!

Jon & Tom in the kitchen! These 2 are the reason it all worked out! They were great!

Uncle Bruce carving his turkey

John M. carving a turkey!


I was horrible about taking pictures the rest of the weekend, but we had most everyone from dinner come over to our house that night for more yummy food and games. Friday was spent getting Emily & Lindsey up at 3 to go Black Friday shopping with Candy (they were soooo excited!), putting up Christmas decorations and then going to the Cowden's house for yummy food and games again. Nice, nice day!

On Saturday, we went shopping at Rod Works and to lunch at Crown Burger with Aunt Claudia & Uncle Bruce. Again, wonderfully fun! And then Sunday was Baby Lucy's blessing and a huge snow storm!

It was a wonderful weekend, full of wonderful company and wonderful blessings!

This is an icicle that was by our front door. I had never seen one that went both up and down and side to side.

The kids got Christmas quilts out on Thanksgiving night and this was Kate's new one this year. I finished it just a day or two before Thanksgiving!

Raking Leaves at Grandma's

In the middle of November, we were all in need of a trip to Oregon to visit Jon's parents. It was such a nice break from work, school, soccer, PTA, housework, etc. and we had a wonderful time. I was horrible about taking pictures, but I did take some of our leaf raking experience.

We were happy to get all the leaves raked up so that the yard would be ready for winter and had told the girls they could earn one of their Faith in God requirements by doing it. It's funny to see the different personalities of our children come out in a family work project.

It was cold and kind of wet, so we didn't let Hannah stay out for very long. Kate was out for a few minutes and was then inside happily playing with toys. Jack worked pretty hard, but was done after the backyard and went inside. Lindsey complained most of the time and finally talked us into letting her "babysit" for her part of the service project. Emily, on the other hand, lasted the entire time with Jon & I. We did both the front & back, which probably took us 2 hours and was probably the equivalent of 20 tarps full of leaves. There were so many, but we were happy to have done it and then treated ourselves to burgers & fries (and icecream!) at the Cove Drive-in!