Quilts

One last thing that I want to mention. A month or two ago Dave and I decided that we wanted to make the kids quilts for Christmas. We didn't do much until a couple weeks ago I figured that I had better go buy the material. We didn't start tying the quilts until the week before Christmas, and I finished up sewing the last one Christmas Eve. The kids saw us making them and we told a white lie, that they were for two grandmas and a grandpa! :) They were really excited Christmas morning to know that they were actually for them! I am pretty proud of our hard work

Christmas 2008!

I set my alarm for 7:45 Christmas morning. I got up and the house was silent. I hurried and showered and got ready, as did Dave. By the time we were all ready, the kids were still asleep! Actually, Easton had just barely gotten up and was looking in his stocking. I had to wake the girls up. They were still in really deep sleeps and would have slept a while longer.

They were very excited to check out their stockings and begin opening presents. They were spoiled as usual. Santa's main gift to each was: a couple sets of Star Wars legos for Easton, and Easy Bake oven for Paisley, and a doll stroller for Avery. They also each got books, calendars, robes, clothes, etc. etc. Too much! :) Their favorite gifts that all 3 received was MP3 players. Even Avery got one. It is for kids called a Shaker. It doesn't require head phones, and you just twist the top to get to the next song. She carries it around all day and loves it.







After presents we went to my parents' house for breakfast and more presents. They of course got spoiled by grandma and grandpa, as did we.





That afternoon we went to my aunt and uncle's for lunch. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. We played a really fun game called the Curse of the Wolfen. (google it!) Anyway, soooo fun. We played several rounds of it.

Afterwards we went home and put the kids to bed. Then my brother and his wife and Dave and I played a while on Dave's Christmas present, Rock Band 2. Fun, fun!!

It really was a great day. Full of family and fun! Oh, and good food, what more can you ask for??

The next day I did breathe a sigh of relief. As much fun as Christmas is and as much as I really look forward to it, I still am relieved to have it over and go back to normal life.

Plus, only a week left til our cruise! YEA!!!

Christmas Eve

We always spend Christmas Eve with all of Dave's family. This year we all went to Dave's parents' house and had a great dinner, prime rib and potatoes! Yummy! Then we cleared dinner away.


Dave's Uncle Dennis was in town from Denver. He read The Night Before Christmas to all of the grand kids. They all listened very attentively, especially knowing that they were going to be opening presents next!

We always draw names for presents between the siblings and spouses and then also between the grand kids. So, starting with the youngest child, we each took a turn opening our present. Avery got a play guitar. She loved it. I told my sister-in-law that I will be paying her back for that toy! :) Paisley got a super cute outfit and a Princess-opoly game. Easton got Star Wars Clone Wars movie, and a bunch of Star Wars figurines.

I got a really nice present with pictures of the kids. I loved it!



And, Dave got a Denver Broncos Fathead!! Yea...Not! I mean, he was really happy, he has wanted one for a long time. I am just not very excited to have it on the walls in my house! :) Oh well! He was happy and that is all that matters!

We also give the kids pajamas and slippers on Christmas Eve. It was a great evening. It is a lot of fun to spend time at Dave's parents'. The kids were getting tired and so we took them home to bed. They saw a flashing red light in the sky on the way home and were absolutely sure that it was Rudolph. So they were very quick about getting to bed so that Santa could come.

The kids left out cookies and chocolate milk for Santa. They also left carrots for the reindeer. Easton left his own note for Santa:


I wrote Paisley's note for Santa, dictated by her:

Santa wrote notes back to each of the kids and they thought that that was really neat.

Christmas Eve Eve

On December 23rd we went to a party with all of my mom's extended family. They have been having this party since before my mom was born. So, every year we go have dinner with all of my great-grandma's children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We always eat and then have the most special guest, Santa, come and give the kids a present.

The kids really like being able to talk to Santa and tell him what they want. Avery wasn't scared of Santa at all, she just wanted her present! :) Easton got a basketball hoop to put over his bedroom door. Paisley got a Spirodoodle, and Avery got a little pull-and-say toy. They all had a lot of fun. It was good to spend time with family!

Family Pictures

On December 22nd, all of Dave's siblings and his parents met for family pictures. They turned out really nice. Unfortunately because of copyright issues I can not get one to post. We all wore cream. As we were waiting for others to get their pictures taken I took a few of my 3 cuties! Always a difficult task to try to get a good picture of all of them. They really looked cute that night, though!

Santa at Sub Zero!!

On December 19th, Paisley had a preschool field trip to an ice cream parlor called Sub Zero. I was able to go with her. The only bad thing was that it was at 9:30 a.m. A little early for ice cream I thought, but none of the preschoolers seemed to mind.


They got to watch the people make each of their ice creams.


Paisley got chocolate ice cream with bubble gum in it. To each their own, huh? She loved it.

Soon after everyone was finished, her teacher read them a story, and then what do you know? Santa came!! They were all very excited to see him. Paisley got to sit on his lap and get a candy cane. She asked him for a pair of ice skates. Hmmm...




Anyway, I was really glad that I was able to go with her. It was fun to have a girls' morning out. Thank you to Dave's mom for watching Avery!!!

Easton's Christmas program

I am way behind in my posting. I guess that I will be doing several posts tonight to catch up.

On December 18th, Easton had his Christmas program at school. They did the whole school's program in one night. Each grade sang a few songs. It started at 7:00. I knew that it was going to be a crowded night so I got to the school about 6:15. I was one of the first ones there, so I got seats on the front row. It filled up pretty quick. By the time that it started it was standing room only. It was packed! I am sure that next year they are going to split up the programs.

Luckily Easton is only in 1st grade, so we didn't have to stay long. We left after he was done. (After every performance some people would leave and others would take their spots. So, we weren't being rude to leave!) :) They sang a couple of really cute songs, my favorite being All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth! Very cute!! They did great and it was fun to go watch!


I told Dave that within the next couple of years we wouldn't be able to pay Easton to wear that hat! :) But, I am glad that at least for now he didn't mind! I thought they all looked cute! But, he kept making faces at me as I tried to take a picture of him. Typical Easton!! :)

Most Traditional

Friday night was our ward Christmas party/chili cook-off. So, I signed up to make chili. I talked to my friend in the ward and told her that I have a good recipe for chili, but that it is just normal chili, nothing fancy. I told her that if I win a category it will be for the most traditional.

Anyway, they had several categories, most spicy, most unique, best tasting, and most traditional.

Sure enough, I won for most traditional! I was pretty excited! I have never won (or entered) any cooking contests before and so I was glad to be recognized. :) They gave me an apron that said, "Most Traditional." There were lots of good competition there.



Santa Clause also attended our party. He came around to each table and talked to each child. He gave them each an orange, to go along with a story that was read about a Christmas orange. The kids loved that part!



All the primary children serenaded us with a couple of Christmas songs. Avery really wanted to go stand up with Easton and Paisley as they sang. I let her for a minute but then she became too much of a show off and she had to come sit down. :) And then it was over. Short and sweet. :) It was a fun little get together. It was good to visit with ward members, and oh so fun to win! :)

Do they make me look smart?

I don't often blog about just myself. But, today my new glasses came in! I have had one other pair of glasses, and they broke well over a year ago. I have missed them. I always wear contacts, but it will be nice to have a break from them now and again. So, here they are! I like them. Now, obviously I am no model. But, I am happy to finally have glasses! Yea for me!

Gingerbread House...Going, going, gone!!

I thought it would be fun to do a gingerbread house this year as a family. I found one in a kit at Sam's Club. It was a good deal, less than $10 with the house, frosting, and candy included. So, we decided to do it tonight.


The kids all got their aprons on and we were ready to go!

We got it together and it was a bit fragile, but me being the impatient person I am, decided to go ahead and let them start to decorate. About 1/2 way through, Easton added a candy to the seam at the top and for some reason the roof started coming down. So, it took a while, but we got it back together.



The kids had a great time decorating it. We tried to let Avery help, but she really wasn't any help, so she watched in her high chair while she ate marshmallows. :) Easton and Paisley did a really good job. I helped them here and there, too. When it was fully covered in candy, I decided to move it over to a less messy area to get a picture.



I decided that that wasn't enough for the pictures. I needed to get one with Easton, Paisley, and I. So I carefully picked it up and kneeled on the floor so the kids and I could take the picture. Right as Dave was ready to take it, half the roof fell off, right onto the ground.



I picked it up and tried to fix it, but pretty much the whole thing fell apart at that point. We just laughed. I mean, what else can you do? The kids laughed.



They had done the fun part already and so it didn't really hurt them that once it was done it fell apart. They did say that they had a lot of fun, though, and that is what matters! And, luckily, I got several pictures before it fell apart!

Wrestling is over

Easton has been in wrestling for a while now. He had about 6 matches. He finally won his first match on Tuesday. He wrestled so well! It was the best he had done ever. He was really aggressive and took control of the match. I was really proud of him. He was also very excited and proud of himself! : )



Then Friday night he had the big tournament with all the schools. There were so many people there. They had grades K-6 wrestling. And, within each grade there were several weight classes. Easton is in 1st and weighs 45 pounds. So, they started with kindergarten and went up through 6th for Round 1. Then Round 2 they did the same. Needless to say, it was a long time in between matches. And, to make it worse, Easton ended up with two byes. Then both of the matches he had he lost. But, he tried so hard and never gave up. I was so proud of him. I know that he was a bit disappointed on his first loss.



The second match he was able to wrestle a friend of his from his class in school. He was all smiles that match. He lost, but was happy for his friend and genuinely had a great time!

So, we were there 4 hours and he wrestled twice for a total of about 6 minutes! ;) Fortunately, Dave's mom watched the girls for us. She took them to McDonald's and let them watch a movie. So, that was nice for them and us. They wouldn't have had fun there and we wouldn't have had fun with them there probably! :) It was really nice to have some alone time with just our son. I am proud of him. He is ready to start a new season in February. He has the fever!!

Have you played this...

Yea, an oldie but definitely a goody. :)

Last night Dave and I played games with our good friends, Mike and Kalli. We really enjoy playing Ticket to Ride, another great game. (When the guys aren't cheating, but that's for another post.) But, last night they brought over Risk. Dave and Mike had both played, but not since like their missions, a long time ago. They were finally able to figure out/remember the rules and we played. Kalli and I were at a definite disadvantage. We had no clue as to what was good strategy and what wasn't. But, guess who won?? ME!! At one point in the game, I about strangled Dave. But, we joined forces a few times which really helped me out! Team work! I was able to take over Europe and Africa and held my own there for most the game and I finally took over South America and North America. We had to call it a game at that point because it was so late. But, it was evident that there was only a matter of time before I demolished Dave who was the only one standing at that point. That was fun!

I had never really had the desire to play that game before. I was pleasantly surprised. If you get a chance, play!! It will bring out the competitive side in you!

Decorating the tree

A few years ago my parents gave us their artificial tree. We put it up for a year or two and then I got sick of it. It was kind of a pain to put up and take down. Then I decided that I only wanted to get real trees from now on. After a couple years of that, I decided I wanted to go back to fake. I was tired of having to water it, only to have it dry up and then clean up the needles. Also, by Christmas it is usually so dry that I have to take it down the next day. Ideally I would like to keep it up until New Years. So, this year I was going to buy us a nice pre-lit tree. But, as money always is at this time of year, it is tight. So, I wasn't looking forward to having to spend a lot on a tree. I was telling this dilemma to my sister-in-law, Josie. She said that every year her family cuts their own trees. She offered to cut us one when they go. I just bought the permit, $10. Cheap! Just what I wanted!

They brought us a really cute tree. It is kind of sparse, but that is a given when you cut your own. But, I really liked our "Charlie Brown tree." So, Sunday night we began to decorate. I let the kids put on the ornaments. Somehow, the more decorations we got on it, the more Charlie Brown it became. By the time the kids were done, I couldn't bare to look at it anymore!! So, Dave went and dished them up some ice cream as a distraction and I tried to "fix" the tree. I basically took off all the decorations and attempted to space them out and make it look nice. But, a lot of my decorations are just too heavy for this little tree. So, we didn't end up using many of our decorations.







Bottom line, our little tree will not win any awards this year! :) But, I am sooo thankful for Dan and Josie and her family for getting this tree for us. Now that I look at the tree, it is cute. It is kind of fun not to have a perfectly shaped tree. It has personality! And, the kids had lots of fun decorating it. That is all that matters! They think it is the prettiest tree. It will be a fun memory for me!

Thank you again, Dan and Josie! That was sooo nice of you guys to offer to do that for us! You guys are so giving and kind and have done a lot for us this year. We appreciate it so much!