WELCOME 2009!

I don't know what is coming. Will we survive another child? Will Kate start talking? Will Jared get his dream job or be stuck teaching another year of TV West? Will our house ever be finished? I don't really know or care.  I'm finally getting to a point in life were the unknown doesn't scare me. I know everything with turn out just as it should.  I have my family and the gospel of Jesus Christ, what more could I want. Each year I ask, "can life get better than this", we are so blessed.  We send our love and best wishes to all of you this new year.  

Holiday Highlights

We had a great Christmas and Holiday Break. Here are some of my favorite things...

BRUNCH WITH SANTA:

I wasn't sure I could do the party this year it just seamed like to much, but after my kids kept talking about it like it was going to happen I decided I couldn't let the tradition go. Everything turned out great and I loved having more space for all those kids. Luckily our basement was finished a couple days before the party. I love seeing all my friends I don't ever see.

SPENDING TIME WITH THE COX FAMILY:

We don't see Jared's sister and her family enough.  As you can see my kids love every minute with their cousins.

SKATING WITH SANTA:

Luckily my kids have great aunts and uncles to help on the ice. Jared can't skate because of his leg and I tried skating while pregnant with Kate (not worth it).  Grayson and Lydia had a great time but I was shocked at how much Kate loved it.  We cheated and just let Kate slide on the ice in her boots. She couldn't get enough of the ice.

ACTING OUT THE NATIVITY CHRISTMAS EVE: Always a favorite. It wasn't the same though with out Max attacking everyone like last year.

HAVING TAMI STAY WITH ME: I don't know what I'll do when the Kamerath's don't come home for Christmas or decide our house is too crazy.

KATE'S POPEYE SMILE: Kate picked up this funny Popeye smile for all of her Christmas and Christmas Eve pictures.

SEEING WAY TOO MUCH OF JOEY IN HIS ONE PIECE PJ's

MY JEDI KNIGHTS: I made these robes for the boys. I was so proud of me. I made them without a pattern and no measurements. I didn't want the boys to know I was making them, so it was a Christmas miracle they fit perfectly.  

FUNNY COMMENTS:

I can't remember all the funny things my kids said over the Holidays, but Grayson told us he was getting a Transformer because it was what he "ordered".   

Lydia on the other hand got just what she had wished for.

One of our 12 days of Christmas Presents was the Santa Clause Movies with Tim Allen.  After watching the show a few times Lydia was convinced that my Dad was Santa.  She's been calling him Santa ever since and asking him the funniest questions. I thought it would go away but as of yesterday he is still Santa and not Papa Jerry.

A VACATION AT HOME:

Jared had two weeks off. It was soooooo nice to have him home. He was nice enough to take on all six of mine and Tami's kids a few times so we could get away.  He cleaned moved a lot of stuff around for parties without any complaints.  Usually when we have blocks of time off and nothing going on we take off for St. George. I am so glad that we didn't do that after New Years instead we just hung around watching movies, playing the Wii, taking naps, and being together as a family. I don't think I went anywhere or showered for three days. It was great. 

Grayson's girlfriend

So Grayson has a little girlfriend at school. When he first told me I thought it was cute. Then he started talking about her everyday. Then came this conversation. "Mom, today Sarah gave me a pres.... never mind (present)." Grayson likes to say he has a present for me and  then give me a hug and kiss, so I knew where this was going.  So I asked, "did she give you a hug?" 

"yes."

"Did she give you a kiss?"

"yes."

"Where?"

He then points to his mouth. 

"On the lips?"

"Yes."

"Did you like it?"

"Yes."

So now this changes everything.  Luckily we had this conversation on our way to have lunch with Jared. I told Jared to deal with it. Jared told him he couldn't kiss girls on the lips that were his age. I was thinking great so he can kiss all the seven and five year olds he wants. Grayson agreed and told us the next day that he kissed Sarah on the hand instead of the lips. 

I know most kids have harmless boyfriends and girlfriends at this age but I didn't want him obsessing over some girl at school and forgetting about all his guy friends.  Everyday he would talk endlessly about this Sarah it was really annoying. 

A couple weeks later Sarah had a birthday and invited Grayson. It was again all he talked about all week counting down the days and hours till he could go.  It was a drop off party so who knows what happened. When I picked him up he told me that he and Sarah kept hiding so they could kiss. He told me "We didn't want anyone to see us." I can't believe I am dealing with this.  

Things have slowed down the last couple of weeks he started talking about Sarah less and less. He hasn't talked about her in a few days. I did ask him if Sarah was still his girlfriend and he said yes. I hoping he has moved onto playing superheroes with his guy friends again.

His teacher sent this picture home from school the other day. I hope they aren't like this all day at school.

 

Celebrating Christmas!

GETTING OUR TREE

Last week we finally got our tree. It was an interesting experience. There was fresh powder on the mountain side, so I wasn't able to climb up and pick the tree. Instead I stood at the bottom yelling back and forth with Jared. Apparently all  the trees I wanted were way to big. In the end we just picked one close to the bottom,so we could get out of Schuster before dark. 

Shelly was so nice to care for the kids who were freezing to death.

When got home Jared and I had a little argument on weather to trim the top or bottom of the tree off. I decided to compromise and let him cut the bottom  off.  When he brought what was left of the tree in we both started laughing. It was the tallest charlie brown tree you'd ever seen. Luckily we got Jared's mom a tree as well. So we switched her and I didn't have to cry because Jared ruined my tree.  The other tree was a little skinny as well, but still looks pretty when all is said and done.  Next maybe we'll actually pick our tree in the fall, so we don't have as many problems. 

THE NUTCRACKER

I've been waiting for years for Lydia to be old enough to go to the nutcracker.  She did really well. She only got restless at the end, when she started saying "this is boring," over and over again.  We all enjoyed a fun snowy afternoon to lunch and the theater.

CHOCOLATES!

This last week was chocolate week. We had a lot of fun this year making chocolates until the last day when we were all sick of chocolate and annoyed with each other. We also really missed having Tami with us. She dipped all of her chocolates after Thanksgiving before heading back to Georgia. It just wasn't the same without her. Hopefully next year we can work it out so we can do them all together.

This is what Kate looked like the whole week every morning I wondered weather it was worth it to put her in clean clothes.  We gave her one bite of chocolate on the first day and she spent the rest of the week crying for more. As you can see we gave in more than we should have. She's been on detox since we finished. 

Lydia loved doing her Christmas program at school. I love that her school puts on an old fashioned school program.  I love that she goes to a private school where they can not only say the word Christmas but sing songs like Silent Night. How refreshing. She did a great job learning her lines and singing all the songs.

SANTA:

I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of this guy this year.  We've already seen him twice and I know we'll see him a few more times before Christmas. Kate wasn't a big fan as you can see.

Getting ready for Christmas!

I've always been really good about not celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving, and have even been annoyed with those who do.  But this year has been different for me for many reasons.

First, Thanksgivings in general have been difficult since my father-in-law died the night before Thanksgiving a few years ago.  

Second, I have found myself listen to Christmas music over the radio,because it's the only thing uplifting on the radio. I usually listen to a lot of news and talk radio, a spend the rest of the day depressed about what I am hearing. 

Third, I finally started my Christmas projects before Thanksgiving. Our family has a tradition on giving homemade gifts.  It started when I was in High School and our family visited Orchard House, home of Louisa May Alcott while on vacation in New England. During the tour they talked about how instead of giving bought gifts the sisters would give each other homemade gifts or did special things for each other and how much more meaningful it was. After that my mom somehow talked us all into starting this new tradition.  We've had some better years than others.  The first year we did this, my dad wanting to set a good example, traveled to Layton every spare minute he  had to make a special present for each of us in his uncles workshop.  I remember a lot of tears that year as we all felt my Fathers love for us in his gifts.  Since then we have had many memorable Christmas mornings, full of tears and love. Not all the presents are good, memorable or even finished, but even a letter seems to be more meaningful than a store bought gift. My favorite part of the tradition is that I find myself more excited on Christmas Eve to give my gifts than I am to see what I am getting. Every year I tell myself that I am going to start my projects early so I can enjoy Christmas instead of stressing myself out.  It isn't easy completing a present for all of my sibling and spouses.  This year I finally did it. Yesterday I finished my presents for all the girls. The boys will have to wait till after Thanksgiving, but at least I've started them. 

Back to my original thoughts, working on my presents has really got me into the Christmas spirit. Especially because I told myself it was okay to listen to Christmas music while making my presents.  

I feel like a little kid looking forward to all our Christmas traditions.

- Waking up way to early to shop on black friday.

- Putting up the many Santa's I've collected over the years from the DI.

- Spending a week with my mom and sisters in our chocolate factory, and making myself sick from eating way to many mint truffles and rum balls.

- Cutting down a tree a Schuster Creek.

- Hearing my kids sing carols.

- Drinking eggnog. 

- Opening up the twelve days of Christmas.

- Lots of family parties, and staying up way to late playing games.

- Fighting over white elephant gifts.

- Dressing my girls up in cute Christmas dresses.

- Taking Lydia to the Nutcracker.

- Hearing a bell ring when I open my parents door.

- Finding things to put in my siblings socks.

- Brunch with Santa.

- Skating with Santa.

- Eating more chocolates.

- Christmas Eve bowling.

- Making the kids act out the nativity.

- Opening new PJ's.

- Maryann's sticky rolls and breakfast casserole on Christmas morning.

- King Crab and creme brulee Christmas night. 

Sorry to anyone who doesn't like Christmas being mentioned before Thanksgiving. Maybe next year I will behave, for now I'll sleep at night with sugar plums dancing in my head. 

More of the Same thing!

Jared and I thought it would be fun to take the kids to see the New High School Musical. They were excited to see it, and I'll admit Jared and I weren't hating the idea. It was okay. I don't know why I was expecting something new. It really is just two more hours of the same thing. I liked most of the songs, but thought they had way too many slow cheesy love songs for Troy and Gabriella. It was still enjoyable to watch my kids smile and dance through the show. Jared loved having Lydia lean over a few minutes into the show and whisper, "Dad your my Troy."
At the end Jared said he didn't like the music as much in the third as the others. he said that the finally didn't have a catchy song. He said you should leave the theater singing the tune. Apparently the song was catchy enough because I kept catching him singing it all night.

A good Halloween

Captain Grayson 

The Good Witch

When ever anyone asked Lydia what she was going to be for Halloween she would respond with, "hee,hee,hee,hee." When they said, "A witch", she'd say, "You got it!"

Tinker Bell

Lydia in her dance costume. 

Carving Pumpkins

Grayson was excited to create his own pumpkin this year. Mom always seemed to take over in the past. 

Our getaway

We love to spend as much time as we can up at Schuster Creek. It is so relaxing to spend some time away in nature even if it's only for an hour or two after Jared work. We took advantage of a break in the hunting schedule and ran up last week. It was perfect. 

I love these pictures of the girls because it looks like they like each other. Kate doesn't care much for Lydia and screams if Lydia even touches her. Lydia is always trying to hold her hand and Kate won't have it. For some reason Kate decided to let Lydia finally hold her hand. Maybe there is hope for a house of three girls. 

Grayson has spent way to much time listening to uncles talk about hunting. He is always talking about when he grows up he's going to have a real gun so he can go hunting. When we told him we were going to Schuster he ran and got his gun saying he needed to practice while we were there. We did see several deer while up there. This is him practicing shooting a deer across a the way from us.

On our way out of Jeremy Ranch we saw THREE moose eating their dinner at this house. It was pretty crazy. The family inside was filming the whole thing.

UEA Break in Georgia

I know UEA was a while ago, but we don't really have internet right now. (I can't wait to live in a normal house.) Anyways, with a long break from school we decided to take one last trip with the kids, because who knows when we'll be in the mood to fly with four kids, not to mention we'll have to start paying for Kate soon. Somehow Tami committed Jared into going out to Georgia at least once while they lived there. Luckily we had lots of sky miles saved up so Jared could follow through with that promise. I love that I have a husband that appreciates and respects the close relationship Tami and I have.

We all had a blast. The kids were so happy to see each other and not only was the trip relaxing we got to do a lot. In addition to visiting their home in Augusta, we visited Savannah and Tybee Island (Savannah's beach). Tami found us an amazing beach house that has been featured in a few magazines and a book.

Here are a some pics from our trip.

SAVANNAH

We had dinner at the famous Pirate House. It's been open since 1753 where they served seafarers and real pirates. Parts of the famous "Treasure Island" story are thought to have happened in the Pirate House. The kids LOVED this, especially hearing about it's history and the ghosts that haunt it today. 

TYBEE ISLAND:

 

This is the cute fish camp cottage we got to stay in. 

FORT PULASKI:

I told the kids to look sad because they were locked up, this is what I got. 

THE BEACH

We had perfect beach weather, it was so nice. Grayson LOVED the waves.

THE CRAB SHACK

After dinner, we fed alligators. I my have killed one. I dropped a plastic bag full of gator food into the pond. One got the bag before we could get it out. Some of the workers spent a while trying to get it away from him without any luck. I felt so bad I had to stop watching. 

TYBEE LIGHT HOUSE

AT THE KAMERATHS

We loved just hanging out at the Kamerath's, especially roasting hot dogs, making smores and carmel apples. 

Thanks Kamerath's, we miss you so much.