Christmas 2011

Christmas was nice this year, except for the fact that Jaxon got sick the day before Christmas Eve and then passed his cold onto the rest of us. Each of us took turns getting sick, so we stayed home almost the whole vacation time and just took it easy. We did do a lot of fun things prior to Christmas to help us get into the Christmas spirit. We attended our neighbor's ugly sweater party which was a blast. We also had a neighborhood Christmas party where we had hot cocoa, roasted marshmellows by the fire, and took a sleigh (trailer) ride around the community caroling. Everyone had a blast--the kids really loved singing their little lungs out, it was very cute. Last year Chris' mom got us a cute manger and a story about how we can be more like our Savior at Christmas time. We took the manger out and read the story that went a long with it. Each week we drew names and secretely did good things for our special person. Then at the end of the week we would fill the manger with straw according to how many Christlike things we had done. The point was to show our love for one another and for our Savior and hopefully build him a soft bed for his birth. The kids did really great and it was fun to bring the true meaningn of Christmas into our home. This is definitely a tradition we will be doing year after year. On the other end of the spectrum, for the last two years we have stopped at Bass Pro shop to visit Santa. The store really was decorated so cute--it was a little winter wonderland, plus they let you get free pictures with Santa--and their Santa I would say is better than the mall Santa. This year they had a carousel, cookie decorating, a place to write a letter to santa, and games to play--I love it because it is all free and fun!

Jaxon suggested we have a "special" Christmas Eve dinner this year---by candle light--and so it was done. We had our special dinner complete with candles and fancy glasses (O and all the lights needed to be turned off except the candles), and then we watched Joy to the World--the story of Christ's birth. By then the kids were ready to set out the cookies and get to bed. Before bed they always get to open one present--it is always pjs--Jaxon got star wars lego jammies, Kenli got Rapunzel, and Drey got monkey jammies--because he is our little monkey. Lucky for Jaxon he was feeling ok Christmas Eve and Christmas Day-but by the next day he was feeling sick again and that is when it progressed to the rest of us--but atleast we had a fairly happy and healthy Christmas.

Christmas was a success--the kids loved their presents and we happy that they had made it to the nice list and received the presents they were hoping for. We had church later that day and I absolutely loved it. I know as a child I was never thrilled if Christmas fell on a Sunday, but now I love it. What a better way to celebrate Christmas then to go to church and be uplifted by the Spirit. Our ward put on a beautiful program and it was a special part of our day.

Baby on board

I haven't been on here much. Our computer crashed a couple of weeks before Christmas and I have not had access to my pictures since then. I am hoping we can still recover all our pictures soon. Some exciting news is that we are expecting our 4 child--a BOY! We have had three ultrasounds thus far and I have to say he is going to be quite a cutie! This pregnancy has been a little different for me--it seems like everything has been intensified this time around. I am hoping this does not mean that I will be completely useless by the time the 8th and 9th month role around. I am trying to keep a positive attitude, but I have told Chris that I am not sure I will be able to make it up our stairs by the end of the pregnancy---LOL! Anyway, we are excited to for our new addition--he should arrive sometime around April 17th!

Surprise!

SO I really wanted to have this Halloween shirt---

Whirlwind

So we have been BUSY! We have had so much going on the last few months that it has been hard to do anything but what was absolutely necessary. Two big things that have happened recently--Jaxon and Kenli started school and we moved! Jaxon was sad to leave his old school and friends, but has quickly decided that he loves his new school. I really love it too--it is such a neat place! Kenli started preschool in Aug. and loved every minute of it. Now that we have moved I am looking for a new preschool and a new dance class (requested by kenli) for Kenli. Packing and moving is not fun. I have had to do it a few times as a child and since Chris and I have been married we have moved 4 times. Although moving isn't much fun, I am absolutely in love with our new home and our new neighborhood--it is BEAUTIFUL and the people are so friendly. I am happy to know that we may stay here for quite a while. The weather is starting to cool down--this last week it was around 75 degrees--blissful. It has been nice for us to be able to get outside and enjoy ourselves. Well, that is the jist of what has been going on. We are still busy unpacking and organizing our new home--and getting our old home ready to sell (almost there)!

Vacation continued

After visiting with my sister's family we headed out to my parents house to visit with them for a week. There we filled our time up with visiting more family, riding on motorcycles, going to the park, swimming, watching movies, staying up too late, going to a carnival, and visting the fire museum.







At the carnival they had little games for the kids to play. One of them was a banana race which Kenli won!

On our trip I took the kids to the capitol and also to temple square. The kids thought the capitol was really neat. Jaxon especially loved it--as he really loves history. I think Kenli just liked how beautiful it was and how her voice echoed when she would sing.
Drey loved the fountains and just being able to run around outside.







I asked Kenli to turn around so I could take a picture of her on the stairs - she turns around and then proceeds to lay down on the stairs to pose for me--what a drama queen.




After the capitol we headed over to the church history museum. Jaxon had been wanting to go here ever since he saw a segment about it after watching conference last year. I hadn't been there in awhile and it is pretty amazing. Aside from all the cool artifacts they have they have a whole kid section where the kids could transcribe plates, play games, dress up, build towers, learn to dance, steer a boat, make a magnet quilt, and fish. Jaxon and Drey loved it...I think Kenli would have loved it too but she slept the whole time we were there!













From the museum we headed over the vistor center on temple square. The visitor center had also changed since I had been there last. Now they have really neat interactive scripture stories that all us found very facinating. This day was a very spiritually charged day for us. There were so many neat things to see and the spirit truly is so strong there. I really felt it and I was so thankful that I got to go and share that with my kids. I hope they felt the love of our Savior for them while we were there because I know I did!






We also went inside the old tabernacle and the sister missionaries performed the needle test. I had never heard of this before, but what they do is take a needle and drop it from the podium and who can hear it all the way in the back--without the use of a microphone--it was pretty neat.


We had a blast visiting Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Ben, and Uncle Bryce (except for when I got a 24 hr bug) THANKS!



Chris' family always does a Lagoon day before the 4th. The kids of course had a blast riding all of the rides and splashing at Lagoona Beach. I loved being outside and enjoying the cooler weather. The kids spent most of the day there and left the park around 6ish. Chris got into SLC around that time and was able to meet up with us at Lagoon. It was so nice to see him--we missed him tons.






Finally we made our way up to Idaho for Chris' brother's baby blessing and for the fourth of July.