C-mas '08

Christmas Eve we at dinner by candle light. A tradition I have continued from my childhood. The kids love it and can't wait 'til we do it again.

Christmas morning.

They are so excited to get started opening the presents.

Jeter got a bone that he loves and won't let go of.

G'pa Mark and G'ma Paula sent us Disneyland passes. Yippee!! We were all very excited. Thank you so much.

The kids had asked Santa for money. They actually wrote in their letters "Please send cash". So that's what he did. The kids kept opening up boxes with money in them. They each got $80. So with a few other stocking toys that was there c-mas this year, Disneyland passes and money. So we decided that since we were all off for c-mas break, we left for Cali. 2 days after c-mas. I'll post that later.

C-mas day we braved the snow storm and went to Midway to spend a couple days with family. We had a wonderful dinner and the kids always have a blast playing.

They couldn't resist playing in the waist-high snow in the back yard that night.

Paul taught Mason the cup stacking game. He caught on quite well and was really proud of himself being better than George. I tried too, but no one's as good as Paul.

G'ma has a sewing machine that embroiders patterns. The kids each got a towel and chose a picture and put their names on them too. I loved learning how to do it. Someday I'll have a machine that does all that.

We had a great C-mas this year. More pictures to come of our Disneyland trip.

Christmas is Coming!!

The kids are so excited. Putting up the tree and ornaments are a favorite of theirs, and mine too. I love the feeling the tree makes with the warmth and glow of the c-mas lights. It changes the mood of the whole house.

Santa came through our neighborhood last week riding the fire truck. The whole nighborhood was outside waiting for his arrival despite the freezing wind and snow.

He passed out bags of candy to all the kids.

Mason's 7th Birthday, Nov. 30th

Mason had a long birthday weekend. We celebrated all weekend to take advantage of the family that was in town.

We went to Jump On It to give the kids something to do.

Staci's family was with us before and after T-day. I think Dallin and Penny look hungry.

This is Poppa's pocket. MJ thinks money is endless and Poppa is proving her wrong.

Ryan and Courtney

Me and my Dad. When's the last time I took a picture of just me and him? Do we look anything alike?

We all went to Spaghetti Factory after for dinner. Mason and Londyn got b-day cards with money for their b-days from Ma-Key and Poppa. Londyn's b-day is Dec. 1st.

Then we went to see Santa. My picture didn't turn out very good. We took one with all the cousins too, but I haven't gotten a copy of that one yet.

Mason got a fort set from G'pa Mark and G'ma Paula. He loves making forts and now he has his own material to do it. It comes with suction cups and clothes pins to hook it to things.

His birthday was on Sunday, so that night we decided to go to Temple Square to see all the c-mas lights for a fun activity. Jeremy's family met us there too.

Maybe someday I'll have a camera where a picture like this would actually turn out. It was a nice thought.

MJ and Annie. Such a great Aunt. This is the only way MJ would let me take a picture of her.

All I got was silly faces the whole night. Paul loves being silly too.

I forgot to turn this pic before I uploaded it.

The last time we stood for a picture in this spot was when we were in college and we came down to Salt Lake for a weekend with our roommates 13 years ago.

The clan minus Julie. She wasn't feeling well and stayed home.

Cute kids. You'd never guess it took a whole lot of bribing to even get this picture.

The highlight of his birthday was his new bike. He's been riding on George's pegs to school until now. His old bike's broken and ready to be given away. It's been such a warm fall that they've been able to ride bikes to school until the 2nd week of Dec.

Thanksgiving '08

Thanksgiving started off with JJ's family coming up from Panguitch. It was a lot of fun having them and Ma-Key and Poppa at our house for a few days. The kids had fun playing and keeping busy. It all turned out so well I wouldn't even mind having it at our house again.

Cute girls.

MJ and JoLee playing cards.

George and Jack playing football.

MJ making scarecrow cookies.

All the kids had fun making cookies.

More and more cookies. It was a fun activity to do while the turkey was cooking.

They all turned out great.

The turkey was cooked to perfection thanks to my mom.

Jeter and Tibby begging for turkey while Jeremy was carving it.

The big kid table.

The little kid table.

The grown up table.

All 20 of us fit great and had a wonderful dinner.

Family Pictures

The day before Thankgiving we went out to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch with my parents and shopped the mall a little while waiting. We also took some pictures. Did you know the side of the building is a great place to take pictures?

When we got home we took this one in our backyard and I chose it to go on our c-mas card this year.

Alysa turns 32, Nov. 13

So for my birthday a whole month ago (It's time to catch up!) we went to California Pizza Kitchen. They have the best bbq chicken salad. My mom flew in that day and Ryan's family was able to come too. We went to Cold Stone for dessert. We had fun taking pictures there. I was playing around with the sepia on my camera.

Mom, MJ and me

Me and my hubby

MJ and Lucy

The boys, George, Mason and Adam

Sisters Lucy and Londyn