Christmas Eve

Awe, Christmas Eve... Always built up in my head to be something that HAS to be spectacular. This year we were trying a new thing and having our own evening with just our little family. A little weird after years of lots of cousins, but still fun.

I think we spent $50 on food for the evening. We had shrimp, crackers and cheese ball, yummy sandwiches with all the fixings, eggnog, chex mix...I'm getting sick just thinking about it. Brent and I were stuffed--the kids didn't really touch anything. Note to self: Don't splurge on food for kids who are too excited to want to eat anything!

WHAT do you do to fill the time? We made gingerbread housesWe tried to have a movie and fire, but the kids were too anxious to get in bed to enjoy it. They kept getting up to check the Norad Santa Tracker to make sure they were still safe! Do you know how fast Santa can get from the tip of Europe across the ocean and down to the very tip of South America? Less than 20 minutes. The second the movie was over, my kids jumped up and were in bed and asleep before an elf had the chance to knock a warning on their windows! Brent and I were both amazed.

Here is the tree right after Santa left. Everyone had a wrapping present theme this year which worked out well. Lots of fun--but lots of pressure! We may opt for a few cousins next year! :)

Family Christmas Party!

Who doesn't love a good party? Lots of yummy desserts and a couple new twists that kept things interesting. First: Elder & Sister V were with us via Skype--definitely the highlight of the evening.Second: We added a new tradition with the talent show. I think this tradition will take off and make for years of fun. We will be working a little harder on our talents in the coming year, but for this year we settled with a rousing family rendition of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer! We finished the evening off with the classic Nativity reenactment, but things were made interesting when we couldn't find Grandmas costume box and had to come up with our own...we miss you Grandma & Grandpa. Gavin was Joseph, Kesley was an Angel and Jenna was a Shepherd.

Seeking: Chubby extras

Brent's sister runs a dance studio. Every year they put on a huge production of the Nutcracker. Some of you may remember Kesley as a cute little gumdrop a few years ago. Anyway, Gavin saw his cousin Mckay perform last year in the opening number as a boy at the party and has been asking to be in it ever since. The closer Christmas was getting, the more he was asking. Brent called Tami and she was nice enough to squeeze him in--she even made a part as Drosselmeyers nephew just for him. He followed Drosselmeyer around and had a few moments where all the attention was on him. He really felt like the star of the show! Nobody was more shocked or proud of him than Brent and I were. He was a little nervous, but still went out there and did it every night.

...And did I mention that in doing us this favor, Tami called in a favor and asked Me & Brent to be parents in the party seen?... We had to dance and mingle--it was HILARIOUS! Brent was actually more nervous than Gavin on the opening night! We had a blast and made some great memories--but we will NEVER be doing this again...

Remember 2 months ago?

Gavin was baptized two months ago on October 31, 2010. His dad was baptized the same day, 29 years earlier. The day was made even bigger and better when we added Olivia Gillespie & Jane Shumways baby blessings and then topped the evening off with Gavin's favorite Haystack dinner. I forgot my camera, so I don't have pictures of most of the night, but Aunt Amber took a few.
Gavin and Brent both did great. The tension was building throughout the day and at one point we weren't sure if we could get the font filled (isn't that how it always seemed to happen as a missionary!), but all in all, it went pretty smooth. I told Brent the only thing I wanted to request was that he pause while they were in the water and let Gavin look up and see all the people--really let that moment be ingrained in his memory and not rush things. He did the right thing and completely ignored my request when he saw Gavin starting to loose it because of all the attention on him just walking down into the font. He said he got a good laugh when it was over and they had just closed the curtains and, as he was reaching down to pull the plug, Gavin took a graceful leap off the stairs and back into the font for a final little swim around! Little stinker, but I guess he had to let off some steam somehow.

I got my chuckle when I went into the dressing room to see if I could help Gavin get dressed for his confirmation and I overheard Gavin--as he was just shivering from cold--asking Brent, "S-s-so n-n-now d-do I have th- the P-P-Priesthood?!" Seriously, we devoted AT LEAST 5 FHE lessons to this big event--where did he come up with that? :)

We had a good crowd. Great Grandpa Smith & Betty were able to be there and Grandpa Smith & Great Grandpa were the witnesses. We had most of Brents family, all but Elder & Sister V from my side and some Shumway & Gillespie inlaws. We also had Brother & Sister Peterson and their grandson, Michael who are favorite neighbors of my kids.

Great day.

Making memories--of what?

Here are my kids reliving one of my childhood memories: Standing under a full tree of lights on Temple Square and looking up. I remember always feeling like I was in space, surrounded by stars. I want them to grow up with the same magical memories--but I'm not sure they appreciate the little things like I did--or think I did anyway.

This year I really wanted to make things special. I opted out of buying the cheap...what's the name...you know, the calendars where you count down to Christmas by opening up a window with a little chocolate in it...uck--I hate my mind. Anyway, Instead, I bought a wooden sleigh that had little doors that I thought I would fill with all sorts of fun things we could DO.

The first week was awesome. We decorated the tree, read Christmas books, drove around and looked at Christmas lights whilst munching a yummy Christmas blizzard from Dairy Queen, walked around the Festival of Trees, drank hot chocolate by the fire and watched a Christmas movie, and made Christmas ornaments for the Grandparents (act surprised when you open them).

The second week wasn't quite so awesome. I found myself putting off the opening until bedtime and then sending them off on a quick errand like teeth brushing while I madly scribbled something lame like, "pick 3 favorite Christmas songs" and trying to cram it in the sleigh before they were back. I was wishing I had opted for the stale chocolate calendar.

Tonight we tried to spruce things up again. We headed up to Temple Square for an evening of lights. Remember how magical that was as a kid? I captured this cute picture right when we got there and 2 seconds later everyone was fighting and whining and complaining. I thought I could change the mood by forcing them to watch the nativity....not so much. Anyway, I think pictures lie. Most pictures make it look like everything is just..so...great, when really it is a one snapshot taken in the midst of HELL.

Let it SNOW!!

We woke up to the white stuff this morning. Actually, I woke up to this:Yes, just in the nick of time because she was on her way OUT THE DOOR! Yesterday I thought she was downstairs playing with Kesley, but about 8:30am I realized neither of them were in the house. I found them over at our favorite neighbors and adopted grandparents making cookies. They had been there since 7:30am!! Time to stop sleeping in on Saturday & Sundays I guess...

Well, the white stuff wasn't going to last, so I let Gavin and Kesley enjoy it even though it was Sunday. I also needed a few extra minutes to finish my Relief Society lesson. Upside to big kids: They can get their own snow clothes on and make the snow man themselves!!!

Playing catch-up--again.

Ugg. Where to start???

Well, Brent had a birthday!! He was a little shocked to find out that he was turning 37 and not 36 like he thought. Funny how that happens. He had no problem drowning his sorrows in a big slice of his favorite chocolate cake!What else??? Halloween! Nothing crazy this year and only 2 days of dressing up instead of last years marathon 3 dayer. I'm sure I am not the only one looking forward to a ONE DAY HALLOWEEN next year when it falls on a MONDAY!! Woot! Woot!

We couldn't break tradition and skip the pumpkin carving--even though it was VERY tempting. My kids seem to love the gutting--not so much the carving. I think I ended up carving all the pumpkins and the kids were nowhere to be found. Next year I am going to push for a new tradition: We gut the pumpkins and then throw them off the roof and watch them explode!

Gavin and Brent's GUT WAR!

Kesley in gut heaven

My Cheerleader, Mermaid & Mario!This year I stole a friends idea and paid my kids $5 if they would give me all their candy after trick or treating. They each got to choose their favorite 20 pieces and the rest went into my closet for safe keeping. The idea was to save it for Christmas and use it in stockings and candy houses...that was the idea. Let's just say it now BAD IDEA!! NEVER DO THIS! Most of the candy is gone (well, all the good chocolaty/nutty/chewy stuff) and I am only attempting sweats because I can't handle the shock of the too tight jeans...you know, the one's that were already my FAT lady jeans. BAD idea, Maria. BAD, BAD IDEA!!

Actual Halloween day--October 31st--was AWESOME--but that is for tomorrows post.

This is what I got to do today...

It's not everyday that your sister needs an Appendectomy. I was lucky enough to get Emily's littles for the day and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I snuggled Olivia for the first 4 hours to keep her in a sleep coma in case Emily ended up not needing surgery and came back and needed to nurse her. I was constantly flashing back to Gavin and probably everybody's baby #1 that gets held and adored all day long because--why not? What else was there to do!?



Emily is out of surgery and doing well. She is staying at the hospital until tomorrow. Brian came and picked up Tanner, but I get to keep Paige and Olivia for the night. You should have seen Olivia light up and smile and try to talk when Brian walked into the room--even a 5 week old knows her mom and dad! I wish I had caught that on video!--p.s. the purple mouth is thanks to the medication she is taking for...yeast infection? Can't remember exactly--but it is BRIGHT purple!

For Mom

Facebook won't let me load this cute video of the kids for some reason--probably me.

Anyway, we LOVE YOU and hope you had a WONDERFUL day!

Gavin turns 8!

EIGHT IS GREAT!

All Gavin wanted for his birthday was $25--all in ones. I should have listened to him on that one. Instead, I spent way more than that on stupid things I can't even remember now and all I can remember is the 8--one dollar bills that I hid around the living room and he played "hot & cold" to find. Live and learn. The other failure of the day was the cake you see above. It was supposed to be a Lego cake. It turned out to be a leaning tower of disgust. Tasted good though. Note to self: Stop trying to make theme cakes out of box cake mixes and goopy frosting--THEY NEVER WORK! Luckily, he is a sweet kid and didn't care.

He did end up getting quite a few dollars from other people on his big day and, true to form, lost half of them over the next couple of days. HOW does a kid like money so much and then not even notice or care when he is dropping and loosing bills all over the place? Makes me CRAZY--but has also saved the day and bought milk, bread and eggs on too many occasions...sshhh. We decided it was time for things to change.

Monday, for FHE, we took all the kids and their piggy banks to our bank to open bank accounts. Gavin & Kes were more than excited, but Jenna--she wasn't parting with her piggy bank money for anything--that is until she saw the welcome packages that Gavin and Kesley were handed on the way out of the bank--then she REALLY wanted to open her own account, but it was already 15 minutes past closing time. I promised her she and I would come back the next morning and open one for her. You would have thought it was Christmas Eve. She could not go to sleep because she was so excited. She woke me up at 2am, 3am with piggy bank in hand and then at 5am she was up for good. I got this lady to the bank by 9am and she is now the proud owner of an account with $3.27 in it! Yay for Beaner!

p.s. I know this is a horrible picture of Jenna--kinda like she's looking into a Christmas ornament, but she wouldn't hold still for anything...plus, it may possibly be a little subconscious payback for making me pull an all nighter the night before...

Jenna Bean turns 4!

My baby is 4!
Jenna is my sunshine. Two years ago she started waking me up saying, "It's a great day outside, Mom!" That really kinda sums her up. Positive. Happy. She loves to laugh. Love's people. I love this lady.

Jenna wanted a Mary Poppins cake her her birthday. About 5:00pm last night--when I realized I had no idea how to make a Mary Poppins cake, this castle cake idea was pretty easily transformed into her idea and the 'gotta have' cake for her big day...I know, I suck--but I have always said manipulation is the #1 parenting skill and I have mastered it.

Here's the party--nothing beats Pirate Island Pizza and endless tokens! (remind me to NEVER let Gavin get within 100 miles of Las Vegas--you haven't seen anything as scary as that kid and tokens) Thanks Bon & Jon for coming and thank you Aunt Amber for making Jenna's birthday so fun!
My Big 4 Year old girl!

To blog or not to blog...

Just got off the phone with my wonderful mother. Here's an update for you, Mom!

Do not fear! Gavin loves school! This kid has major ANXIETY issues that he has inherited from his dad. He's lucky I understand it and don't kill him out of FRUSTRATION! Saturday evenings (you know how church is always on Sunday...)is always pretty interesting. Big events like a birthday or, say, an upcoming BAPTISM can bring on a lot of outbursts. We are taking that one, one day at a time. He does fine once he gets somewhere (just like his dad) but the build up to the event is sometimes not worth the fight.

I wanted to make sure things were good at school, so I decided to be a recess duty lady--remember those? I wanted to see how he was interacting with other kids and thought I could possibly help him a little if he wasn't. Happy to say that he is doing great. I am having a great time teaching 1st & 2nd graders how to jump rope. I think they have all mastered "Keep the kettle boiling, be on TIME!" remember that?

I found this picture tonight as I was downloading pictures from Kesleys camera. In the chain of pictures before this one, it is obvious he somehow took this beauty of himself! I can't stop laughing!
He is also loving scouts. I am the Den Leader for the Wolves and he has been counting down the days until he can EARN MERIT BADGES!!! You know how this kid loves himself any kind of trophy, or ribbon, or bead, or ANYTHING! Here is at the bike rodeo right after he won his ribbon...along with every other scout or sibling there... I love my Gavin.
I recently found a bag of 12 UNDEVELOPED rolls of film. I have been DYING to see what was on them and also terrified I had ruined them by storing them in a hot storage room. It's too spendy to get them all developed at once, so I took my first 3 rolls in and crossed my fingers. TREASURE!! I did damage the rolls, which makes me sick, but still--check out some of the cuteness--I'll share more throughout the week. And p.s. Jenna's birthday on Tuesday!

First day of school! First day of school!

Gavin has been asking and asking if he could be home schooled. At first I would just LAUGH HYSTERICALLY, but after a while I realized he was kinda serious. I couldn't get any answers from him as to why the sudden interest in torture--I mean, time together-- but I'm pretty sure it is just nerves. I tried the excuse my parents gave Shannon when she asked why she couldn't have her own room as a kid, "Sorry, but in heaven, when they asked if you would rather have your own room or brothers and sisters, you chose brothers and sisters." My version, "Sorry, but in heaven, when you were choosing your mother, you chose a slightly crazy, very unorganized mother instead of a high energy, skinny, overachieving one." He has to learn early that CHOICES MATTER! :) Anyway, he's ok. Just nerves.

To help the situation, I thought I would make things really fun and have a big super party to get everyone excited for school--kinda like the Nie Nie Dialogues lady does every year. I had HUGE EXPECTATIONS, but like I said, I'm slightly crazy and very unorganized, so my version ended up being not so cool--and kinda anti-climactic, and not quite like I was imagining it would be.

First up: Fall harvest dinner! Grilled zucchini & squash, grilled chicken, corn on the cob and fresh, yummy bruschetta! In my dream world, everything would be from my own garden. Reality was the vegetable stand down the street. The beautiful decorations never made it past the planning stages. Aunt Amber came for dinner and to braid the girls hair so it would be CRILLY--not curly--it's crilly at our house. (Check out the nerves taking over Gavin--poor kid.)Next up: FASHION SHOW! Aunt Tiffy hooked these guys up with a BUNCH of new school clothes. I thought it would be fun for them to strut their stuff and put on a show for us....apparently, I was the only one who thought so. I did talk them into at least putting on their first day of school outfits, but I was too frustrated to take a picture.

Next up: FHE & back to school blessings. This actually turned out great. Nothing like the spirit to change a bad mood. Kesley did say that instead of helping her, her blessing actually made her more nervous!

This morning went pretty good. I ignored Gavins outbursts and knew he was just trying to let out a little of the tornado of nerves going on inside of him. He wouldn't let me get a picture of him until we were IN FRONT of the school...and even then...School is in. It's going to be a good year!

No excuses...the fact is--I'm just lazy

Summer is winding down fast. I keep thinking I will catch up with some posts, but who makes the time? I'm not busy-- just really, really lazy. So, here's my catch up report in pictures.

Aunt Tiffy came down for the day! We grabbed cute cousins McKay & Cy and headed up to Payson Lakes for the afternoon. Tiffy brought her raft--which took an hour to blow up and then had a hole in it so it started sinking fast! I did manage to get one picture before they unloaded from their .03 second ride.I tried to make Gavin & McKay jump off this fishing dock thing. It was about a 15ft jump and it didn't seem like it was a big deal--that is until you were in this position considering a jump. I will admit that after this picture was taken, I climbed back over the rail and never did make the plunge! I was extra proud when Gavin became the first one to brave the jump...I knew he was SCARED OUT OF HIS MIND and only trying to show off for bigger cousin McKay. :)Cy, Kesley & Jenna

Summer boredom is taking over--we've had an AWESOME summer, but we are kinda at the "been there, done that" phase. These cups occupied one whole morning--and Jenna, well, she apparently had a little itch right at the moment I took the picture...didn't catch that.

Jenna & Kesley enjoying an afternoon rainstorm in their super cute rain gear ala Aunt Amber!

School starts next week. I haven't felt this way until the last few days, but BRING ON SCHOOL DAYS!--minus the homework. :(

South Fork bash

How is it already August and this is the first cousin South Fork venture? Summer is flying by at warp speed. I think we had all the cousins, except for Lauren and Christian. Lot's o kids--makes for lots o pictures. I never said I was a great photographer--and I don't have a super nice camera--but I hope these give you a flavor of our day.

I have to post this short video of Jake diving for rocks first. Love this dog.


Here is a picture of all the monkeys--I mean kids first. I'm not sure if everyone is in the pictures, but I had to snap fast because we were LOOSING em fast!

Side 1

Side 2

Our home base for the afternoon

Max

Kesley, Megan & Mellissa

Dan & his snazzy new braces

Mercedes with her new earrings!
Shannon (who is having baby #6 next week!) Aaron & Timmy
Kyle & Jamison

Katherine & Kiera

Issac on a mission

Jenna, Kiera & Paige

The Three Stooges--otherwise known as: Kyle, Eli & Jamison

Ian

Jacob--stud! always taking care of the littles--

The TWEENS--Allison, Grace & Adria

Mellissa & Rebecca

Tanner Dude

Mary & waking up Issac

Jenna taking pictures with my cell phone

Liz wit Ashton & Mercedes

Julia, Rachel and Heather (you'll notice Heathers fancy new "SWOOP" bangs

Jamison, Kyle, Kevin, Jacob & Gavin

Kevin all grown up

Katherine bustin out the bubbles

Naomi