Holiday Fun!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas Programs and Christmas Cheer

The boys had their Christmas program on the 15th, and I am just now making the time to summarize it... Nick was not excited about putting on his "Sunday Best" as per the instructions sent home by the music teacher. Carson wasn't as upset about the dress code, but still didn't like the idea.It was packed. There was not enough room for everyone. It was insane. The Kindergarten was first. Thank heaven.Much to my relief the 2nd graders were next! I had a really hard time seeing Carson. We sat on the opposite side of the auditorium. He was so cute though. I didn't have my camera ready and he did kind of a "ta-da" move at the end of his songs, so I made him re-enact it for me outside it the hallway after the show.Because it was so crowded we left as soon as the 2nd Graders were done. It didn't take long for our seats to get filled.
Mica didn't have any Christmas programs this year but she spread her Cheer. Her Dad had to go to work and he had said "I don't want to go, I want to stay here with you." Mica got on his lap and started to sing. She made him feel better and he went to work. She has a way of cheering us all up!

My Newest Nativity

Ted made me a nativity out of nuts and bolts. The kids loved it and I happen to think he is quite crafty. Micalyn looked at it and said...
Ok so that was staged, but she originally said that and I thought it was so funny I made her say it again, this time on camera.

The W in Christmas

Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations -- extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a 6-year-old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.so, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in 10 minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment -- songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So,when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love, I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row-center stage held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy,and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down -- totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W." The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W." Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a
purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"


He's the reason for the season.


I got this email seriously, years ago, but I went back and found it. I have thought about this every Christmas since I recieved it and wanted to share it with you. Don't be fulled that the little boy is named Nicholas, this didn't happen to us...or I would have pictures to go with the story!

Merry Christmas

More from our Thanksgiving Weekend

So we did more on our trip to The Basin then just have our Thanksgiving dinner. On Friday Ted and I were completely out of our minds and we went shopping that morning. We didn't get up and go early like everyone else, so to be honest the store wasn't packed with people when we got there. It was however, insane! Nothing was were it was supposed to be, they had stuff just stacked where ever they could, it took forever to find things. When we got back from shopping we had to apologize to our children because we left while they were still asleep and they didn't care for that too much. Friday night we all went to the Temple and it was Perfect, Amazing, and to quote and commercial priceless...It was so awesome to have all of us at the Temple together. Then on Saturday Night we had a game night. SO FUN!Here is Jen and Melanie either shooting a commercial for Vegetables or showing the absentee's what they missedJen started to tip the bottle and things got really crazy...
I can't show you how crazy it got (wink wink) but here is Nick and Jalynn just realizing how crazy there aunts and mom's are! My Sister's were completely worn out by the end of the evening. For those of you who missed it we missed you and sorry that you will never know what was so crazy...

A Cookie A Day

I found a site that gives you a new cookie recipe each day leading up to Christmas. I will try to religiously post them everyday on my recipe blog look to the left of the screen for the "Let's Eat" link!

A Myton Thanksgiving

We went to my Mom and Dad's on Wednesday after the boys got out of school and Ted got off work. We got the master suite at the Perkins HotelWe had Thanksgiving Dinner at the Elementary School so that we could all fit in comfort and the kids had room to run around. I didn't take too many pictures but here are some from the festivities... We had some fun at the school as you can see, but the funnest part was...
That's right! Kelly and Ted singing Black Hole Sun.

Catching UP!

I have not had the time to blog lately, and when I did have the time I was home visiting family for Thanksgiving and didn't have any pictures to go with my "catching up"! Since my last entry, which was Nick's Birthday I worked non stop getting a years worth of work done in 7 days (yes I am patting myself of the back)Nick joined the volleyball team...I was co-chair for the annual PTA Bake Sale, I worked full time for 11 days instead of part time, I took kids here and there, I actually got my visiting teaching done, I actually aged a whole year ( I had a Birthday) and I managed to get my house clean and all the laundry done before we went to my parents house for Thanksgiving...but that is another entry so I will save it for later! When I told Micalyn that we were going to watch Nick play volleyball she went and got the Cheerleading costume that her Grandma bought her so she could cheer for Nick.
Nick did so good for never playing volleyball before. (The younger kids are just learning about volleyball not really playing actual matches) Here are the beautiful flowers my wonderful husband sent to me! I am buttering him up for the Thanksgiving pictures I will be posting... hee! hee!

Nick is 6

It is Nick's Birthday today. He was excited. (Mom was unprepared!) I was out of Milk this morning and I wanted to make Nick some cinnamon rolls for breakfast. So I started the dough and thought when Ted gets home from work a little after 7 am this morning I will go to the store and get the milk and other items I am in need of. Ted came home, the kids woke up and still I didn't make it to the store right away. The boys went with Ted to the dump so I took Micalyn to the store with me. (The boys were so excited to take a trip to dump stuff off at the land fill.) Finally just as the boys were getting back from the dump Micalyn and I had breakfast all done. Nick was a little upset, he had wanted to go to Grandma Sherry's house when they were done at the land fill but I had them come home for breakfast, when Nick saw the Cinnamon Rolls with frosting loaded on top he forgot that he was upset and he got that familiar twinkle in his eye. He sure enjoyed his Birthday Breakfast. Then he played and went to see his Grandma. When he got home we had Nick and Carson's friend and his little sister (who is friends with Mica) come over and we had Nick's Choice of what ever he wanted for Dinner...we had Breakfast Burritos! That is what the boy wanted, so that is what I made. Then we opened his presents and had cake and ice cream. Nick, I remember holding you six years ago. Your birth was a traumatic one and I was just glad to have you with us. You were so different from your older brother Carson. Carson was 17 months old and into everything, he was even talking in complete sentences. He seemed so grown up, and then I had you. A small, well tempered boy. With beautiful dark skin, and black hair. I remember saying "God knew I needed you!" Carson was always on the go and you were just content to sit and be still. What a breath of fresh air, well my son, you have grown and become quite mischievous, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I can look at you and see the wheels turning, I see it in your face when an idea sticks. I also see the gleam in your eyes when the plan has taken form and you are ready to act on it. I love you bunches and hope you will always come to me in quite moments, give me a hug and say "Um, Mom. I love you" Happy Birthday Angel number 2!

Micalyn's Style

So this is what Miss Mica looked like on Friday morning. I thought she looked so cute. She dressed herself and I was impressed with how cute she looked. For some odd reason she changes her clothes a lot, later that day she looked like this...

My 8 List

Jill tagged me to do this and since she said she will be checking...

8 TV Shows I watch
1-Prison Break
2-The Big Bang Theory
3-Life
4-Fringe
5-House
6-ER
7-Grey's
8-Private Practice

8 Restaurants I like to Eat at
(with kids we don't eat at too many restaurants...fast food all the way but here it goes)
1-Bon Rico
2-Olive Garden
3-Chipolte
4-Pizza Hut...I love their Pasta
5-Taco Time (fast but I love it)
6-IHOP
7-Bootleggers
8-Ruby Tuesdays

8 Things I did today
(It is 8 in the morning so coming up with 8 for today will be a stretch!)
1-Got the kids up and made them breakfast
2-E-mailed our Super Saturday Activities to some non members in the area, to see if they would come.
3-Checked blogs and saw that Jill tagged me.
4-Checked more blogs and saw that Jana "is all tagged out"
5-Took the boys to school
6-I am working on my second load of laundry today
7-I washed the breakfast dishes
8-Put some Soup in the Crock pot for our ward Potluck tonight

8 Things I am looking forward to
1-Going to my Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving
2-Beth coming to visit
3-Spring and Summer
4-Being done with Christmas Shopping (I am usually done by Halloween...Not this year)
5-Christmas (everything about it...family, Temple Square, taking treats to people I love it!)
6-Carson being Baptized next Summer
7-Hunting Season to be over
8-Snowmobiling, hot chocolate and doughnuts!

8 Things on my wish list
1-Another baby...or two. I want to have 5 kids but I only want to be pregnant one more time. TWINS? (But I want to be done by the time I am 30, so...)
2-I want to travel to all 50 states and learn their history and do something fun at each state...we all have to get along of course.
3-Again it is traveling, I want to see the world.
4-Ted and I want a dream home, complete with a huge kitchen, a family and game room, a garage we can actually park in and a shop out back to Ted never has to come home ;)
5-My Kids to all still love me, even when they are grown and think they know it all.
6-A summer home at Bear Lake...we looked into it, this is definitely a wish.
7-A new vehicle
8-To Return to HIM!

8 People I Tag
Whom ever wants to be tagged. I am curious as to what my family will answer...Mom, Julie, Jen, Mel (and Jana you are excused)

Ted is 30

Happy Birthday to my Husband
So I am late, Ted's Birthday was yesterday. We celebrated it with both of us working and then he packed to go hunting and camping while I made dinner. He asked for Steak and Garlic Pasta. So he got Steak and Garlic Pasta. He had just sat down to eat when we got a call that some members of our ward had broken down on the way home from Utah. They were towed to Evanston but would need a ride to Kemmerer. I went and got the carseats out of the Expedition while Ted rushed through dinner. He went and picked up the family and started talking to them. She is from Roosevelt. of all places, Ted said hey my wife is from Myton and she knew exactly what he was talking about. Usually you say Myton and you get a blank look. They are new to our ward so I don't know them very well but I am looking forward to talking with her. So, back to Ted's birthday, by the time he got back the kids were in bed and I was just getting ready to fall asleep myself. I had big plans in my head for his 30th birthday but it seems like it just crept up on me and I was not prepared. We didn't even get him a gift this year, we bought some parts for the boat and promised to go camping and boating more next summer, he said that would be his birthday gift. That and the fact that right now he is camping up in the mountains so that he can go hunting all day tomorrow. He is such a dork and I love him dearly. Happy Birthday Babes.

Happy Birthday Daniel

To my big brother, I want to wish you a happy birthday. Your day is almost over and I am sorry that I am just getting to this. I have lots of excuses but probably not good enough. (I didn't forget at least!!) 30, wow. If you are now 30 that means I am not 18 any more, where has the time gone. Thank you for being my protector when I needed it, thanks for being my friend when I need it, and thanks for ignoring my friends who only came to the house to see you! Happy Birthday!

More Email

My Friend emailed this to me and it was too funny not to pass on....


Tough Love vs. Spanking What is better?
Most people think it improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have one of 'those moments.'
One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk.
Some say it's the vibration from the car, others say it's the time away from any distractions such as TV, Video Games, Computer, IPod, etc.
Either way, my kids usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together. Eye to eye contact helps a lot too.
I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique.

CRAFTastic!

So on Saturday I went to a "Make & Take" at the craft store in Mountain View. I am in love with this store. It is called The Busy Bee. LOVE IT! Here are the crafts I was able to make (with a lot of help!)

This was by far the easiest of the projects. I love it and I could make this one again with out much help. (I would need help to cut the wood)

This one was the most time consuming and I don't know if it was worth the time. Very cute, and handy (it is a magnetic board) but doesn't match any decor in the house. I should have thought the colors through better.

I absolutely love this! I messed it up a little, ok a lot, but I love it. I just need to find a place to hang it now. So that is my attempt at being crafty.


Speaking of crafty...I am thinking of selling my beloved Cricut:( Let me know if you are interested, or know someone who is.

Apparently I need lots of help!

I want to sell our desktop computer since we bought a new one, can anyone help me with the erasing of my information from the machine? I want to sell it in my friends moving sale this Saturday, so if you can help me contact me before Saturday. Thanks Bunches!

3 Column Template

I am trying out this 3 column template, that took me forever to figure out. I have never really had to edit HTML before so it is all just gibberish to me. So after hours (yes hours) of cutting and pasting, I am not sure that I like it! What do you think? Should it stay or go? There is one part of the instructions that I couldn't figure out and maybe that will make the difference. If you think you can help me out with the instructions let me know.

Food A Plenty

I have been on the hunt for holiday recipes. I have posted some yummy halloween treats on my recipe blog. Come check it out on my left side bar and "let's eat!"

Makin' Mama Proud

Earlier this week when I went to pick my boys up from School, the School Counselor came up to me and said she wanted to pass something on to me that she had heard. I instantly thought oh, no what have they done! BUT... it turns out she over heard Carson's Teacher talking about how much she just loves Carson. YEAH!! Then Yesterday when I was at the PTA Meeting, Carson's Teacher from last year came up to me and told me how much Carson's Teacher is enjoying him in class. She then told me she wishes that she had Carson again this year, she really missed him. Again YEAH! Then last night my Mother in-law called me and said she had run into Carson's Teacher at dinner that night. Mrs. Rogers, Carson's 2nd Grade Teacher, had told Sherry how much she loves Carson. She thinks he is so Polite (yes polite) and funny and smart and just loves him. As a Mom, I am just over the moon. I wanted to give Carson some positive feed back so I let him know that I had heard that Mrs. Roger's was enjoying him in her class. He beemed! His little eyes lit up and again I was over the moon.

Those Crazy Kids of Mine

Ok, I love my kids but sometimes...I still love them. So we got our school pictures back today. I am considering retakes, I totally bribed the kids so they would do there best smiles. It backfired. I told them if they smile nice that I would take them out for ice cream. Carson and Nick came home from school and said they smiled really nice. So we went out for ice cream. Next year I am going to wait until I see the pictures before I reward them. In Carson's smile all you see are gums and Nick looks like he is about to attack. As for Micalyn, I am just glad her head is up and her hands aren't in her mouth. I love my kids!

Some good old fashioned SNL

I watched this 2 weeks ago when it aired on SNL. I thought it was so funny I watch it like 2 times a week.

Micalyn is Three

My baby turned three years old today. She has been talking about her birthday for a while, Ted and I hadn't mentioned it much so I was amazed when she would say how her birthday was coming. This morning when she woke up I asked if she knew what today was? When she got a twinkle in her eye I told her it was her birthday. Micalyn smiled and said in the voice of an angel "Oh, Thank you Mommy." How precious is that. She was quite excited for the birthday events to start and said she wanted cake for breakfast. She was heartbroken when the cakes she recieved were flat and covered with syrup. Micalyn was even more bewildered when her guys, Carson and Nick, left to go to school and I had the nerve to go to work. It was her birthday, how come we were leaving her? As soon as I got home from work, Mica asked for cake. She had to wait of course for her brothers to come home from school, her Grandparents and Aunt to arrive, her friend from Church to come and play, and her Mother to finish the cake. Ted and I were able to keep her attention else where for a while but I thought the clock would never strike 5:00. Arianne, Mica's friend, and her Brother Brayden came to play with Mica and her guys. Mica and Arianne were dressed up and sleeping Beauty and Snow White. The boys played Army. When everyone had arrived the kids made themselves some pizzas. (I let them add there own toppings and sauce and cheese.) And I made pizzas for the adults. I ended up making 4 big pizzas because I thought Ted's brother was coming, but it turns out he had to work late. So needless to say we have lots of leftovers. After dinner the kids played some more, then it was present time. Micalyn was so cute. She posed for pictures with her gifts and when she had opened all of them she said, very sweetly, Thank you for coming to my party and bringing me presents. It was so cute. I asked her what today was and she said The best day ever. What a little lady. A true Princess. I love you Micalyn. You are a true joy in our home and a precious angel. In 13 years, don't forget that you love me too. Happy Birthday my love.

Nick at his Dental Appointment

Nick had to be put to sleep to have some dental work done. The poor kid had to have 2 baby root canals and crowns, then some other cavities fixed, they also cut that thing at the top of his mouth that hooks that lip to the gums. It was too low and the Dentist said it would make his adult teeth gap and that it can affect his speech. HE IS SO SORE! I feel so bad for him. But before they took him back I got the video of him feeling just fine!

Just Everyday Stuff

The kids and Ted went out and enjoyed the 4 wheeler up and down the alley a week or so ago. They sure had fun. I just wish we owned some land so they could just ride all over the place. Oh, well. They had fun anyway. Last Wednesday I went on a field trip with Carson to Fossil Butte (The Fossil Fish capital of the World) just outside of Kemmerer. The Moon was shining that morning and Mica was so happy I just had to take a picture. Poor Carson got hit (by accident) in the nose by another student and got a bloody nose. He had tissue stuck up his nose for most of the ride out to the butte. We hiked 1.5 miles with 15 second graders, to say the least, it was fun. Then on Friday of last week we went over to see Ted's parents and they had bought Carson a new bike, I couldn't believe it. But Carson was sure happy about it. We bought Mica a princess dress because....SHE GOES POTTY IN THE TOILET!!!! I am super excited about that. Today I took the day off because Nick had to go to the Hospital for dental work. Boy was that FUN! He did very well. He got really silly when they gave him the, well silly medicine. Then I carried him back into the procedure room and held his had until the gas but him to sleep. An hour and a half later he was not a happy camper. He is pretty sore right now. The poor kid. I got a video of him on the good stuff. I will post it too.