Christmas is over I didn't get anything done that I wanted to .....and the world did not end

Let me start out by saying I am sorry to all my friends and family out there that didn't get a Christmas card. We sent out a total of eight for all the grandparents and even then I enlisted same slave labor from the kids and had them make the cards by hand (hey is was a great time killer the only problem was they wanted to make more)

And for all our wonderful neighbors that didn't get some homemade goodies or a Christmas nicnac with some cleaver saying or poem. It is not that you are not important to us I just did not have time this year. Well it is not like I didn't have any less time than I have had in the past I just chose not to stress myself out over those things this year.

Christmas countdown day 24

3 Nephi 1:10-21
10 Now it came to pass that when Nephi, the son of Nephi, saw this wickedness of his people, his heart was exceedingly sorrowful.
11 And it came to pass that he went out and bowed himself down upon the earth, and cried mightily to his God in behalf of his people, yea, those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers.
12 And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:
13 Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.
14 Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son—of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh. And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given.
15 And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came.
16 And there were many, who had not believed the words of the prophets, who fell to the earth and became as if they were dead, for they knew that the great plan of destruction which they had laid for those who believed in the words of the prophets had been frustrated; for the sign which had been given was already at hand.
17 And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.
18 For they knew that the prophets had testified of these things for many years, and that the sign which had been given was already at hand; and they began to fear because of their iniquity and their unbelief.
19 And it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given.
20 And it had come to pass, yea, all things, every whit, according to the words of the prophets.
21 And it came to pass also that a new star did appear, according to the word.
Luke Chapter 2 [I am not going to post that]

Open pajama presents!!


Christmas Eve tradition of eating just one of Santa's cookies to make sure they are okay!

Christmas countdown day 23

John 3:16-17
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

The plan was to camp out under the tree tonight, but in order to do that you need to be ready to go to bed when the kids are. Needless to say this did not happen, but we did finally make it to see Santa and get some photos. We also made Santa cookies that we will decorate tomorrow.

Christmas countdown day 22

Matt 1:18-21
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Leave a gift on someones doorstep. Ring and RUN

Christmas Countdown day 21

Luke 1:30-38
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Take a family photo in our church clothing

Christmas countdown day 20

Luke 1:26-29
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

Take two on playing in the snow!

We jumped the gun on making playdoh snowmen so we made a second attempt today. The snow was just too dry to pack it would not hold a shape so the kids decided to make a snow volcano. One day we will have a snowman in the front yard. But for now I will settle for snow angels


Ben tried to do one on his belly

Christmas countdown day 19

Helaman 14:3-8
3 And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.
4 Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born.
5 And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.
6 And behold this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in heaven.
7 And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall fall to the earth.
8 And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life.

Six years ago today Tyler and I were married so tonight we will be going out for a special anniversary dinner at our traditional restaurant Tiburon.
The kids will have a new Christmas story to read before bedtime (with the babysitter)
Tiburon was postponed due to my illness, the kids still got their new Christmas story but they didn't get to play with the babysitter and they were a little upset about that.

6 years ago today!

We were married.

(on the coldest day of the year)

5 years ago,
we were celebrating our first year in Sun River.


4 years ago,
we were expecting our first child


3 years ago,
We were expecting our second


2 years ago,
we started acting like grown-ups and bought a house.

1 year ago
we got our honeymoon to Hawaii


and just to prove you are the perfect husband
this year on our anniversary you made reservations at my favorite restaurant. Then I got sick and you brought me flowers,took over duties with the kids and the house, and nursed me back to health. I love that I still love you as much as I did the day we were married and that I don't need a fancy dinner to prove you love me.

Green Elephant Party!

yes I know it says green and not white.
It is something that I need to explain every year when I talk about this annual party. I am not even sure I remember how it started (I should because I am the unofficial historian) but Zildy or Yadira brought a big ugly green buffalo candle to our first "white" elephant party and either Zildy or Yadira had the candle and not the coveted socks that everyone was fighting over at the end of the gift exchange. Zildy ended up with it (either she was the recipient or Yad left it at Zildys house in protest) and named it our green elephant, she threw a party the next year and re gifted it. It soon became tradition that whom ever got the candle as a present would throw the party the next year....and so on and so forth 13 years later the tradition has survived.


Becky threw the party this year and she did a fabulous job. Aside from a little confusion with the date most everyone showed up. We had delicious lasagna and talked all night.



Becky gave us some socks which is funny because she is the one that brought the sock on that first night. Mandy ended up being passed the torch to have the party for 2009.
Thanks Becky for a wonderful night and some more great memories.

Christmas Countdown day 18

Alma 9:26-27
26 And not many days hence the Son of God shall come in his glory; and his glory shall be the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace, equity, and truth, full of patience, mercy, and long-suffering, quick to hear the cries of his people and to answer their prayers.
27 And behold, he cometh to redeem those who will be baptized unto repentance, through faith on his name.

Tonight we were suppose to make a gingerbread house but we already crammed that into Ya-Ya's visit. So I am going to attend my annual "green" elephant party with all of my high school friends and the kids are going to play at Mima's and papa's house.
More to come on the green elephant soon

from the mouth of Ben

tonight for family prayer I was whispering to Ben helping him with what to say.
Me: Please bless that we will sleep well.
Ben: Please bless the wall.

I could hardly hold it together for the rest of the prayer.

Pre-school Christmas party

Ben came home from pre-school today with the cutest hat and a "gingerbread house" made of graham crackers. He also brought home a gift for us. I thought he might have been making something because the last little while when I would pick him up from pre-school he would tell me he had a secret but he couldn't tell me because it was a surprise and the surprise was a present, but that was all he could tell me. I think we will wait until Christmas to open our surprise that he worked so hard at keeping a secret.

Christmas Countdown day 17

Alma 7:9-10
9 But behold, the Spirit hath said this much unto me, saying: Cry unto this people, saying—Repent ye, and prepare the way of the Lord, and walk in his paths, which are straight; for behold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth.
10 And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.

Bake cookies and give them away

Christmas countdown day 16

Alma 5:50
50 Yea, thus saith the Spirit: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand; yea, the Son of God cometh in his glory, in his might, majesty, power, and dominion. Yea, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, that the Spirit saith: Behold the glory of the King of all the earth; and also the King of heaven shall very soon shine forth among all the children of men.

Make gift tags and wrap gifts

Christmas countdown day 15

mosiah 3:5-8
5 For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.
6 And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.
7 And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.
8 And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.

Make Christmas cards for the great-grandparents

Christmas Countdown day 14

Isaiah 9:6
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Have a dance party with Christmas music

Christmas countdown day 13

Micah 5:2
2 But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Attend ward Christmas party

Christmas Countdown day 12

Mark 13:33-37
33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
34 For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

With our lack of snow we made Playdoh snowmen

Christmas Countdown day 11

Romans 13:11-12
11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Have hot chocolate with all the fixings!

Christmas Countdown day 10

D&C 45:71
71 And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy.

Zoo Lights with Ya-Ya
and make a gingerbread house

Christmas Countdown day 9

Psalms 95: 6-8

6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.
7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice,
8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

Deliver our letters to Santa

Christmas Countdown day 8

Isaiah 2: 2-3
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the flaw, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

write a letter to Santa

Ben's letter: Dear Santa, I would like
Thomas at the waterfalls
Geotrax airport
a bug called a worm
a choo choo playdough
dinosaur
a pig
a snowman
and a kitchen to share with Kendall

Kendall's letter: Dear Santa, I would like
a BIG pony
a butterfly barbie
a kitchen

Christmas Countdown day 7

Psalms 98: 4-9
4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.
6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together
9 Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

Watch the LDS Church Christmas Devotional

Christmas Countdown day 6

Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Today's plan was to go to a Christmas party and have a photo taken with Santa. Things come up and plans change. The kids were invited to a friends birthday party that we felt was more important so we scratched the Christmas party and we will find another Santa for a photo opp another time this holiday season.
happy birthday Madeline.

Christmas coutdown day 5

Isaiah 40: 3-5
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Have a sleepover with grandpa and grandma

Christmas countdown day 4

Psalms 119: 105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
106 I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.

Watch a Christmas movie with popcorn

From the mouth of Kendall

Ben and Kendall were invited to a "Fancy Nancy" Birthday party this weekend. Kendall loves her invitation with all the fancy stickers on it. She takes it with her all over the house pretending to read it. Today she told me

Kendall: I cannot wait to go to my Fancy Nancy party
mom: Good! It will be fun. Are you excited to dress up like Fancy Nancy?Kendall: Oh no! I cannot go the the party mama! I don't have any Fancy Nancy shoes!

and let me tell you she was serious!!!

Christmas Countdown day 3

Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Make christmas cards for grandparents!

Christmas Countdown day 2

December 2
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

Have breakfast for dinner

Christmas Countdown day 1

With Thanksgiving as crazy as it was I decided to take time to do things as a family each day so we would not get caught up in the "hustle and bustle" of the season. Each day we have a scripture to read and an activity to do as a family.

December 1
1 Corinthians 1:3
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Decorate the Christmas tree

thanksgiving foutz week

New baby

Playing with cousins

Eating Pie for breakfast

playing video games

zoo with grandma

enjoying the outdoors

opening new gifts

college rivalry (go ducks)

learning to ice skate

chasing a kitty

a packed thanksgiving table

rocking out to guitar hero
memories to last a lifetime. I am so glad that the whole family decided to make the trip to Utah this year. Merry Thanksmas to all

From the mouth of Kendall

Kendall was helping me with something this morning and when she was done she said
"I am a Big Boy"
So I then said
"you mean a Big Girl?"
and she said
"that is what I said, I am super Kendall!"
Now how do you argue with that?

The week of Halloween

We had something everyday this week that required a costume and this week is such a blur that I cannot remember why we even put our costumes on Monday. Isn't that awful?! But this is what they looked like before we walked out the door.




Tuesday was a costume Birthday Party for Ben's friend Luke and how cute is this Luke was Buzz Light year.
Buzz and Woody

Wednesday Ben had is Halloween party at school and Kendall was mad that she didn't get to wear her costume this day. I only wish she had that enthusiasm at the end of the week.(Thanks for taking pictures Liz)

Thursday was trick or treat for story time at the library. I didn't take my camera I figured I had enough of them in their costumes already and we still had one more day to go.
Friday Halloween!! Kendall woke up this morning and asked to we get to go trick or treating today. I told her yes but not until it got dark and she was a little disappointed but she put on her costume reluctantly. First we went to visit my Grandfather and Uncle James with my sister and her kids so they could see how cute they were. It is always great to see them. The kids are always a little shy at first but when it is time to go they want to stay. It might have something to do with all the treats Grandpa pulls out when they come by but I like to think they just like hanging out with him.

Next off to see the other grandparents, more treats and more pictures! Kendall had about had it by now the cookies grandma made and the treats they had ready for them were the only thing that saved us there. We had to cut our visit short because it was almost lunch time and Kendall needed an early nap so we could get out on the streets before it got to dark.
They all had to hold their treats for the photo

Kendall went down for a nap and woke up on the wrong side of the crib. She would not put her costume on and she did not believe me when I told her we were going trick-or-treating. Well why would she? She had worn her costume all week and still not had a real chance to collect candy in her pumpkin. We left for our Halloween party with family Kendall in tow with no costume on. Tyler handed her a cell phone and told her for her costume she could be a teenager that didn't do anything her parents asked. Not really much of a stretch at the moment.
The party was great my Uncle and Aunt made hot dogs, root beer and cotton candy as their Halloween "treat" and feed all the trick or treater's. Such a wonderful idea. Kendall started having fun and noticed all the other kids in their costumes so after some convincing she finally put her costume on for the purpose it was intended.!
Next year only one Halloween activity before Halloween. It all worked out and they got to go trick or treating on our street with their little friend Madeline (dressed as the cutest rollypolly bug) and they had a blast. They didn't want to stop so we drove to my parents house just to say Hi. It was a perfect end to a crazy week. oh wait we still have the weekend

Todays lunch brought to you by ....

...the letter B



and the letter K



Ben got home from Pre-school and he was still excited about the letter he learned about today (too excited to eat) that he was asking me what everything started with so I turned his sandwich into a B. Needless to say the same thing needed to be done to Kendall's as well. I have not seen them have so much fun eating in a long time.

off to see the witches

Tyler came home from work early and Kendall woke up from her nap happy. Seize the moment! we packed the kids up and went to Gardner Village to see the witches. My parents called on our way out the door to see what we were up to and they met us there. We also picked up my sisters kids just to make it more fun. The weather was perfect the kids were so good and they had a great time. I think sometimes unplanned outings like this go smoother than well thought out trips.
Kendall did much better with the witches this year!!

Just for laughs!! Same witch one year earlier.

pumkin patch playdate

We went to the pumpkin patch today with my friend Camille and her kids. The kids were running around picking up every pumpkin. Ben wanted all of them and he finally settled on a short green one (Dad called it a squash) and Kendall got a SMALL round one (We will have to pick up pumkins at the grocery store that we can carve I guess)