Merry Christmas!

It was really fun to be at our own home this year for Christmas. Last year as I put all the Christmas things away and took down our tree in our little Tucson apartment, I thought a lot about where it would be that we would unpack it all. Unpacking our Christmas things this year and putting up our tree in our new house is so much better than I even thought it could be! We are so grateful for all our blessings this year, I can't imagine that it gets any better. We took a lot of Christmas morning pictures, but that was about all. I wish I would've thought more about taking more pictures throughout the day, but my favorite is our before and after pictures! We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and we look forward to what this next year brings.

Christmas Eve 2007

John's family is continually growing in numbers so to make Christmas easier we spent our evening at the church. It was a wonderful Christmas Eve spent eating lots of wonderful food, watching the men play floor hockey and basketball, opening presents, playing games, and enjoying everyone's company. We are grateful to Grandma & Grandpa for all the presents and for letting us use the church for our festivities. We are grateful to have been able to see everyone and that everyone was able to be there. It's not very often we have the opportunity to be all together as a family and I love this holiday that is all about family! I'm so grateful for the Savior's birth and that we are able to celebrate Christmas and remember the birth and life of Jesus. It is the one time of year that we really focus on Him and bring him into our thoughts and prayers and home as we try harder to remember Him and the reason we celebrate Christmas. This year was especially wonderful because I really feel like the Spirit was stronger in our home this year.

We love Christmas Parties!

I got to go help for Maggie's Christmas party at her class. Josie had the wonderful opportunity to tag-along and she thought she was so big and she was so proud of herself to be as big as the other kids! The kids were even surprised by a visit from Santa. Maggie braved talking to him just to tell him that she made a mistake in the Barbie she previously asked for and needed to let him know which one she REALLY wanted! It was fun to go visit and help in her class and we (Josie) hope we can go visit again.

5 going on 12 ...

Happy Birthday to my Maggie! Maggie had a great birthday this year, it's hard to believe that she's already 5. This year has flown by, she's started acting more like a 12 year old than a 5 year old-- which is interesting! We love her and we're glad that she had such a great day. Highlights of the day:
1) Opening her first present before school-- HSM 2 shirt, DVD, & lipgloss!
2) Christmas party at school. Mommy & Josie got to come and help and Santa even showed up!
3) After school trip to Build-A-Bear. Maggie picked out a cute pink leapord and named it Jewel.
4) Friend Kylie came over after school with fun present and got to stay and play for awhile.
5) After Daddy got home-- PRESENTS! Including: Barbie scooter, Turtle Webkin, pop beads, and Littlest Pet Shop toy.
6) Dinner at McDonald's with Micki & Spencer, including a HAPPY MEAL with a toy! What a novelty.
7) Barbie Island Princess cake-- YUMMY!

All the stockings were hung ...

I sure wish it was as fun to dress up boys as it is girls. I guess I'm lucky that the girls enjoy it so much!

Our Favorite Little Cheerleader

If you've ever asked Maggie what she wants to be when she grows up, you know she's dreaming of being a cheerleader. Last night was Maggie's cheerleading debut and she performed wonderfully! We're going to take a cheerleading break this winter and focus on dance, but she's hoping to pursue her cheerleading dream more after we have more money to do both! We're so proud of her and the talents that she's developing. For two days she's been saying that she was a little nervous to get up in front of everyone, but she was loud and remembered her cheers and masked it well. M-A-G-G-I-E, Go, Maggie, Go!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Enchanted

Maggie, Micki, and I went and saw this movie yesterday afternoon and it was so excellent! I am really looking forward to seeing it again with John and Johnny. The reviews have been so good, and I'm so happy that Disney made such a great movie targeting all audiences! I downloaded the 4 songs with singing from i-tunes after we got home yesterday-- they take me back to "old disney style". Anyway, well worth the money, I recommend everyone go see this movie!

Christmas Spirit

Now that the kids are getting older and Christmas is getting more exciting for them with their mile long Santa letters, we decided it was time to make it something more than just getting the gifts they ask for. We usually donate to Toys for Tots, or other local charities, but this year the kids are saving their own money in a special jar to use to buy toys for a local family in need. They've been working hard and watching all their pennies and quarters add up, and it's been very fulfilling to watch as each coin they find or earn (sometimes with reminding) ends up in our Christmas jar. For Family Home Evening this past week we put at the center of our kitchen table a basket full of small boxes. Inside each box or written on a tag for each day of December is a way that we can give a gift to someone else without spending any money. For example, yesterday's gift was: make a list of ways you can be more like Jesus; Monday's said: Tell each member of your family, "I love you"; and today's gift is: do a chore for someone in your family without telling them it was you. The kids take turns opening the gift and when Johnny opened the box this morning and read what was on the piece of paper he grinned and I could see the wheels start to turn as he contemplated what he would do for someone today. At night before bed we talk about what we all did that day for our gifts and I'm so pleased that I can really feel the Spirit of the Season in our home as we try to do more giving and think less of what we'll receive (not that it isn't fun to receive too)!

Elf Yourself!

This was hilarious! We laughed so hard, try it yourself!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1157650514

S-N-O-W!

The first thing the kids did after they looked out the window and saw the ground covered with snow was ask for their boots and snow pants. They had so much fun being able to play in the snow in our back yard. We're so glad to have a back yard for the kids to be able to play in! We bought our first snow shovel and ice melt yesterday and John decided after shoveling off the driveway and sidewalk of our big corner lot, that he still would rather do that than be in an apartment. YEAH SNOW!

Festival of Trees

We thought it would be a fun idea to get in the Christmas mood by going to The Festival of Trees on Friday night. There were some incredible trees and gingerbread houses! I can't believe the time and money spent on making the most amazing things to donate. 100% of the proceeds from Festival of Trees goes to Primary Children's Hospital, which I'm sure makes it easier to swallow donating so much time and money, not to mention how much the people that purchase the trees and wreaths and gingerbread houses must pay! Johnny especially liked the Star Wars tree, we thought the BYU gingerbread stadium was pretty cool, Maggie loved watching the dance performances and Josie was glad to have her aunt Micki & uncle Spencer with her to hold her and keep her entertained. The kids had fun making crafts, and we learned next year that we won't wait until Friday night to enjoy the festival, but we'll go earlier in the week and try to avoid the crowds.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

December 1st brought with it all the signs that it's beginning to look like Christmas. Before the storm hit, John put the Christmas lights up on our house. I stayed out there the whole time to watch and help, it was so exciting! This is our first year of having a house to put lights up on and it was great going to the store to pick out lights and we couldn't wait until it got dark so that we could admire them.