Christmas Fun

We LOVE Christmas! We start getting ready for it right when Thanksgiving is over. I thought I'd share some of our Christmas fun from this year.

THE TREE
A lot of my friends and neighbors have these trees that are decorated beautifully. Each year I think maybe I will do that too. But then I pull out my hodge podge of ornaments that have been collected over the years, and I forget all about a nice, fancy tree. I LOVE our cartoon tree that represents all the different stages of our lives. I have one ornament on the tree from back when I was in elementary school. Each year I get my kids a new ornament that represents something in there lives at that time. It has become a tradition that they love. This year Bailey got a music note because she plays the guitar, and Sawyer got a dog bowl, because he got Reeses.

NATIVITY
I have a nativity that I LOVE. I got it right after we moved into our first house. Again, it's nothing fancy, but it has been my favorite Christmas decoration for years. I proudly displayed it again this year. Luckily I took a picture of it right when I put it out, because the dog ate it. Yes, you read that right...THE DOG ATE IT! I could have killed her. She ate Marry and Joseph, so now all that's left is one sheep and the baby Jesus.

SANTA
We go to the mall each year and visit Santa. I tell my kids that they can ask for one or two things from Santa, but that's it. I tell them that he has a lot of kids to get stuff for, and they don't need to be greedy. This year Bailey asked Santa for a purple Tiara Pro mountain bike. Santa asked if she wanted anything else, and Bailey said that if the bike was too big, then she wanted double dutch jump ropes. Again, Santa wanted to know if she wanted anything else. Bailey's response cracked me up. She said, "I think that's plenty." She's so cute. I hope he brings her what she wants.

PUZZLE
Each year we start a big puzzle after Thanksgiving. Our Goal is to have it done by Christmas. We usually become obsessed and end up finishing it a few days later. This year was no exception. Here's a picture of our puzzle. You can't tell by the picture, but there is one piece missing. Can you guess why? That's right, the dog ate that too. We actually caught her in the act.

Bailey was SO excited one afternoon. She called us all into the living room because she had a surprise for us. She had created her own "live" nativity. It's pretty impressive if you ask me.
We've had so many more fun times this Christmas season. Sawyer had a Holiday Dance at school. He danced his first slow dance. It was with Christie, the girl he has liked all the way through middle school. Bailey had a great Christmas concert for school. She sang some cute songs and played the recorder. She also had a fun Christmas party with her class . I was in charge, and it turned out really good, but of course I forgot my camera for both of those. We also got to be the live nativity for our church Christmas dinner and program.

Even though she's naughty, she sure is excited about Christmas!

We hope you're busy making great family memories too. Happy Holidays!

Bailey's Guitar Recital

Bailey had her first guitar recital. She did great! She played Silent Night by herself, and then she played Jingle Bells with Mark. I was very proud of both of them. I didn't take pictures of the actual performance, because I didn't want the flash to mess her up. When we got home, I filmed them playing. Enjoy!

Bailey and her guitar teacher, Mr. Callister.

Bailey and Mark.

Pictures of Sawyer and Bailey

I haven't blogged in awhile, because our computer crashed. Luckily Mark backed up most of our stuff before it died. We didn't get our e-mail addresses backed up though, so all of you will have to e-mail me, so I have your addresses again. I have a lot to share, so I'm gonna do some power blogging in between my cleaning :)!

Earlier in the year we had a Scout auction for the Boy Scouts in our neighborhood. At the auction we bought a photo session and a 16 X 20 picture of our choice from the sitting. We finally got around to getting it done. Tamara did a great job of photographing the kids. She gave me the big picture I picked, and then she was nice enough to print a bunch of 5x7s of the others that I liked. I had to scan them in, so the quality isn't great, but I thought they were cute.

This is the picture I picked to have printed for my bedroom, but I had it done in color.

What is she gettin' for Christmas?

Thankful for...

We had a great Thanksgiving! This year we are thankful for good friends. Jeremiah, Kassie, Carson and Landon Temple came up from Utah, and spent the weekend with us. Me and Kassie went to Twilight and did a little shopping. Mark and Jeremiah worked on the garage, and got all the trim done. Bailey was in heaven, because we put her in charge of Carson and Landon. She's gonna make a great mommy someday. We stayed up til wee hours of the morning playing games. It was a good time!

I walked in the kitchen in the middle of Jeremiah and Bailey fighting about something. The part I saw was Jeremiah hold Bailey's arms down, grab her black magic marker, and draw a mustache on her face. I was laughing so hard! Bailey was ticked off, and stormed out of the room. She wouldn't even let me get a picture. Every time I went to the bathroom to help her get it off her face, I would burst out in another laugh attack. It was hilarious! She came down a while later, and put lipstick on Jeremiah, and sprayed him with perfume. He was a good sport about it. He should have been too, since he started the whole thing.

How the West was Dun

Sawyer is in a theater class at school this year. They have been practicing all semester for a melodrama called, How the West was Dun. Sawyer and some of his friends were really discouraged with how the play was coming along. I picked them up from their last dress rehearsal on Thur. night, and they said the play was going to be an embarrassment. A lot of the 'bad guys' still hadn't memorized their lines. They had to perform it at school twice on Friday (once for each grade). I was nervous about it all day. When he finally got home, he said it went a lot better than they thought it would. We went to the big performance last night, and I thought it was great! Sawyer played Deputy Dudley Doowrong, the Sheriff's sidekick. The script described him by saying, "His heart is in the right place, but his brain isn't." He was the comic relief in the play, and at one point I was laughing so hard I was crying. Mark just sat there with a big grin on his face, knowing that Sawyer was a chip off the old block. Good job Sawyer! I hope you continue acting through High School, because we LOVE being entertained by you!

I only got one picture because he went backstage and changed before he came out to see us. It's not even a good one, because their eyes are all glowing white.

Twilight

Finally, the countdown was over! I woke up Friday morning and went straight to the computer to read the movie reviews. I'm not sure why I even bothered...they could have said it was the worst movie ever, and I still would have been super excited to go. Me and Ashlee went to breakfast before the movie started just to kill time. We got to the theater WAY early so we would have the best seats. The rest of the World Gym rejects met us there (Charity, Karen, and Stacey). The movie wasn't as good as the book (they never are), but I still LOVED it! I will be seeing it again...and again...and probably again! Then I'll buy it and watch it some more. Edward and Bella were perfect. There was some over the top cheesy parts that we all giggled at, but I loved those too. The surprise character for me was Chief Swan. He did a great job in the movie. I can't wait for the next one to come out, so I hope they get movin' on it. All and all, I give it a BIG thumbs up!

Two More Tags

I've been tagged twice at the same time, so I'm gonna do them both on one post.

Eight is Great

8 Favorite TV shows:
1. The Biggest Loser
2. Extreme Home Makeover
3. What Not to Wear
4. Everybody Loves Raymond (hilarious)
5. Law and Order SVU
6. Oprah
7. CMT
8. American Idol
(I only watch the top 2 shows, but I have seen the others at some point, and I liked them)

8 Things I did yesterday:
1. Got the kids ready and off to school
2. Went to breakfast with Ashlee (before the movie)
3. Helped Ashlee with a vinyl project (at the movie theater...since we were there hours early)
4. WATCHED TWILIGHT!!!
5. Checked e-mails and blogs
6. Watched Sawyer's school play (How the West was Dun)
7. Went to Cold Stone with Sawyer and some of the kids from the play
8. Read a little bit before bed

8 Things I look forward to:
1. Thanksgiving
2. Christmas
3. Bailey's guitar recital
4. Sawyer's track season
5. Grammy to be done with her treatments
6. A finished garage
7. The next Harry Potter movie
8. Catching up on my scrapbooks (like that will ever really happen)

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Carinos
2. Sol Rio
3. Applebees
4. Blue Hashi (cause it reminds me of my friends)
5. Jakers
6. Olive Garden
7. Anything Chinese
8. Cold Stone (it's my post, so I'm counting it as a restaurant)

8 Things on my wish list:
1. My house to be 100% finished and all decorated (I might as well start with the big ones)
2. An under cabinet radio/DVD player for my scrapbook room
3. A fantastic summer vacation
4. For Sawyer to always be as open with me as he is now
5. To not stress out through the holidays
6. For my kids to grow up healthy and happy
7. For my house to be the hang out spot for my kids and their friends/family (through all ages of their lives)
8. For Sawyer and Bailey to always have a close relationship with each other

Here's the second tag.

Husband Tag

5 THINGS HE LOVES
*His Family
*Friends
*Food
*Finishing projects around the yard and house
*Vacation

5 THINGS ON HIS TO DO LIST
*Finish the garage
*Hang Christmas Lights
*Finish the basement
*Add a covered porch in our backyard
*retire early and wealthy

5 FOODS HE ENJOYS
*Breakfast
*Lunch
*Dinner
*Dessert
*Snacks

5 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT HIM
*He never read a book until after college
*He's an excellent artist
*He never snores
*He's very romantic (When we were dating, he spray painted my name in the middle of the road and then lit it on fire. He also wrote me a letter and dedicated a song to me and it was played on The American Country Countdown with Bob Kingsly) :)
*He has a very high pain tolerance

5 PLACES HE HAS LIVED
*Lakeside, CA
*BYU Dorms, UT
*American Fork, UT
*Orem, UT
*Idaho Falls, ID

5 QUIRKY THINGS
*He HAS to have soft feet
*He is totally organized at work, but a complete mess at home
*He's worse than a teenager when it comes to texting
*He picks his head when he's nervous or stressed
*He likes to stand up when he eats (drives me nuts)

Sawyer and Bailey are Famous

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Look Out Below!

Most of you know that Mark has been working on our garage. He took the day off work today to get it all masked and textured, so it would be ready to paint by the weekend. I was upstairs scrapbooking when I got a text from him that said, "OUCH." I sent one back that said, "What did you do?" He quickly replied with, "I fell and landed on my back." I thought it was kinda funny. I was feeling a little silly, so I texted back, "Does your face hurt?" You know how it goes...does your face hurt? No why? Because it's killing me! That's what I was going for :)! He replied with, "I don't know." Of course that kind of boring response just made me think he was cranky...come on Mark, work with me here. I'm still upstairs a minute or two later cracking myself up when I get another text from him that said, "Will you help me up?" Oh crap, he really did fall!!! I run downstairs and open the garage door to find him sprawled on the floor unable to move. I've been upstairs cracking jokes, and he REALLY DID FALL OFF THE LADDER!!! He landed on his butt and back and couldn't move. I get the 'best wife of the year' award for this. Oh, but I don't even stop there...the whole time I'm trying to get him up, I'm giggling about how funny I still thought I was. I kept asking him if he 'got' my joke! Don't worry, other than his ego, he'll be fine. Some serious bruising of the tail bone area is all. I also wasn't supposed to tell anyone that he fell off the ladder, because according to him, only old people do that....oops, my bad!

Happy Birthday Bailey!

Bailey turned 9 years old today. I'm not sure if that makes me happy or sad. A little of both I guess. Today she got her family presents. She got a music stand, a guitar stand and strap, some picks, and of course the High School Musical 3 Soundtrack. She was thrilled!



Bailey,
Every time I look at a picture of you, it makes me smile. It also makes me realize how fast you're growing up. It seems like just yesterday you were my curly haired baby girl. Where has the time gone? I've blinked, and now I have this beautiful, outgoing, kind, confident, smart young lady as a daughter. I am so proud of you. I love the way you treat people. You always want people to feel good about themselves, and you always make sure they fit in. There is always room in your heart for one more friend. I love the way you give your best on everything you do. I've learned that when you set a goal, or say you're going to do something, it WILL get done. Your determination inspires me. I love that you're a "daddy's girl." I love the way you follow Dad around and help him with all of his projects. You don't just help him until you get bored...you see every project through until the end. I could go on and on about all the things I love about you. I couldn't ask for anything more in a daughter than what you've given me. I love you, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for you...or better yet, what you hold for the future.
Love, Mom

Happy Halloween...Ole'!

We LOVE Halloween!!! We decided to do a family costume this year. We weren't very politically correct, but we sure cracked OURSELVES up! Even the dog got in on the action. We have some Spanish families in our neighborhood, and luckily they were good sports and thought we were funny. When Bailey went trick or treating to one of their houses, the guy wanted her to speak Spanish before he would give her the candy. On the way back down the walk, toward Mark, Bailey said, "Dad, those were REAL Mexicans!" And of course their door was still wide open. Gotta love that! We had great weather this year, so we walked the the neighborhood trick or treating, while Sawyer stayed home and passed out candy. It was a great night.

Bailey's school had a great Halloween carnival this year. Mark and Bailey went around playing all the games, Sawyer served drinks in the kitchen (which he was thrilled about), and I made and sold 110 bags of cotton candy. We love school activities like this, because it gives us a chance to visit with all our friends and neighbors. What fun!





Our Ward had a really fun Halloween party. It started with dinner for the whole family. Then the kids could go around to the different classrooms and play games. After the games everyone went outside and we had a trunk or treat. You go from car trunk to car trunk getting candy. It's such a fast way to do it. Hayley Hendricks even borrowed the schools popcorn machine, and was making popcorn for all the kids in the parking lot. It was tons of fun!



I think 13 is a hard age for Halloween. They are too old to trick or treat, but they still want to experience the fun of Halloween. I told Sawyer to organize the kids his age in the neighborhood, and I would take them all to Dr. Slaughter's House of Terror. It was HILARIOUS!!! I think I had more fun than the kids. Most of them had never been through a haunted house before. With all those teenage boys there (and a few girls to impress), I STILL had to go first. You would think they would at least TRY to act macho. Not so! Me and Bailey went first, and then there was a big group of 9 teenagers all huddled together in a ball, going through. What a comical sight. They all had SO much fun! We may have to do this every year.

Little Witches Night Out!

Bailey had her 9th birthday party last night. Her birthday isn't until the week after Halloween, but we decided to do it a couple weeks early, so that she could have a Halloween party. She has seen me go to my 'Witches Night Out' for the past few years, so she decided to have one of her own. It was SO cute. We sent these invitations to her little neighborhood friends...

Click on the invitation to read it.

We took 8 little witches out to dinner. We gave prizes for the Cutest Witch, the Scariest Witch, and of course the Best Cackle. After dinner, we took 4 of the little witches home, and the other 4 wanted to go to Dr. Slaughter's Haunted House. We were pretty nervous about taking Bailey through the haunted house. She had never been through one before, and we thought it might scare the heebie-jeebies out of her. I went first, with 3 little witches clung to my arm, and one witch telling me to go faster. Mark and Sawyer protected our precious cargo from behind. It was a long, and elaborate haunted house. When we got to the end, Bailey said, "Let's do that again!" She LOVED it! I swear there is NOTHING that she is afraid of. She had a great birthday party!

Happy Birthday you cute little witch.

Witches Night Out

It's a tradition for the ladies in my neighborhood to do a 'Witches Night Out' before Halloween each year. We all dress up as witches, and go out to dinner. They give out prizes for different things, like best costume, best hair, best hat, etc. But the most desired of all the awards is the BEST CACKLE. We probably had around 30 witches this year. It is so much fun to see the costumes that everyone comes up with. Some of the ladies go ALL OUT! I love living in this neighborhood, and I love all the friends I have here.

Croptoberfest

This past weekend I went to Croptoberfest with a group of friends. It started on Friday afternoon. We ate dinner at the Red Lion Hotel, and then scrapbooked in the conference room until they kicked us out at 1:00 in the morning. The 5 of us stayed in a room at the Hotel, so we were up til 3:00 chit chatting (about vampires, white legs and many other things). The next morning we went down for breakfast and then got started with the scrapbooks again. We scrapbooked until about 5:00 Sat. evening (stopping only to have lunch). I got 19 pages done! I was really excited about what I accomplished. I haven't done an overnight scrapbook adventure in quite a while, and I had SO much fun! Hayley Hendricks was there...and for those of you who know her, you understand why my face hurt from laughing so much. There is no one quite like her!

Kati, Jen, Hayley, Tricia, and Shannon

This is Hayley cracking us up at dinner with one of many stories.

I've been tagged again...twice!

I've been 'TAGGED' with two different tags, so I'm gonna do them both right now.

This ones kind of fun...you go to your 'My Picture' file. Open up the 4th folder, and post the 4th picture. Mine is a picture of Bailey on her kindergarten field trip to Bear World.


My second 'TAG' is to write 6 quirks about myself (oh lucky you)!

1. I can't stand to walk into a room where the closet doors or the dresser drawers are left open (even just a little bit). It drives me crazy!!! Sawyer does it on purpose just to push my buttons!

2. I can't shower or go to the bathroom without having the door closed, or shower curtain drawn. Even if I'm the only one home. Strange I know, but I always feel so exposed :)

3. As most of you know, I am VERY low maintenance, no frills and conservative when it comes to my appearance (Translation...I really don't give a crap). I am so comfy and happy in jeans and an over sized sweat shirt. However, I am so opposite with my kids. I go ALL OUT on them. I always want them looking hip and cute. Go figure! I'm not really sure why that is.

4. I know this will be a shocker to most people, but if someone took my TV away, and told me I could never have it back, I would be just fine with that. Not a big TV fan. If they took books away, I might just have to curl up and die though!

5. I am a TOTAL morning person. I am happy and chipper in the morning, even when YOU aren't. That can be really annoying for some people...especially on Christmas morning when I'm the one awake at 4 in the morning wondering why everyone else is being so lazy :)!

6. I have NO domestic skills WHAT SO EVER!!! I kid you not...if a button falls off someones clothes, Mark has to sew it back on. Sad huh?

I tag: Crissy Brown, Kelly Dodson, Dawn Leviton, and Shannon Fullmer (now you have to update your blog Shannon)

CraZy HaIr DaY!

Falls Valley has a 'Spirit Day' one Friday a month. This Friday was CraZy HaIr DaY. Bailey LOVED her hair. She would probably want to do it like that everyday if I would let her. However, she did refuse to stand at the bus stop, so I had to drive her :)!