Holiday Fun!

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are filled with so much fun!

Puzzles
We always work on a puzzle between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year we did one of the Grand Canyon, since we took a family vacation there over spring break. Bailey did most of this one herself. Once she gets going, it's like a major addiction for her. She gets mad when we send her to bed :)!

The Grand Canyon puzzle was only 500 pieces, instead of the 1000 pieces we usually do. The kids didn't like that, so we had to do another one.

We LOVE our puzzle tradition!

Elk Creek Apartment Performance
Bailey got to perform with a few other guitar players at the Elk Creek Apartments. She played for people in their 'golden' years. It was a really cool experience for her. She loves old people. There was a sweet little lady sitting right across from us. She would clap and sing along with the upbeat songs, and then get emotional and cry during some of them. I'm grateful that Bailey is willing to use her talent to bless people's lives.

Decorating the Tree
After we decorated the tree, I wanted a cute picture of the kids in front of it. They were full of it that night, and refused to be even a little normal in the pictures. So, I decided to post these anyways, so everybody can see how nerdy they are :)!

Another one of our traditions, is that the kids get a new ornament to go on the tree each year. Something that represents them. I ordered them both 'running' ornaments this year. Bailey's said, "I know I run like a girl. Try to keep up." Sawyer's said, "My sport is your sports punishment." I LOVED them!

Eastview Ward Christmas Party
Mark was in charge of our ward Christmas party this year. It was a VERY stressful time for him. He had just been called into the bishopric, plus he still had his other calling until Stake Conference. Things were really busy for him at work, and there was just the usual "stuff" that Christmas brings. Although it stressed him out, he still did a great job. We had a party centered around service. We had a canned food drive for the food bank, which ended up being a huge success. We had a humanitarian drive for the Haven, and ended up with over 300 items to donate. We also had an Angel Tree. Our ward is so awesome. The members adopted over 50 names, and provided Christmas for them.

After the brunch, we had a short program. Mark recruited Bailey to play and sing at the last minute. She's getting a lot more comfortable on stage, and is actually enjoying performing now. We weren't sure that would ever happen! She played a couple songs, and did a great job.

The kids got to write letters to Santa. On the bottom was a place for them to write a Christmas wish for someone else. We wanted them to feel the spirit of service too. Santa came to collect their letters, and he read the kids a Christmas story about service. I love our ward!

Falls Valley Christmas Program
This was Bailey's last year to preform in the Falls Valley Christmas Program. It seems crazy that our whole elementary school experience is almost over. Falls Valley has been a huge part of our lives for the past 11 years! I'm glad Bailey's making the most of her last year there.

Hannah, Bailey, and Annie

Bailey and Annie

Favorite Things Party
Each year I do a Christmas party with my friends in the Sandcreek Ward. I always look forward to it, because now that I'm not in the same ward as them, I don't see them as much as I used to. This year we changed it up a little, and did a 'Favorite Things' party. It was so much fun! Each lady brought a small gift for everyone, that represented their favorite things. Everyones gifts were so fun and creative.

Here is all of our favorite things.

Amy read us a poem as part of her favorite thing. We laughed so hard! I had to put it on here. It's long, but totally worth the read.

See Mother, Funny Funny Mother
See Mother. See Mother laugh. Mother is happy.
Mother is happy about Christmas.
Mother has many plans. Mother has many plans for Christmas.
Mother is organized. Mother smiles all the time.
Funny, funny Mother.
See Mother. See Mother smile. Mother is happy.
The shopping is all done. See the children watch TV.
Watch, children watch.
See the children change their minds.
See them ask for different toys.
Look, look, Mother is not smiling.
Funny, funny Mother.

See Mother. See Mother sew.
Mother will make dresses.
Mother will make robes.
Mother will make shirts.

See Mother put the zipper in wrong.
See Mother sew the dress on the wrong side.
See Mother cut the skirt too short.
See Mother put the material away until January.
Look. Look. See Mother take a tranquilizer.
Funny, funny Mother.

See Mother. See Mother buy raisins and nuts.
See Mother buy candied pineapple and powdered sugar.
See Mother buy flour, and dates, and pecans, and brown sugar, and bananas, and spices, and vanilla.
Look. Look. Mother is mixing everything together.
See the children press out cookies.
See the flour on their elbows.
See the cookies burn. See the cake fall.
See the children pull taffy. See mother pull her hair.
See mother clean the kitchen with the garden hose.
Funny, funny Mother.

See Mother. See Mother wrap presents. See Mother look for the end on the scotch tape roll. See Mother bite her finger nails. See Mother go.
See Mother go to the store 12 times in one hour.
Go Mother go. See Mother go faster. Run Mother run.
See Mother trim the tree.
See Mother have a party.
See Mother make popcorn.
See Mother wash the walls.
See Mother scrub the rug.
See Mother tear up the organized plan.
See Mother forget gift for Uncle Harold.
See Mother get hives.
Go Mother go. See the far away look in Mother's eyes.
Mother has become disorganized. Mother has become disoriented.
Funny, funny Mother.

It is finally Christmas morning. See the happy family.
See Father smile. Father is happy.
Smile Father smile.
Father loves fruit cake.
Father loves Christmas pudding.
Father loves all the new neckties.
Look, look. See the happy children. See the children's toys.
Santa was very good to the children.
The children will remember this Christmas.

See Mother. Mother is slumped in a chair.
Mother is crying uncontrollably.
Mother does not look well.
Mother has ugly dark circles under her blood shot eyes.
Everyone helps mother to her bed.
See Mother sleep quietly under heavy sedation.
See Mother smile.
Funny, funny Mother.


Christmas Guitar Recital
Bailey had her Christmas Guitar Recital. She played Sweet Mary Cries. She did a great job. I filmed all of her performances, but I didn't post them, because she did all the same songs as the Festival of Trees, and I posted all of those recordings.

Bailey and Seth

Sadie Hawkins

Sawyer got asked to Sadie's by Kendra Smith. She moved his car in the parking lot of school, filled it up with balloons and streamers, saran wrapped it shut, and left him little cupcakes asking him to the dance.

He answered back by doing the same thing to her locker. He filled it with balloons and streamers, left brownies inside with his answer, and saran wrapped it shut.

They had a really fun group. They had dinner and played games, and then went to the dance.

The theme was 'A Night in Dream Land.'

Bucket List

Mark and I had a 'Bucket List' date. We wrote down all the things we want to do, places we want to go, things we want to accomplish or learn, and put them in our bucket.

Here are just a few of the things on our 'Bucket List.'

Tricia:
Whale watching
Tour the Oregon Coast (in the works)
Alaskan Cruise
Ride the top 10 roller coasters
I want to learn about and do my family history (working on it)
Visit Niagara Falls
Attend a session of General Conference
Take an African Safari Tour
Learn to cross country ski
Visit the Redwood Forrest
Take a family vacation to New York City (Sawyer's senior trip)
Finish a 100 mile bike ride
Tour the church history sites
See my kids get married in the Temple
Take my grand kids to Disneyland

Mark:
Pan for gold
Finish our basement
He wants a music room
Hike from rim to rim of the Grand Canyon
Visit all 50 states
Become an actor
Attend a BYU football game as a family
See a Broadway show
Fly in a fighter plane
Write and publish a book
Attend the Olympics
Own his own business
Visit Washington DC
Learn to read music and play bass (lessons start in January)
Ride a steamboat down the Mississippi
Perform (on guitar and bass) with Sawyer and Bailey

What's on YOUR bucket list?

Thanksgiving Week!

The kids had a week off of school for Thanksgiving this year! We spent Thanksgiving day with the Temples. We had a yummy dinner, and played games.

Sawyer and Carson played video games :)!

Kassie

Here's all the cute kids! Caleb (Jeremiah and Kassie's nephew), Carson, Landon, Bailey, Grayson, and Sawyer.

Happy Thanksgiving!

That night Mark and I went to a couple stores to shop. Since when did Black Friday start on Thursday!?! We entered, and promptly excited WalMart. It was crazy even for my standards! We got a few really good deals at a less crazy store, then came home and shopped on line. That is more Mark's style. I, however, like to be part of the excitement! Bailey is a girl after my own heart, and she likes to be in the middle of the madness too! So, me and her went to a few stores on Friday. She wanted to stay out all day and go everywhere, but we were in the midst of a very important Harry Potter marathon, so we had to get back for that :)!

On Friday night, Mark and I went to dinner with Keith and Jenni, and then went to the White Christmas play at the Colonial Theater. It was really fun! On Saturday night we went to a surprise dinner to celebrate our good friend Brian being cancer free! So many fun times! The week went by WAY too fast! Now we are anxiously awaiting the Christmas break!

Baptisms

Since Bailey is 12 now, she can do baptisms at the Temple. She's been so excited about that! Our ward is scheduled to do baptisms in December, but Marlee will be on vacation during that time. We really wanted their first time to be together, so we went for our own early morning session. Sawyer brought Katie, and we met the Whiteheads there. Bailey loved it, and said that she wants to get up early and do them once a month. I love my kiddos, and I love their awesome friends!

Katie, Payton, Mason, Sawyer, Marlee, Bailey

The Standards

Mark and I took Bailey and Annie to the Standards concert. They are a group of 5 brothers from Twin Falls. They use very little (if any) music in most of their songs. They do everything by voice. They came to Falls Valley and did an assembly for the kids, with a drug free message. I was teaching that day, and I thought they were great. We decided the big concert would be fun...and it was! The group now lives in Nashville, and they are changing their name to Spencer's Own. They have a song out on country radio called Idaho Love. I hope we hear more of them in the future.

The girls waiting in line to get in.

The one in the middle front is our friend's brother in law. He was Bailey's favorite.

About half way through the concert, Bailey and Annie decided to hang out in front of the stage (instead of in our seats). They worked their way all the way to the front. They got lots of high fives from the group, and thought that was pretty cool!

We bought their Christmas CD, so after the concert, the girls got all five of them to sign it. It was a super fun night!

Ugly Sweater Party

SueAnn and Lesa organized an Ugly Sweater Party. It was hilarious! We all met at Hong Kong, had dinner, and modeled our fantastic sweaters!

Lesa and Becky's were two of my favorites!

Megan, Kinnie and SueAnn. SueAnn actually sewed a sheep to the back of hers!

Becky won this fabulous prize for having the ugliest sweater! She had my vote :)!

The whole group!

Festival of Trees

Bailey performed six songs at the Festival of Trees this year. This was the most songs she's ever performed at one time. It was nerve racking for her, but she did amazing! Mark played bass with her on some of the songs. They worked really hard on them, and did a great job! The songs they performed were:

Jingle Bell Rock
When Christmas Comes to Town
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Where are you Christmas
Silent Night
Sweet Mary Cries

All ready to go!

Mark and Bailey

Sound check

Performing

Bailey and Marlee found time to see Santa after the performance :)!

I LOVE these two little munchkins!

Bonneville Cross Country

Sawyer had a great cross country season! He made some huge improvements this year, and dropped his times a lot!

The team kicked off the season with the Mud Run. The Bonneville team fights for last place, which they accomplished again this year. They also pulled off another year of being awarded the 'muddiest team.'

The Mud Run

The real season began with a challenging course in Pocatello. There were some big hills, and it was a wake up call to the ones who didn't practice much over the summer.
Pocatello Invite : 22:02

The next race was the Digger Invite. This is one of Sawyer's favorite courses. He ran a great race, and ended up with a career PR! The whole team did great!
Digger Invite: 20:10 (PR)

A prayer before the race at the Digger Invite.

Digger Invite

Next was the Tiger/Grizz. This is one of the biggest races in Idaho, and it's on a tough course.
Tiger/Grizz: 20:47

Tiger/Grizz

The meet at Rigby Lake was AWESOME! It was fun to watch, because we could see the runners the whole time. Sawyer ran a perfect race. It ended up paying off, because he got his best time by a long ways!
Rigby: 19:16 (PR)

Rigby Lake

The varsity boys and girls took a special trip to Boise to run in the Bob Firman Invitational. Sawyer worked really hard to secure a spot, and was able to go. It was a HUGE meet. The boys weren't used to running with that many people. It was a really cool course (the same one as the state meet).
Bob Firman: 20:30

Finishing at Bob Firman.

The Madison Invite was not Sawyer's favorite. He was actually running a pretty good race until the last half mile. He got a side ache, and it slowed his down a lot. His time was okay, but he was disappointed, knowing it could have been a lot better. It's strange, because Sawyer and Bailey had their best two races on the same courses, and both of them struggled the most at the Madison meet.
Madison Invite: 20:23

American Falls was the best meet of the season! The whole team did AWESOME! Sawyer ran his best race ever! It was pouring rain and freezing, but he still pulled off a HUGE PR!
American Falls: 18:49 (PR)

Wet, cold, and happy at American Falls!

City/County is a fun meet, because they get to go against the other local teams that they don't always get to run with. Sawyer has never been a very gutsy runner. He's always pretty reserved, so he shocked us by going out in the front of the pack at this meet. It was fun for us to see a little more aggressive side of him.
City/County: 20:10

City/County

City/County

Districts was the last race of the season for the boys team. Tyler was the only one who qualified for the State Meet. He ran an AWESOME race! Sawyer ran a good race too. He knocked 18 seconds off of his time from this same course from earlier in the season.
Districts: 20:29

Great finish to a great season Sawyer!

Sawyer lettered for his third year in a row!

Bailey got her certificate from RMMS!

I'm so proud of both of them! Cross Country is a hard sport. They were both very dedicated, and added a lot to their teams. Good job Sawyer and Bailey! I can't wait until next year!