Holiday Festivities

We stayed at my parent's house for a week. It was a long time and we had fun visiting other family and playing games galore. I played more games over that week than I have in a long time. It was so much fun. It was mainly Marci, Sadie, Sara, Jared and I that played the most games. We played Mario on the Wii, a million games of Transamerica (my family loved that game), Settler's of Catan and then battleship and boggle on the Wii. It was great. We joked that our bums were getting sore from sitting so much. :) Almost all of us went up to the high school gym and played basketball together on Christmas Eve. It was so much fun. One of my friend's that I graduated with from HS came with her husband who coaches Jared in basketball. They were so nice to come and play with us. I hadn't played in forever, but I was surprised how I did. I was so sore afterwards though. We also had time to go to Miner's on Christmas Eve, which was so exciting for all of us since we love that place. Jared had a basketball game one night that I was able to go watch. He played on Varsity for that game so that was exciting. He's a good kid...seriously, he is so nice.

Kyle's extended family got together after Christmas and I made sure we were invited. :) They are fun to be with and all of his cousins's were visiting from out of state so we all got together. It was fun. We played some games and the girls' totally should have won. ha ha. The adults all gathered at Matt and Courtney's house while the boy kids were at Becky's and the girl kids were at Kent and Lousie's. We left Preston home with my parent's, but we dropped Kate off with the girls. When we picked her up she had dried oatmeal on her face and an extra ponytail. She told us they put oatmeal on their faces with cucumbers on their eyes and got their hair fixed. A little spa treatment. She thought it was so cool. Thanks girls!

We had fun laughing and catching up.

This picture is kind of fuzzy, but the best I had. Back row L-R: Courtney, Heather, me, Melanie, Holly and Nicki. Front row L-R: Natalie (due next month!), Brenda, Whitney and Brittany.

Preston is destructo at my Mom's house. He somehow found the markers and went to town writing on his face, arms and on my Mom's office mat that the chair rolls on. That came off easily, good thing he didn't write on the carpet. He also loved watching the digital photo frame, but the last 2 days we were there he started pushing it off the table and almost broke it. Geesh!

The night before we left it snowed! We were all excited to see some snow. Kate especially since she wanted it to snow on Christmas. She bundled up and went outside to make snow angels and play with Jared.

Preston lasted 2 seconds in the snow, but then my Dad took him on the four wheeler for a ride and he was fine on that for a while.

I got new dishes for Christmas from my parent's. They are really cute. I got them at the Corelle outlet. They are to replace my other dishes I got almost 10 years ago when we first got married. My old plates have seen better days so it was time for new one's. I think I'm going to like these for a while. They go great with my red and black decor.

Merry Christmas 2009

The weekend before Christmas we went over to Moses Lake for Nathan's baptism. We brought Dee Ann back with us so she could visit for a few days. We had fun having her at our house and she spoiled us and the kids. She even treated us to Ivars Landing, which I've been craving...yummy clam chowder and warm sourdough rolls. Delish. Kate loved performing for her and showing her all her dress-ups. Then, I worked Tuesday and Wednesday and we left Wednesday night to go over to my parent's house. Kyle rocked and had the kids packed, everything loaded up in the car, house cleaned up and tree taken down with Dee Ann's help by the time I got home from work on Wednesday night. He does better than me when we are getting ready to leave!!! The roads were great over the pass and we got home in great time. We met Milo and he took Dee Ann back up to Moses Lake to stay with them for Christmas while we stayed at my parent's since it was "their" year for Christmas this year. We rotate holidays.

Growing up it was a tradition to open a family gift on Christmas Eve. Usually, they are matching pajamas and then games and treats that we play that night as a family. I've kept that tradition going with my family because I liked it so much. So here we are opening some gifts. My Mom got some Wii games for Boulder Resort (and Jared), she made the kids pajamas and bought all of us adults pajama pants. We got Kate Chutes and Ladders and I surprised Kyle with Settler's of Catan (he wasn't that excited since I'm more of the game player anyway!).

It's also been a tradition to have a Christmas Eve dinner. We always have french dips with au jus, pasta salad, potato chips with onion dip and some sort of yummy punch.

After dinner the kids acted out the nativity. Here's Preston as a wise man. He took the robe off not longer after getting it on. He looked like a little Hugh Hefner in it! ha ha!

The nativity: Aubree as Mary, Carter as Joseph, Kate as an Angel, Paige as an Angel and Hailey who didn't like being baby Jesus in the small itchy manger.

This is what the nativity really looked like...baby Jesus crying, the Wise Man running away and the other kids distracted. It was funny though.

Everyone watching the Wii Mario Brother's game. It was a blast to play with multiple people. We were bouncing off each other's heads and laughing our heads off. We played it WAY too much over the Christmas week. Jared is awesome at it though. He beat the game a few days later.

Christmas morning!!! We all met up downstairs before going upstairs to see what Santa brought. The kids were so excited. They were more concerned if Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk. He did. The kids didn't wake up until 7:30am so it wasn't too early of a morning, which was nice.

Preston's gifts from Santa were a Thomas Train Track, Elmo and stuff in his stocking. Then from us under the tree we got him a Leap Frog magnetic letters fridge thing and a Cars Mac trailer with cars. Other people gave him a Little People Barn, remote control airplane, books, clothes, toy cars and Little Einstein DVD's which he was so excited about. He actually enjoyed opening presents and did fairly well with it all.

Kate got a dollhouse, barbie with a bike from Santa and stuff in her stocking. From us under the tree she got a Tinkerbell doll, Tinkerbell photo album with pictures of her that I printed off from when she was a baby until now (she likes looking at pictures of herself as a baby), Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure DVD and art stuff. Other people gave her a digital camera, make-up, pop beads, Mulan barbie, sleeping bag, books and a new leotard.

Our little family on Christmas

We went up to Moses Lake on Christmas night. We exchanged gifts and visited. It was a good Christmas. We are lucky to have good family.

Bright Lights

We went to look at Christmas lights tonight. I was supposed to go to a Board meeting tonight (i'm the secretary for our homeowner's association), but due to a sore throat and then losing my voice I opted to not go. Instead, we went to this neighborhood that seriously gets into the Christmas Spirit. Several homes go all out and decorate their houses, yards and streets. You can donate food for a food bank and they give you candy canes. They even have speakers set up around the neighborhood playing Christmas music. We stopped and got hot chocolate before seeing the lights. It was fun and Kate and Preston liked all the lights and blow up toys. We even saw some fancy one's where Santa goes up and down the chimney. :)

Not having a voice is kind of frustrating! I've been doing a lot of clapping to get people's attention. ha ha! Then I have to use sign language or whisper because it takes too much energy to talk. I'm hoping I get over this soon because we have a baptism to attend for my nephew this weekend. My Mom called and she said, "well, you have been fun to talk to!" Because I don't talk! Ha ha! Kyle said he is my ventriliquist. Kyle wants me to get my voice back because he has to do all the disciplining and I can't explain things to him and I expect him to read my mind. See having your voice is a good thing. Be grateful for your voice...even if your kids want you to lose it. ;0

Teeth and Cheeks

Preston is teething...he's getting all 4 of his 2 year molars. Yikes! All at once!?! Poor guy. He's been going around yesterday and today with his fingers in his mouth gnawing on them.

A while ago we were in the car on our way home and Kate said she needed to go to the bathroom. I told her she will have to hold it until we get home (we were almost there). I told her to pinch her cheeks together and I looked back at her and she was pinching her cheeks on her face! ha ha!

Christmas Breakfast, Santa and Decorations

We have been busy this last week planning and preparing for our Ward Christmas breakfast. It turned out well and we are glad it's over. :) We served pancakes, sausage, milk, juice and bananas. We had people bring hash browns, egg casserole or quiche, and then breakfast bread (like muffins, donuts, cinnamon rolls or pull-a-part bread). The Primary did a nativity, the Bishop gave a short message and then we had a visit from Santa. There was a good turn out and from what we heard people had fun.

We made the pancakes before people arrived (we got to the church at 7am, the activity was at 8:30), but the extra people I asked to come help cook didn't show up until 45-60 mins late (and one of them was bringing their kids to help watch my kids b/c at the Halloween activity Preston was clingy). I was stressing at that point because no one was showing up to help. It was just Kyle and I and 2 people from our activities committee. We actually got a good start on cooking and then our other helpers showed up so it all turned out, but man it's stressful doing all this stuff for the whole ward. Who would ever choose to cater for a living?! That is a lot of pressure. It's rewarding when people are coming and enjoying the food, but man it's crazy beforehand. Thank goodness we had the Cars movie playing in another room because that kept Preston occupied so we were able to focus on the preparation.

The Primary doing the nativity. Kate is one of the angels in the front.

Preston's priceless picture with Santa. We didn't think he would like him, but we had to try and get a picture.

Kate telling Santa she wants a Mulan Barbie and a telescope. (She really wants a telescope and so far no plans to get her one. This was added late on her list. Dollhouse was first.)

After we cleaned up from the activity, naps for Preston and me, a birthday party for Kate, we went and bought our Christmas tree (from Top Foods...they are cheap and good. We've tried the tree farms and going up to the forest and this is way easier. ha.). Kate has been telling me she wants to help decorate the tree for a while so finally last night she helped me put on the ornaments. It was fun to do it with her. Our tree was the leaning tower of Pisa so we had to do some tricky work with the stand to get it to look right. But it smells nice. Kyle put up lights outside, I wrapped garland and lights around our porch railings so now we are officially in the mood for Christmas.

Turkey Day

We had Thanksgiving at my Mom's, but since it was technically Kyle's family's turn this year my Mom invited Melanie and Milo's family to come down to her house. It was fun to have them come. Not all of my siblings were there so it worked out. The kids played great and we had a good time eating food and playing games (guesstures- it was funny!).

Right after I took this picture, Melanie and Kyle were bugging each other and having a brother/sister "fight". It was funny. Preston is eating out of a container of cocoa puff cereal. He helps himself to my Mom's cereal closet and eats ouf of it all day. It's rather annoying to clean up bits of cereal everywhere, but how convenient for him to grab a snack whenever he wants. ha!

My Mom reading to Kate and Preston. I like how Kate's cheek is resting on my Mom's shoulder.

My Dad giving all the kids a ride.

Making gingerbread men.

Making gingerbread houses. They turned out cute and it was funny to watch what each kid did to decorate their house.

My Mom, sisters and I attempted shopping on Black Friday. It takes an hour to get to Tri-Cities so we left at 7 am and that was early enough for us. We got some good deals and the stores weren't too busy when we got there. We hit Target and Walmart first and people in Walmart were actually helpful. :) Then we went to the mall, ate at Azteca, shopped some more at Old Navy in the mall, went to JoAnn's (found my Mom's gift there...we wanted it at Walmart, but probably had to be in line at 4 am to get it!!! Crazy. The first lady we talked to at JoAnn's said they were all out of what we wanted so we were just waiting around for my Mom to shop and when we got to the front we asked if they gave rain checks for it and the cashier says, "oh we have some more!" What?! We were excited, but annoyed the first lady didn't think they had anymore. So now my Mom will be getting a Cricut for Christmas. She already knows since she was there. Lucky her- and us since we'll use it too. :)), went to Costco and then got home with sore feet at 5:30pm. It was a long day and lots of walking. It was fun though to hang out with my sisters and Mom and find good deals.

I ran a 5K race with my Dad, Jared and Marci on Thanksgiving morning. It was cold (not as cold as last year), but I survived. I haven't been running as much lately so I wasn't as prepared for it. I normally do the elliptical or run 1-2 miles on the treadmill with no incline. So I was super sore the next day after the race b/c within the first mile there is a ginormous hill to run up. Fun times. Kyle rode motorcylces with the guys over the weekend and played in a turkey bowl on Thanksgiving morning.

We are thankful for what we have. Even though our situation is less than desirable, we know we have been blessed...me finding extra work to keep us financially stable, help from family and friends, many occasions of fasting and prayer from family and extra time to spend together as a family. Now we just need some prayers to start working. ha ha.