Christmas morning

I remember so well Christmas as a child. I loved and hated the anticipation of what Santa would bring. Magic was in the air, even as I was a teenager. There is nothing better then to relive that magic through your own children. I love to watch my children so excited. I love shopping and anticipating their reaction. I think I have a harder time sleeping Christmas Even then my children.

This Christmas Taneal woke to the sound of jingle bells. She thought Santa had come upstairs to check and see if she was sleeping because she kept hearing bells jingle. When she realized what it really was, she was wide awake and it was 5:30am! (What she heard was my mom getting up to use the bathroom and her necklace, which always has a bell on it, jingling as she walked.) Taneal came into my room and asked if it was too early to wake her sisters up and go downstairs. I wondered what the decision would be. Growing up, I was not allowed to leave my room until 7am, which was absolute torture. In Evan's family, as soon as they woke up, they could go out. Of course this would be my option, since I was so excited anyways. The only problem was that my parents were here for Christmas as was my brother and his wife. I loved having them visit, but would they want to get up? I think I reverted for a moment back into the kid mode where I was going to have to follow my parents rule. I quickly recovered. I didn't wrestle with this in my mind but a split second. I opened my parents' bedroom door and told them the kiddos were awake and then I did the same to my brother. I love being an adult and making those decisions! Eric and Angela's baby is 5 months old, so I don't think they were quite feeling the excitement at 5:30am. But they still got up and we had a wonderful Christmas morning. The video is a little long, but it is a clip of our Christmas morning, the most magical moment of the year.

Camie

Danielle and Spencer

Taneal

Danielle and Grandpa Bell

Angela and Aaron

The new playset!

Around Thanksgiving, my parents told me what they wanted to get us for Christmas. a week later a semi-truck delivered 5 boxes weighing over 1000 pounds. The kiddos asked what those boxes in the garage were, and I told them they were just some of dad's projects. They were satisfied with that answer. Christmas Eve came and I disappeared with the kids for the ENTIRE day. As soon as Camie woke up, my mom and I woke up the rest of the kids and left for breakfast at Denney's. Evan, my dad, Troy, my brother Eric, and a good friend in the ward and neighborhood, all were in the backyard assembling the play set. We then met my friend, Jana and her three kids and traveled to the zoo. The zoo was surprisingly not crowded at all. We stayed at the zoo for about 5 hours. We came back to Jana's house. She watched the kids while my mom and I quickly finished our Christmas dinner shopping. All the stores closed at 6pm! At dark (around 6pm) Evan called with the green light to come home. We came home and the kids did not suspect anything. We had the blinds shut and I had put my Christmas cards on the back door so they couldn't see out. We had a great Christmas Eve and put the kiddos to bed. They woke up at 5:30am for Santa and never suspected a thing, until I asked Camie to open the blinds because it was finally getting light outside. I love Camie's reaction in the video.

A New Tradition

My friend Nichole recently told me of her family tradition of decorating homemade gingerbread house and each year inviting a family over to decorate the houses with them. I decided this would be a great tradition to start in my family, but I needed to at least try it before I decided to do this each year. So, Nichole gave me her recipe, invited me over one afternoon and showed me how to bake and cut out the houses, and then great instruction on how to assemble. The results were great. Thanks Nicole!



We invited Troy, Becky, Austin, Tyler, and Audrey (Evan's brother's family) over along with one of my really good friend's family, the Humphrey's (Clint, Jana, Josh, Kayla, and Lindsay). I think we spent at least an hour and a half just decorating. It was so much fun. Even all the dads were involved! Each family had a house to decorate. All members of each family jumped in and worked on the decorating. It was a great family activity. I definitely think we will have to add this to one of our Christmas Family traditions.


Troy, Tyler, Audrey, and Austin working on their house
















Audrey, Becky, and Tyler

Austin adding candy to his house


















Clint, Josh, Jana, Kayla, and Lindsay Humpherys


















Evan, Danielle, and Taneal

Evan, Danielle, Taneal, and Camie

The Humpherys' final result!

My family's gingerbread house
Troy, Becky, Austin, Tyler, and Audrey's end result!

All the houses turned out so good. I'm glad we weren't in competition because I wouldn't have been able to choose. Everyone was so creative!

Spencer graduated to nursery!

Before church this morning I was just looking at my children and thinking how adorable they looked. Today was also a landmark. Spencer is now 18 months and able to go to nursery. He still isn't talking very much, so I don't think of him as being very grown up, usually, until days like today. I am in the primary presidency in my ward, so I had to basically just drop Spencer off and run. Evan teaches Sunday School so her couldn't hang out with Spencer either. Danielle is still in nursery, but because of the large number of children in our primary (about 125 in the entire primary) we have 3 nursery classes. She is in with the children ready to go to Sunbeams. About 25 minutes after I dropped Spencer off he was brought back to me. He couldn't stop crying. So, I sat in the class with Spencer until Evan was done teaching and then we traded off. So much for graduating. I think with Spencer it will probably be a while before he gets used to going to nursery. What can I say? He just loves his family.

I am the Greatest

I made this video last Spring, when Taneal and Camie's baseball consumed our evenings and Saturdays. The kiddos are almost a year older, but I hope you will enjoy.

IF WOMEN CONTROLLED THE WORLD

My friend sent me this email. Now that Evan and I have a home that we can actually decorate, we are realizing just how different we are. I want to paint colors, Evan wants white. I love flowers and such, Evan likes plain jane stuff. For Evan it is all about practicality, me it is some of that but mixed with feel. I like to put my things away, he likes to keep his things (like keys) out for the next time her needs them. We are different. I guess that is why I like this email so much.

Thanksgiving

I somehow managed to make it to Elk Ranch with my camera but no memory stick in my camera, thus making my camera obsolete! So, I traveled into town to buy a memory stick and was told my camera was too old and I could no longer buy a memory stick. So, I don't really have too many pictures to share with you, which is why I have not put anything on my blog about our great Thanksgiving spent with Bryce and Katie and their boys, Joshua, Conner, and Skyler, and with Troy and Becky and their children Austin, Tyler, and Audrey. I did manage to get a little video footage.


Now if you are wondering where the rest of the song went, you'll have to go elsewhere it find it. It is a really catchy tune, and the lyrics are funny, but . . . If you hear the song you'll understand.

Thanksgiving was great. Bryce and Katie brought their family from out-of-state and stayed with Troy and Becky until we left for Elk Ranch. We had a great time out at the ranch. The Thanksgiving feast was one of the best tasting turkey dinners I've had in years. Great job, Becky. I am still doing the no sugar until the end of the year, so I tried to make some pies that were sugar free, and . . . I can't wait until the year is over so I can have a yummy pumpkin pie. The great dinner made up for the sugar-free pies.

Katie taught me the fun art of beading. I have wanted to learn how to do this and was excited when Katie pulled out her supplies. I made me a beautiful necklace and had fun making it. All my girls got into it. They each made their own necklace.

Of course the kiddos had fun outside getting dirty. The lake was finally finished and filled so we were able to take the canoe out. Taneal especially loved this. Camie loved going around on the 4-wheeler. Taneal even got to drive the 4-wheeler herself this time. Evan took Spencer and Danielle around on the 4-wheeler. They had to rotate turns. Every time Danielle had to get off to let Spencer have a turn, she sobbed. It wasn't the tantrum cry, but the genuine sad cry. She could have spent hours on that 4-wheeler.

After we came back home and i got my memory stick, I did take some pictures of Bryce and Katie and their family. We sure enjoyed having them visit.

Katie and Skyler

Bryce and Conner

Joshua

Spencer loved baby Skyler. He was so gentle with Skyler. This is a picture of Spencer kissing Skyler, although my camera has lag time that makes it hard to capture quick moments like this. I guess it is getting time for a new camera.