I blinked....and it's over!!

You won't like me when I'm angry!!

This is the aftermath of Christmas in our world! Can you say Merry Maids!?! Anyone have the number?!?!

Ryan got Guitar Hero....this is the band!! This is Dave's attempt at Bon Jovi, and what I wouldn't give to have this on video!! Hailey is the Michael Jordon of drums!!(note the tongue!) Now that's concentration....this is serious!!


You can't tell in this picture, but their necklaces are Christmas lights and they acually light up! Man that Santa is clever!! I am so sad that Christmas is over!! It seems like we spend all of our time shopping for all of these great presents, and in 1 hour....that's all she wrote....the fat lady is singing....that's all folks!! We have a tradition that on Christmas Eve we go out and try to find Rudolph. Last night we got a late start, but we found him in Logan so we hurried home and got straight in bed! Ya right!!!! I swear, the kids one at a time came into our room convinced that it HAD to be time to get up and open presents!! 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock, and so on! Needless to say none of us got much sleep! Finally at 7:30 the phone rang and woke Hailey up. That's all it took for all four kids to be in our room, on our bed, chanting "it's time"!! It sounds like I'm complaining, but this is my favorite time of year, and all of it makes me happy beyond belief! The only down side is that it's another year down, and my kids are another year older!! What a day!! We opened presents, had my mom's famous breakfast, went sledding, then topped off the night with another party with Dave's family! Also snowing ALL day! I am watching it pile up right now, and I am loving it!! I am truly blessed with the best family and friends that a gal could ask for! It's just too bad that it can't be Christmas year round!!

Grandma & DD ROCK!!

Jake, Grandma, and Hailey! Hailey was serving at my nephew's wedding reception, and my niece Jess made the cute little aprons!! You go Jess!!

My kids LOVE Grandma and DD's(my kids call my dad DD) house!! Every time they go over my parents make it COOL!! I have the best memories of my Grandparents house especially Christmas, but my parents are the best!! I thought these pictures were appropriate to show what kind of magic takes place on an average day when we visit! Dave and I went down to Salt Lake car shopping and we left the kids so we didn't have to take car seats in and out. I know that sounds like a riot, but I'm pretty sure I'd rather shoot myself in the foot!! Anyway! When we got there to pick them up, the kids told me that they had planted donuts!! DONUTS?!? My mom had the kids plant their donut seeds, and at the end of the day they could harvest their crop!! I don't mind telling you that if I could plant pastry I would have one heck of a garden!! Well, I think the pictures tell the rest of the story. All of them got their favorite kind and they were in heaven!! Jake still talks about Grandma and her magic seeds! My dad has his own kind of magic. He does what he calls tar baby! A tradition that I did not escape by the way! Every time the kids walk past him he grabs whatever limb is the most convenient and will not let them go!! If you try to get away with your other hand or legs he grabs them too! Pretty soon, the more you struggle the more wound up you get!! He has given the grandkids an escape clause...... one that we didn't have the luxury of having as kids! It goes something like this....Grandpa is handsome, and tall, doesn't have a big nose, and is not fat at all!! If I only would have known that's all I had to do all of those years!!!! I have the best momories of my childhood, and I am so grateful that my kids are going to have the same ones!! I don't have a picture of my Dad handy on my computer yet, but I will get one soon! Maybe I can even get one of the tar baby!!

The gymnastics coach....Hailey?

Abbi is wearing Hailey's clothes and they fit her better than I thought they would!!

So I walked downstairs to change over some laundry. You all must be so jealous of the glamorous life I lead!! This is the scene I walked in on!! Hailey started gymnastics about 2 months ago, and has pretty much been doing backbends, front walkovers, and the splits nonstop since then! She even tries to get her Dad and Ryan in on it! I don't think I need to tell any of you that she has failed in every attempt!! On the other hand, Abbi and Jake seem to be her star students! I'm not so sure how I feel about my son doing gymnastics, but the fact that he chases the girls with swords, loves batman, and any sport that involves a ball eases the mind!! I really believe that my kids were put on this earth to remind me that life is not as serious as we all tend to make it! Maybe all of us should do a little gymnastics every once in a while.... limber or not!! It sure seems to have brought a lot of joy to the three of them, and I don't mind telling you....to me too!!

Let the games begin!!!!

They're ready to get this party started!

This is Ryan in the midst of a fall!!(AWESOME) Maybe we should invest in a snowboard since he is always trying to use his sled as one!!


Abbi tried sledding once and this is where she was the rest of the time. By me eating snow!!

My prayers have been answered!! Now it feels like Christmas....right?!? First off, I want you to look closely at Jakes snow garb!! He is wearing size 8 snow pants,(huge) size 8 coat,(huge) a hat that belongs to Ryan's coat, and if you look really close you can see that his gloves are SOCKS!! I love it!!!! We haven't quite gotten around to shopping for winter clothing OK!!!! He didn't care, all he knew is socks on the hands= eating snow, and sliding down a hill really fast!! We have all been waiting for this day for what seems like forever! All of us except for Dave! I think that he believes snow to be a form of cruel punishment. We started the day off at the ward Christmas party. Kudos to the commitee by the way my kids loved it! Then we braved the elements and drove out to Hyrum for Ryan and Hailey's basketball games. Thank goodness they were back to back because there is no way we would have made it out there twice! Then Hailey and I went to Voice Male....which was amazing by the way! Then...drumroll please.....we went sledding!!!! It was so fun! 10 minutes in Jake was going down the same size hill as Ryan and Hailey. I thought that Dave was on something when he took him up there, but he loved it so much that it didn't matter to him that he couldn't feel his limbs!! We ended the night by shopping at TJ MAXX(Dave LOVED it!!) for guess what....snow gear! So no need to call social services....we're all over it!!!!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow....PLEASE!!

My Hailey and our adopted sister/aunt Sonila!
Ok, Ok, Ok......I realize that I just lost at least half of my friends!!!! Come on now! You have to admit that there is nothing better than watching the snow fall...right? I love the snow! Not only is it peaceful, and gorgeous, but it is the most fun anyone can have old(me) and young(my kids)!! I am so looking forward to going sledding with my kids this year that I can hardly stand the wait! I will just put it on the table right now that I do not ski!!(GASP!!) I know there has to be some kind of very small group of people in Utah that meet every new snowfall to confess such blasphemy!! All that I can say is, I hope that you can all forgive the fact that I pray really hard every night for the very thing that plagues many of you! For those of you who agree with me HOORAY SNOW!!!!

Just a girl and her Barbie!!

So I am getting so excited for Christmas!! When December 1st hits something magical happens in our house!! All of the kids running around yelling and screaming turns into sweet music! Homework turns into an activity!! Burnt toast turns into gingerbread!! Work becomes an extended vacation!! And a plastic barbie comes to life!! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!! I was driving down my subdivision tonight getting more and more excited every house I passed that has added lights to their house! Abbi and Jake make sure to look out the window every night before bed just to look at Jerry Hunt's lights. I don't love Christmas for the gift giving, or all of the loot one can aquire! I love it because of the feeling in the air! It's different than any other time, thank goodness for my kids or the tree incident could have been tragic!!

Comfort and Joy......Ya Right!!!!

So here are the kids right after we put the tree up! We love this tradition!! Except Jake...what's up with him?!?
How do you like the treadmill? It adds to the decor nicely don't ya think?


So here's where the "ya right" comes in to play!!


Isn't this lovely?!? We have a tradition that every year we all go out and pick an ornament for that year! Well, Hailey loves the musical ones! Do I really need to tell you that SO DO THE TWINS!! Abbi and Jake were trying to start the music when, well pretty sure the pictures are pretty telling what happened next!! We were all in the room with them and I have no idea what I was thinking letting them play with the tree. Hindsight being 20/20 right?!?!?! The tree has been restored to it's previous glory happy to say, and it will take a lot more than that to ruin even one day of December for me!! Two really great lessons came from this though! Never let your 3 year olds play with your Christmas tree(duh), and maybe ornaments that you have to turn on aren't the best idea!!