Christmas card 2009

I am so relieved that these are finally in the mail and gone....

not a good idea to still be learning photoshop at Christmas time. I hope we didn't miss any of you with all the hustle and bustle at this time of year. We love you all and hope you are enjoying the Christmas season.

Family pictures

Last summer when we were in Utah, we had our family pictures taken. Scott and I both agreed that this photo shoot was actually a good experience. Our kids were having fun with each other and it was low stress and very quick.

This was the winning picture. I am having it blown up to go over our fire place mantle.

I love the sun flare.

I prefer horizontal pictures but Sophie messed this one up.

I am in love with these pictures of Scott with our girls.

Soph loves her picture taken. As we were leaving and all of us were in the car, she yells out to my friend and says, "take another picture of me!"

She's a piece of work.

These were all taken up by Sundance

Taylor's birthday bash

The Birthday Queen's party was a hit....

I give most of the credit to her for planning the whole party all on her own. She planned well. They went Christmas caroling around the neighborhood.

and Scott drove the tractor

They mingled, danced and played a few games

They drank lots of peppermint hot chocolate and ate donuts, instead of birthday cake.

Taylor was pretty embarrassed that I stuck 14 candles in a donut and had everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to her.

We borrowed my sister's projector and watched the movie "ELF" {one of our family favorites} out on the lawn.

She was surprised with her new snowboard that her dad picked out all by himself! I went by the store, just to make sure it was a "thumbs up".... and it was.

Good job hun.

I sat next to the fire... trying to stay warm, while writing down all the gifts she received. Her friends were w.a.y. too generous.

Austin was entertaining me inside, he was trying on Taylor's new clothes that I bought her for her birthday. He was lookin' hot in her new plaid jacket!

My heart was filled with such gratitude all night. There are so many amazing kids in this area and I love all my kids friends. We are all so blessed to have each other.

We ate gecko grill... still my favorite!

I drove everybody crazy with my camera all night!

and I want our birthday girl to know how much we love her and what a blessing and asset she is to our family. I am so grateful to have a daughter who is quick to forgive and kind hearted. Even though, her brains are starting to liquify and run out her ears.... she still has her head on straight and knows who she is and knows what she wants in life. She has the right perspective and is diligent with the things that matter most!

We Love You, Taylor!

Happy 14th Birthday.

gingerbread houses

Last week for Family Home Evening we went to my sister's house and made Gingerbread houses.... I don't know who had more fun, me or the kids?!

Grandma and Cannon were struggling to keep their house together?!

My sister is the most amazing mother. Our sweet Emmie doesn't miss out on anything, Tiff always has her right in the middle of all the action. Emmie was having loads of fun building her gingerbread house.

We should of had a contest at the end.... my vote would have been mine and Soph's

I think Austin was going for the "globbed up" look

Taylor started out strong and then got distracted with practicing her cheer dance and mothering Elsie... it had some potential.

Cooper took great pride in his gingerbread house and was so proud of himself....

Good job Coop!

Cannon's helper {grandma} was struggling to keep his house together for him. {haha} He was having the time of his life eating all the candy and frosting.

I saved the best for last... haha!

and yes she had help from her mama.

Ava did most of her's on her own and did a fabulous job....

We had a great time... thanks for having us all over.

This is why I pick reindeer names....

I got this idea from a friend last year and it worked great. You assign each child a reindeer name and reveal which reindeer they are on Christmas morning. I wrapped a few presents over the weekend and put them under the tree. Our kids are dying to know which reindeer they are this year.

After church today I came in and found these two trying to decide who is who

Sophie has high hopes that she is rudolph this year {when she found out last year that Austin was rudolph, she was pretty disappointed} and Cannon is requesting to be Vixen again.

Haircuts

Cannon has been asking me to cut his hair short for a while now..... he wanted his hair to be short enough to spike his bangs! My instructions before starting his hair cut were, "I want to spike my bangs just like... Griffin, Bryson and Mckay!" I don't know if his bangs looked exactly like he expected, but he loves it and so do we! He brings me the gel 3 times a day, cuz those darn bangs just won't stay spiked! It is hilarious that he cares so much!

We think your new look is adorable!

A couple of weeks ago this little lady got a hold of some scissors and decided she wanted some hot layers around the right side of her face.

My heart just sank when I first realized what she had done to her pretty hair. When realizing how much worse it could have been, I was just so grateful that it wasn't a whole pony tail or scalped to her forehead. The curling iron seems to hide the layers for now, so it looks like we will be doing lots of curls for the next 6 months!

Good job Soph.

First game of the season

Today is HJHS first basketball game of the season. Our little kids were pretty excited when they saw Taylor in her uniform this morning, they remembered the concession stands from last year and are looking forward to them again.

I was feeling pretty bad for our girl when she left to the bus stop early this morning. It makes me cold just thinking about her standing out there and walking around campus all day.

8th grade

I had to throw in last years "first game day" picture and I can't believe how much she has grown and changed in a year.

{Can you tell by the picture that the attitude has increased just a little}

7th grade

We planned ahead this year and decided to celebrate Taylor's birthday a little early. Her actual birthday is December 22.... way to close to Christmas. So this makes things a little easier on the holiday schedule. She passed her invitations out yesterday and I have a feeling we will have a very full house here on Saturday night?!?

Wish us luck!

I have to add that I am pretty excited that I am finally getting comfortable enough with photoshop and that I am able to make my own invitations and my young women handouts. The hours and hours of time that I have stared at my computer screen.... are finally paying off!

Happy Day!