More California Christmas Fun

Jonathan absolutely loves his big sister Laurel. What an awesome hug. It make me so happy when my kids are good to each other. This year the kids earned money by doing jobs around the house and then drew one of their sibling's to give them a present. They really enjoyed picking out things that they knew their siblings would like. They especially loved watching them open the presents and how happy it made them.

This picture shows Laurel's zest for life. She is full of excitement and energy. What a happy face. Any holiday is exciting for Laurel and she will celebrate it to the fullest.

One of my favorite things about CA christmases, swimming and sunshine. We spent all 2 weeks of the break in CA, because I knew there would be sunshine and time to play outdoors. Staying inside over X-mas break in Utah because of snow and cold just did not appeal to me.

Jonathan with the Santa at Evan's preschool. What a sweet face. He really is a kind and caring little boy. He says to me "I love you too much."

Lindsay is my nurturing child. She loves babies and little children. She takes such good care of them. She is very gentle and loving. Her teacher at school says she loves to "mother" the other kids as well. Maybe a budding teacher, nurse, who knows!

Back to Christmas

Well I did it. Yesterday I returned the card reader and got the right one. Magically, I have pictures once again. It will take me awhile to catch up. I will start with some of my favorite pictures from Christmas in California.

Evan sitting with the Santa that came to his preschool.

Lindsay looks like a snow princess in her gift from Auntie Lindsay.

Lindsay and Evan cuddle up for a picture with Auntie Lindsay.

Jonathan shows of his loot from his stocking.

All of the kids in new church clothes from Grams and Grandpa.

Long time, no blog or pictures

I have not written a blog in a long time. I have wanted to on numerous occasions, but the USB cord for my digital camera no longer works and I cannot upload pictures. I bought a card reader at Best Buy so I could get the pictures off my camera, but the guy at the store told me to buy the wrong one. As many of you know I am a chicken. I did a really "nice" job opening the box and am too embarrassed to take it back. I bought this about a month ago and am still too afraid to take it back, thus no pictures. I think it is time for me to stop being a chicken so I can show you some really cute pictures of the kids from Christmas and their birthdays.

Evan turned 5 last Monday and Laurel turned 8 on Wednesday. It was a wild week and hopefully I will have pictures by the end of this week to show for it. You could always check Catherine and Richard's blog, as they will probably have pictures of the birthdays before I do.

Anyway, Laurel is now 8 and will be getting baptized at the end of the month. We are all very excited. The baptism will be February 28th at 11:00 at our Stake Center. Now I just have to get things organized and prepared for that day. I definitely feel like a newbie and a little anxious about what I need to do ahead of time.

Wish me luck. I have to plan for Laurel's baptism and overcome my lifelong fear of talking to people so I can upload pictures again, all in 1 week. I am sure I will find a way to procrastinate the whole Best Buy problem. I am really busy!

December Family Fun

Our whole family in front of the lights and the Salt Lake Temple on Sunday night.

We got to go into the Tabernacle for the first time since they renovated it. The building was beautiful inside and out, especially with the Christmas decorations. The acoustics in this building are incredible. You can hear a pin drop and a someone talking at the front, even if you are all the way in the back of the building.

The kids up at Temple Square in front of some of the lights. Evan has a snowball ready for fun.

Here are the kids with the Salt Lake Temple behind them. It was extremely cold outside, but Evan kept picking up the snow to play with it. The problem was he only had cloth mittens on, burrr! He also was picking up the snow to eat it. We had to explain that it wasn't clean enough anymore and you only eat white snow, not brown or any other color.

While we were waiting for the lights to come on, we went on a Temple Square tour. The kids love to go to Temple Square to see the statue of Jesus. We started a tradition of going to Temple Square at Christmas time to help the kids remember why Christmas is so special.

Saturday night was the ward Christmas party. The primary kids sang "When Joseph Went To Bethlehem" and some of the kids dressed up in costumes. Evan is a wise man and Jonathan is the donkey. Originally Evan was supposed to be the donkey, but he didn't want to do it, so we asked Jonathan and he agreed. The whole theme of the Christmas party was A Night in Bethlehem. While we were walking around to the little booths displaying parts of Bethlehem life, Jonathan kept getting down on all fours to be a "donkey." He was really getting into character.

Jonathan is about to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas when Lindsay pops up to help him with what to say.

Decorating For Christmas

I guess I might be called a humbug, but I like to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to start Christmas decorating. I love Thanksgiving. The air has a different feel, the sunlight slants differently, and I love to cook a delicious meal and enjoy it with the people that I love. So on Sunday night we started decorating with the help of Uncle Ryan. The kids absolutely love to decorate for any holiday, but especially Christmas. I am so glad Michael was willing to put the lights on the tree. It is definitely not my favorite part.

Evan, Lindsay, Jonathan, and Laurel pose in front of the tree they decorated. They were so excited to decorate, so chaos was everywhere.

Lindsay helped to decorate the stairs. She loves to help out. What a sweet face. She could be the angel for our tree!

Visit From Auntie

We just finished a fantastic week with Auntie Lindsay. The kids went to the extra room this morning hoping to find her. I think we all missed her a lot. Last Monday we went to a corn maze and picked out pumpkins. We made caramel apples. We carved pumpkins. We ate at IHOP. Uncle Ryan even dressed up as a Gecko. What a great time we had. We can hardly wait to spend more time with Auntie at Christmas!

A Halloween Tale

Handsome Evan makes a great Peter Pan. After the trunk or treat and some reall trick or treating he said, "My bag is overflowing." He definitely had a lot of candy.

What a smiley Tigger! Evan wore this costume as well, but he never really liked it. Jonathan really liked it. This is a great costume. This was the fourth year it was worn and it still looks great! Jonathan loves to eat the treats. We will have to put them up higher because he keeps getting into them without asking.

What a beautiful Belle. This is the third year that Lindsay has been Belle. It fit her perfectly this year. She wore it to a clogging Halloween party, to school for the Halloween parade, and to the trunk or treat and trick or treating in the neighborhood.

This is the first year in 3 that Laurel could not be Princess Aurora. She finally grew out of that costume, so this year she is Giselle from the movie Enchanted. Isn't she lovely? She looked beautiful in her costume. The crown and shoes were the perfect touch for such a beautiful gown.