Pay Day!

 First,speaking of Pay Days, I will start with my kids.

 They are always rewarding.(They are also frustrating, taxing, lovable, etc...like everyones' kids).Here are my girls with their second cousins Curtis and Trevor. Their mom watched my girls so that this Pay Day could happen.

Last week, JR and I were able to attend the wedding of one of his former Young Men from church. His family had moved away, but he married a girl from not too far from here.  JR worked with several of the boys from the family. It was such a great experience. We had RSVP, but the family didn't know we were coming. The groom, when he saw JR, got misty eyed. That made me weepy too. It was the reward for all that time JR put in working with the Young Men, and all that time I spend taking care of the kids myself while JR was with the Young Men.

Ah, Pay Day!

Our Bishop and his wife- Claudine, Joe, Me, JR and Will.

(Will has his mission call and is leaving on Jan. 25th. Their brother, Ben, is on a mission right now) 

Sam and his bride

Another one of JR's Young Men, Josh, got married that same day. It was far away and we were not able to attend. His smile in this picture counts as a Pay Day too. 

(Yes, both grooms are red heads)

Christmas 2011

Christmas morning the girls were in our room promptly at 7am. (We have a rule. That is the earliest they can come in) JR went downstairs to turn on the Christmas tree lights and Christmas music. He has all the kids gather at the top of the stairs before he invites them to come down.

Here are JR and E opening their stockings. Notice the clementine orange that is the toe of each of our stockings. All the girls wanted footy pj's this year. They love how warm and cozy they are.

This year the girls each got a DS game. R has been begging for this particular game and was thrilled to receive it. 

S and Mom chilling as the presents are opened. We are comfy in our new Christmas pajamas too. 

H with her panda pj's and panda mittens. 

R with the monkey hat she has been wanting. She wanted it so bad she called the lady and ordered it herself. 

We were able to have a relaxing morning. Then we went to church for a chance to remember our Heavenly Father and the great gift of his son Jesus Christ. Later, my brother, sister and their families came over for Christmas dinner. We had stuffed pork loin; spinach, pomegranate, orange salad; squash, apple bake; green bean casserole; rolls; cheese potatoes; homemade eggnog; peppermint ice cream; and the desserts from the night before there were so many left. Before everyone left we played Christmas Bingo. My favorite prize we added this year is that everyone had to hug JR when they won. This was hilarious since now that a lot of the cousins are 13-8, or tweens, they have become kind of awkward around adults. GB, who is 5, looked at them and said, "What is the big deal? I went and hugged JR without anyone chanting." We would chant the winners name until they were brave enough to go hug JR. GB didn't need any encouragement to hug JR. He took off running full force at JR. Even though the girls are too cool for us adults they still like a lot of the little kid prizes we had in the bowl instead of taking a more mature prizes. I love those crazies!

Needless to say, JR and I fell into bed exhausted at the end of the day, but we felt it was well worth it for all those smiles. Do you know what we did the next day? We had Christmas all boxed up and put away by 11am! (Thanks Uncle Rock for inspiring that tradition with JR)

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, we went to my sister's house. We had a lovely meal. Then, we were able to skype with my parents as the kids put on the Christmas story. AB and VJ were the narrators. E, JJ, and KB were the Wisemen(or Wise Guys as they like to be called). SJ and GB were Mary and Joseph. TB was Baby Jesus. EB was Samuel the Lamanite. S and R were angels. NB, RJ, and H were shepherds. My parents even stayed on while the girls all played their Christmas pieces. This year we had piano, trumpet, and flute. There were simple pieces to advanced and even a few duets.

After we arrived home we opened our Santa balls. This is S's 1st Santa ball. She loved her "Ho Ho" 

 S was reluctant to destroy her Santa ball, put loved the toys inside.

 Daddy being nice and filling every one's balloon.

All smiles at the end of the night. 

Christmas Cheer

Here is Buddy, our elf on the shelf, that moves around it day and keeps an eye on the girls behavior. I didn't have any problems getting most of the girls up in December. They were always up and ready to go search for Buddy at the crack of dawn.

Here are all the girls cuddled up to watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. 

Carls

Carly, is our friend/babysitter. She has stayed with the girls when we went on Trek and when we went on our babymoon. The girls and her hang out together just for fun too. My girls love her and think she is basically one of the coolest people in the whole, wide world! This Christmas she made the girls hats. These are the outfits the girls were wearing when she gave them the hats--she knows them so well she chose colors they were wearing. H's hat has a black brim and black pom poms to look like a panda.

S already had a hat I just bought from my friend Sarah; she just wanted to be in the picture with the girls. Plus, she is cute. 

Spreading Holiday Cheer

Recently, my girls were able to participate in a Christmas program at a Retirement Center. Our friends, Keri and Christy, put together a lovely musical variety show. Children and youth participated sharing their talents through singing, violins, trumpets, and the piano.

E kicked off the night playing a duet of Jingle Bells with her piano teacher.

H played We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

R played a duet of O, Come, All Ye Faithful and the crowd sang along.

We loved the opportunity to meet with the residence and hopefully brighten their holiday season.

Guess Who is Coming For Dinner?

Grandpa Mike and Grandma Jill were able to come and have dinner with us on Sunday.  Since we never get to spend Christmas with them(seriously, only once in 2000) we decided to make it Christmas dinner. We had ham and all the works. The girls chose the desserts: apple pie for Grandpa Mike, and peppermint ice cream for Grandma Jill, plus hot fudge sauce for them.

Luckily, we had just been to visit them at Thanksgiving so S remembered her buddy and cuddled in.

Grandma helped the girls decorate this years gingerbread house. I think it turned out adorable.

 Yes, this picture is out of focus. R took it of H right when they were done. It has been hard for the girls to keep their hands off it this year.

Before Grandma and Grandpa left that night we read two Christmas books: Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree, a family favorite from my childhood

and The Three Christmas Trees.

Even though we only saw Grandma and Grandpa for a few hours this trip, it was a treat. The girls are so excited because we get to see them for a couple of days next month as well.