Merry Christmas

This post is for all of those who look at my blog. I didn't send out as many Christmas card this year since so many of my friends read our blog so here is your card. I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year.

Happy Holidays
We hope you are all doing well and having a wonderful time this Christmas season.
John is busy working and teaching early morning seminary.
Steph is busy being a mom and working 1 day a week as a nurse.
Garrett is 11 ½ and is learning to play the trumpet.
Lance is 9 and enjoys stories like The Lord of the Rings.
Caleb is 7 and plays with Legos and friends.
Jenna is 4 and loves everything a princess would.
Briauna is 17 months and is a very busy little one.

We love you and hope 2009 is a wonderful year.
Love,
John, Steph, Garrett, Lance, Caleb, Jenna, and Briauna

Pictures

I am a silly/crazy mom and tried to take a picture of my kids in their new Sunday cloths and this was what I got.

New Glasses Again

Caleb has a difficult time not breaking his glasses. We just got our 4th pair today. We even had to go pick out some new ones because they stopped making the frames that he originally had. The new one can be bent and they go right back to their shape. When we got them today he said that he could see better so hopefully we will have better luck, he obviously needs them.

The Christmas Concert

Last week the boys had their Christmas concert at school. They did a great job and even said that they enjoyed it. Garrett and Lance had theirs on Monday and Caleb was on Tuesday. It was fun to see what they have learned in music and they ALL even participated without too much drama.

Lance's grade performed with recorders. The music teacher is helping them to prepare for next year when they can join band.

Garrett performed a song in a different language. I don't know what they said but they did well.

Caleb's grade sang Winter Wonderland and did great.

Thank goodness for pick up sticks. They helped pass the time while we waited in between Garrett and Lance's performance.

Make up

Jenna has this little princess make up that a friend gave her and she loves it. We just re found it and so she has been putting make up on for the last several days. On Saturday she was a rock star and wanted John on her team so he needed make up too. He is a good dad and let her put BLUE make up on him. Anything to please the princess.

Fire!!

I don't know if many of you know but I started working 1 day a week at a skilled nursing facility. I currently work on Thursday nights. This last Thursday it was around 9:30pm and the fire alarm went off. So we do our thing and start looking around and checking the room and patients to see if we can see if there is a problem. We figured it was a drill or a false alarm. One of my coworkers went down to the basement and it was full of smoke and then called a code red which is the code for fire. They called 911 and we started to evacuate patients. The fire department showed up in there full gear and went in. Turns out it was a toaster that either malfunctioned or someone forgot about their toast. The person involved took the toaster and threw it outside the kitchen but didn't tell any of us what had happened. It was a pretty crazy experience. It definitely made me understand how important having a fire plan is. I am glad it wasn't a real fire and that I wasn't the nurse in charge. She had many calls and paperwork to do. They crazy thing that happen during the night shift.

Fun Stuff

Did I ever say she was busy? Well she is!!

Whirlybird Wednesday

Today Fox 10 News came to our kids school for Whirlybird Wednesday to do the morning weather. I guess they go to schools around the valley every Wednesday. My kids were so excited. I had no problem getting the up this morning. It was fun to watch the helicopter come in and I could hear the kids cheering from our house. It was fun to see. I then drove over to the park by the school to get some pictures and so Jenna could see the helicopter. It was cold but well worth it. The boys loved it and as soon as they got home they had to watch it on the news that I taped for them. I am glad there are these kinds of programs and activities that go on for the kids.

The Helicopter flying over our house on the way to the school.

The whole school on the field.

The news van.

They took the kids by grade level over to see the helicopter and told them all about it.

Getting ready to leave.

Thanks Fox News it was fun!!

The Birthday Party

In our family it is somewhat a tradition to celebrate someones birthday with the family on the Sunday near their birthday. Yesterday we celebrated Jenna's. We had family and a few neighbors over. It was a lot of fun. Jenna was so happy that her friends came. Jenna has learned the art of opening presents. She tore it open, barely looked at the gift and then tore open the next one. She love everything she got and has been playing with them since. It was a big deal for me since I made her cake. My mom usually does it but because she has been sick I got to do it. I am not very good and need to take lessons. I did my best and at least it was edible. It was a busy day and our princess fell asleep playing with her stuff.

Nursery

Sunday Briauna got to go to nursery for the first time. She won't be 18mon. until January. I was in the hall as usual and the nursery leader said I could take her in. I stayed with her and she did great. At first I think she was amazed at the other kids and the toys. It was something she was not used to seeing. When it was time for snack she climbed on the chair and was ready. She looks so small but I think she will love it. Not to much longer and she can stay by herself.

Garrett

Saturday had his first REAL babysitting job. He watch our friends/neighbors kids. They went to his work Christmas party and were just down the street at a co-workers house. It was a good first time babysitting job for him. Both our friends and John and I were close if he needed anything. He was so excited and he enjoyed doing it.

The Feast

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. We had the dinner outside and the program was inside. The food was wonderful. We had zucchini squash, corn on the cob pumpkin pie, zucchini bread, pumpkin bread cucumbers and pork. All these items we grew in our ward garden and the pig was approx. 400lbs so he fed a lot of us. It was a great activity and we had a ton of fun.

Jenna is 4!!

Today my Jenna turned 4 yrs old. She has been waiting since our mass birthday celebration in July for her birthday to come. A couple weeks ago I said something about it being almost winter and she got so excited. She remember when I told her that her birthday was in the winter and she would need to wear a jacket. The day finally came and she was excited to open her gifts. We took her over to visit grandma and then to lunch. She got real shy when the restaurant workers sang to her but she enjoyed it. When they all walked away and she was eating her treat she said, " mom they were so silly." We are so grateful for her. We never thought we would be blessed with a girl and are so glad she came to our family. She is such a girl in every way. She loves puzzles, dressing up herself and her dolls. She loves playing house and enjoys being with friends. She has a very good memory and we need to watch what we promise her because she wont forget. She loves to dance and listen to music. She loves primary and her favorite song is I am a Child of God. We love her so much. Happy Birthday Jenna!

Jenna loved her gifts. So far the favorite is the MP3 player. She went to bed without any problem and just had a smile on her face while listening.

Arrgh!!

For Halloween the kids got these witch fingers and loved playing with them. They would always go up to Briauna and point to her and say arrgh. The other day she put one on her finger and said arrgh to John and I. It was so funny and it made me realize how much she watches and understands.

Happy Birthday John

Today my hubby turned 35. We didn't do much to which I felt a little bad but he said he didn't mind. He got some birthday money from my mom so we went on a date and went shopping. So John, Briauna, and I went out and Garrett babysat the rest of the kids. Thanks Garrett!! He did great. Since this year he is teaching seminary he wanted some new dress cloths. Usually he hates getting cloths but his year he actually asked for them. We went to Ross and he found some good deals and got some really nice stuff. After shopping we went to dinner and had pizza and wings per his choice. It was a fun day together. I hope he had a much fun as I did. I am so grateful for John. He is a great dad and husband. The kids love when he is around and I love just being with him. He tries so hard to make sure our family is taken care of and happy to which I am grateful. He is a wonderful man and I feel so lucky to be married to him. Happy Birthday!!

Thank you Oprah!

I turned on Oprah on Wednesday to see what it was about and boy am I happy. They were doing a show about decluttering, I think. Well anyways I happen to see the part showing you how you could help get rid of kids projects that you are saving to help organize your house. You can scan or take digital pictures of them and make them into a book. Snapfish.com was letting you do a book for FREE for the next 48hrs. I was so excited and decided to try it out. I stayed up way too late deciding what to make my book of. I do have five kids and a lot of pictures and projects I have been saving. I have made books before online but not of kids projects. I did one for Caleb's projects from preschool through 1st grade. I knew where all of his saved stuff was so it wasn't to hard. It worked great and I am so excited to get my book. I had to pay for shipping but that is fine by me. I have already gained quite a bit of room where I was storing them. I am on a roll and can't wait to do books for the rest of the kids. I love technology and the Internet.

Facebook

I have just discovered Facebook. I am still learning but so far it is a pretty fun way to find people. I found some friends that I haven't seen in about 7 years. John even connected with a cousin he has never met. Pretty neat and hopefully it gets easier to use.

Spirit Week

This is the 2nd year my kids have been able to participate in spirit week. This year they were so excited. No worries of no one else doing it or of looking weird. They had a lot of fun.

Monday: Mismatch Shoe Day

Tuesday: Hat Day

Wednesday: Crazy Hair Day

It was a little hard with how short their hair is.

Thursday: Crazy Sock Day

I guess boys don't really have silly sock. We are lucky they have socks at all.

Friday: Pajama Day

Poor Baby

At cub scouts Braiuna fell and hit one of the hard metal chairs and this is the result.

The next morning.

She should of been a pirate.