Merry Christmas 2011

I decided to blog pictures instead of do a facebook album. We had such a lovely Christmas and I'm so thankful every year that we are together. The entire week before Christmas we were battling a really horrible stomach virus. Donald and Jared started with it Sunday night and then all 4 big kids came down with it Tuesday night. It was a doozy! Then Dan caught it Wednesday night and no one was 100% until Christmas. In fact, our usual tradition on Christmas Eve is to go out to eat as a family and nobody even felt like going out. Like I said, I am just so thankful we were together, even though everyone was sick.

On Christmas Eve the kids get to open a present from their loving parents and instead of the usual pajamas we gave the girls new comforter sets. It makes their room look so bright and cheerful, especially with the smiles on their faces!
Jared got a big kiss on the face because he doesn't know about presents yet and we want to keep him in the dark as long as we can. Look how happy he is just to have his picture taken:)
My big boys both wanted bath robes so that is what they got. Adrian's didn't fit so we will be heading to Walmart to wait in the return line at some point.
Donald got an awesome football outfit. He loves all things football and is very proud of it.
On Christmas morning we got ready for church and then let the kids look in their stockings. They were happy and excited and then we headed off to church. I loved starting Christmas morning with Sacrament Meeting. It really helped me appreciate the true meaning of Christmas. For our ward program they let the congregation sing a lot of the music and that is my favorite part.

Charlie was so excited by the time the meeting was over he folded his arms and closed his eyes for the closing prayer but bounced through the entire thing. Dan and I were laughing so hard because he just couldn't contain his excitement. When we got home he was the first one out of his church clothes and back into his pajamas to unwrap presents.

I love present unwrapping pictures so I decided this year to take a series of pictures for the first present they opened. This is what I got.

Here is Jared's first present!

Donald was so excited for this one, but my camera wasn't fast enough to catch him jumping off the couch.

Charlie was so excited we told him he was getting wet ones and he still had a smile on his face. One of these days I'm really going to give him a box of wet ones.
This is kind of Nightmare Before Christmasish, but he just loves Halloween!
Adrian already knew by the shape of his presents that he was getting either a DVD or a game but he was still excited!


I'm guessing Shari could guess what she was getting as well, but she was still surprised and happy!


Rebecca was super happy to get an IPOD and then she saw her Dad's Samsung 4G MP3 player and was a little bit jealous. She got over it pretty quick and has listened to her IPOD non-stop every since Christmas:)

Yay for Bearpaws! I got warm boots and I love them. It's like walking on a cloud!
Dan opened one of his most boring presents first.
He's thrilled to get a new surge protector for the living room. Really the Samsung MP3 player was the highlight but I was pictured out by then.
It was a great Christmas and since stomachs were still sensitive that day we postponed our Christmas dinner and will be enjoying it this Sunday. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas too!

Once Upon a December

Last night was Rebecca's dance festival. She did such a good job. I know the video isn't super but I was watching her and trying to record it.

Enjoy!

Summer's Over!

I can't believe the last time I posted was June 27. It seems like summer has gone by in a flash. I think I would have missed it if I blinked! Now we are back in school and I can't help but wish I still had another summer first.

It has been a struggle making the decision where to send our kids for school. Last year we enrolled them in a local charter school called Excelsior Academy. I was excited because it is K-8 so I thought I would be able to keep my kids together through the end of Rebecca's junior high. I also wanted to try it because they allowed the kids to work according to their abilities and since Adrian and Charlie read ahead of their grade level I wanted them to be able to work on their level. It also gave Rebecca a chance to work on a higher level of math. Well, those were my reasons for putting them in Excelsior but I have so many more for taking them out...

Honestly, it's not the best blog topic, but I will say that these last few days being back at East Elementary and Tooele Junior High have been fun. In fact, we really forgot that school could be FUN!

I'll admit the first day of Junior High I cried half the day because I can't believe Rebecca is in Junior High and because Junior High terrifies me. I don't have good memories of Junior High. I've really had to work to put those bad memories behind me so that I can let Rebecca have her own new experience and I pray every day that it is a good one.

Well, so far so good...

Here's my 7th grader with my baby. They're twins twelve years apart.

Here she is looking very junior highish. We forgot how fun it is not to have to wear a uniform:)
Here are my East kids all ready to go on their first day. They have awesome teachers and lots of friends that remember them from a year and a half ago. It's like going home. Such a relief!
I had to post this because it's such a cute picture of my boys. We were waiting for Shari to come out so we can all walk. I love being able to walk to school again!
I hope this school year doesn't go by as fast as the summer did because frankly, I need more time with my babies and it seems to be slipping away.

The Living Planet Aquarium

While Rebecca was away at camp I took the kids on a little outing with their Hunter cousins. We went to the aquarium in Sandy and the kids had so much fun. When we went to the zoo Jared would cry every time he saw an animal move because it scared him. Not so with the fish. He loved watching the fish swim.

I couldn't quite capture his excitement in a photograph, but it really was so fun to see.
Here we are together while exploring animals from the Amazon.
Shari and Adrian wanted to take lots of pictures so I let them have fun with the camera. This part of the exhibit had sting rays we could pet. Donald and Charlie would have stayed here for hours if I would have let them. The next day in the tub Donald was swimming like a sting ray and it was so cute.




Shari's favorite animal is a frog. She took quite a few pictures of all the different frogs and toads, but these ones were her favorite.

YW Camp

My girl is home!! I somehow survived the week without her and she survived Young Women's Camp. I love the crafts and handouts she brought home. When Dan saw this laurel crown with the ribbons down her back he said it's something Scouts would never bring home. The theme of their camp was "Happily Ever After" based on Dieter Uchtdorf's talk and they made sure the girl's know they're princesses!

Here is Bec's little corner of their cabin. She got to have her good friend Adria to bunk with. Yeah for good friends at girls camp!

We sent Rebecca with a camera so here are some of the shots we got from her. The campground sounds like it was really nice. Everyone had cabins and kitchenettes. They had flush toilets and showers and electricity and heat. That is definitely my kind of camping.
Rebecca took a lot of pictures of these cute little critters called pot-guts. I don't know if I've got the name right but to me they look like prairie dogs/squirrels. Her group nick-named her Click because she was always taking pictures:) I'm so glad Dan found our old digital camera to send with her.

YW hike. This brings back so many memories for me. She had a lot of fun. On their first hike they got lost pretty good but she wasn't too disappointed because they ended up seeing a mother moose and her baby in the wild. I think that's pretty cool too.
On this hike they walked up to a lake and then went canoeing. I still remember going canoeing in the early morning at girls camp in VA. I'm so glad she got to do something cool like that. They also did a challenge course that included a zip line.
When she got home I just wanted to sit and stare at her and listen to her talk all day. She was worn out but happy. Jared got a hold of some of her camp souvenirs and he loved this pretty little mirror she brought home.
I seriously can't get enough of this girl.
She's so AWESOME!

Another June Boy

Jared turned 1 the day after Charlie turned 7. I love celebrating my sweet boys.

Jared got his first pair of shoes and refused to take a step in them. In fact, this is how they made him feel.

The birthday boy loved his cake:) He ate it in in about 2 minutes. We have it all on video. I still can't believe he's 1. The first year always goes by way too fast!