Christmas 2011

R.J., The Deacon

On Dec. 15 R.J. turned 12. It's so weird how old he is getting. We now see eye to eye, he's only three inches shorter than me, and his feet are two sizes bigger. He's such a sweet, wonderful boy and I love him so much. This year, he chose an ipod touch in lieu of a birthday party. And I got a great deal with my first ever Black Friday experience. :o) On Dec. 18, R.J. was ordained a deacon. He was so excited about it. On Christmas day he was able to pass the sacrament for the first time in church. When I told him it would be on Christmas, he was so cute and said, "It will be my Christmas present!"

Christmas Eve

This year, our family Christmas Eve celebration was at my house. I was very proud of myself for making these rolls for dinner.... Don't they look amazing? I made about 65 rolls and ended up with way too many! After dinner, we had our Christmas Eve pinata. This is a tradition in my family since before I even existed. I remember so many Christmas Eve's, watching my mom paint Santa on a paper sack, and then helping her curl strips of paper for Santa's beard. I cannot paint Santa to save my life, so thankfully, my mom made this one for me awhile ago that I could use. We were supposed to have about 20 people over for our Christmas Eve party. Slowly but surely, almost everyone had to cancel because they were sick. The stomach flu was going through the family. So Jon was the only person who showed up! We had lots of extra yummy rolls, and it was a nice, quiet evening, but still fun!

Fort Making

Last month Ryan took the two older boys to Utah for his nephew's missionary farewell. It was a quiet weekend for me, Conner & Sienna. On Sunday they spent hours building this fort and playing in it.

Sienna's Holiday Luncheon

Sienna's third grade class had a fun holiday luncheon that I was able to help out with. They just finished reading "Little House in the Big Woods" so they fashioned their party after that. The decorations and all the food were from that era, as well as the gifts they were to exchange with each other. Sienna was supposed to make a baby cradle, and I thought a blanket too. Turns out we didn't have to do both. I was stressed, I can't sew well at all. I was really proud of this little blanket I made, and so was Sienna, she didn't want to give it away. I tore up a pair of pants of mine and an old curtain. :o) It's my first sewn blanket ever, and I was so pleased with myself. The actual cradle was a little lame, but it did actually rock, thanks to a little help from Ryan. When I saw the cradle Sienna received from one of her friends I was a little embarassed, hers is so fancy. My redeeming grace is that we were the only ones who made a blanket and a mattress! So my ego was restored... These boys were so cute. When I pulled my camera out to take pictures of Sienna, they yelled for me to "Wait! We want to be in the picture too!!" So there they are... Sienna's cradle also came with a stuffed animal. Cheaters. Why didn't I think of that??

More Funny Sleeping Habits by Conner

Christmas Lights

We love driving around every holiday season looking at Christmas lights. There is a neighborhood nearby that we never miss. This year we bundled up, loaded up with hot chocolate, and walked the neighborhood with some friends. I hope we do this every year from now on! Here's Conner with his best buddy Holden. These boys are so much fun. Some of the mom ladies.... And the Dads... And here's most of the kids. We had a lot of trouble trying to get everyone together for group photos, so unfortunately, a few special people are missing in every one. Maybe next year...

Christmas Breakfast

Our ward had a Christmas breakfast and we came in our jammies! Sienna was happy about the coloring station... Braden is also happy to be here, lol... There was an actual photographer taking pictures with Santa, so hopefully hers are better. R.J. was off doing a scout activity and Braden has never ever been willing to sit with Santa... Conner & Holden, Besties....

2011 Soccer Season

We had a fun soccer season this year, with a bit of chaos, but that's expected when you have 3 kids playing, and they never play at different times or conveniently close fields. Sienna played U10 this year, which was a little bit of a scary place to start, having never really played soccer. The other girls knew what they were doing and Sienna didn't. Now that soccer is over, she has vowed to never play again. Maybe it was the intense coach and the other girls always yelling at her, with a combination of too much running, but she didn't enjoy it much at all. The only saving grace was the snack time at the end of the game and the fun team party they had at Strikes Bowling Alley at the end of the season. Weirdly, there was only one girl on the team smaller than Sienna. I've never experienced having a child who is the smallest, it was different for us. Conner also enjoyed snack time... We had a great season, weather-wise, most of the days were perfect and sunny. But at the end of the season, we had a couple of very cold, wet days. The one below, was the coldest and wettest, but we brought hot chocolate along and barely survived... It was fun watching Braden this year, also in U10, finally make an effort. The below picture is my favorite, the classic-try-to-kick-the-ball-while-it's-still-flying-through-the-air-move. Every boy seems to try it at least once and it always makes me laugh. Oops, another shot if Sienna in the wrong place. She's getting ready for the ball that is finally coming her direction... Running so fast... R.J. played U12 this year for the last time. R.J. is a pretty good soccer player, and a majorly fast runner. It is really exciting to watch him play. The struggle with his team this year is that only one boy could really play goalie, and nobody else even wanted to try. So, the coach put R.J. in as goalie quite a bit, which is agony for me. He isn't a bad goalie, but it's not his strength, he really shines when he gets to run. Here we have a little harmless pushing... Until next year...