Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year 2011! We partied like it was 1999! We are excited to see what 2011 has in store for us. We rang in the new year with tons of food, fun, and family! We hope everyone has a safe and successful 2011. Happy New Year!

Christmas cookies and white elephants.

We had a family in our ward bring by some of their famous annual Christmas cookies! I love homemade gifts, they're the best. As soon as we shut the door the plastic wrap was off and we were devouring the cookies. The family didn't even make it out of the driveway and the plate was half empty. I stopped stuffing my face long enough to get a picture. They were so yummy, Clay didn't get and as usual. Thanks Sara! At school we had a white elephant exchange before we let out for our winter break. I couldn't find anything cool to give away so I whipped out a Christmas quilt.
Tis the season for merry and bright but I also wanted to see a little fighting so I made something everyone would want. Despicable me!

Well Ana ended up winning it and she went away very happy. I got a mug. Next year, watch out, if you don't want a mug with a teacher quote don't pick my gift!

Girls, guess what?.......... I love your Dad!

There is a phrase said around our house almost once a day. Most of the time it is said, the girls plug their ears and run away. I think it's funny. It always starts out with Girls, Guess what? I wait for them to answer, and they always answer cautiously, not wanting to hear me profess my love for their dad. Occasionally, I'll say something like, it's time to clean, or time to go grocery shopping or something like that. Most of the time I quickly and loudly say I LOVE YOUR DAD before they can plug their ears. I hear awwww mom, we know!! I love it!

Many of you know my husband. Very strong silent type. I for one think he is awesome. Strong, handsome, yadda yadda yadda. Well this is one Kodak moment, that every time I think about it, I smile and find myself loving my husband even more. I stood in awe of him this night, not because he was big and strong. No, it was because he was a softy showing me how much he loves our girls! I'm still in awe to this day.

I was watching t.v. and relaxing after work. Alex came into the living room and asked if I would paint her nails. Almost too quickly, I answered, not right now, OK. Almost immediately I hear Clay say I will. Talk about feeling like a horrible Mom!
Alex quickly ran to her room, grabbed the nail stuff and met her Dad in the kitchen. After colors were picked, the painting party began! Most of you don't know that my husband is a softy but the majority of you know he is a perfectionist. Yeah, it took like 20 minutes for him to paint 10 little fingers!

They looked perfect! Alex was one happy little girl all thanks to her Dad.

Yes, I'm still in awe, and even more in love!

Christmas 2010

This year, it just didn't feel like Christmas for us. For the first time in a long time Daddy had to work on Christmas. We did however get to spend the majority of our winter break with family. Harrison (Colin and Amy's handsome son) is getting so big! We enjoyed seeing him and his family at grandma's house for our family Christmas.The kids loved everything they got from grandma. Alex got cooking stuff complete with a cupcake maker, apron, and chef's hat. She's our little chef around here. Sydney got a couple of really great Greek mythology books. She loves the Greek myths and grandma was able to find a few good books Sydney didn't already have. If you ever need a phone a friend about Greek mythology, you can count on Sydney!
This is how we all felt when we left grandmas. We were all a little tired (late night gaming kept us up), I was still recovering from getting food poisoning. I didn't get it from any of the family parties but I picked it up from some ranch dressing at a restaurant in Casa Grande on our way to grandmas. I was out for the count for close to a week. Sydney enjoyed her new sweatshirt so much she just had to take a nap in it!

I have no idea what I was doing when the girls were opening their Christmas presents (on Christmas Eve so Dad could watch too), but this is the only picture I got of our Christmas at home. I got a few of Alex, none of the rest of the family! What was I thinking?? When we woke up on Christmas day, we ran to the living room to see what Santa brought us. We got everything we asked for!! Then it was time for Dad to go to work. While Dad was at work we went to Nana and Papas house for yet another family Christmas. What a busy season we had, but it was great fun to see all our family. From Aunt Bev's Holyoak family party, to grandma Wings house and all our cousins, to our little family of four Christmas, to the Stanley family Christmas. We had a great time!

Merry Christmas 2010! (next year I'll take more pictures)

Temple lights

We always TRY to make it up to mesa to see the temple lights. This year we made it!We went with Grandma and Grandpa Wing. Aunt Chalice and the kids met us there. It was a nice night to walk the grounds of the temple and look at the lights.
My camera doesn't take very good pictures. This is one of the displays on the temple grounds.

Alex is always looking behind her to make sure I'm still with her. There were a ton of people the night we went.

I don't recall ever seeing some of the lights we saw this year. My favorite are the ones hanging in the palm trees. I also like the huge star above the manger.

While we waited for Aunt Chalice to get there, I took the opportunity to get a cute picture of the girls in front of the temple. They are looking forward to getting married in the temple someday.

Here is a picture of the stable they had set up on the temple grounds. The kids really liked the manger scene. We spent the most time looking at it out of everything.

The girls love their cousins. I was so glad Chalice and the kids could go with us. The girls just love hanging out with Autumn. I think a girls week is in the works for this summer. Should be fun!

The girls having fun looking at all the sights and lights. We had a great time!

The night we went there was a mini concert. A choir sang and some ladies that played bells participated as well. The bells were beautiful and really put us in the Christmas mood. We had pretty good seats and it was really nice music to complete a very fun evening.

We had to get a few pictures of the kids. They were having a ton of fun goofing around together. I love it when the kids get to play with their cousins.

All the kids (big and little) seemed to really enjoy themselves. After the temple lights we went back to Grandma's for a yummy roast dinner. Chalice and the kids came to and we all had a late night visiting with each other. Sleep overs at Grandma's are the best, especially with cousins!

We can't wait to see the lights next year!

Christmas caroling

My kids have never been caroling. This year we went caroling as a family while we were at Grandma's house. We went caroling to three of her neighbors.Everyone had their Santa hats and we were ready to go! We delivered a loaf of yummy bread to each house as we sang. It was an event I think my kids will remember for years to come.
We had the kids pose for a picture in front of the Christmas tree. Don;t they all look so cute. We had a great time, I think Grandma's neighbors really enjoyed it too.
Happy Holidays!!

Gingerbread madness!

When we were at Grandma Wings house this year for Christmas, the kids got to help decorate the annual gingerbread house. We've done this for a few years now. It's turning into a fun tradition for the kids. The little ones really get into decorating it, with lots of help from Grandma. I noticed the older kids ate more candy then they decorated with. I also noticed they didn't stick around long to help decorate. It was OK, we had lots of hands this year to help out, plus there were even more mouths to help eat it!
Autumn was a great helper. I can't remember if she was counting the candy, or dreaming about eating the candy! The kids did eventually get some candy, so did I!
We also got a gingerbread house from Aunt Nelda. Remember the Halloween house? This one is way more awesome.

The kids wanted me to get pictures of all four sides. Above is one side, the picture below is another side......

And another side.......

And this is the last side. Why is there a hole cut in the roof you ask. Just scroll down and see the awesomeness!!

That is the inside of the house. She hand made all the tiny little decorations for the inside of the house!

Can you see what I see? A table complete with silverware, a coffee table with little gingerbread cookies, a couch, a football, and much much more!!

At our house we decorate our entire tree and house with gingerbread's. This was a perfect addition to our Christmas to make this year super special!

The BEST things are homemade!

I had a visit from a friend the other day, and she brought gifts! My very talented friend made me some gingerbread place mats!
Yes folks, she MADE these. I love them. We decorate the whole house in gingerbread so they fit right in!

She also made me an apron! I know, it's awesome. I've been wanting one forever. Her Aprons are soooo cute. Yay, I got one. I need to make the girls each one, I'll have to ask her to teach me.

Thanks for the surprises Camilee, you're the best!