A Christmas Tag

I updated this post with responses from Spencer, Travis, Nana and Max because Papa Lenny tagged them and they don't have their own blogs! So....Here is a little Christmas Tag. Copy and paste this post, change your answers and then tag 5 people.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? 

Rebekah-Wrapping Paper. It's way more fun to watch people rip open.

Travis-Gift bag.

Spencer-Wrapping paper, because I like to rip it.

Nancy-Wrapping paper is more fun.

Max-Wrapping paper.
2. Real tree or Artificial? 

Rebekah-Real tree. I haven't had a real tree since I got married but our goal is next year!

Travis-Depends on what part of the country you live in.

Spencer-Fake, just because.

Nancy-Real tree if I don't have to clean up after it!

Max-Real.

3. When do you put up the tree? 

Rebekah-Sometime between black Friday or Dec. 1st. My dad always tried to get us to wait until his birthday, Dec. 17th, but I could never stand to wait that long.  As a kid, picking out the tree was part of his present. Getting the tree up is what really gets me feeling Christmasy!

Travis-In Dec.

Spencer-Maybe on Dec.1.

Nancy-First part of Dec.

Max-After Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? 

Rebekah-Jan. 1st.

Travis-Jan.

Spencer-Maybe on Jan. 3rd.

Nancy-Day after Christmas!

Max-Whenever.
5. Do you like eggnog? 

Rebekah-Not usually, but we bought some pumpkin egg nog this year, and YUM!

Travis-Yes, a little bit.
Spencer-Yes, Drew does too.

Nancy-YES!!!

Max-Yes.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? 

Rebekah-I really don't have a favorite.  I just love to be with my family!

Travis-A catcher's mitt.
Spencer-My hot wheels track.

Nancy-a plastic appaloosa horse.

Max-Drum set.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Rebekah-My brother Sam. I have no idea what excites him.

Travis-Everybody.
Spencer-Maybe Daddy.

Nancy-Travis

Max-Mom cuz she always asks for cleaning stuff and I don't want to get something to work with. Sam's hard too.
8. Easiest person to buy for? 

Rebekah-I don't really know, maybe Drew.  He's 2 and easy to please.

Travis-Everybody.
Spencer-Bria

Nancy-Kids! Megan too.

Max-Megan, Dad too, but sometimes he asks for it then buys it for himself before Christmas!
9. Do you have a nativity scene? 

Rebekah-Yes!  I love to put up all my nativities. What a beautiful reminder and way to celebrate our Savior's birth. 

Travis-Yes, one from 2006 and one from 2008 that I shot.

Spencer-Yes.

Nancy-Yes I do.

Max-No way.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? 

Rebekah-What's that?

Travis-Uh, neither.
Spencer-I like to send Christmas cards.

Nancy-Neither! I send a few cards.

Max-Mail.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? 

Rebekah-I have never received a bad gift. I have always felt loved and that's the best gift of all!

Travis-Uh, um, ummm, no comment.
Spencer-I can't think of any.

Nancy-I don't remember. I like just about anything.

Max-Leaf blower, but I did ask for it and I do use it. It just involves work!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Rebekah-That's hard!  I love Christmas movies. White Christmas, Charlie Brown's Christmas, and Joy to the World are a few at the top of my list.

Travis-The one I'm writing.
Spencer-Heman Christmas Special.

Nancy-White Christmas. I like Come to the Stable too.

Max-Christmas story.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? 

Rebekah-No set time, whenever the mood hits or I see the perfect gift.

Travis-Dec. 23rd.
Spencer-Maybe in November.

Nancy-October.

Max-Usually Christmas Eve.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? 

Rebekah-Probably.

Travis-Yes.
Spencer-No.

Nancy-Heavens yes!

Max-Nope.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? 

Rebekah-I love to make Chinese Clusters at Christmas time. What don't I like to eat??? =)

Travis-Peppermint ice cream.

Spencer-Christmas cookies.
Nancy-Peppermint ice cream and eggnog.

Max-Chinese clusters and Dreyer's peppermint ice cream.
16. Lights on the tree? Rebekah-Definitely!!!

Travis-Sure.

Spencer-Yes.

Nancy-Yes.

Max-Yeah, of course.
17. Colored or White? 

Rebekah-Colored.  I love the variety and the cheerfulness of lots of color.

Travis-Yes.
Spencer-Colored because it looks more pretty!

Nancy-Colored.

Max-White

18. Favorite Christmas song? 

Rebekah-I love O Holy Night along with about a million others!

Travis-Little Drummer Boy.

Spencer-I don't have one. No! Jingle Bells!

Nancy-Every day it changes! That's hard because I like them all.

Max-Bah humbug! Just kidding. White Christmas.

19. Travel at Christmas or stay home? 

Rebekah-I prefer to be home but I love to be with family so sometimes that means travel....

Travis-Sometimes both.
Spencer-Travel because it's more fun with more family.

Nancy-Stay home.

Max-Stay home, maybe if I traveled I'd like it!
20. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? 

Rebekah-Sometimes. Other times I just can't get them all.

Travis-Rudolph and that's about it.

Spencer-Francer, Dancer, Dixon, Conner, Cupid, Rudolph. That's all the ones I know.

Nancy-No. Megan can.

Max-Yes.

21. Angel on the tree top or a star? 

Rebekah-I love a star. It seems to say to me 'Look for Jesus here.'

Travis-No preference.
Spencer-Star! It's like it's Jesus' birth.

Nancy-If I could find an angel I like it would probably be an angel, but it has to be a special one.

Max-Star.
22. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Rebekah-Christmas morning.  We open one present to the family Christmas eve.

Travis-Morning.

Spencer-One present on Christmas eve and the rest on Christmas Day.

Nancy-Morning I guess. I like them both so it doesn't really matter to me.

Max-One on Christmas Eve, the rest in the morning.

23. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? 

Rebekah-The chaos.

Travis-Commercialization.
Spencer-I guess I don't have anything to say.

Nancy-Crowds.

Max-Cold.
24. Favorite ornament theme or color? 

Rebekah-This year I added snowflakes on our tree.  Our tree isn't the prettiest, but I love it because it's a hodge-podge of the kids crafts, memories and lots of colors!

Travis-Red and green.

Spencer-I like a painted white Christmas tree.
Nancy-Gold garland.

Max-White lights and blue bobbles.
25. Favorite for Christmas dinner? 

Rebekah-I don't remember having special 

Christmas dinners, we always made a bigger deal of Christmas Eve dinner.  As a kid it was usually pizza, but the past few years we've had more of a mexican theme with tamales. I love it!!!!

Travis-Whatever is cooked with love!

Spencer-A turkey.

Drew says turkeys too.

Nancy-Anything I don't have to make myself.

Max-Tamales and eggs over easy.

26. What do you want for Christmas this year? 

Rebekah-To be with family and to know the people I love are safe and happy!

Travis-I already sent a letter to Santa, it's a secret so only he knows. 

Spencer-Some more hot wheels cars. (Before Christmas he would have said a gameboy and a harness.)

Nancy-Little People garage, clothes.

Max-My CD deck installed in my truck, MP3 player, Playstation, and Dark Knight.

I tag you dad!

Bobcats???

Last night as we drove in the car we sang Christmas carols.  After we sang jingle bells Travis said, "I don't get it, why does the song says 'Bells on bobcats ring?'  It doesn't make sense."  The song actually says 'Bells on bobbed tails ring.'  He has been singing about bobcats his whole life.  Needless to say, this is now one of my favorite songs.  =)

A real man

Our ward Christmas party was Sat. night.  We had a great time!  As the evening came to an end Travis sat visiting.  Spencer piped in "Dad, the men are putting up chairs now.  Are you a man or what?"

My mom read to me!

You may have tangible wealth untold, 

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.  

Richer than I you can never be- 

I had a mother who read to me.

-Strickland Gillilan

I love this quote.  I remember all four of us kids laying in our beds in the room we all shared listening to mom read.  She would sit in the doorway where she could have a little light from the hall.  She read us many good books from there.  She made up stories too.  I will always remember Felicia and Rosy, the two fairies she would tell us stories about.  What fun adventures we would have with them!  I don't tell stories as well as mom, but when I do they usually have a rescue hero or two in them.  My boys love to help save the day!  More often I just read a book. Right now we are reading the Magic School Bus chapter books.  I am thankful for the good memories I have of my mom reading to me.  Thanks mom, for reading to us.

Sheep Hill

One of the things I remember doing as a kid on Thanksgiving weekend is hiking.  We would usually go to Usery Park and hike Wind Cave.  I have lots of fun memories hiking, eating and having a grand ol' time with cousins and other family.  To keep the tradition going, I hiked Sheep Hill yesterday for the first time with the boys.  Bria came along in a baby backpack. Travis has done this hike several times with the boys so I was very amazed when I discovered how steep it is.  I thought the ropes and other gear they always take were just for fun, but now I know better. Spencer really uses the ropes to help him on the really steep parts, and most of the hike is really, really steep!  Travis goes the whole way with Drew up on his shoulders hanging on tightly to his ears.  Talk about crazy!  There were a few times I thought I would tip over with Bria on my back. When we got to the top we could see lots of Flagstaff.  The boys had fun playing in the dirt.  After a quick snack we headed down.  Bria had a great time bouncing along.  Drew, up on Travis' shoulders, was singing a happy tune and Travis gave his leg a shake to ask him to be a little quieter.  Drew's shoe flew off and rolled down the hill.  We all got a good chuckle out of that, especially Spencer.  All in all it was a fun adventure, and I'm ready for more!

Arizona Museum of Natural History

We went to the museum in Mesa this Saturday. It was so fun! They had a really cool Mars exhibit but of course our favorite was the dinosaurs.

The boys went on an archeological dig to find burried fossils. I think Drew had more fun covering them up.

They found a stegosaurus- aren't you jealous Aunt Karen? We got to watch a flash flood too.

Drew had fun sorting the peices to these puzzles.


Spencer is so good at puzzles. He loves to work on them and did a great job on this pottery puzzle.

Papa was a good help too!

Drew did a really wild dance around the Hohokam fire pit.

Nana had lots of fun showing her grandsons around.


Spencer loved checking out the asteroids and other spacey things.

Drew made a rubbing of some scary dinosaurs.

Wow! Look at those geodes!

We ended our fun trip with panning for gold.

Panning for gold is addicting. I knew it was fools gold and I still didn't want to stop!

Bria was worn out by all the excitement.

We all had a great time. Thanks for the fun time Papa and Nana!

Spencer's Hikes

Ever since we moved here Spencer has wanted to hike Mt. Eldon.  We live in between Mt. Eldon  and a small hill called Sheep Hill.  Travis made a deal with Spencer that after they hike Sheep Hill (the smaller of the two) five times they would hike Mt. Eldon.  We also have AZ's tallest mountain here in Flag, Humphrey's Peak which is 12,633 ft.  Spencer hadn't expressed any desire to hike that one until just the other day when he was telling Travis "Dad, we have to hike Sheep Hill one more time, then Mt. Eldon 5 times, then Mt. Humphrey 5 times, then we're done hiking.  Whew!!!"  I guess when you put it that way it sounds like a chore, but he loves to go hiking with his dad.  Travis rigs a caribeaner, some rope and other cool paraphernalia to really play the part of adventurers.  Spencer really digs it!  He even asked for a real harness for Christmas.

More wood

We've been going to get wood whenever Travis has the chance.  With Memaw's help we can load up the van in about an hour.  It's not as much fun as loading the uhaul with Alice and her kids, but hopefully we'll be warm this winter!!!  This is very possibly the last load we'll be getting this winter!  Travis is just so busy and gone so much.  Spencer has been earning 100 pennies (way more exciting than 1 dollar) every time we go out.  Drew earns as many pennies as he can grab while I am counting out Spencer's.  

S'mores

We love s'mores!!!  The other night we decided to have a special treat and make some.  Drew couldn't decide what to eat first, plain marshmallows, plain chocolate or the s'more.  He was going excitedly from one thing to the next, half the time stepping on somebody's graham cracker.  Spencer loved them too.  We all helped ourselves until the marshmallows ran out and boy was I stuffed!  It was a very content and happy stuffed.  :)  Today Spencer asked if we could have s'mores every Christmas.  I think that idea is a keeper!  Bria missed out on the s'mores, but not on the fun!

Sugar anyone?

We all love frybread around here, but I guess Drew thought his needed a little tampering.  He helped himself to the cinnamon and sugar and boy, he was in heaven!

Snow!

Our first snow here in Flagstaff started around 5PM, November 9.  You could barely tell it was snow and then when I looked out the window a few minutes later it was really snowing!  This is the view out our back door.

Party in the woods!

The Kears came to visit a few weeks ago.  We decided that since they were here we should put them to work so we all went out to gather firewood.  Travis bought a chain-saw and we found this great spot where the trees were already down and stacked so nicely.  Maybe not the greatest firewood, but to start our woodpile it was great!!!

It was hard keeping the kids off these piles of dead branches.

These kids were the best helpers!  Thanks Kears, for all your hard work!

Our spooky night out

For our Halloween celebration we went to Thorpe Park where the city had tons of free activities.  After skeet ball, train rides, wall climbing and more, we headed over to our church for trunk or treating.  Travis handed out candy and Memaw handed out Blue Gap Boyz postcards.  What a great way to advertise!  :)  

What a fun time!  Yee-haw!
Go Spencer, just like a real rescue hero!
This is how Drew usually wears his hat-way down over his eyes.  The funny thing is, it doesn't seem to bother him.  He wants to keep it on, whether he can see or not!
Hmmm, which prize to choose?

Trunk or treat at our church
Pumpkin decorating at the park
Archery at the park

Cute Costums

Bria's costume didn't really fit in.  She was so soft and cuddly in this.  She had a little toy horse so she could be a penguin dreaming of living out west.
Drew knew he wanted orange hair no matter what he was.  You can't see his cowboy boots he's wearing, but he loves them!
Spencer the cookie rustler was going to be Jack Skelington, then a cowboy, then a Narnia character, and finally, today after school, a cowboy again.  Doesn't he look great?

Pumpkins

Here are the finished products!

Carving Pumpkins

Spencer and Drew did a great job carving their pumpkins.  Drew's pumpkin came right out of our garden!  Next year we'll try to have a home grown pumpkin for each of us.

Lovey

Bria loves this scarf we brought home from Papa Bob's.  I think it's her new lovey.

Primary Program

Our Primary Program was this past Sunday. Spencer did great of course! When it was his turn he put on his determined look and marched importantly up to the mic and said, "Jesus suffered for our sins so we could be forgiven. Jesus wants us to forgive each other." What a great lesson to remember. Thanks, Spencer, for making it memorable!

Drew's boots

Drew loves his boots that Nana bought him. Spencer has a pair too. They put them on any time they are in a hurry to go outside. I think I need a pair!

Peeps!

One Easter tradition we have in our family involves peeps. Need I say more?