The Second Tooth

After weeks of a dangling front tooth, it finally came out! A tooth is already on its way in. Bring on the ugly/funky tween years of bad teeth!

Matching Jammies

I got a new laptop for Christmas, so now I can blog! When I went to  download pictures from my camera I discovered my USB cord was not working, so for now I can only download pictures from my phone.

Here is a not so great picture from Christmas morning. The kids got matching shirts from my Grandpa Tom that say "I Hope they Call me on a Mission". He designed them way back when my dad was a kid (from what I understand) and had them reprinted for his great-grandkids this year. Nana made them matching zebra pants.

Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve with matching jammies from Nana 

 We set out our stockings, and Addison thought she should wear it

This was church the Sunday before Christmas. Addi went home early with Nana, so she wasn't pictured. I meant to get a family picture because we all wore black/silver, but alas it never  happened.

 We just did the small tree this year, and it was perfect!

The kids checking out their stockings. They went right past the things Santa had left for them, but were super excited about their stockings.

 Jaxson got a Rody horse from Santa

 Addison plays on the piano Kamryn got from Santa (Addi got a toy stroller but wasn't into it, so she claimed the piano)

 Kamryn on Hallie's plasma car.

 Addi and her new pillow pet.

 I tried to get the traditional line-up photo before they went in to get their presents, but Addison wasn't cooperating (we had just woken her up)

 Kamryn on the sled/board we got for Christmas

Lindsey and Phil got our family this basketball game for Christmas. The kids are having so much fun with it. Wes and I have had some pretty intense games too.

We had a great Christmas despite a nasty flu/stomach virus that went through most of it. The kids never tire of their cousins. I never tire of all the good food and company.



Mom and Dad's quilt

I also made my parents a quilt for Christmas. Luckily, I was on the ball and got this one finished in August. I brought it down for Thanksgiving and gave it to them then so they could have it out during the Christmas season.

 I believe the squares are 10", so this one measured 70" by 80", a good lap size quilt. This was made from yardage from the Jovial line by Basic Grey. I got a bunch for cheap after Christmas the year before, and held onto it for a quilt for my parents. The red, green, and mustard colors go with their house.

 If I had to do it again, I would have made the corner squares larger, I feel like the design would have been more dominant that way.

 I quilted this with a big allover stipple. Nice and fast.

The back is made from 4 yards of this print...I like how it had all the colors in it. I almost always do a scrappy back to use up the "leftovers" so this was a departure for me. Now I have some extra fabric to turn into something else.

Camie and Andy's quilt

We had Camie and Andy's family for Christmas, so it was their turn for a quilt (all of Wes's siblings now have quilts...onto my family, I guess).

I based this quilt on this pattern. I used my own measurements, but pretty much copied her design. Most of the fabrics I used were from Sweetwater's Hometown line, with a few others thrown in. This quilt ended up being roughly twin sized. I knew I wanted it longer than a lap size because my in-laws are rather tall.

 This quilt took me forever...not because it was the most challenging, but I took about a 2 month hiatus from sewing this fall, so even though I started it in August, I didn't finish until Christmas Eve!

 I tried a new quilting design, kind of a swirly spiral. Some spots are rough, but I think it looked good from a distance. I am always trying to expand my quilting techniques.

The back is scrappy, made up of all the leftover yardage. Some day I will learn to take really great photos of my quilts. They never look as good as they do in person.

Ward Christmas Party

We have the "real" Santa in our ward, lucky us! The kids were excited to tell him what they wanted (of course, they change their minds everyday about what they want). And of course, Addison freaked out. I knew she would, but the picture with Santa and a crying baby is mandatory, right?

Kamryn's First Field Trip

Kamryn has been part of a preschool co-op with a few other families in our ward for the last few months. She loves going to preschool and feels so grown up that she has her own school to go to. A couple of weeks ago we took the kids on their first field trip to the fire station. Jaxson was able to come too.

Firefighter Begay did a really good job giving us a tour of the firestation. The kids loved getting to sit in the fire truck, seeing where the fire fighter quarters are, and watching Firefighter Begay go down the pole. They also dressed up in full gear to show the kids what it would look like if a firefighter ever had to rescue them. Some were scared by all the get up and the mask, but I thought it was great idea to show the kids.

Jaxson's Preschool Party

Jaxson goes to preschool twice a week, and so far this year he has missed every party/extracurricular thing that has happened for one reason or another. He made sure that under no circumstance should he miss his Christmas party.

 playing musical chairs

Jaxson is on the right, Kamryn is front and center



The kids got to eat lunch, play games, and give a little performance.  At one point the teachers asked that all of the kids line up, which I thought was for a game, so I told Kamryn to follow Jaxson. I didn't realize that they were going up on stage to perform. So Kamryn ended up being in the program with all of the preschool class. Oh well, she blended right in.

I've only been in Jaxson's classroom a few times, but I think he really enjoys showing us around his territory. He seems to have a lot of little friends and from what I hear from his teachers he is a good student too.

Balloon Glow 2012

It's been a few years since we took our kids to the annual balloon glow, but this year was unseasonably warm, so we decided to go.

We got there right as several hot air balloons were working on getting up in the air. I thought it was cool to see the process of how they get the balloons up, and amazed at how many people it takes to make it work.

The kids had fun checking out the different designs. We met up with some friends for a little bit, until the babies got too cold. Fun times!

Learning to Shoot

Hallie got a bb gun for her 7th birthday, so Wes helped the kids (and me) learn how to shoot it the other day.

I can remember shooting a gun when I was really young, I think with the Langfords somewhere by Groom Creek (does anyone else remember this?...there was a really scary one way road on the side of a cliff..). But that's the only time. Wes has been after me for years to learn to shoot and properly take care of guns. Especially since he is such a big gun advocate.

I got the hang of it after a few tries, but the kids were another story. The pump on Hallie's gun is too hard for her to do, and she doesn't quite get the hang of aiming and lining up her sites. But we will keep practicing. Jaxson really loved it and wants his own gun now. When Hallie got her gun on her birthday, Jaxson said she "was the luckiest person in the whole world!".