Christmas 2011

We spent Christmas in Lompoc spending lots of time with family!  The first few days we spent at Grandpa and Grandma Arnold's house.  Uncle Nic, Aunt Tammy, Andrew, Aunt Miranda, Uncle Jordan, and Amelia were all there!  We took turns cooking meals and sharing family traditions.  The kids had a lot of fun letting Chinese lanterns go at the high school and the suspense of the mystery dinner!  Aubrey's favorite was "Tammy's Twinkle Toes" (aka Pigs feet)!   I think she was a little worried we were actually going to make her eat them!  

On Christmas Eve Grandma and Grandpa Arnold cooked a traditional Arnold Christmas dinner with prime rib and popovers!  After dinner we continued with some of our other family traditions: Reading/acting out the Nativity story, opening new pajamas, opening ornaments, and Grandpa reading Twas' the Night Before Christmas.

The kids were all excited to open their new pajamas from Mom and Dad and to see the ornaments from Grandpa and Grandma Arnold.

Carson's was a star with his picture from his baptism on it.

Aubrey's was a Hello Kitty!

Madelyn's was a fish!

Christmas morning we woke up and attended church before coming home and opening presents! The kids were so excited to see what Santa brought them! Santa was very generous and brought the kids what they had asked for. Madelyn- an IPOD touch, a case, and brown boots. Carson- a BYU jersey, Nintendo 3DS, and Legos Hogwarts express. Aubrey- a doll, scooter, and boots.

Later that afternoon we went to Uncle Jared and Aunt Annette's so the kids could play and we could give Papa and Grandma McCune their present from us.

Carson's Baptism

We are so proud of Carson and his decision to be baptized. Jon baptized and confirmed Carson, Grandma McCune gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and Grandma Arnold lead the music. Carson picked "Praise to the Man", "Families Can Be Together Forever", and "Baptism", for us to sing while we waited for them to change clothes.

Family & Friends who attended your baptism: Grandpa & Grandma Arnold, Papa & Grandma McCune, Uncle Nic, Bishop Hardy, Bro. Concoby, Sis. Fernandez, Miss Buxton, the Littles, the Wengers, the Leepers, the McClellans and the Camps.

Mr. & Mrs. McCune

We headed back to St. George this weekend for Uncle Jason's wedding! This is the first time all 10 of us kids have been together since Uncle Sean & Aunt Megan's wedding (4 years ago)!

Friday night we had a huge family dinner at the church and we were able to catch up with some of my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins that we haven't seen in years!

Saturday the kids hung out a Papa & Grandma's house and we helped pick up food and other last minute details. The kids were so excited for the reception because they knew there would be dancing! We all had a great time and are so excited for Uncle Jason and Mindy as they start on this new journey together!

Amelia's blessing

We were able to meet up with Grandpa and Grandma Arnold, Aunt Miranda, and Uncle Jordan to attend Amelia's blessing in Hurricane this weekend. Amelia wore Miranda's blessing dress and looked adorable with those chubby cheeks! Aubrey and Madelyn couldn't get enough of Amelia and had a great time holding her! Carson was just excited that he was able to go to the BYU game the day before and get a BYU wallet!

Pre-spelling test!

Aubrey has two sets of spelling words each week for school. She has the regular spelling words and challenge words. On Mondays she takes a pre-spelling test with both sets of words (regular list on one side of the paper and challenge words on the other). Today she brought me her graded pre-spelling test for this week. I looked at the one side and said, "what happened with your spelling words?" (she missed a few). She replied, "I know, I always get all the challenge words right!" (That's because the teacher doesn't mark the challenge words wrong!) Funny girl!

Eight

It's hard to believe Carson is already 8! Papa and Grandma McCune came down to celebrate and took us to Aliante Station for dinner. Carson couldn't wait to open his presents! He was so excited about all the BYU gear from Papa and Grandma McCune, the Mater Legos from Grandpa and Grandma Arnold, and the bike and Legos from us! He can't wait until next month when he will be baptized!

Halloween!

We aren't big pumpkin carvers at our house, so we usually just carve one pumpkin! This year the kids picked the design and gutted the pumpkin and left the carving to me!

Somerset had a Trunk-or-Treat for the kids and it was so well done! The school asked each family to donate a bag of candy and limited the number of cars to pass out the candy. The people who volunteered to pass out candy had their trunks all decorated, including sound effects and smoke! The kids were excited to see what their friends and teachers dressed up as. The kids came home with so much candy that I don't think I will have to buy any for our ward trunk-or-treat!

The kids celebrated Halloween at school today, since they have Thursday and Friday off for Nevada day! Madelyn rotated to each of her classes where there were games and food for her class to share. Carson's class decorated sugar cookies and played Halloween bingo. Aubrey's class also decorated sugar cookies and made paper mache pumpkins! The kids and I made Oreo pops (pumpkins, ghost, and mummies) for their teachers and people at Jon's work!

We celebrated Halloween night by trick-or-treating at Jon's work! The kids had fun giving our Oreo treats to Jon's co-workers and couldn't believe how much candy they came home with!