Our Christmas, 2008!

This year we had Mike's twin brother Nate and his family stay with us for the week which was really fun. They have 2 boys our kids' ages so they each had someone to play with which was nice! We hosted the Christmas get-together at our house and had a blast! It's always a party when we get the family together! We took a billion pictures, so I'll do my best not to put up ALL of them!

Christmas Eve we have a tradition of giving the kids new pajamas. The kids look forward to having something nice to wear wear for Christmas morning!We did the Nativity story for the kids letting them act it out with the pieces. This is Ashton and his cousin Blake playing with the pieces afterwards.Santa came!!!It was hard to narrow down the present-opening pictures, so here are just some favorites!

Brayden got super cute girly stuff from Aunt Sarah and Uncle Trevor along with a bead bracelet making set!Trevor and Sarah gave Ashton an awesome Pirate Cove, along with some other pirate things including his own pirate goblet!Brayden has asked for the Puppy That Grows for the past 2 years and she finally got it!Ashton got a Mickey Mouse book from his cousin Blake! He yelled "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! Thanks Blake!"The kids gave Mike a couple of new ties. Here he is squishing, I mean, hugging them!Getting into his stocking!What did Santa bring me...stress and tension mineral bath! He must have known I'd be needing this once Christmas was over!Playing with the new big gift from Santa, the Wii!Getting ready for Christmas dinner! Mike is so ready to dig in to our Honey Baked Ham!Mike's mom had all 20-something of us pull our presents from a string out of a basket at the same time. It was such a fun idea, we'd never done anything like that before.

Having fun with family!Brayden got a Barbie styling head from Kyra, Parker, and Kale!Ashton was playing with the doll head for the longest time right after Brayden opened it. We thought it was so funny and didn't know until we looked at the pictures later that he was actually trying to shove his pirate set's cannon into the Barbie's mouth!

My 31st Birthday!!!

This Christmas Eve I turned 31! I can't believe it! It would have been nice if it was my 21st birthday instead, but I am definitely glad I am where I am now. And I can still feel like I'm 21, right?

My parents were always great at making my birthday so special even though it was on Christmas Eve. It's a little harder to have my day be my day with a husband and kids, but at the same time it makes it that much more fun, and the kids will always LOVE my birthday because they get to open some presents on it too! I have the coolest birthday ever to them!

Mike was so sweet and made the birthday cake I asked for, German chocolate cake, my absolute favorite! He made the recipe his mom uses which is a lot of work. I didn't realize that when I requested it from him, but he did it for me anyway, working hard in the kitchen most of the morning of my birthday. It wasn't the prettiest cake ever made, but it sure tasted great, which is all that matters! He did so well, and I really appreciated all of his hard work! This year was so much fun getting to hear both of my kids singing "Happy Birthday" to me with Ashton now knowing all of the words too!Mike had taken Brayden shopping to pick some things out from her and Ashton. They got me the prettiest necklace and earrings! I have to say, I've trained Brayden well! In the picture below Ashton was begging me to put the earrings on him. He had an earring for his pirate costume for Halloween, so now he thinks he gets to wear them too!Mike picked out the cutest sweater for me! He was always afraid to buy me clothes in the past, so this is the first time he's ever gotten me anything like that. I think he did an amazing job! I love it!Mike's brother Nate and his wife Monica gave me a gorgeous necklace that someone they know made out of glass. Mike didn't get a picture of it when I opened it, but here is my nephew Ethan giving it to me. I wore it out to dinner in the last picture.For my birthday dinner, Nate and Monica were so nice to watch our kids for us and Mike took me to Benihana. I was so excited because I always wanted to go there! I loved it! It was so much fun! It's going to have to be a new tradition to go there every year for my birthday from now on! (This isn't the greatest picture of us - Mike was super sick and I was super tired, and we still had Christmas stuff to do with the kids when we got home! Those pictures are still to come!)

A Visitor From the North Pole!

Last night we got together with Mike's parents, grandparents, and brother for dinner at our house, and we soon had one other visitor, SANTA CLAUS! Yep, he came to our house! The kids were in total awe and loved every minute of their visit with him! I guess he just wanted to come and double check what was on their lists and also to make sure they were still being good! Brayden just knows he was the real Santa, and I have been taking advantage of the fact that since Santa was just here, he is paying extra close attention to Brayden and Ashton, so they have to be EXTRA good! So far it's worked!

Christmas Cheer???

I just got home from doing some last minute Christmas shopping and really feel like I need to vent. I went out excited to get more gifts to wrap and put under the Christmas tree, and to feel the fun rush of holiday shopping, but, I ended up coming home feeling like crying and wanting to send my kids to their room for the rest of the day!

First, I got lost trying to find the Honey Baked Ham store (we decided to try one for the first time this year!) I had left early to try to beat the crowds, but I drove around looking for it for so long that by the time we made it there it was already so crowded! The reason I couldn't find the place is because it was covered with a tent to accommodate the huge line that went out the door. Seriously, I felt like we were in a line for a ride at Disneyland that wrapped around several times, but instead of a fun exciting ride at the end, there was a giant ham! Luckily people in line were friendly so that made the experience not so bad, although we did have to park really far away and I had to carry a 10 pound ham and Ashton, while holding Brayden's hand running through the blizzardy weather we're having today!

Next, I went to a couple of other stores to pick up some gifts. Not only did I feel like people were deliberately trying to run us over in the parking lot, but store workers and customers all seemed to be very rude. On top of that, both of my kids were having fun pulling anything and everything they could off of the shelves and racks. I was able to get a few things, but by the second store and being blown off by a sales associate I was needing help from and my kids dumping a bunch of things onto the ground, I picked them up and left, thinking I am not shopping again until after New Years!

This year I put off Christmas shopping longer than I normally do. It crept up on me, and now I'm paying the consequences, I guess. I just felt like I was trying to enjoy the season and fun things that come along with it more instead of just worrying about shopping. And I liked that. I liked that I wasn't preoccupied with the materialistic side of it all. Of course, that put me behind on the shopping I did have to do, and I am definitely getting my shopping done in October next year, but I am really glad that until now, I was able to enjoy every bit of the holiday season. I just hope I can remember how things went today, and try really hard to never become one of those people who actually get meaner because of the Christmas rush. It contradicts the meaning of Christmas so bad. I felt myself starting to let it all affect me and get mean myself. I had to come home and regroup, and writing this down has made me feel better, because I know I'm not going to be one of those people.

So, now I am done with shopping for the year (I hope!), and I'm going to try really hard to just focus on the fun stuff coming up - being with lots of family this next week, my birthday in 2 days, one last visit with Santa before he makes his rounds Christmas Eve, and seeing the excitement of it all on my kids' faces, all while remembering the birth of our Savior and the wonderful gift he is to us all, and being entertained by my kids' understanding of it so far!

Another News Story on Our Cute Niece!

KSL did another news story on our niece Emmalee. This time they actually talked to her, Mike's sister Kara, and our brother-in-law Steve...
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=5109874

I got my present early!!!

As a combo birthday and Christmas present, I got myself a new camera! I usually love going on a clothes shopping spree for my birthday and Christmas present, but this year I really thought I needed a nice camera. My old one did well, and I will still keep it on-hand at all times (it's a Canon Elph so it's tiny and I can take it anywhere!), but I've been wanting better quality pictures. My new camera is the Canon Power Shot S5 IS. My sister got one this past year and she's a photographer so I knew I could trust her opinion and research.

I was expecting my new camera to arrive any day this week, and I anxiously awaited the mailman each day like a little kid! Finally, the mailman came to my door this morning, super early though, which I didn't expect, so I wasn't decent. I ran upstairs as fast as I could to throw something on really quick but he was gone before I made it downstairs. I thought I'd try to catch him at the mailbox, so I threw on my boots and ran out the door (feeling really dumb in my pajamas) but as I was running after him (with neighbors watching me) he took off. I thought he HAD to have seen me, but maybe not. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt! So...I had to wait until after 5pm to pick it up at the post office. I was so sad because I wanted to have it right then! Next time I'm not going to worry about being indecent for the mailman - it's so not worth it! I'm sure he's already seen it all anyway!

So, as I soon as I brought my new camera home from the post office I broke it out and started playing with it. There are some neat settings on it that I got to experiment with. One that I used for some pictures below takes out all color except for a particular object in the shot. I haven't gotten to use it in natural light yet, but so far I am very happy! I still have a lot to learn about all of the things it can do, but here is what I have gotten so far from my first time using it!

Brayden was my little model!

The Festival of Trees

On Friday Brayden got to dance at the Festival of Trees. It was so much fun to see her up there on stage - she had the routine down perfectly and did a really great job! We are so proud of her!This is the video I got of Brayden's performance. It's hard to tell who she is. She's the 6th girl from the left:

Here Brayden and Ashton are in front of their cousin Emmalee's tree that represented her there. It was so neat to get to see it in person. It is so cute!There were so many gorgeous trees there! They were really incredible!

Idaho Visit

When we were in Twin Falls, Idaho for my grandpa's funeral, we also got to visit my grandparents on my mom's side since they live there. We hadn't seen them in over a year, so it was so fun to visit with them at their house for a bit.Ashton bonding with Grandma!Ashton actually took this picture! Then he went around taking pictures of everything in my grandparents' house! Most turned out with his thumb in front of them!

I'll miss you Grandpa!

Two days after Thanksgiving my grandpa passed away after suffering with lung cancer. He was such a great man. He was actually my step-grandpa but the only one I knew on my dad's side of the family. I think it was around 1975 or 76 that he married and saved my grandma who had been in a previous abusive marriage. He was so wonderful to her. He was with her until she passed away March of 1996. What a great reunion they must have just had! We are so glad he was able to enjoy life until the very end despite how sick he was. He passed away upon coming home from a trip he had with family Thanksgiving weekend. It's so great that he got to enjoy one last family event and holiday before leaving this world. We were able to see him one last time at a family reunion we had last summer. Below is the last picture I have of him which was from the reunion. My sister caught this picture of him as he just found out he lost the game he was playing. He loved games and was a huge gambler. Even at his funeral, playing cards and dice were layed out to show what he loved. He also was a great golfer and hunter, among many other things. He loved being with family and friends, and everyone who met him loved him.We were able to go to the funeral on Thursday which was in Twin Falls, Idaho. On road trips I always think it is so cool when I see hawks flying around. On this drive there seemed to be a lot, and then I saw what I thought was a hawk at first, but then I saw that it had a white head and a white tail - it was a bald eagle! I was so surprised because I know they are pretty rare to see in the wild. A couple of hours later as we walked into the funeral, we were handed programs with this picture on the front:I might be superstitious, but I don't know if that was just a coincidence. I had never seen an eagle in the wild before that day, and to see that on the program symbolizing my grandpa just struck me.

On the back of the program was this poem:

I'm Free

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free
I'm following the path God laid for me.
I took his hand when I heard him call,
I turned my back and left it all,
I could not stay another day,
To laugh, to love, to work or play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way,
I found peace at close of day.
If my parting has left a void,
Then fill it with remembered joy.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss.
Ah yes, these things, I too, will miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrow,
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My life's been full, I've savored much.
Good friends, good times, a loved one's touch.
Perhaps my time seemed all too brief.
Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your hearts and share with me,
God wanted me now, He set me free.

I'm going to miss you tons, Grandpa! I love you!

Larry D. Parke
May 17, 1927 - November 29, 2008

Elves Everywhere!

We took the kids to Gardner Village last night. We rode around with Mrs. Claus and she told stories about the North Pole and Santa's workshop and had us sing with her. The kids loved it! Then she sent us on a scavenger hunt to find all of the different elves around Gardner Village, and once we found them all, we could turn in our papers for candy sticks at the candy shop. This was our first time to be there at Christmastime, it was really fun!

Brayden with the list of Elves to find!

Kissing under the mistle toe!

The naughty and nice lists!Ashton being naughty to the naughty list!Ice skating elves! Ashton is a little freaked out about the elf behind him!Mike and his little elves!We finally made it to the candy shop!