It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE Christmas!! It just makes me smile :). I love the sounds, smells, food, the feeling, the music, everything. I also love to decorate for it. Right now we don't have a lot of items to decorate with, but I was so excited to pull out some clearance Christmas finds from the year before to add to the decor we already had. We were lucky that the previous owners left their Christmas tree in the shed and didn't want it back--so we have two!! One in the living room and one in the family room. I've designated the living room tree to be our decorator tree and the family room our family tree with homemade ornaments and all.

Our stake this year started a new tradition of having an Interfaith Nativity Exibit at our church building. The event spanned over the first weekend in December ending with the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional on Sunday. The event was a huge success!! The gym was beautifully decorated with over 300 different nativities on display from all over the world. Outside the youth posed as the characters in the Nativity. It was really special. When I brought my girls up to look at the live nativity, I felt the spirit so strong that it brought tears to my eyes. I had an overwhelming feeling of Christ's pure love and of His reality and was touched that I could teach my children about Him in that small moment.

They also had a children's nativity where the children could dress up like Mary, Joseph, a donkey, etc. and get their photo taken and printed out. It was adorable!!

P.S--In case you were wondering where all my posts from November are? Let's just say there weren't anymore because I spent ALL of my time making this baby!! I drew all my own patterns, cut them all out of felt and embroidered each scene on another piece of felt for the 25 pockets. I just finished it today and I'm so pleased with it!! I'm hoping it will be a big hit for my girls this year. Each pocket will hold a little prize or piece of candy.

Thanksgiving 2010

During this Thanksgiving holiday season we started our celebrations off with having Thanksgiving dinner with Kelsey at school--This was on November 5th. The meals were available for a minimal cost so I bought all of us a "lunch tray" as Kelsey refers to it as. It's special treatment when she gets a lunch tray!! Only after good behavior for two weeks can she get one--so today was not only special that she got a lunch tray, but that Me, Mylee and Lanaea got to join her for lunch too!!! The tables were all decorated with crafts the children had made. The food was, well...school lunch. It was all about the experience though.

Later in the month the 23rd, the Kindergartners put on a Thanksgiving program. Kelsey had a part to say and did a FANTASTIC job!! Her part was, "To remember that time of gratitude, we continue to celebrate the feast today. WE CALL IT THANKSGIVING!" She said it that way too!! Some of the kids came in with a paper Mayflower and they sang a couple of songs. Following their program they got to have a Thanksgiving feast for snack time.

Kelsey and her teacher Mrs. Spradley

They got cornbread, beef jerkey, a piece of pumpkin pie, popcorn, cheese, and a capri-sun for their feast.

As for our Thanksgiving feast, Blake was post-call so we didn't make any definite plans for dinner so some friends let us join them for a holiday feast at their house in the late afternoon when Blake got home. The dinner was great. I brought a pumpkin and cherry pie, orange rolls, dinner rolls, and cranberry jello salad. It was yummy! It was nice to have company with friends. After dinner me and the other Mommas went through the black Friday adds while the boys watched and talked football.

I didn't do a pie night this year--yes, I know, you can't believe it!! I have been trying to simply things in my life and not doing one this year relieved a lot of stress for me and it felt good. I also didn't shop black Friday--Blake had to work and I wasn't too worked up about any deals in particular. I had been stocking up on Christmas gifts since the Spring and felt good with what I had collected for the girls.

Halloween Festivities!

With Halloween being on Sunday this year I called a friend of mine who grew up in this area and asked her if the kids went trick-or-treating on Saturday instead. She sort of giggled and said, "No, you can't change a holiday." I sort of giggled to myself for being so nieve! But hey, that's the way it was where I grew up in Utah. With that being said, we did our trick-or-treating at our stake-hosted trunk-or-treat on Thursday. We had a great time and once again, Daddy got to join us!! Sweet!! The weather was beautiful. I'm not used to Halloween being so warm, it's awesome!! At one car, we all got new toothbrushes and toothpastes. That was Kelsey's favorite in fact!

This is one of our friends Faustin Stevens. He is a 5th year Orthopaedic Surgery resident--almost done!!

Something else I wasn't prepared for was NO halloween parties at school!! I LOVED dressing up as a child and going from classroom to classroom in a parade showing off my costume. But...they don't do it here--go figure. Instead, the week of Halloween they had theme days. On Thursday it was pajama day, so I let Kelsey wear her pajamas that day.

On Saturday some friends of ours invited us to their Halloween party at their house. We had a great time visiting with friends. Kelsey and Mylee especially loved being able to dress-up again. Kelsey said to me, "Mom, can I wear make-up all the time, or is it just for Halloween?" We had to laugh as the "singles" came to the party just as many of us "married with kids" were leaving :) Oh how being married and having kids changes things--but ohh it's SO GREAT!

This is what I brought to the party--a watermellon carved like a brain!!

This is what happened a couple of hours before the party--the joys!!

On Wednesday of that same week, Mylee, Lanaea and I went to a Halloween party hosted by one of the public librarys here. Mylee had fun, but was more interested in the food then she was in the activities and crafts. That's Mylee for you!!

Carving Pumpkins 2010

This year we were spoiled to have Dad join us for pumpkin carving!! The girls LOVED it!! Blake made a lovely typical jack-o-lantern with ears and all. I made a girl pumpkin with heart earrings and a flower hat--that was Kelsey's idea! Lanaea enjoyed hanging out in her exersaucer--giggling

Kelsey's Talk at Church

Kelsey gave a talk at church today. The drew all the pictures herself and colored almost all of them. I had to help her with a couple so we could finish in time. She did an awesome job!! We had talked about what she was going to say and then I had typed it out and glued it to the back of each picture. I was SHOCKED when she was reading them herself during our practice sessions!! there were some words she needed help with, but for the most part she was reading them! These pictures aren't some of her best art, she drew all of these during a Saturday afternoon. She'll usually take hours on one picture and will add eye lashes, lush lips and the whole deal.

The Mission of the Church is to bring people unto Christ.

These are some things we do at church to help us remember Christ. We take the sacrament. The bread represents Jesus' body. The water represents Jesus' blood.

We go to our primary classes where we learn about Jesus. Sister Higby and Sister Wright teach me about Jesus.

The Prophet President Monson tells us what Jesus wants us to hear and learn. I love President Monson.

Our Church sends out missionaries to teach people about Jesus. They teach from the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Both teach us about Jesus.

In primary we sing songs that help us think and learn about Jesus. My favorite primary song is "I Love to See the Temple".

In church we are taught to Choose the Right so we can be like Jesus.

In church we are also taught to Love One Another so we can be like Jesus.

In church we are taught to be grateful for what we are given. I gave a thank you note to Sister Bentley to thank her for giving us carrots from her garden.

In church we are taught to serve one another. This girl is giving flowers to someone in need. I love Jesus, he makes me happy. I'm trying to be like Him.

Family Photo Shoot 2010

Here are some shots my sister took. I thought she did a GREAT job. Especially considering the bad lighting we had with the family photos because we had to sit and wait for a storm to pass us over. Some are still in their raw image and need some photoshop work done on them, but I thought you would all enjoy looking at them.

My Mom, Sister and Nephew Come to Visit!!

My Mom, sister and her little baby boy came to visit us for 5 days!! We had so much fun!! I was SO excited to get visitors; they're hard to come by here. We had a wonderful time! We went shopping, had movie parties, had a hair bow making party until 1 A.M one night--that was FUN!!!, my talented sister took our family pictures in a cotton field, I took my sister couponing, and we went apple picking. It had been 15 years since it had been just me, my mom, and my sister. Up until that point, it had just been our little three-some until my mom re-married when I was 13. I have so many fond memories of doing things with just us three. Brighton and Lanaea

My mom is a champ at cleaning so it was nice to have her help to get my house looking nice. I went and rented a carpet cleaner to shampoo my carpets while she was here. It was SO nice to have her help. I had been dreading that chore, so it was nice to have some help. In fact it was a real treat to have someone other then me cleaning up messes. It's amazing how much can get done in a little time when you have some help!! In fact as I write this now, my kitchen is overflowing with dishes, dinner dishes are still on the table and there is a pile of clothes that needs to be folded on my family room floor. And what am I doing? I'm blogging!! After some convincing (from me) I decided those things can wait until morning.My sister Megan making homemade Oreos with my girls. My sister is a really good baker too! She's a woman of MANY talents!

Our outing to pick apples turned out to be quite an adventure! As we were driving we drove past a beautiful ripe cotton field. It was beautiful!!! I had to stop and have my sister take some pictures. I had dolled the girls up hoping we could get some cute pictures at the apple orchard, but I had to take advantage of this beautiful cotton field. Mylee would cooperate and I wasn't able to get a picture of all three of my girls together, but my sister got some good shots of Mylee by herself and some awesome landscape pictures! It started to rain really hard too and the wind picked up. In the rain we continued driving to the apple orchard. When we arrived it was closing in 30 minutes and it was still raining. When we had ventured out Sunday night to take some family pictures it was raining then too. Kelsey said a little prayer for us and it stopped. I told Kelsey we needed her prayers again. She prayed that the rain would stop, and it did! I stayed in the car with the babies because it was a little cold outside and my mom and sister and the girls ventured out into the apple orchard. The owners let them use a golf cart so they could pick their apples quickly. I thought it was funny that they let them use it. They had a wonderful time and came back with some yummy golden delicious apples. We tried to stop at the cotton field again on the way home to get some pictures, but Mylee and the weather would cooperate again.

When we took them to the airport to fly home Mylee innocently and sweetly said, "Grandma I'm done with you now." In other words, I've had lots of fun with you Grandma, but it's okay if you go home now. We all got a kick out of it!! Awww, the innocence of children. THANKS FOR COMING MOM AND MEGAN!!

Look Who's Standing up Alone!!

Have I ever mentioned that Lanaea Joy is just a JOY!! Well, she is ;). She's growing up so fast and I'm trying to treasure all the sweet little moments I have with her as a baby. A couple of weeks ago--when she has just turned 9 months--she started standing up by herself!! I couldn't believe it. She is such a petite little thing, I was surprised! She loves to stand up by our fireplace hearth and get toys out of the toy box and stand up by her toy pictured above.

She's a champ at crawling and gets into and eats EVERYTHING! This is my 3rd baby and I'm always surprised at the little things they find on the floor. Today she got booted to her exersaucer because I could keep up with her and our littered floor!
Both Kelsey and Mylee adore her. Kelsey had placed her in this basket and was playing house of some sort with her. Kelsey is really good with her and Lanaea gets noticeable excited when she sits to play with her. Mylee thinks she good at playing with her, but their interactions ALWAYS end up with Lanaea crying and Mylee acting innocent. I've had to teach Mylee that you don't pick her up, especially by the NECK!! And you can't tackle her or put her under a blanket and play hide-n-seek! I've also told her that you can't dump a whole pile of cheerios on her high chair or she'll choke, etc, etc. Lanaea, we LOVE you!!

My 28th Birthday

My birthday was WONDERFUL this year!! A few weeks ago I literally forgot how old I was turning. I knew I was turning 27 or 28 but couldn't remember exactly. After doing the math though I couldn't believe how OLD I was getting!! Okay, so I know it is not that old. I feel completely content where I am at in my life. There is nothing that I would change. I have a loving husband that honors his priesthood and loves me. I have three BEAUTIFUL daughters that bring me more joy then words can express. I'm able to stay at home and nurture my children. There is nothing more that I could need or want--my family means EVERYTHING to me.

We started my birthday celebration a little early on Saturday and went out to eat at Dennys for breakfast. General Conference doesn't start until 11 A.M for us so we made it an outing. Mylee and I received coupons for a free grandslam for our birthdays. I bought them chocolate milk though because I felt bad not paying anything (well expect for a tip), and the girls LOVE chocolate milk. It was a fun morning. And conference was WONDERFUL as always!! I love how conference is always around my birthday. I had prepared conference workbooks for the girls to work on and utilized the free games on scriptures4kids.com which Kelsey loved!!

On Monday sweet Kathy Cammack--whom I've told you about before (serve with her in YW's and she's like another grandmother to my girls)--came and took Mylee for the day. Then Marti Wallace (serve with her in YW's too, used to be my YW leader as a Beehive!) treated me to a pedicure and manicure and took Lanaea while I went to get that done. It was SOOO wonderful!! While I was gone getting my toes and nails done, Marti baked and frosted me a birthday cake!! That same day I also got a stellar deal on cereal at Walgreens--.20 a box for Frosted Mini Wheats and Raisin Bran--my two favorites!!! I emptied what they had on the shelf! When I returned home I picked up Kelsey from school, then Kathy brought Mylee home shortly after with a whole Lasagna in hand for us to have for dinner!!! Wha-hoo!! So I didn't have to make dinner. The girls adorned my birthday cake with some candy I had left over from Mylee's cake and we sang happy birthday later. Blake treated me to a shopping spree at Academy (sports store) so I could get some new workout clothes that I had been needing/wanting.

It was a WONDERFUL day!!