Christmas with the Brown's 2010

We had a good time at my Dad's house. It felt short-lived, but we made the most of our time. Tuesday morning we had Christmas together. The girls were SO EXCITED that they were going to have Christmas AGAIN!! We all loved our gifts! Kelsey remarked at the end, "I got too many presents!!" We gave my dad and step-mom a calender with our family pictures from 2010. We give them that every year and they always seem to love it.

Later that evening my step-sister Nicole and her family, my sister Megan and her family and my step-brother Jared came over to play games and hang out. We had a wonderful ham dinner and played games into the night. Kelsey and Mylee played so well with Nicole's kids. Lanaea, Brighton, and Bowie didn't know what to think of each other!! All three babies are within weeks of each other. We had a great time!!

Kelsey and Mylee wrestling with Uncle JaredGrandma Cheryl helping to open presents.

Happy 7th Anniversary!

For our 7th anniversary we dropped our kids off at my mom's house and went to Salt Lake to do a session in the Salt Lake Temple and go out to eat somewhere nice. The temple was wonderful as always. The Salt Lake Temple is special and near to my heart because it's where Blake and I were married for time and eternity and because it took 40 years to build, requiring a lot of faith and sacrifice from earlier faithful latter-day saints. The inside is so beautiful and the workmanship is so detailed and intricate. I remember walking through that temple for the first time the day I got married and remember feeling as though I was walking through the corridors of heaven! It was fun to see other couples that were getting married that same day. It brought back so many memories.

It's hard to believe that Blake and I have been married for 7 years. Time has gone by fast and we love each other even more then we did on the day we got married. Looking back through the 7 years we've been married, we've been through a lot and grown closer together because of it.

While in Salt Lake, Blake and I were hoping to eat at The Roof on the top floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, but it didn't open until later so we ate next door at The Garden. The food was yummy. I got a chicken croissant sandwich and Blake got a burrito. From where we were sitting we could see all of temple square, it was beautiful. After we were finished eating, we killed time for a while by walking around Salt Lake until my Dad met up with us with our 3 girls so we could show our girls Temple Square all lit up during the Christmas season. Kelsey was awe struck when she saw the temple!! It's much much larger then our temple in Lubbock. She couldn't believe that that was the temple she had seen in pictures.

The lights on temple square were as beautiful as ever. Our girls enjoyed it, but they didn't last long in the cold. After a short stroll we stopped by a local restaurant and got hot chocolate. It was a big hit!! We went to my Dad's house to join him for a couple of days and have Christmas with his side of the family.

Christmas Day 2010

Christmas was great this year. The girls were so much fun to watch while opening their presents! It made all the effort to make it special for them worth it! When reflecting upon Christmas this year, I can't help but pause and thank my Heavenly Father for the bounteous blessings He poured upon us this year. He truly carried our burdens and made them feel light. He uplifted us spirtually, took care of us temporally, and blessed us in so many other ways I can't list them all. Here are some pictures of the highlights on Christmas morning:

Kelsey got a new Hello Kitty backpack that she had been asking for a long time. She had been using a red and grey "boy" (that what Kelsey said it was) backpack I had gotten for free at Office Depot
Blake was sneaky and surprised me with a Cricut machine!! Santa got Kelsey a bubblegum machine. When she opened it she said, "Oh...It's just what I wanted!!!"
Lanaea was content doing this (above) and this (below)

And the biggy--a letter from Santa telling the girls he left a trampoline at their house!

After we finished opening gifts, Blake started to prepare the prime rib for Christmas dinner--per his request again!! Blake loves prime rib and has become quite good at cooking it. Our dinner that evening was delicious, Blake's prime rib was a special treat! Blake's brothers Trent and Trevor were there with their families along with his two sisters Capri and Shayla and of course his parents. We really enjoyed visiting with them and I especially enjoyed watching my kids interact with their cousins.

We went to church with the Clifton's the next morning on Sunday then dropped our kids off at my mom's house on Monday so we could enjoy our 7th anniversary together in Salt Lake childless. More details of that day to come.

Christmas Eve 2010

We went home to Utah for Christmas this year. We left on the 23rd from Lubbock, stayed at my Grandma Jean's and Grandpa Lavoy's house that evening then left Christmas Eve morning making it to Mapleton around 4PM. We didn't have any problems or hic-ups other than having to wait an hour and a half in Monticello because highway patrol was cleaning up a wreck and had closed the canyon until it was cleared. When we arrived in Mapleton we were pretty tired, but SO excited be at the Clifton residence to celebrate Christmas. Blake's Mom Joyce had prepared lots of yummy munchies--per Blake's request--to eat through the night, and we did just that.

We had a special nativity program. I'm not sure what our kids heard from what was read, but I'm hoping they were able to at least get something out of the program by dressing up like the characters we were talking about.

After our nativity program Joyce pulled out some muscial chimes to play some Christmas carols. Kelsey had it down, but the 3 year-olds struggled--Mylee and her cousin Heidi. It actually became quite humerous!! I really enjoyed learning about and participating in some of the traditions Blake did as a child.

After we had finished our planned activities, I gave the girls the pajamas I had sewed for them this year. I'm so happy with the way they turned out and my heart filled with pride when I saw them all together wearing my creations. However, I should note that I've already told myself that I'm buying them pajamas next year. If I wasn't cleaning, cooking, taking care of a child, doing laundry, or running errands, I was SEWING!! They were very time consuming and I lost way to much sleep over making them. The time and effort it took though this year was worth it!! Our girls went to bed very excitedly, wondering what Santa was going to bring them in the morning. Us adults talked for a while and I finished up wrapping some presents and got my breakfast casserole and sticky buns prepared to eat for the next morning then went to bed shortly after. I couldn't wait to see my girls open their presents in the morning!!

Happy Holidays!

Slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Kelsey's Class Christmas Party

Mrs. Spradley asked me to plan their class Christmas party this year. So I sent some notes around to the parents asking for some help. The party turned out great. I should have gotten babysitters for Mylee and Lanaea, but oh well lesson learned. I divided up the class into 3 groups and had them go to three different stations to play a game. Here are the games we played:

Wrap Race--Each of the kids were to dress one of the children up like a snowman using toilet paper, paper circles and some crepe for a scarf. The kids had a lot of fun with it.

Pin the Nose on Rudolph--I was so proud of the Rudolph and I drew and colored myself!!

PASS the Present--While music played the kids passed around a present I had wrapped up in many layers of wrapping paper and got to open a layer of wrapping paper each time the music stopped. When each child had a turn and when all the layers of wrapping paper were off, they kids got a candy cane.

I sent the kids home with some white-chocolate covered pretzels sticks I had made to look like snowman along with other gifts some parents had sent that day. There are some things I would have done differently, but all in all the party turned out great. At one point Mrs. Spradley asked me where the paper goods were, opps, I forgot to have someone bring those!

Making a Gingerbread House

Despite all the busyness of the holiday season--this year has felt particularly busy and crazy for some reason--we tried to continue on with our traditions and make our annual Gingerbread House. Blake kicked it off for us and helped the girls start their house while I had to go to a church meeting. They didn't finish that night, but we'll get it done one of these nights. These kind of activities are right up Kelsey's alley. I'm hoping it will be for Mylee one day too.

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