Thursday, December 30, 2010

the festivities of Christmas time

Christmas is all about family and I am thrilled to have ALL my kids home for 2 whole weeks! Since we've had a butt load of snow, we've had some fun ski days.

Another activity that we indulged in for the holidays was making and decorating gingerbread houses. OK, so I made all the houses, but the kids had a great time decorating them. Some worked individually, and others worked in teams.

Like this team of Ty and his girlfriend Sloane. The kids were REALLY getting into the decorating this year and a lot of thought and detail were being demonstrated. So, we decided to have a contest and Kirk was the judge....I was disqualified as judging because I kept giving people ideas and items to put on the houses!

Three houses made the semi-finals. Interesting enough these were all the houses produced by a team of people. This was Maya and her friend Morgan's log cabin. This won the popular vote....meaning more people voted for this house.

This is Ty and Sloane's house on some major acreage. This house won the best landscaping of them all.

Kara and Sage were the winners picked by Kirk. It's a cute, little skiing chalet!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas Card 2010

Producing a Christmas card every year is not as easy as it looks. Kirk and I have taken a family Christmas picture every year since we've been married...that's 25 years...except one. (and that's the year, we almost lost our Lea...1988) Anyone with a large family knows that first off, it's hard to gather everyone together ( Ty is graduated from college and lives in Provo full-time). Then comes the question..."what will we wear?"...this gets tougher every year too since most of the girls wear the same size...and there's usually only ONE of a certain top or outfit. Thankfully, Kara has taken on this job the past few years and I basically leave it up to her color wise and style....then when the arguments come, I just let Kara take the flack! And the last thing that factors into producing a viable Christmas card is everyone's ATTITUDE. It can be awful trying to get a good photo when someone has been crying or there are hard feelings floating around. It used to be such a production when the kids were little to get them dressed and keep them clean and keep them in the spot where I want them to be....and to look at the camera and SMILE! What used to take a seemingly LONG time to get a good shot now takes us literally minutes. It is true...my kids now know the rules and that if everyone cooperates it only takes a few minutes! Practice makes perfect...well, you know what I mean! Hope your Christmas has been merry and bright and full of the the Savior's light.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Traffic stoppers

This is what we ran into (not literally) the other day as I was taking Lea to work. There was a whole "line" of elk and the car in front of me stopped for them to cross the road. There were about 15 of them and there were several males with antlers a growing.

Around here, these guys have the right of way. There are several places that are considered "wildlife corridors" on my way to town. So, you gotta pay attention!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

He's REAL !!!

Yep, I still have a believer!! I love it...keeps Christmas in our home so much fun. And her innocence is so sweet. We just had our ward Christmas party and when Santa walked into the room, I thought she was going to levitate, cuz her arms were flapping so fast and furious cuz she was EXCITED that Santa was there. Maya quickly got her 1st in line to see Santa and she was the happiest camper all night. Looks like this Santa could stand to eat a few more cookies....he's SO skinny!

She visited with this Santa after Kara had a Christmas dance recital.

This looks like a Santa from another ward Christmas party.

Santa even came to Nuskin this year!

But our favorite Santa of all time....had to be this guy...Dave Braithwaite. He was Lea's physical therapist when she was a tiny one and he would come every year to our house to see Lea and bring her what...naturally, a book.

Monday, December 13, 2010

It's beginning to look a lot like ...Christmas!

From all the snow we've gotten...

From the Christmas lights in the town square....(sorry so blurry...)

From this crazy person's Christmas lights...(wonder what their light bill is?)

To wrapping presents...yes, I've already wrapped a bunch and I haven't even done my own family yet!

To this Christmas tree in my family room....
I'd say it's definitely looking a lot like Christmas!!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Thanksgiving-Part 2

Here we are just sitting down to have our Thanksgiving dinner. Yum.

Then we had to play some Wii Fit to help with all the extra calories consumed.

The whole gang...aren't camera timers great?

I told you we had a bunch of moose in the yard, and eating was not all they were trying to do!

Enough is enough, the husband says...time to go and eat someone else's yard! (he looks pretty mean with that dust mop...don't you think?)

Monday, November 29, 2010

Thanksgiving--Part 1

We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving this year! All the kids were home and even Grandma and Grandpa came! Kara showed all the girls how to make these cute flowers out of fabric.

We played lots of Aggravation!

Kara led the girls in another craft project...folding our dinner napkins in the shape of a lotus flower. They were darling!

Grandpa enjoyed seeing Koa again...and thoroughly spoiled him rotten!

These were our uninvited Thanksgiving guest...yes...all five of them! They enjoyed all the willows and berries around the house and then headed for the pond.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Thanksgiving 1997

As we look forward to Thanksgiving this year, I am reminded of some wonderful memories of Thanksgivings in the past. This one was in 1997...here's the lowdown....we had moved to Wyoming and had been there for 5 months...gave birth to Sage 6 weeks before...my parents had gone on a mission to Nauvoo and had been there for 6 months. We decided to spend Thanksgiving in Nauvoo and to introduce them to Sage. Here's a photo where the girls can't get enough of Grandma...and she's trying to get acquainted with grandchild #27!

Grandpa showing Ty and Kara something about the house they were hosting.

Grandma...why is there a rope there?

Cute family photo...with missionary grandparents!

Thanksgiving dinner with a few of our closest friends...around 200 missionaries!!
How are your Thanksgiving preparations coming? This is what I know...there will be tons of food....Grandma and Grandpa are coming....all my kids will be here...and maybe a few more friends!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Oh Christmas Tree...Oh Christmas Tree...

It was the state of Wyoming's turn to "gift" the U.S. Capital Christmas Tree this year. The tree was selected from the Pacific Creek area of the Bridger Teton National Forest. (approximately 1 hour north of Jackson) It was fun for our small town to have this celebration.

Little saplings were given out for free so we could all plant new little trees. The community band provided the music and the culinary students from the high school (of which Star and Sky are part of) handed out homemade, warm applesauce and ice cream.

Here's the tree just as it entered north of town...all the action was happening on the town square.

Here's the view as it passed by where I was standing.

The tree was stopping while some school kids were going to sing a special song written for the occasion. We are the only town to see the tree before it makes it to Washington, D.C. From town square it went to the fairgrounds where it was cradled and crated to make the long haul across the nation. It's heading to Georgia and then turning north to it's final destination.
This morning, as I was taking Lea to work, we noticed a bunch of police lights and realized that the tree was leaving Jackson on it's journey to the capital. It was completely enclosed so it couldn't be seen at all. There was also another truck following the tree and it contains several small trees that will be housed in various federal offices. It was a cool thing to watch and it was fun to see friends gathered together to welcome the tree and give it a festive send-off.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Lea's door

at Disneyland in Fantasyland...you probably all know this door...well it caught our eye "way back then" and now every time we go to Disneyland our trip is not complete until we get a picture of Lea and "her door"!

there's about a 17 year difference in these photos!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

My ONE and ONLY

trick or treater! Yep, actually got one this year...OK, so he lives down the road past my house. He's our buddy Carson and as you can see he was a gorilla for Halloween. Isn't he cute?

He came over and showed us "his gorilla-ness" by attacking Kirk!

I could just eat him up! Sweeter than candy!

Sunday, October 31, 2010