OUR CHRISTMAS

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We enjoyed Christmas Eve with family for a great dinner, decorating sugar cookies, music, and reading the story of Christ's birth from the Bible.

Christmas day was just us at home and it was fantastic. Nice and relaxing. The kids were thrilled with all of their presents and we enjoyed just spending a relaxing day as a family.

Here are the highlights:


Our family on Christmas Eve


Tyson playing Christmas carols on his guitar while we all sang along.


our stockings ready for Santa to fill


Corinne and Matthew Christmas morning opening their last gift ... a Wii!!


Allison holding her new book, wearing her new hat (with mittens still attached) and riding her new car. (I couldn't get a good shot of her looking at me and not blinking! Oh well. Pretty funny, though.)


Our kids' annual picture in front of the tree wearing their jammies.

We are truly grateful for this great year we have had. Tyson has been blessed at work, we've all been blessed with a new home, Allison is in great health, and Corinne and Matthew are thriving in school. We are grateful for all of our blessings and for our wonderfully supportive family.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are blessed in the new year!

HOW CUTE IS THIS FACE??

Allison is 18 months old today. She has been our "busiest" toddler by far. She is constantly into EVERYTHING. I can't turn my back for a minute without her climbing on the table, emptying the garbage, or climbing up onto the bathroom counter and using everyone's toothbrushes! She is exhausting really. But, she is fun, learning new words everyday, and she is definitely cuddly and loves to give hugs and kisses. That makes it all worth it!

Look out nursery, here she comes!

A NEW CHRISTMAS TRADITION

Corinne's choir sang on Temple Square at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building last week. We turned it into a great family night. We had dinner at the Nauvoo Cafe after Corinne's performance, and then walked around Temple Square looking at the amazing Christmas lights, and watching the Nativity presentation. It was probably only 20 degrees outside, but well worth it!











This was a great way to start the Christmas season reminding ourselves of the importance of the birth of Jesus Christ and that He is our Savior. The spirit was very strong as I stood with my kids listening to the Nativity presentation outside the visitor's center. As we watched, we could turn around and see this:



It was a wonderful night that meant a lot to me. This needs to become a yearly tradition for sure!

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER (part 2)

Corinne joined her elementary school choir this year. They have worked so hard preparing for their Christmas concert. They even performed at temple square. She did a great job, and I was so proud of her!





Here is a little clip of her concert:

BEDHEAD

OUR NEW PLACE

We finally moved in! We painted the master bedroom (4 coats to cover the existing red paint), and then decided to go ahead and paint the kids' bedrooms before the new carpet was installed. I guess I really fell in love with painting and how much it transforms a room.

Master bedroom before:



Master bedroom after:



(The picture didn't really do the colors justice. The top is taupe and the bottom is chocolate brown.)

The kids' rooms just had white walls which I loathe. So we did the girls' room in pink, of course (Corinne wouldn't have had it any other way).



Matt really wanted a green room (tree frog green to be exact) but I had to step in and go another direction. I picked a neutral "flax" color.




I think it all turned out pretty well if you don't look too close! Now I am itching to paint all the rooms in our home. That isn't going to happen anytime soon though!

BELATED HALLOWEEN POST

Allison as Piglet



Matthew the pirate


Corinne as Lucy from Narnia


Trick-or-Treating with our friends

We had a fun Halloween this year and now we are enjoying all the candy!

IT IS OFFICIAL

We are homeowners.



We bought a nice townhome right here in our neighborhood. After looking at a variety of options, (house vs. townhome, close to work vs. longer commute, our school vs. new school, etc.) we decided to keep the kids at their school (and in the bus route!) and to stay close to work.

We are all happy to have more room (2000 sq. ft., woo hoo!) and the kids are just thrilled to have stairs. I guess kids are easy to please.

More details of our home projects to come soon!

NINE

That is how old Corinne is today.



Nine years ago the doctor laid this new baby on my stomach. My first thought: Wow. Her eyes are huge. Second thought (that I said out loud): She's cute! (as if I didn't expect her to be. Let's be honest, brand new babies aren't always so pretty for the first few hours.) Then I said, She isn't weird looking or anything! The nursed laughed.




I remember telling my parents I thought I would be biased about my kids, but I'm not. Corinne is the cutest baby at church, and not because I'm biased. She just really is!

Corinne is a sweet friend, nurturing sister, and tender-hearted little girl. We are so privileged to be her parents.






Happy Birthday Corinne!!

NO WONDER SHE WON'T TAKE A NAP...

Yesterday I laid a very tired Allison down for a nap. She started crying and crying and would not go to sleep. I finally went in her room and found this:






She had somehow tried to take off her shirt and got stuck. Of course I laughed hysterically and then had to get the camera. (I am sensitive like that.) For the record, I have now found her in her crib like that three different times!

IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING...

This is how the last two months of my life have looked:





Good times, good times.

IN 6 SHORT YEARS...

we went from this:





to this:




How is that even possible???

Happy 6th Birthday, Matthew. We love you!

BIRTHDAY BASH

We had Matthew's birthday party on Saturday. It was supposed to be a "short and simple" party at the park right after his soccer game. Yeah right. Why is it that even the simplest party is SO time consuming and crazy?!? It was the biggest party we had ever done (I think there were 16 kids there, NOT including my own), but Matt had so much fun and got some great gifts.









I think the biggest hit was the water balloon toss (thanks Tyson for the great idea, and filling 30+ water balloons). The kids also liked the crazy cupcakes I made, which didn't turn out at all like I had hoped, but oh well. Matthew had a great time and that's all that matters!

SISTERS

The girls wore some cute matching outfits today and I thought I'd share a few photos.





Matthew was making Allison smile for the picture. I guess she thought he was hilarious!

KINDERGARTEN KID

Matthew started kindergarten last week. He has been counting down the days! He kept telling me that he was SOOOO excited for kindergarten but a little sad too. When I asked him why, he said, "Because I'm going to miss you!" Man, I love that kid!







Matthew's top 3 favorite things about kindergarten (in his own words):
#1: RECESS
#2: DRAWING A MONSTER
#3: HEARING STORIES ABOUT THE MONSTER (told by his teacher)

Matt and Corinne love going to school together. It is so nice to see that they are "best buds" and to watch Corinne take care of Matthew. This will be a fun year for them.

THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER AND THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activities! Here it is, summed up in pictures:

Our weekend trip to Idaho to surprise my parents for their 40th anniversary. (We literally showed up on their doorstep.) Our whole family was together and the little cousins had a blast!








A visit to the Children's Discovery Gardens with our great friends who are moving soon. Boo.






Water fight!




And finally...
Corinne's first day of 3rd grade!






Stay tuned for Matt's first day of kindergarten (next week).