And Now She is 11

As usual, we celebrated Alyssa's birthday on the evening of the 25th. We couldn't go to the Japanese Steakhouse like we've done the past few years for her birthday(because it was on Sunday this year), so we brought the steakhouse to our home. Danny and I weren't nearly as entertaining as we made the food, but we produced salmon, fried rice, low mein noodles, and egg drop soup for dinner. After dinner, Alyssa opened presents

 Then we played a few rounds of Scattergories. After the game, we sang to her and had her angel food cake.

She is growing up way too fast. We cannot believe that she is only 1 year away from entering Young Women's. She is sure fun to watch grow up. Some of her favorite things are:

• playing games
• building lego sets
• anything art
• singing and performing
• baking
• hanging out with her family and friends

We are so grateful to have her as part of our family.

Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. We celebrated with the Wheelers on Dec. 18th. We held the baby Jesus and talked about how each of us feels when we think of Christmas and Jesus Christ. The kids had fun holding the baby. We also talked about all of the names/titles given to Christ and read the scriptures related to the names. Then we opened gifts with them.

Gawbie and Grandpa also had these fun cutouts to pose for pictures. Tyler photo bombed the best shot of the girls.

On Christmas Eve we had dinner with Gawbie and Grandpa. We acted out the Nativity(including costumes) after dinner. Then we used the bell chimes to play Christmas songs. We let our kids open up their new jammies and try them on.

When we got home that night, the kids had to get a picture with Peter, our house elf, before he disappeared off the the North Pole again.

The kids slept longer than we expected on Christmas morning, which was a nice change from years past. We were still heading downstairs by 7:30, but it was better than the early wake-up calls we have gotten before. Camden wasn't awake enough to participate in our traditional kids-on-the-stairs picture, but we forced him into it anyways.

Here they are in front of the loot. Ashley's balloon, by the way, bit the dust on Christmas(it is still inflated, just not floating anymore).

Alyssa was excited to see that the biggest present was for her.

 And here we are before bed on Christmas night.

We were all happy with our gifts and for the special feeling that comes with the Christmas season. If only we could keep up the kindness and spirit of giving all year round. We are especially grateful for Jesus Christ and all he has done for each of us.

Gingerbread Houses

Tyler talked me into buying gingerbread house making kits this year. I got three different kinds. Alyssa's was a townhouse...

Ashley had a dog house...

And Tyler had a house.

As soon as Tyler finished his, he wanted to eat it, which I wouldn't let him do. Ashley said she wanted to eat hers after we enjoyed looking at it for a couple of weeks. It is still sitting in the kitchen, uneaten. We'll see if she decides that it isn't good enough to eat.

Christmas Concerts and Teddy Bear Hug

The girls both had school Christmas Concerts and then another Christmas Concert for the children's choir they are a part of. I was kind of far away for this picture, so it isn't very clear, but Alyssa is in the front row wearing a dark blue sweater vest and holding a purple bell. She was excited that she got to ring one of the bells for this song. I can't even remember the songs she sang and I was battling little boys during the show, but from what I saw, they sang very well.

Ashley sang Sleigh Ride for their concert. She was excited because her class got to ring jingle bells for the first and last verse of the song. She is on the very left side in the second row wearing a red hat.

Their children's choir, led by a really sweet lady in our neighborhood, had their performance on Dec. 12(one of the few nights Danny wasn't working over the 2 1/2 weeks between the 2nd and the 18th). They sang about 8 songs and each of the girls had a turn singing a short solo and saying a quick speaking part. Both Alyssa and Ashley did well with their solos and speaking parts. All of the girls did well and it was a good concert. Here is the whole group including the choir director and the pianist.

Ashley sang her little heart out even though most of the notes wear hard for her little low voice to reach.

Here are the girls with the director, Liz Peterson.

On the last day of school before the break, the girls got to participate in another teddy bear hug. Every year, the school encourages the kids to earn enough money to buy a teddy bear to donate to a local orphanage. They collect the bears between Thanksgiving and Christmas break and then on the last day of school they do the teddy bear hug and send off. They all line up and then send each of the bears down the line, giving each child a chance to hug each of the bears. Here is Alyssa with her bear. She was even interviewed this year about how she earned the money for her bear and how it makes her feel to donate a bear to the orphanage.

 It was cute to see Tyler and Camden jump into the line and take a turn hugging the bears.

 

Here are the boys in front of the trees holding all of the bears, just before the kids came out to form their lines.

It's always a great way to kick of the Christmas Break.

Visiting the North Pole at Seven Peaks

I took the kids to a Christmas Event at Seven Peaks water park while Danny was working the Gun Show. We got to ride a bike through the Nutcracker story, go on a train ride, take a sledding ride down the racer slides, ride on the bumper boats around the lazy river, and meet Santa. The bumper boat ride was definitely the highlight of the night (it was also the longest line we waited in).

The girls boat had a working water squirter, so I was glad that they didn't squirt us with it.

 Camden was too scared to see Santa alone, but the others all took a turn on Santa's lap.

We had fun and were glad to go when the weather was a little bit warmer and snow free. It would have been nice to have Danny come with us, but tis the season of Christmas Parties and we couldn't find any night to make it work with all of us.

Random Stuff

 On the night before the election, there was an Evan McMullin Rally at the Convention Center. Danny invited us to come down, not necessarily to be part of the rally, but to give Alyssa a chance to make a new friend. Danny went to BYU with Even McMullin's brother, who was going to be there with his family. He has a daughter that is the same age as Alyssa. Unfortunately, Alyssa was shy, so there wasn't much hope for a quick friendship. But she was happy to stay late there with Danny and to have a chance to meet Evan McMullin and his running mate.

 We pulled out the Christmas decorations the day before Thanksgiving and the kids found these Santa hats. They wanted to take a picture and this was the best I could get before the boys were done.

I took the kids to the trampoline park the day after Thanksgiving to burn off some energy. I chose to jump with them so that I could help Camden. He loved to slide down these slanted trampolines more than jumping.

We've enjoyed going to a couple of BYU Football games this season. We had really great seats this year. This game was especially nice because we went without the kids and got to actually sit and watch the whole game.

Ashley has adopted a new member into our family. We went to the party store one night to pick out masks and accessories for the masquerade party we were going to at the Convention Center. They gave Ashley, Tyler, and Camden each a balloon as we were checking out(Alyssa was at her play). The next day, both Tyler and Camden's balloons were on the ground, but Ashley's was still floating. She claimed it was because she had shown her balloon more love than the boys had shown their balloons. We have now had that balloon floating around the house for 3 weeks. We are starting to believe that her wristband and tags really are magic and responsible for keeping the balloon floating, She has named it Helium and we will probably have to have a funeral if/when it stops floating.

Great Grandpa's Birthday Party

Mom threw a birthday party for grandpa while he was in town for Thanksgiving. We had dinner, entertainment, a game, and dessert. Ashley and Tyler got to recite a poem called "Mr. Turkey." Alyssa sang a song called "The Miracle," that she learned in primary last year. Our kids and Shannon's kids were the only kids there, so we tried to keep them downstairs where they wouldn't be disruptive.

We took these pictures with grandpa back in October, the last time he came to Utah to visit.

Our kids sure love their great grandpa. We all do.

Raking up leaves - Work or Play?

Danny took the kids with him outside to rake up the leaves. They had some fun while they were out there working.

 

Ice Skating

Danny took a Friday off of work when the girls were out of school, so we decided to go have a family fun day. We came up with a whole list of ideas and let everyone vote on which activity or activities they wanted to do most. We ended up choosing ice skating and the nickel arcade. We weren't quite sure how it would work with the boys. We started off with skates for everyone. Danny and I each took a boy and left the girls on their own. It was Ashley's first time ice skating and Alyssa's second time. After one lap around, the boys were done, so after that, Danny and I just swapped time on the ice while the other one stayed off with the boys.

The girls did pretty well with it, but definitely did better with these skating walker things. It was also a lot nicer after a big group of people left and we had the ice mostly to ourselves.

 This guy was out there with us and he was very friendly, so we had to get a picture with him.

Our plans for the nickel arcade got put on hold because Ashley informed us after ice skating that she had a stomachache so we decided that we needed to take her home. We played the Wii together instead.