Some December Fun

Each December we sit down and make a list of all the fun things we want to do that month together as a family.

We always start with the decorating. We go get our tree the first Saturday in December and then the festivities begin.

Here is Brynna with the Christmas countdown. This year they got a piece of candy each day from the Countdown to Christmas elf. Brynna was very excited, but also a bit confused when the elf would miss a day or come at different times in the day. I told her he must be a new elf, still in training :)

We made gingerbread houses for FHE with friends and afterwards all piled in one car to see the Festival of Lights at the Spanish Fork Golf Course.

Here are the houses.

Joshua and Brynna proudly posing with their works of art.

Here is Jonah's reaction to the first little snowfall. That face expresses it correctly. He was stunned. It was difficult to get a picture because he was too busy checking it out and yelling, Oh!

This year for the first time ever in our lives we put up Christmas lights. I was stunned when Don told me he ordered some lights, but it was fun to have them.

And yes I say "We" hung the lights because I cheered him on and even held the ladder when he was at the very highest point of the house. I didn't know what I would do to help him if he started to fall, but I guess I can call 911, fortunately he did a wonderful job without any mishaps.

Fun things we did that I didn't get any pictures of include baking Christmas bread for friends and neighbors, this year I baked 24 loaves. Sorry if you missed yours, the family rule is you must be home to receive it, if not, better luck next year. We celebrated Jonah's 2nd birthday, had a candlelight dinner and Christmas lesson, visited Santa with all the Snyder cousins, and various other parties. It was a fun December. The only thing on the list we didn't get to were the lights at Temple Square (the weather didn't cooperate with that plan very well) maybe next year.

Thanksgiving

I am playing catch-up. I know it is after Christmas and I am just posting Thanksgiving, but sometimes life happens and blogging just doesn't.

Here is our lovely chef with some of the delicious dishes. We ate at my mom's house where she did most of the cooking.


Cute baby Nico (Nate's son) and Jonah.


Yes, I took a picture of my Thanksgiving feast. I mostly wanted to see my cute place card made by Brynna. She made one for almost everyone. Mine had hearts around my name. I was a little concerned when I saw Maleah's place card. Brynna put "It is all about me!" multiple times on Maleah's. I was thinking that we had some serious sibling issues that we might need to talk about until I asked Brynna why she put that on Maleah's. Brynna said, "That is what it says on her jacket." Sure enough Maleah has a sweatshirt that says that on it. (It was not a purchase of mine, but given to her by a friend) It is always interesting what you learn just by asking your kids, instead of jumping to conclusions. I've learned my lesson...again.


There she is. She took the job of making place cards very seriously and she was so proud.


Josh, Jonah and Garrett ready to eat.

Dan and Chris got put at the kid table, just Big kids.

It was a great day and since this year it was my birthday also I didn't have to cook or do dishes and my mom watched the kids so that we could go and see a movie after dinner. Plus I got lots of yummy pie, (thanks Heathe) which is better than birthday cake any day!

Family Pictures

So, I finally did it. This has been on my to do list so long that I actually had to change our outfits a couple of times, well since the season changed. It is so painful trying to get six people all dressed decently with haircuts and without any permanent marker anywhere noticeable or facial lacerations, but we did it and just in time.

Here are a few of the fun pictures we got.

Our pictures were taken by our friend Jodi Christensen Gallagher. (memoriesbyjodi.blogspot.com) She did such a great job! It was well worth all the stress and strain to get our family ready for pictures. Thanks Jodi for all your patience and hard work! Now if only the kids would stop growing then we wouldn't have to go through all this again next year.

Girl's Retreat 2008

I can't seem to keep up with anything these days, but I didn't want to let the pictures and fun we had this year at our retreat be forgotten. Every fall my girlfriends from highschool plan an overnight trip. This year we just went to Park City, ate, shopped, talked until the wee hours of the morning, slept a little and did it all again the next day. All the girls were able to make it this year, except Calee, she couldn't make the trip from New Mexico. We missed her.


Kelli, Natilee, Allyson (came all the way from Iowa), Diana (California), Lynette, Me.
Suzy, Jennifer, Dixie, and Melanie (Wyoming)


Here we are getting our picture taken with our cameras. I always try to get some pictures, but usually only get one or two and have to get the rest from my other more faithful picture taking friends.

I included this picture because my husband was so confused as to what we were doing in all these pictures. We are talking. What else would we be doing? I think it finally clicked for him that we spend most of the weekend just sitting around talking. I don't think he is any less confused, but now he knows.
It was lots of fun, as usual and a much needed break, so until next year....

Happy Birthday, on October 31st!

Since Don's birthday is on Halloween, yes I know what you are all thinking, "hmmm, that explains a lot." I have heard it all before. But really he doesn't get the attention he deserves. This year on top of all the Halloween festivities I made him dress up as Dracula. He resisted at first, but then he really got into it. He wouldn't talk to me because he couldn't hold his teeth in and talk at the same time. I promise pictures will eventually come, hopefully by Christmas. I did get him a pie, put Happy Birthday candles in it and sing to him at a neighborhood Halloween party. Anyhow, the point of this post is to wish him a Happy Birthday! He is such a good sport! He is a sweet husband and father. He has kindly given his birthday to the children for the last 10 years, maybe one day he will get to celebrate on his birthday. He is good at giving everyone a hard time, but he has such a big heart and will do anything to help anyone. I was laughing that one of my friend's recently got him to go get her car for her in the rain. He is always willing to help. If I were a really good wife I would list 43 things I love about him, but if he wanted me to do that much writing he should have come on a day other than Halloween because I'm still recovering.
Happy Birthday anyway, Sweetie! We love you!

Halloween Hangover

Am I the only one who has this day after Halloween experience? This year it was so much fun that I had to take pictures. It seems everywhere I turned there was a bucket of candy. Close by is usually a kid that has sticky drool running down their chin. When I got up this morning I kept stepping in something sticky. I demanded that all the kids put up their candy so that Jonah couldn't get anymore stuck to the floor. After they all put it up and he still came in with more candy I finally figured out he had his own bucket that he was getting in to. Uuuggghhh!


This is Jonah after I put up his bucket of candy. Yes, he is throwing a tantrum because he can't get to it.


And as if all the candy everywhere isn't enough we seem to have pieces of everyone's costumes strewn about. Here is Brynna posing with the mess. Yes, she slept in her costume, but she did get her teeth brushed before bed even if she never got around to pj's. This is totally Brynna!

I hope everyone recovers from their day after Halloween and if your day is just smooth sailing with no stepping in sticky or tantrums, please don't tell me....lie!

Halloween Fun

The kids were invited to a Rockstar Halloween Party this year. The girls posed for pictures, but Joshua protested and ran off before I could get one. Aren't they cute! Brynna loves her blue hair and has been looking for an excuse to use it. This was the perfect opportunity.


On Halloween day I got to go to school to help with Josh's class. His class got to frost cookies and watch the Sound of Music. I am not sure what the Sound of Music has to do with Halloween, but he has a really good teacher that doesn't want to do anything non-educational so since they have been reading a book that references the Sound of Music they got to watch that.
After the parties the kids had a costume parade.
I somehow ended up with a picture of Brynna and Josh, but none of Maleah. For Maleah just picture the same costume on a taller body with a bob hairdo. Maleah really looked super cute in this costume as did Brynna.

Joshua just went with the all black costume this year. He says he is organization 13. It is a guy on the Kingdom Hearts video game.

Here is our sweet baby vampire. He wasn't sure what was going on and in the middle of the parade he completely lost it and had to be rushed home for his nap.

Luckily he got the rest he needed and was back out for trick-or-treating. After trick-or-treating we went to a friend's house for food and fun. Don was dracula and I was a witch. We got a family picture taken of everyone in their costumes, but you'll have to wait for me to get those back. I will post them and soon as I have them! We hope you all had a Happy Halloween!