Christmas

OK, so the rule is you have to blog Christmas pretty quickly because after a couple of weeks pass you have no desire to blog it at all. I am shocked that I feel that way because we really had a great Christmas, but I have been really tempted to skip it, but since I do want a record of all the fun I guess I better just get it done.

The kids woke up about 11:30 all ready for Christmas, unfortunately I was just going to bed so it was a long night. We did manage to hold them off until 5:00a.m. I was just trying to talk them into waiting a little longer when they got Jonah up, after that it was a done deal.

Brynna with her dress-up trunk from Grammie. Look at that pure Christmas joy on her face!


Since Jonah had some practice 5 days before he was much better at opening presents, but he did think every present would be a train.


So I was a push-over mom this year. Maleah told me she wouldn't have a Merry Christmas unless she got a puppy. I laughed my head off at her and once again explained how we are not quite ready for that and why you don't want a a puppy in the winter, blah, blah,blah. Shortly after that when I couldn't figure out what to get the girls I made the small mistake of going to see a really well-priced puppy. Once I had him in my arms I was sold. It was all over, only I had to wait ten days and I just about couldn't stand it.
So on Christmas Eve Don went and picked him up. We have some fantastic across the street neighbors, the Gerbers who willingly took him for the night. I can not thank them enough. It was so nice of them to take on the burden of our puppy. Thanks goodness for great friends!
After all the ipods, snowboards, barbies, and trains had been opened I snuck across the street and got the puppy.

This is the look on Maleah's face when she saw what I had.


Then the kids just lined up in order. Josh was first to get a hold of him. Josh loves him. He is so good with him and helps take care of him a lot!


This is Maleah's face once she got a hold of the puppy.


Brynna...well Brynna likes the puppy, but right after this picture she promptly dropped him.
She has a lot to learn.


And here is Jonah trying to hold him. I think that pretty much says it all.


And here is why we have the puppy, I just couldn't resist he is so sweet and snuggly. Unfortunately he also pees, poops, chews on things, and barks. Lucky for him he is cute!


This is Koda. He is a Sheltie and was born October 26th. I didn't think we were ready for a puppy, but so far so good. He is a lot of work, but a lot of fun, just like most good things in life!


As a final note, it only took Maleah two days to hate the puppy. We were at the mall and had to get home to let the puppy out. She was so mad at the inconvience that she said she hated him. Wow that was quick! Fortunately we didn't get him just for her. She did take it back shortly after that. The kids had no idea what we were getting into when we got him, thank goodness Don and I did.

Jonah's 2nd Birthday

Five days before Christmas we get to celebrate Jonah's birthday. It was pretty low key. He is still unsure about the whole thing. It took a lot of coaxing to get him to open any presents and most of the presents were opened by the other kids.


Jonah was very excited about his Thomas cake.

Presents, cake and ice cream is all you need for a fun 2 year old birthday. He got Thomas trains and some Tonka trucks. He also got a cute tent (thanks, Grammie & Grandfather) that the other kids sure had fun with. It was a sanity saver for me right before Christmas, but still a little sad when the kids would lock him out of the room because he was messing up the tent. Poor youngest child :(

He is growing up fast. He is talking more and more and has more ideas about what he wants. He is such a blessing for our family! We love our Jonah Bear!

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!