Christmas week!

The kids on Christmas morning. The big three got up at 5, I woke up Jocelyn and Avery at 7:45. They were mad we made them wait so long but I assured them that is part of the spirit of Christmas, the anticipation! The Iverson's came over and brought an entire Turkey dinner! We had so much fun.

The next day we went sledding with the Sloans. The kids were nervous at first and had to go down half the mt. a few times before they would start at the top! :)

The girls loved the snow cave, they spent most the time crawling back and forth. Avery's snow clothes didn't hold up as well as everyone elses so she ended up in the car for the last hour or so.

Eric had fun with Ellie's bendaroo's! Im pretty sure you can't have that mustache on your mission!

This is our new favorites book! Jocelyn couldn't wait to read it when she brought it home from school Friday. It's a hit with all ages! Jocelyn said "What is the authors name? I am a fan of her books, I think I want to meet her".

Avery was asked at church what her favorite present for Christmas was.......chapstick.

Yesterday Gina, Mom, and Patrick came over and we played games all afternoon. It was super fun then it only got better when Jill brought over the popcorn cake!!! :)

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours! Illistrations by Jocelyn

Christmas Eve!

What has my Dad been working on for months and months and months?

Wow Dad, he is amazing! Each one has another mirror inside, and each one is a little different than the other, they are gorgeous! Not to mention each came with jewelry! We had so much fun today at our Dye Christmas party! The excitement is in the air!

Messy Week

Well I have missed many birthdays this year, here are some of the ladies in my life who have had b-days this month. Michelle who is beautiful inside and out, even with a fru fru bow in her hair! :) (Next year I will do better with b-days........what do you mean you have heard this before?)


Mary my soul sister who puts up with me when Im a loser and when I say all the wrong things! :) (happens often)

And Dena who has taken care of me since I moved here. And didn't mind when I made a cake for her and Mary (Mary was at the cabin) and didn't take her a piece and instead sang happy b-day to her on the phone and then ate the cake without her. :)

So after our snow day we had many activities, Ill do a quick run down for my journal;


Wed. Snow day, Ward Party, Eric was one of the 3 wiseman, and a prophet (2 parts, 1 costume change), Joc was an angel, Avery was a cow.


Thurs. went visiting teaching, proud to have gone both months since living here and them being the hardest months to go! :)


Friday; Avery's kinder Christmas program, cutest little reindeer around! Jocelyn got student of the month and was spoiled by Grandma Marty and Aunt Shirley! That night we had the Ashton Co. dinner, had fun playing "things" and rockband.


Sat. went to Moses Lake to Reagans b-day party, kids loved sliding on the frozen lake behind Cathy's house. We got home to get the kids dinner and leave them, to go back to Moses and watch Megan and Cameron unpack a little.


Sunday church was fabulous, then we all went to Mary's house and did the cousin exchange.


Monday didn't wake up until WAY late, wore pj's all day, got spoiled that night with everyone bringing treat plates for FHE. Good stuff! :)


Then today I went to Tricities with Gina and finished all my last minute things, yeah! And had a fun lunch with G, Suzy, and Nicki.


Im done with my running.............it can snow now.

Snow Day!

My favorite words in the winter........No school, snow day! Best day ever!

Austin was flossing his teeth, which he does about once a month...........really great for the braces. His poor gums are a mess! :( He was in the bathroom flossing and said, mmmm nothing like the flavor of bloody mint.

Tis the Season.........

The young women were invited to the RS fancy Christmas dinner. Rin is loving this getting older/getting invited to things. We thought it was at 6, nope, 6:30.

We went to the school book fair. I lead Avery to the sparkly pink high school musical/Tinkerbell section and this is what she HAD to have! Duh, of course Avatar! He IS the last airbender! She can show you his moves.

Austin loves choir concerts! Not embarrassing at all!

Crazy school mornings! Our water froze, missed the bus, my car wouldn't start (too cold, darn diesel) so I took him in late.

(This conversation is all in snotty tones)

Austin: OHHHHH noooooo I forgot my ID badge!

Mom: R U kidding me, Austin you forget it all the time!

Austin: I do not

Mom: Don't talk back to me! Yes you do, your in high school, you have had ID badges for 3 yrs. I think your old enough to remember it!

Austin: I haven't even forgot it once this week!

Mom: ..................... Its Tuesday!!!!

The kids loved making gingerbread houses this year, we had two, boys against the girls.

I have seen calendars that people have been making with activities everyday to do during the 25 days of Dec. we made one, not fancy like the ones I have seen, but it still works. We put on there, driving around to see Christmas lights, drinking hot chocolate and watching a Christmas movie (things we do this month anyway) The kids have had fun turning the paper over to see what activity we are going to do each day. I think it has made it easier to fit it in so far, when you have to do it that day you get it done! :) Anyways this night was sparkling cider with fancy glasses night, kids loved it! They didn't act very fancy though! :) We will work on that!

My Uncle Dub passed away on Wed. from a heart attack. He was my Dad's last sibling alive out of 9 kids. Him and my Dad ran a car repair shop here in Othello until they retired. He will be missed. Hug your loved ones this Christmas and all year round.

Why not to have a girlfriend.

Austin just turned 15 in Sept. so I have all the time in the world to prepare for him to turn 16. Well my Sister-in-law reminded me to prepare now! Of course, we don't prepare our kids for things five minutes before they happen, we are supposed to do it from the beginning so they will have it down by that time. I thought if I just pretend its never going to happen then it won't! :) Happy me in my bubble of cotton candy and pretend land, you can see it right?, its a nice place! I go there a lot!

So I sat down with Austin and I had him write down reasons you shouldn't have a girlfriend. Im very thankful that the Prophet has said, you shouldn't steady date in high school, you should only group date because you are not mature enough to handle a relationship, you have all the time in the world for dating and that later. As much as Austin loves to hear all my Mother lectures, it is nice to have some back up that he will listen to.

My Sister-in-law was going over what she was going to tell her son (who is turning 16 in Feb) and I stole it all from her and told it to Austin! :) I told him if you are dating one girl you get set apart from the group things, and don't get invited, and miss out on a lot of fun. You should never feel a pull when you want to do something, you should always be free to go and do whatever you want to do or hang out with who ever you want to and not worry about one person's feelings getting hurt (unless its your Mother). We talked about how much time and attention girls need and he doesn't have much of that now, he needs to work on his grades and preparing for college.

It was a fun conversation, he seemed to know more about all the drama then I did, I guess a lot of kids at school have been having girlfriends for a long time and he hears the sillyness of it all so I guess we will just have this lesson once a month for the next 9 months and hope it works! :) Eric and Marinda had comments as well, I guess even 5th graders have girlfriend drama so we are starting early and including all the kids in these discussions. Am I really this old? I just graduated high school a few years ago!