winter mischief

Look at this girl. Does she love her Nesquik or what? Someone gave Aria the container, which thank goodness, was down to the last bit, and she just went crazy. When I say someone, I mean Liam. He of course, denied having any part of it, even with chocolate hands, face, and the tell-tale line of chocolate powder across his forehead.

I did get it on video too. Even Liam's denials of involvement are recorded forever, so I can bring it up when he's older, and it will be much more hilarious-er.

Shayla sporting the sunglasses we got from Jonathan and Lisa for Christmas. When Josh and I went to Texas for his training a looooong time ago, we brought back some souvenirs...Texas shaped sunglasses for Jonathan and Lisa. So now we get these beauties from them. Love em.
There were also some snowflakes, but the picture was all blurry. Dang camera.

Our primary had a gymnastic activity that Liam really loved. Ammon and Shayla got to go and be with the big kids, and Liam jumped in the foam pit with Josh and Aria. Daredevils!

Here is that snow photo of Liam that got bumped off the last post. Isn't he the cutest?? He LOVES those bear mittens. He needs help slipping them on, and I'd try and get the thumb spot to line up with his thumb, but he didn't have time for such nonsense! I love it. A boy who knows what's important in life.

snowfall

We finally had snowfall for a day or so, and the kids were eager to get out and enjoy it, for about ten minutes or so... Even Aria was busting out the door to check it out. Ok, so she's not wearing a matching outfit, but hey. When the snow sticks for about 20 hours at a time, it's just not worth it to me to buy the whole snow ensemble.

My boy who is always sweating and hot...refused to zip up his coat. He shortly fell ill after this photo was taken. (not really, but I tried to scare him with the thought...)

Miss Photogenic paused just long enough for me to snap a picture, after which she ran to the neighbor girl's house, left all her snow stuff on the front step, and played Wii in the warm house. She sure looked cute though! I love that hat. I wish it would snow more just so she could wear it.

Liam's snow picture ended up on a different post...not sure how that happened, but since I'm on Josh's laptop and it's middle of the night, we'll let sleeping dogs lie. I just spent about 2 hours trying to figure out how to webhost (don't even really know what that is) so I could add some fancy fonts to my blog, and then noticed that they already have some fancy stuff on here... Dang.

christmas joys

(We took pictures with our "new" camera from Ezra and Michelle, but don't have the usb cord yet, so no pictures...boring I know!)
We spent Christmas day with Josh's parents and family, and it was of course, SUPER! It was in Grandma and Grandpa's new house, and the cousins had a fun time exploring all the corners inside and out. I love that my kids have so many cousins close to their age, and that they get to see them all the time. I remember growing up with two cousins we saw pretty often, David and Danny, and I have some pretty fun memories of things we did, and trouble we got into.



Our Christmas morning was a fun one, I think it was Shayla that got up first...maybe around 7:30am (niiiicccee!!) and we just played with the toys Santa brought. She loved her boy barbie (I called him Ken, she said that was NOT his name. My bad.) Liam loved his garbage truck, and Ammon..well..Ammon got an alarm clock WITH a radio AND double alarms AND a weather predictor. If any of you know Ammon, you KNOW he was in 7th heaven. He even wanted to keep the cardboard box it came in to organize whatever...and what can I say..the pack rat in me said yes.



What a peaceful, happy and blessed Christmas we all enjoyed this year. To have my children and husband healthy and close to me is one of the greatest gifts really, one I appreciate more and more as I see families with very sick children and husbands who are gone a lot, or gone for good. We read the Christmas story from Luke Chapter 2 on Christmas day, as we were all sitting on the floor with our new treasures, and it was just the sweetest feeling to know that we were sharing our testimonies of our Savior with our children, and really, isn't that the best gift to share on Christmas? ;)

christmas is coming (ok, gone, but I'm slow)

Before we left Grandma's and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving, Grandma was kind enough to set up her little Christmas tree, and let the kids decorate it to get in the spirit of things.

Courtney enjoyed decorating the tree with Karlie and Liam. They had it all set up in just a little bit, laden with big ornaments and candy canes. Mysteriously though, there were only a few candy canes left after the grandkids departed. Dad finally asked me: Does Liam not like candy canes? Me: yeah, he likes em. Why? Dad: Well, he keeps on breaking them, and then throwing them in the garbage.

Oh man! So I ask Liam why he's throwing candy canes in the garbage. He runs to the garbage, pulls one out and holds it up saying, "Look Mom, they're yucky! They have plastic on dem." Oh! So he was trying to break them out of the plastic, couldn't do it, and decided they weren't worth his time and trashed them. I guess I owe Grandma a few candy canes... But honestly, if this keeps him from hopping up on sugar...not sure I want to change his train of thought here..

snow fight!!

As we were getting ready to leave my parents' house, a snow ball fight broke out, and that was the most spontaneous and hilarious fun ever! Ammon and Katelynn were nailing Uncle Matt every time, usually in the tushie, and Liam would work SO hard on his snowball and then walk up and point blank nail Uncle Matt in the knee or leg, then pump his arms and yell, "Yes! I did it!" and run away and start over.

It pretty much ended up everyone against Uncle Matt, and he was such a great sport about it all, I was laughing SO hard I was tearing up. I think you can tell from the pictures, those kids were out for blood!!

It really helped lighten the mood of things, as we were all sad to leave each other for awhile. Ammon and Liam built a snowman with Matt that was rockin, and oh Liam again, was SO proud!

We had a great time out at the homestead, the cousins played all day and into the night (they all slept downstairs too, so Aria, Josh and I had our own room upstairs!), we chatted, played games, watched movies, rubbed Amber's pregnant belly (she's the cutest pregnant woman you ever did see), and just enjoyed. Love it!

giving thanks

We had a fun Thanksgiving at my parents' house, and ALL my brothers and sisters were there, with spouses/kids/girlfriends, it was fabulous!!

This is everyone! We haven't had a pic like this in years!

The kids and I got to go a week early for my brother's girlfriend's baptism. What a sweet experience that was. Chelsea looked beautiful in all white, and there was such a tender spirit there. The kids of the family sang When I am Baptized and it sounded great. (PS, she had the fanciest cake I've ever seen at a baptism! Two tiered pink zebra striped cake...pretty cool right?)
(sorry, no pictures, I didn't have my camera..sad)

Josh rocking it out with Aria clapping along

Brian and Carol hosted us again this year, with a wonderful and tasty meal, and Rockband afterwards on the PS3. Or Xbox. Whatev. All I know is..I loved singing Bohemian Rhapsody!!

Some of the cousins playing Wii in the other room.

Dad prepping the turkey...that bird was delicious!

I am so blessed to have been able to be with family, to have food to eat, and a warm place to be. Times are tough now for many, and though we've had to tighten up things a little, we are blessed beyond measure. I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for all that he has given me. And it's so true..."when upon life's billows you are tempest tossed, when you are discouraged thinking all is lost, count your many blessings name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done."

tying up loose ends

I just realized, I didn't mention what happened to our short lived snake. We never did find him. The kids were taking him in and out of the house that day he disappeared, and Shayla mentioned putting him in a bed outside, but she swears she brought him back in..soo... It's been about 2 months and no sign of him. So for those of you who were scared away, come back and visit! We are snake freeeeeee!!