The Christmas Decorations are up!

I am not a huge fan of decorating for Christmas. I blame my mother, she dislikes putting up the tree, and she can blame her mother, as an adult my mom would always go and decorate for her mom. Therefore, it is a multi-generational dislike of putting up the tree.

This year I have decided that with the few hours it takes to put up the tree and then an hour to put on the lights (I only throw them on, no putting them nicely attached to the branches) that I want to purchase a pre-lite easy to assemble tree. I started looking on-line and was hugely disappointed to see that they are very expensive. The tree we have now is a very nice one and so I am spoiled and want a nice tall, full tree. So...here is hoping to find a huge discount on a tree after Christmas.

Anyway, after avoiding it as long as I could, I even folded all of the laundry and put it away, it wasn't that bad. Carter had a great time and was helpful in holding the lights. Serena and Carter were very good at putting the ornaments on and they thought it was so much fun. Carter was making up his own words to "It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas" as he decorated. So now that it is done we can enjoy the finished product.

Carter and Serena being Christmas presents under the tree!

Serena opening a Carter present under the tree.

Thanksgiving 2009

For the last few years we have hosted Thanksgiving, we previously have rotated families, but this year both sides joined us.

Taylor has always been in charge of creating the menu, this is what we had: Appetizers: Shrimp/Cocktail sauce, Spinach Dip and Bread, Stuffed Celery, Olives/Veggie Tray Main Meal: Turkey, Pork Loin, Beef Roast, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Sausage Stuffing (New Recipe), Broccoli Salad, Decorated Green Beans, Squash, Fluffy Orange Jell-o, Rolls, Flavorful Orange Drink Dessert:Pumpkin Squares, and Five Pies.

The new thing we tried this year was to brine the turkey. It sat in a 5-gal bucket in the fridge overnight in the brine and it definitely made the turkey cook faster. It was done 2 hours before anticipated. It was juicy and lovely looking

Taylor's cousins Kyle and Meleana and their family also joined us so there were 22 people in attendance. We had plenty of food and enough to eat again that evening.

Taylor had gotten movies from Red Box: Transformers 2, Star Trek and UP. The non-movie watchers played games or talked or napped. When it got dark we went and saw the "Lights Before Christmas at the Layton Park."

When evening hit Aleeya had a fever and throughout the night she was coughing and struggling to breathe. I took her to the Dr. in the morning and she has croup. The other kids are also coughing, but she has it the worst. The Dr. gave her a steroid shot and some drops to take. He said this comes on fast and that was certainly true for our kids.

We have so much to be thankful for that I can't list it all, but certainly we are blessed to know the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to have loving and supportive family, to have beautiful children that are the center of our lives, to have a wonderful home and I am thankful for our van (I can't believe I ever lived without one)! We are thankful that Taylor has a job and that he works so hard to provide for us and I am so grateful that I can stay at home and teach and nurture our children. We have great friends and are thankful for the opportunities that we have to serve.

Carter's Grocery List

Carter is getting really good at writing. This is a list he made for Grandma Hoppie. She told him how to spell the words and he wrote them. I am really happy that he is writing in the lines and none of his letters are backwards. I guess preschool and our homework time is paying off!

Three Little Monkeys..

Three Little Monkeys, the toy store, not a description of my children, was our field trip today. They have a story time and craft and then you get to explore the two floors of toys. Carter scored with a magnetic dart board. He is always throwing balls around, so hopefully this gives him an outlet for his energy. Serena got a tin can that has flower seeds in it.

As we were leaving Serena said good-bye monkey, good-bye monkey, good-bye monkey. I was amazed because I was sure I hadn't told her the name of the store. Then I realized we were passing a billboard out front of the store that had three monkeys on it, still cute, but more reasonable than her reading my mind.

These are the turkeys that Carter and Serena made for the craft project.

Fieldtrip to Odgen via Front Runner

For our Thursday field trip, we rode the Front Runner Train up to the Ogden Depot Station. We walked from the station up to "The Pizza Factory" and had lunch. The kids love riding the train and it was a nice adventure.

At the Pizza Factory, one of the husband's joined our group. With all of the kids and mom we made quite a group. Thankfully, they gave us a back room and were very tolerant of the kids!

Thoroughly Modern Millie

Kim was in the play "Thoroughly Modern Millie" so I went up to Logan and met mom at the theater, so we could see her perform. The play was great and she had lots of speaking roles. Her boyfriend, Cody, was the assistant director and designed all of the costumes. Kim also sewed most of her costumes and helped with the set.

Aleeya's First Hair Cut

Aleeya has always had lots of hair and I loved the "Whale Spout" hair-do, but lately she just pulls out the elastics and then her hair just looks like a big wave sticking up on the top of her head. I decided to get it all trimmed up and cut so that she could go without hair accessories.

Before the cutting begins!
Not so sure about the cape!

So cute!

Side view