Christmas

Christmas Eve

Our Friends came over and we had a great time.
K loved Justin. She kept hugging him. At one point she hugged him so close that he started sucking on her eye brow.

Dessert time!

The manger scene.

The group. Sister and Brother E win the prize for the best costume.

Singing Christmas songs all snuggled on the couch!

Another hug....Cute!

Girls....

We all opened our PJ's on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Morning

Matthew showing of his Nike shorts. What a hunk (inside joke).

Brady opening up his K'NEX

Justin was more interested in sucking on everything then the presents themselves.

Matthew ready to rob a bank.

Savy and her much anticipated Sansa Fuze.

All Tanner wanted for Christmas was Monopoly Jr. He has played it about 5 times a day since. He loves board games.

Patrick seemed to get lots of food. We all know him too well.

Matthew made me two frozen meals for Christmas. How sweet!

Justin with one of his toys.

I really enjoyed Christmas this year. It was quite and calm. I was impressed with what the kids gave eachother. They were all so thoughtful. Here are a few things they did: Matthew made the boys duck tape wallets and me two frozen meals. Brady made Justin a rattle. Savy made me a plaque and she made Patrick and Matthew their favorite cookies. Brady got everyone their favorite treats from Good Earth. I didn't even have to help them come up with ideas.

My Mother and Father spent the afternoon with us. My sister and her family also came. We made homemade pizza and enjoyed each other's company.

Christmas Eve

We had a nice Christmas Eve. We were able to spend the day with our friends the E's. We had a nice turkey dinner and then acted out the manger scene with the kids. It was a lot of fun just spending time together.

After the E's left we had our own little Christmas program. After our gift to Jesus, we wrestled Patrick to get him to let us open a present. He didn't have a chance this year. The kids are getting big and Patrick just couldn't handle us all : )The kids all got new PJs (suprise). Pictures coming soon.

Until then, here is a cute video of Justin on Christmas Eve before bed. Brady can get him laughing so hard. He is so much fun and keeps us laughing. This child is so happy and has a smile for everyone.



Justin also learned to roll from back to front on December 15th. This video was taken a couple days after he learned. At first he would turn and get his hand stuck underneath his body and then he would scream until he got it out. He doesn't get his hand stuck any more. He now has realized that he can get anywhere he wants by rolling.

Snow and darkest day of the year.

Looking at my blog right now you'd think I really love snow. Just for the record I don't like snow and I don't like being cold. I'm just trying to get through it. I thought that maybe decorating my blog like this would help me to get into the mood. It probably won't last. I know snow is necessary and I'm thankful for it but I don't have to like it one bit. Well.....maybe for a couple days but then I've had enough. I'm a summer baby!

The darkest day of the year was the 21st. It'll only get lighter from here out!!! Spring, here I come.

This is what I'm dreaming of while I'm curled up next to the fireplace.

Whaaaaa!!

Merry Christmas

We want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!! We don't do Christmas cards so know that we love you all and hope you have a great new year!

We have so many things to be grateful for this year. We are grateful for 5 happy healthy kids, that we get to spend another day (and hopefully longer) together, for a warm house, for great friends and family, for food on the table, and especially for Jesus Christ and His willingness to forgive us as we learn and grow on Earth and for His love and example.

This has been a hard year for our family and as we look back we have felt His love and help through it all. We have grown and learned a lot.

Thanks again for all of you who have made our burdens lighter and have brightened up our lives.

Wahoo! Matthew!

You are awesome Matthew!! Congratulations on your 4.0 at UVU!! Twenty credits down and ten more to go have your freshman year done!

Love you,
Mom

Finally...An Article on Health (flu and colds)

I was excited to see this in the main stream news yesterday. There is so much hype out there about H1N1 and it's hard to know who to believe. The CDC has been very irresponsible in counting the real numbers of H1N1. They stopped testing and just say anyone with flu like symptoms has the H1N1 virus. This really bothers me. We don't get real numbers this way and we don't track what's going on with this virus this way. I know people who were "diagnosed" with H1N1 who I am pretty sure didn't have it. They tell me they only got a cough and it was gone in two days. Oh brother. How can that be put down in the numbers of H1N1 infections? Yet, it still is. I also know people who could have very well had it because they were so sick. But of course we'll never know because they are not testing for it. They say seasonal flu has not surfaced yet but how on earth do they (or will they) know that if they are not testing. UGGG!!

"They" say eating healthy, exercising, and washing hands can help you avoid getting sick, but what is "healthy" to "them"?

The only pickle that I have found that have probiotics are Bubbies. You can find them at health food stores and (in my own opinion) they are the best pickles out there. The sauerkraut is so good also and I don't even like sauerkraut. These are full of probiotics and enzymes. They help digest meat and add a lot of good probiotics to your gut. Many ancient cultures never ate meat without fermented products to help digest it. Homemade kefir and yogurt are also great ways to add probiotics to your gut and kids love them. Just make sure the label says, "live cultures."

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=730&sid=8962593

Tell me what you think : )

Justin's blessing .......Finally!

Justin was blessed today. He is 4 months, 5 days old, and 16 1/2 pounds.

Some stuff about him:
*can almost sit by himself
*can lay on tummy and push with legs and move a few inches
*Is getting stranger anxiety. He puts his little lip out and wines and his face turns red.
*Can grab toys and play with them
*tries to grab food
*everything goes into his mouth
*loves looking at the baby in the mirror
*Is very mild tempered and always has a smile on his face.
*babbles
*drools a lot. His shirts are always wet.

Some cute pictures of our handsome boy's blessing day.

What a doll!

Justin with daddy.

Tanner loves Justin.

You just can't help kissing those chubby cheeks.

Here are some family members who came to the blessing. We did this small and quiet. I just couldn't do a big thing right now.

Some other cute pictures just because. Tanner, Justin,
and I took a jacuzzi bath in our swim suits.

Proof of chub! ooooohh so cute!!

This Week

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to this week.

Thanks to our friend (Thanks Kelly) Justin is cozy and warm in this robe after a bath.

He loves the froggy slippers.

Here is trying to grab them.

Gotta love that little face....... ohh.......cute!

Bad hair day? Poor kid. He actually looks pretty cute as a girl but we'll keep our little boy.

Brady and Tanner look forward to the garden being done for the year so they can dig holes. They worked on this one all week and then filled it with leaves.

We had Patrick's family Thanksgiving dinner. We didn't get many pictures but here is one. His brother loves torturing the kids (or they love harassing him). Everyone played basketball and ate lots of good food.

Here is my little buddy. Every time I go out to feed the chickens or milk the goat she is waiting for me. She runs up to me any time I'm out and talks to me and follows me around. She snuggles with the goats. Luckily, she made it through alive when the dogs went on a chicken murdering spree. They killed 8 chickens total and now we are lucky to get 3-4 eggs a day. The dogs have to be chained up any time they are outside.

Every year the scouts go on a turkey shoot. First place got a turkey, second and third place got a chocolate bar. Matthew won first place this year. Waahooo! Good job Matthew!

Pictures?

We went up to the canyons a few weeks ago and tried to get some family pictures. It's hard with 5 kids!! Here are some.

Brady is the only child that cooperated.

Cute. I love seeing my teens with this baby. They just adore Justin.

Matthew thought it was silly that I was trying to pose him.

OH.......

Try to get Tanner to look at the camera and give a real smile.

Savannah just can't do a serious pose for anything. These are too cute though.

See what I mean : )

When we took these family pictures, the bike trial was right in front of us. It was funny seeing the reactions of people as they came past.

It was a beautiful day so Patrick couldn't resist taking this picture of the river.