Boys Monthly Letters

The boys have posted their December letters to their blogs. You just need to click on the links to the right -->

The Deed Has Been Done!

I can't believe we really did it. Neither Dave or I were certain we could go through with it but this afternoon Dave took Eric to Cookie Cutters, a kids haircut place. We just had too many people, not just strangers but family as well mistaking him for a girl, saying he was "pretty enough to be a girl". It was just time for him to lose the golden locks. Here he is before ...

... and here is Eric now! I am still having to get used to it and I think it will take some time.

Christmas Morning

I have a sneaking suspicion that we were done opening presents long before most of you were even opening your eyes. Our boys are such early risers and this morning Brandon was up at 5:06 asking if he could go downstairs and see if Santa had come. It was shear torture for Brandon to have to wait until 6:00 before we would let them go downstairs.

Santa brought Brandon & Eric remote control dinosaurs! Wow!! And Grandpa Pat got them some walking/ roaring dinosaurs also. They got lots of neat things. Kyle was very content to just sit in his chair with one little toy and just watch all the goings on. I would like to say that the kids were extremely grateful and thanked us over and over again but ... well, they are already talking about what they want for Christmas next year. We love our kids but Dave swears that next year they get one Santa gift and one gift from us.

Dave spoiled me as always. He got me a Blackberry Pearl which I have no idea how to use. I have never had my own cell phone so this will be a new thing for me. He also got me lots of other little things. Plus I got a new digital camcorder before Thanksgiving as one of my "Christmas" gifts so I am thoroughly spoiled. I have a very wonderful husband who loves to spoil me. My dad got me a Christus statue for my mantel that I had been wanting. Thanks dad! And Ryan & Alisa gave us a FANTASTIC gift. Babysitting coupons ... one for each month of the year. We will definitely be using those!

I got Dave a couple pairs of basketball pants, a really nice pair of leather boots to wear on his motorcycle and filled his stockings with some goodies. I feel bad that I didn't have more things for him to open but he keeps saying that his motorcycle was his Christmas gift this year. Dave is the type that just goes out and gets what he wants when he wants it do it's hard for me to get him anything because he pretty much has what he wants. I tease him that he is turning into Clark ... impossible to buy for!

Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas day and take a moment to stop and think about the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Memories

Dave & I have had many wonderful Christmas's together so I put together this little slide show as a way to help remember each one. Merry Christmas everyone!

Twas the Day Before Christmas

Twas the day before Christmas and all through the valley ... Was snow, Perfect for sledding with our cousins!

Followed by a huge Christmas Eve party at Grandma Chris' like none other. Boy can Grandma put on a party ... she is amazing!

Then off to our home for new Christmas PJs, cookies and milk for Santa and off to bed.
(While mom and dad spent the night putting batteries in toys.)

Christmas at Grandma Norberg's

We went down to Lehi tonight for a Christmas party at Grandma Norberg's house. It was a wonderful evening and the best part about it was that Grandpa Norberg was able to be there! Aunt Nina & Uncle Jim flew in today from Washington so we had a lot of the Norberg family there. I wish so much that Kathleen, Erin, Shane, Kristi and Trace and their families could've been there as well to join in the festivities. I am sure Grandma & Grandpa would've loved to have seen you all.

Also, today was Kevin & Brenda's daughter Heather's 5th birthday so we celebrated that tonight as well. The kids had so much fun playing with glow sticks and being crazy. It was a really fun night! Thanks grandma for putting it on!

Starring: Brandon & Eric, Abby, Halle & Gwen, Marcus & Heather (Jake & Mitchell are way too grown up to be in this one!)

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Every Christmas the boys look forward to decorating sugar cookies.

Brandon is getting better at decorating his.

I swear Eric waits all year for this one day. As always he eats more then his share! And his decorating skills can use some practise.

It's actually super funny to watch Eric decorate. He LOVES sprinkles and just shakes and shakes sprinkles on his cookies until someone stops him!

I have a sneaking suspicion that our cookies won't be featured on the cover of Martha Stewart Living this year but the boys sure have fun ... maybe next year :)

Party Party

Today was a day full of parties. This morning we had our ward Christmas party. The boys love it because they get to go in their PJs, have breakfast with their friends and run around the gym like wild animals! Then this evening we had Dave's company party at Madeline's. And to add to the festive feeling of the day we got a lot of snow today. The boys had fun playing outside and Dave even took them for a ride around the neighborhood on the 4-wheeler!

Elves are Milling Around

We sure picked the right night to go over to Gardner Village and see the Elves. It wasn't too cold, there was almost no one there and the boys had so much fun checking out all the elves.

Even Kyle stayed awake and enjoyed the evening. :)

Gingerbread House

We had a great time tonight decorating our annual Christmas Gingerbread house. The boys had a lot of fun. Brandon concentrated on decorating in clear patterns. Eric on the other hand, probably ate more candies then he put on the house. He kept saying "Just one more". Kyle was already asleep ... his time will come.

The boys love nothing more then spending time with dad!

Barnhisel Family Birthday Party

We hosted a family birthday party tonight to celebrate the November (Dave, Jack & Lydia) and December (Amy and Melissa) birthdays. It was a lot of fun. Thank you all for coming. Happy Birthday!

I apologize that I don't have more pictures. I find when I am the host I am very bad about taking pictures. I will do better next time. :)

Barnhisel Family Christmas Card

Congrats Grant & Kelly

Congratulations Grant for winning his weight class in the city wide wrestling meet finals for 7th grade!!

And Congratulations Kelly for making the High School swim team!!!!

Great job guys!

BTW - Happy Birthday Dad!!

Decorating the Christmas Tree is Fun! ... right?

I guess I owe my parents an apology for the pain I (me and my siblings) put them through as children while putting up the Christmas tree. I remember every year we fought over who got to put the top on the tree and who got more tinsel to throw on the tree. So many of these things you think should be fun family activities more often then not I am learning turn out to be patience testers for the parents ... as was putting up the tree this year. We tried to put it up last night but the stand was junk and wouldn't hold our old fake tree up straight. Dave spent FOREVER fiddling with it (not in the best mood) trying to get the tree to stay straight. I suggested duct tape (which I am sure would make my father proud as he believes that duct tape can fix anything, including the hem on his pants that are too long). We finally sort of got that taken care of only to find that half of the strands of lights on the tree were out, some for no apparent reason, some looking black and burned out. We finally gave up and threw the non-working lights and the tree out and Dave went to Home Depot today and got us a beautiful, pre-lit tree. So this evening we were on to the picture perfect family tree decorating activity for the Barnhisel family Christmas tree. Not exactly. Even before the tree was done being decorated Eric had broken an ornament and I was ready to string my wild and crazy boys up on the tree as well. Decorating the Christmas tree is supposed to be fun, right?

This picture represents the night very well.

But at least the tree is up and Dave did a beautiful job on it!