Boys Monthly Letters

The boys have posted their monthly letters to their blogs.  Just click on their pictures to the right to see their letters.

Christmas Morning

Our boys are normally very early risers so we had no hope of getting to sleep in this morning.  The boys are normally up by 6:00 and we had told them that they could play in their rooms until 7:00 because we weren't getting up before then.  We finally gave up at about 6:30 and went downstairs with them.  They were SOOOOO excited, of course!! 

Santa brought Kyle the Blue Hero Factory guy he has been hoping for.  Dave & I gave him a remote control car that he has been having fun with.

Santa brought Eric a mini trampoline for his room and we got him a Zune and a docking station so he can now rock out in his room on his trampoline with his music blaring!  He has been jamming to Michael Jackson's thriller all day!!

Santa brought Brandon a Snap Circuit Rover where he can build his own remote control car.  We got him some new games and his own fishing pole set.

 

I got Dave skiis, poles and ski boots for Christmas this year.  He has been wanting them for years and said this is the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!  Dave gave me new clothes which was great!! 

It was really nice having Christmas be on a Sunday this year.  Our ward only held sacrament meeting so we went to church at 11:00 for a nice sacrament meeting /choir concert.  It was a very nice way to spend Christmas morning. 

Merry Christmas to all!  Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy 2012!!

Christmas Eve

This year we celebrated Christmas Eve at Uncle Randy & Aunt Melissa's house.  It was so much fun!! 

I put together the Nativity pagaent for the kids again this year.  Eric has been begging to have a chance at being a king so this year we mixed up the typical rolls a bit.  Eric, Kyle & Tyler got to be the three kings. 

Brandon & Jadon were the shepherds and their sheep were the bigger boys this year, Jackson & Dylan.  Sean & Kate were Mary & Joseph although they were not the least bit interested in costumes which was fine.  And Lydia was the angel.  They all did a great job and it was cute to watch them.

Grandma brought in a truck load of huge presents ... all the boys got remote control cars which they were SOO excited about!! 

Way to go Grandma!!  We also played some Christmas songs on the chimes which worked much better this year then last year because I put the notes up on a flip chart that everyone could follow.  And Eric ... my little singer ... sang a solo for everyone ... "If I Had Been in Bethlehem".  It had Aunt Amy and Grandma in tears.

Then once we got home the boys got to open their Christmas Eve present from us which, as is tradition, was new cozies.  They were very excited and very ready to hurry off to bed before Santa came!

Brandon left a very nice little note out for Santa, along with some treats, thanking him for the gifts.  What a thoughtful boy. :)

It was a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Last Day of Work

Towards the start of October I went back to work with my old group at ADP to help them through their busy season.  I love working, love programming, love the people that I work with.  But I also love being home with Kyle who isn't in school yet so this opportunity was a perfect one for me because it was a temporary contract.  Today is my last day of work for the year.  I have really enjoyed being back and the plan is that they hope to have me back again next fall which would be great.  But for now, I am looking forward to being home again with my sweet Kyle!

Decorating the Gingerbread House

Every year we decorate a gingerbread house as one of our Christmas Traditions.  Last year it didn't go so well and the year before was worse (it took us a couple tries that year).  So I finally got smart.  I picked up a prebuilt house after Christmas last year on clearance and packed it away with the Christmas decorations.  So this year all we had to do was get out the house and it was already built for us.  We just had to decorate!  It went much better this year!

Grandma Norberg & Thanksgiving Point

Tonight we went down to Lehi and had dinner with Grandma Norberg and Aunt Phyllis. I gave Grandma a picture book that I had made for her that shows all of her 31 great-grandchildren. She really loved it which made me really happy ... I had hoped she would.

Then we took Grandma and went over to Thanksgiving Point and drove through their huge light display.  And we got to see Santa's Reindeer.  That was very cool!!

Then we headed back to Grandma's where she stuffed us with cookies and ice cream and we visited while the boys warmed up in front of her fire.

We love you Grandma!!

Elves @ Gardner Village

Another of our Christmas traditions is to go over to Gardner Village to see the Elves.

Brandon searched for the perfect tree at an elf tree lot.

Eric did some caroling (he LOVES to sing) and stopped for an elf photo op!

Kyle wondered if his letter has made it to the North Pole yet?

Brandon and Eric were sad to find their names on Santa's Naughty List. :(

Kyle was just happy to not be on any list at this point.  Maybe there is hope for him still.

Then we stopped at the Naborhood Baker for a little something to warm us up!  It was a fun adventure!

Christmas Cookies

We have a lot of Christmas traditions that we love to do this time of year.  One of them is making Christmas cookies which the kids then take around to their friends.  We had a lot of fun this year. 

Brandon made a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies almost entirely by himself!!



Eric helped me make sugar cookies! He ate more "M a M's" then made it on the cookies. :)



Kyle helped me make Triple Chocolate Peppermint Cookies! He was covered in green frosting.

 

And then they delivered their cookies.  It was fun.

The Christmas Lights @ Temple Square

We had a wonderful night tonight downtown at Temple Square, enjoying the Christmas lights.  They were incredible and the boys had such a great time.  We even got to see a little concert from a children's choir at the Assembly Hall.  Eric, our singer, especially loved that part. 

Boys Monthly Letters

The boys have posted their monthly letters to their blogs.  You can access them by clicking on their pictures to the right.

Happy Birthday Dave!

Today is Dave's 36th Birthday!!  We went to lunch at The Pie to celebrate.

The boys gave him "LEGO Harry Potter" for the Wii which he has been wanting.

And we all stuffed ourselves with pizza.

Then this evening we had cake and ice cream and just hung out and were lazy.

Happy Birthday Honey!