Merry Christmas!

Adam and Caleb took a road trip a couple of weeks before Christmas.

They drove to Utah, to pick up an Early Christmas present for Adam.
Adam had been Saving his fun money for a while, and I pitched in some that I had been saving so he could finally get the machine of his dreams.

Drum roll please................

A 2004 Skidoo 800 !!! 

I'm not a fan of all that cold white stuff, but Adam and the kids have been having tons of fun with this thing!  Adam's dad and brother Richard have snowmobiles too, so it's a great way for them to get to go out have fun together.

Uncle Richard and lil' Richard love snowmobiling. I think they need to move out of the valley and a little closer to us so they can enjoy it more often!

sometimes it gets a little tough to stay warm.

Time to Race! Which machine is fastest?

Look at that powder!

Our cute little snow bunny, Sarah!

Eliza loves riding the little snowmobile. Thanks Grandpa Gurr .

One thing Caleb loves the most about the snowmobile is that it doubles as a ski lift.
This kid is getting really good at snowboarding!

Another great Christmas surprise this year was that it snowed at our house on Christmas eve. It was our First White Christmas since we moved here five years ago.

A not-so-great Christmas Surprise came in the form of the Flu. Which hit me with such force that Christmas morning was a bit of a blur for me. I was literally curled up on a chair in the corner of the room while the presents were opened. I didn't even think of getting up to get the camera, so Christmas this year was picture-less.
Some of our favorite gifts were: a Pogo stick for Eliza, Lego's for Caleb and an American Girls doll (Caroline) for Sarah.
My Favorite gift was the Snuggie Lydia gave me. I used it all day!
At around noon, I was miraculously blessed with a bit of energy and managed to get Christmas dinner on the table complete with ham, potatoes, rolls, corn and a salad.
Once dinner was over, I was back in bed stayed there for over a week! NOT FUN!

Anyway, Merry Christmas!

New Family Car?...

After Adam's cargo trailer was totaled in the accident he had back in September He decided to replace it with a Box truck.

 He got a great deal on this Isuzu truck. It works out much better than the trailer did, so the accident ended up being a blessing in disguise! 

We needed to pick up some furniture from the valley the first week in December and the truck was ideal for hauling it. 

The problem was, it's not ideal for hauling our family, but we made it work (we had to share seat belts) and even though is was uncomfortable, it actually ended up being a pretty fun ride. 

Family car?....I don't think so!

Taylor Elementary Christmas Concert

Eliza, Sarah  and Caleb all participated in the annual Taylor Elementary Christmas Concert.
It was a little bittersweet knowing that this would be the last Christmas Concert we would attend at this school.

The trio sang one song together in a special choir, then they each sang a song with their own class.

Can you spot them? they are on the top row.



Eliza's Class sang "Christmas Don't be Late"

 

 

 

Caleb's class sang "We three Kings".

 

                                                    Sarah's class sang "Jingle bell rock!"

Nibble, Nibble Little Mouse.....

Who's been nibbling at my house?!

                    Decorating a gingerbread house is one of our favorite Christmas traditions!!

12-12-12

This year, the kids Birthday was Extra special because it was on 12-12-12!!!
We figured out that if you add up the digits in the date it equaled 9! And that's how old they are!

Adam and I surprised them by picking them up from school and taking them out to lunch. Then, we took donuts to school for all their classmates.
After school we had a small family party and had A Dairy Queen Ice cream cake! YUMMY!!!
The kids all got remote controlled toys for their Birthday!
That night we went to our ward Christmas Party and the whole ward sang Happy Birthday to them!

Happy Birthday Eliza, Sarah and Caleb!

Stars were Gleaming

Every year I make new ornaments for my Christmas tree.
I do this for two reasons.
First, I am really particular about how I want my tree to look and It's hard for me two find ornaments that I love.
Second, I am a cheapskate, so making my own ornaments makes more economic sense to me.

This year I made tin stars for my tree.  It was so easy to make these and they ended up only costing .25 - .50 cents (depending on size) each to make. I found the tutorial on pintrest, but It had a lot of unnecessary steps so I'm posting my own tutorial for you.

I used these disposable tin trays from the Dollar store. There were two trays in each pack.

I traced a star onto the foil. Notice the tips of the star are not pointed.

I cut it out with kitchen sheers. It was surprisingly easy!

I cut 1/4" slits in each interior corner of the star.

Using a ruler, I folded down the edges of the star.

I punched a hole at the top of the star .

On the top of each star I used a pointy thing (I really don't know what it was it looked like a bead made from a bone. probably something from scouts....any way you could use a nail as long as it's not to sharp.) but I used it to press a strait line from the center of the star to each inside corner of the star. 

Then, I flipped the star over and did the same thing. this time going to the outside points of the star.

Once it looked like this, I just sort of pushed inward from the edges and played with it a little until it looked like.....

THIS!!!! Then, I spray painted the stars with some paint I already had and using some dark brown paint and a sponge brush I gave them a little distressed look. 

Viola!! I made big ones and small ones. I love how they look on my tree!
Oh. and I made the sweater ornaments with an old sweater that I picked up at a thrift shop for a dollar.
I just cut the sleeves into small sections and slid a cheap plastic ornament inside and used craft glue to glue the tops and bottoms together.

The Tree all decorated.

I just had to throw in a picture of the window /wreath project I did this year as well. I love how it turned out!

Singing Sarah

Sarah joined a community Children's Choir at the beginning of the school year. The Choir is Awesome. I can tell that her director has spent less time teaching them songs, and more time teaching them to sing. I love it! The choir has been invited to sing at a couple of Christmas Events in the community. One of the events was in a chapel so I didn't get any pictures. But her last performance was for the Snowflake town lighting so I was able to snap a few shots. The Choir sings beautifully and Sarah looks Beautiful while singing.

 

 We are so Proud of you Sarah!