Christmas 2011

Christmas was great as it is every year, and we did our same stuff as we do every year.

we opened p.j.'s from G & G Dawson

posed for a family picture

Did a nativity with a magician and three Mary's

snuggled with Great Grandma Ruth

We had a delicious Christmas Eve dinner made by my Mom and played games made by Shannon

Beau and Hailey enjoying their games

Reading the Christmas story

The annual Nativity puppet show by Brent and the grandkids

Christmas morning is definitely the best part.
Luke's favorite present that Santa brought. He's been wanting this for a while.

Carly with her cow cabbage patch

little Hayes, shopping away

playing paper dolls

the cash register was a big hit...

even Grandma Ruth played :)

It was a nice relaxing morning

Christmas evening we got to talk to Blake in Florida! He's doing great. It's the last Christmas that we will get to talk to a missionary. After having 4 brothers, that's been a lot of Christmas phone calls.

lounging on their new bean bags from G&G Jenkins

Abigail turns 5!

Abigail always makes her birthdays so much fun. She gets SO excited about each little thing. She's always so grateful for all the gifts she receives. She could barely handle waiting for her grandparents to come over that night. We passed the time by cleaning the house (she wanted it to be nice for her 'guests') and making her cake(she wanted and rainbow and a sunshine). She also decided that since it was a party, she must wear a party dress. So she donned her favorite 'easter egg' dress (She got it for Easter, and she thinks the polka dots look like eggs). She squealed in delight as she opened her gifts.

first dance recital

Abigail had her first dance recital. It was at the Christmas village in Ogden. She did GREAT! I was so proud of her. She kept telling me before the recital that she didn't know what to do. So I was a little nervous for her, that maybe she didn't know her dance. Well, I don't know what she was worried about, because she nailed it. She was so sweet, happy, smiling, and waving. She always waves. Whether she's singing in sacrament, coming out of preschool, playing with friends.... she loves waving to people. She's such a sweetheart.
It was FREEZING cold, but we all had fun. The kids got to go see Santa and Mrs. Claus. They were the best ones that I've ever seen. My kids said they were the real ones and not Santa's helpers (which we say about the other santas, who are clearly NOT santa) Even Carly warmed up to Santa. Hailey looked at Santa and started screaming. It was kinda funny.
We had a great night, and I was proud of my girl.

the sweetest artist

Luke is the best little drawer.... and he loves his Momma. When you put the two together, it means that I'm always receiving love notes and tons of awesome pictures.

I never put pictures on my fridge, but this one was allowed to be up there for 1 1/2 years. During the first week of kindergarten, he brought home this picture. He said he missed me, and he felt better after he drew a picture of us holding hands. It just melted my heart.

A few weeks ago, I was sick. I never get sick, but this time I was in bed a lot of the day. Luke had brought me some breakfast, a cinnamon roll and a glass of water, and all day he kept bringing me pictures to cheer me up. I've been listening to my books on audible a lot, so that's why he drew me with earphones in the top left hand picture.
Abigail also brought me a couple pictures that were princessess. She said they were pictures of me, but then not 5 minutes later, she said they were actually pictures of her, and can she have them back now.

Luke did a book report on 'Where the Wild Things Are', for school. I love what he wrote about the book. Luke love adventure and fun, but he really loves coming home and being with his family.