It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I sure do love this time of year!

As a family we have a lot of traditions we do in the month of December. Our favorite is to focus on service and helping others that don't have a lot. We went through all of our toys and brought 2 bins full to the D.I. It was a great FHE activity!

This was taken at Wal Mart at the Salvation Army donation spot. Nathan has to put money in every time we go there (which is about every day!) He holds his money in his little hands for hours and is so excited to put it in the bucket. In this photo he has his arms up because he is saying "my money is all gone!"

Another fun tradition we have is going to the Voice Male concert every year. They are an a cappella group that started in Cache Valley and we have been going to their Christmas concerts for years. They really put on a great show and get you in the spirit!

Of course our tradition that we look forward to the most is when my parents deliver the 12 Days of Christmas to us. I can't believe it is already here! They are so cute when they come to our door with all of the gifts and huge smiles.

This year the theme is "Follow The Savior." What a perfect reminder for us everyday to keep in our hearts and minds. My parents put so much time, thought, and prayer into the theme and each gift that is given to us. We are so anxious we can hardly stand it. Like always, Theron has to have the bin with all of the gifts in it next to his side of the bed! He enjoys it just as much as the children do. We sure do love the 12 Days of Christmas!

Theron and Nathan opening up Day #1

And of course we love December because that is when basketball season starts! We are proud to say that Jessica is a starter for the Clearfield Falcons Varsity team! She is doing a great job and is loving every minute of it. Her games are so intense and keeps me jumping and yelling...I love it!

This is a picture of Jessica and some of her teammates posing with the "Brainiac/Hip Hop Wannabe" from High School Musical 1. She was being so sweet and letting lots of girls get their picture taken with her.

Like I said, "It's the most wonderful time of the Year!"

Over the river and through the woods, to grandmothers house we go...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at Theron's parents house. We got to see his sister Janel, her husband Jon, and their cute baby Ellie. Cousins got to see eachother and have a great time.
You could always find Nathan sneaking and getting some snacks before dinner time.
Therons Aunt Natalie from Moab and friend Virginia came. It was great to see them!
Cathryn, Jessica, me and Janel. the food is almost done...we were all smiles!
A wonderful day...

Note to self: NEVER schedule family pictures on my birthday!

My birthday was actually a great day, it started off with my kids and Theron making me pancakes for breakfast. I was ordered to stay in bed...fine with me. They got me Wii Fit for my present. I have been wanting that! I can do yoga and some good exercises to get in shape during the cold months. Then the day started to get a little panicky! I scheduled our first family pictures on my birthday which was the craziest idea I have ever had. I didn't know how stressful it was going to be. I took the girls to get their hair done at the mall. Good idea right? Not so much...the girl that told me she would be there to do it wasn't. She also told me their would be 2 girls so it would go a lot faster. Didn't happen! Only one girl was there and she was so slow. I was trying to not act like I was staring at my watch and wanting her to go faster. Overall, she did Rachels hair, I did Briannes because she was taking so long and Brookes hair wouldn't curl at all. (I could write a whole bunch about that but I will save you the drama of it all!) Jessica was at basketball practice which she couldn't miss. So, she walked in an hour before we were scheduled for pictures. I was yelling through the house for Jessica to hurry and shower, Brooke why won't your hair curl, Nathan don't fight with Brooke, Rachel stop wrestling with Nathan and messing up your hair!

I turned into some other kind of alien and was having a panic attack. Then we showed up at the wrong place for our pictures which was the last straw! We finally got to the right place and had to put on those "oh, we are such a happy family smiles" and got it done.

But, I am so glad we got it done. I can't believe we have never had a family shot professionally done before. We went lastnight to look at them and they turned out pretty good.

I did get lots and lots of kisses and hugs for my birthday though......

Jessica's workout

This is how Jess gets her workout at home. I was laughing so hard! She was running through the house with me on her back after her bball practice. Now thats dedication!

Twilight

Yeah! we finally got to go see Twilight! We went to the midnight showing at the Megaplex in Ogden. We had reserved seats so we didn't have to leave until 10:30 that night. Jess bought her a shirt the night before and sooo many people complimented her on it or asked where she got it. She felt pretty special! All of my sisters and sister in laws went. We were all on an Edward high and couldn't wait for it to start. Of course when it did start the entire theater screamed and yelled for Edward!

Kaye and HeatherKelly, Julie (who found out she is having a girl!) and Jill
Overall I really liked the movie. I can't wait for New Moon now....hurry and start filming so I have something to look forward to!

Girls Weekend

Every 6 months I take the girls and we leave for the weekend for some good girl bonding. We have been to Park City, Bear Lake and this time we went to SLC. We started our day at the Gateway and of course did lots and lots of shopping. I had to keep bribing Brooke with..."only one more store, then we will go see a movie" We had a lot of fun and saw 2 movies, HSM 3 and Madagascar 2. Both very good movies!

Then we went to Costa Vida, one of our favorite places to eat.

And of course....some more shopping.

It is always such a great time and we get closer as mother and daughters. We stayed at the Sheraton which was a beautiful, newly renovated hotel. The girls wanted to go the the fitness room so we spent about an hour exercising, it was actually really fun! We slept in and then headed home around noon. I can't wait for our next adventure!

Halloween

Here is my crazy, whacky, family on Halloween. We had a great time!

The 2 Hippies. Theron was told many times that he could pass for Ozzy, I was told that I should go blonde...Jessica, our cute clown Brianne wanted to be a dead ballerina. Her costume turned out great!
Rachel was a Utah Jazz fan
Brooke was a witch and brought Bella with her who also had a witch costume on
Nathan was the cutest scarecrow you have ever seen!

This is our 3rd Annual Halloween party we have hosted. Every year gets better and better. We all dress up, have soup, breadsticks, homemade rootbeer, cupcakes, and then let the kids go trick or treating around the neighborhood. It is so much fun!All of the cousins before they go out and get their candy

Theron's surgery

Here he is right after surgery. He was pretty groggy but still alert enough to smile for a picture!When I brought him home Nathan was so concerned about his owie. He climbed up on the table and stared at his dad all night and kept saying "ohh..dad owie!" He had a tube coming out of his neck that drained all of the blood and saliva in for 3 days and that kept Nathan intrigued!This is what Theron had to keep around his head to try to keep the swelling down...kind of scary!

As you can see, it didn't really work. He was so swollen for atleast 5 days.This picture was taken tonight, he is still swollen. The scar isn't as bad as we thought it would be. He is still the cutest ever!

He goes to the doctor again next week and if the swelling is still there he will most likely have to have a drain put in again. We'll see what happens!

Thank you so much to all those that helped with dinners and watching our kids. We were so blessed. And a very special thank you to our "Manny", my brother Jon, that went out of his way to get my mind off of things when Theron was in surgery and taking me to eat, and for coming and checking on his patient. If you ever need a manny it just takes one call that's all:

1-800-MANNY

Wow! That was so fun!!

Me, Karen, Tiffani and Laura hanging with "the girls!" My mom is all smiles...

This picture was taken during one of the commercial breaks. We were all so hyper and having a great time! These were some of the friends and family that came. The first 3 girls on the front row are not with us but the rest are. My mom, Heather, Julie, Kelly, Kaye, me and Jill

I am so proud of my Mom! She did an amazing job and was so cool and collected. They all loved her so much and wanted to take her home! Sorry you can't have my mommy!

Set your tivo

My mom is going to be on Good Things Utah, Monday morning at 10:00 channel 4. Please watch! I will be in the audience making a fool of myself with my sisters and some friends. She will be promoting her book, The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Go Mom!!