New Christmas Church Clothes

One of my favorite things to give at Christmas time is new Sunday clothes. I love hunting to find the perfect, beautiful dresses for my girls and the cutest little suit for Wyatt. I've had great luck the last two years at Macys. They've had a great selection and it has helped so much to be able to hit the 50% off sale with the coupon for an additional 20% off. This year I found an elegant black and white dress for McKenzie with silver sequins on the skirt. The collar has black fur and she looks amazing in it. For Kaylie I found a really pretty turquoise dress with a pretty pattern in the skirt. Rylie's dress is maroon velvet with a cute waist band that has gold sequins. Wyatt is adorned in the cutest 4 piece suit. I just couldn't pass it up. He looks so handsome in his suit. Thanks to Aunt Mindy and my great friend Sherri for making the cutest bows and flower clips to match the girls' dresses. I got several compliments on them in church yesterday.

Christmas 2009

Christmas this year was so much fun. We were so blessed to be able to spend the holidays with our families. We spent Christmas eve with the Godfrey's. We ate a yummy dinner and then read the birth of Jesus out of the bible. It was a great reminder to us of the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Then grandma gave the kids their Christmas jammies. All the kids took off running for a bathroom so they could put on their new jammies. I'm sure you can just imagine what it looked like having 8 kids all running for a great spot to change. He,he,he!! Then we all headed home so Santa could come visit. Of course the girls were up bright and early trying to peek to see what Santa had brought. It's a tradition in our family that kids can't come down until the Christmas lights are on and the music is playing. I went to plug in the tree---no such luck. The lights had blown a fuse. (This is the second year in a row the lights have not worked come Christmas morning-so discouraging.) So we turned on the music and did the best we could. Wyatt came down the stairs first. He sat at the bottom of the stairs and looked around the room to see what was different. Then he spotted his 'dee' and crawled across the room as fast as his little legs would carry him. The girls came down next. Well, Santa had hidden their gift so they had to look around for it a little bit--sneaky Santa. They finally found a Wii underneath the village table. (Where I have my Christmas village set up.) Christmas was small, but we had lots of fun and we are mostly grateful to have each other. The girls each got 2 two toys, 2 outfits, a christmas dress and a new pair of shoes. Neil and Grandma Fortner gave us a web cam so we can see and visit with them and a portable dvd player. Thanks so much guys. We will really love being able to see and visit with you more often, and the dvd player will make car rides much more enjoyable.
After opening our gifts at home we headed to Grandpa Connelly's to visit for a little while. We enjoyed snacks and the kids were able to open their gifts from Grandpa. Then we went to visit Great Grandma Connelly. This Christmas was especially hard for her. It's only been 8 weeks since our sweet grandpa Connelly died.
Then we headed back over to visit grandma and grandpa Godfrey. The kids enjoyed seeing their cousins again. Grandma Godfrey has been working so hard on blankets for each one of the grand kids. Wow!! 11 blankets. She is amazing!!
We are so thankful for our family and friends not only at the Christmas season but all year long. We have been blessed immensely this year. Even through all the struggles we know Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. We are grateful for our trials and the things we learn from them. We are also grateful for the Christmas season, that we can celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and everything that he did for us.

D.A.R.E Graduation

Drug Abuse Resistance Education-DARE. McKenzie is pretty proud of her new shirt.

McKenzie receiving her Outstanding DARE Student Award.

Out of 120 5th grade students, these were the 8 kids that was chosen to win the Outstanding DARE student awards.

Kenzie receiving her certificate.

McKenzie with her certificate.

McKenzie and Officer Adams.

In the 5th grade McKenzie has been participating in the D.A.R.E program. Officer Zack Adams from our local police department has been teaching the kids about drugs and alcohol for the last ten weeks. Today was the D.A.R.E. Graduation Ceremony. All the 5th grade students were required to write an essay stating why they liked the D.A.R.E program and what they learned from it. She thoroughly loved participating in D.A.R.E. and was so excited to come home from school each week and tell me about what they learned or what cool story Officer Adams had told them. McKenzie got the opportunity to be handcuffed and to sit in the back of his police car as well. (I hope that is the only time in her life she has to experience that.)
I got a great email from McKenzie's teacher yesterday that she was chosen out of her class to receive a special award which she would be receiving during the graduation program today. Officer Adams chose her to recieve the Outstanding Dare Student Award. This meant that she participated in all the activities and was eager and willing to do whatever Officer Adams wanted her to do. She was the one who got her classmates to participate in the activities with enthusiasm. I am so proud of her. She is a great kid and I hope that she will use the things that she used in D.A.R.E as she gets older.

Good Old Spanish Fork Snow Storms

Wyatt standing in the snow. He is 27 inches tall and the snow is hitting him just above his waist.

Wyatt sitting on one of the snow piles.

So we've gotten tons of snow in the last 48 hours...most of it within the last 24 hours. I have shoveled and shoveled 'till my back is killing me. I haven't heard an official snow total yet but according to my calculations we got about 15 inches. I took Wyatt outside to see the snow....He hates it. Way to cold for him. As you can see he is not enjoying himself at all. This is how I figured how much snow we got. In the first picture of Wyatt--he is standing...standing I remind you in the snow. Wyatt is 27 inches tall and it is at is waist. Good grief. I think we've had enough snow in the last two days to last us all winter long.

Building Gingerbread Houses

Wa la. The finished products!! They didn't do half bad.



Wyatt just chillin' eating his cheetos and graham crackers while we assemble our houses.

Today I decided that since it was Saturday and we didn't have much else to do we would make gingerbread houses. The girls have been bugging me for a week since we put up our Christmas decorations and I brought up the idea of how fun it would be and maybe something that would could do. So we headed to the store and I let them pick out candy to decorate their houses. I thought I would try and be a little domesticated and make a house out of actual gingerbread instead of the graham crackers. I made the dough, cut out the house, baked it and started decorating my house. Got it all put together and started putting the shingles on the roof and my house collapsed. Whoops!! So in the garbage it went. I helped the girls put the finishing touches on their houses such as trees and ice cycles. We even put Santa on Kaylie's roof. Anyway it was a fun day and hopefully one the girls will remember for a long time.

Can you fix it...Yes we can!!

On Wednesday night Kaylie and Rylie got invited to a birthday party for a little neighbor boy. When they came home from the birthday party, they walked in with these cute little aprons and tool kits. They had so much fun!! How cute are these pictures??? It gave Rylie a 'building bug' For Christmas she told me she wanted wood, a hammer, some nails, paint and a paint brush. I asked her what for. She told me she wants to build a table or chair. Hehehe! What a cutie. She just might get what she asked for. LOL!!

Dear Santa....

Wyatt taking a bite of his candy cane.

Wyatt sitting on Santa's lap.

Today Santa came to school to visit the kids. What a surprise!! (For the kids at least) Each of the kids got to sit on Santa's lap and tell them what they wanted for Christmas. That's a great help to me cuz I don't know what they want. I'm glad at least Santa knows what to bring them. Wyatt sat on Santa's lap and didn't even cry. What a great kid!!