Our Merry Christmas

Of course the kids were ecstatic for Christmas to come this year, eagerly turning on the tree lights and opening a door on the Advent Calendar each day, counting down the days! I don't think any of us could believe it was Christmas Eve when the day finally came! We had a wonderful Christmas starting with fun at Grandma's house on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and the kids put on the Nativity with the cousins, we surely missed Grandpa this night and his reading of the Christmas Story from the scriptures. We enjoyed our cousin time and then we were off to watch the "dancing Christmas lights"! (Thank you Stapley Family for this great tradition our kids love!) Then it was home to get ready for bed and have our traditional Christmas Eve stories read by the fire.
After our stories, and of course a few tears, the kids set out milk and cookies and notes for Santa. I wish they were always this excited to go to bed.

Christmas morning was a delight for Ryan and me to watch their excitement! Here are a few highlights-

How To Train Your Dragon in Pierce's stocking, WOW! He was surprised!

The Star Wars ships he had been wishing for for months! Santa got it just right!

Madi changed her mind on Christmas wishes a lot this year, so I'm sure it was a gamble for Santa- she was thrilled with the doll house he brought for her!

Super Excited! Tangled Chapstick in Madi's stocking, and Pierce's puzzles from Madi

Pet Shops! Madi was so excited about her gift from Mom and Dad! I think she has plenty now. Yes, pretty sure we don't need any more Pet Shops. Her favorite thing now is playing with her Pet Shops in the new doll house.

Super Cool Transformers game from Sister!

Thrilled with his gift from Mom and Dad! Episode 5 along with Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker! (I have to say I am a little sad that he now says Darth Vader and Light Saber correctly.)

After a fun morning as a family we headed over to Jeff & Crystal's to play in the snow! Yes, they were the only ones in town with snow in their yard. Uncle Jeff likes to drive up to the mountains and bring home a truck load of snow for his kids on Christmas morning. I was so sad I didn't have my camera, I think we had the funnest snowball fight ever!

That evening we were able to have some special time with Jeff, Crystal and their kids. They came to our house for Christmas dinner (I cooked for the first time in 3 months! Yay!) And we were able to spend some tender moments with them when we gave them a special gift. It will have to have it's own post, to come soon.

Brooke, Pierson,
Madi, Harrison & Matthew

This was definitely an emotional and tender Christmas after loosing Grandpa and Todd this year, one we will always remember. Though it was such a difficult year, we have been greatly blessed and have much to be thankful for. I was very thankful this Christmas Season for my beautiful, sweet children, my loving husband and our wonderful family, and for the knowledge of our Savior's great love for us!

Jared & Audra's Sealing Day

My very dear, life-long friend, Audra, and her husband, Jared, along with their beautiful baby, Savyon, were sealed for time and eternity in the Mt. Timpanogos temple on Saturday the 18th. I was so thankful that Ryan and I were able to be with them to share in this most sacred and special occasion. It was a beautiful sealing and I felt so privileged to be there. What a beautiful family they are!



This shot is my favorite! What sweet parents and what a darling baby boy!

Me & Audge - I am so happy for you Audge! Thanks for letting us share in your joy! I love you so much!

No Explanation Needed

'Tis the Season!

It's hard to believe it's already Christmas time again! The kids couldn't be more excited! We've had fun kicking off the Season with a few of our favorite traditions...
Jubilee of Trees

Pierce & Madi look forward to visiting Santa all year! Pierson asked for a Star Wars ship and Madi has changed her mind several times, but I think that night she had settled on asking for a baby doll.

Christmas lights at the Temple


We loved meeting up with Grandma for the Christmas lighting at the Temple, we all surely missed Grandpa though! We were excited that Uncle Mark could come down with his fiance Lisa. Although we enjoyed the lights, Pierce and Madi had much more fun playing in all the leaves. Afterward we warmed up at Grandma's with dinner and yummy hot chocolate.

Roadrunners!

Pierce played his 3rd year of "Kicks" soccer this year, and loved it! It was a great season, and especially fun for him this year with Bishop Brooks as his coach. He thought this was SO cool, and I loved how he referred to him as "Coach Bishop". He loved being on Joey's team this year...

...almost as much as Madi loved playing with Tommy at all the practices and games. What, can I say, she adores her little buddy!

Excited for their trophies after the last game of the season!
Dawson, Joey, Travis, Dallin, Rushton & Pierce

The Roadrunners with Coach

I also had a lot of fun this season- cheering for the boys, trying to keep Madi and Tommy supplied with treats and chatting with Julianne(who was a much needed listening ear for me, with all that took place over the season!) Ryan helped out with coaching at the games and managed not to pull a "Kenny Rollins", on a few coaches who were less than sportsman like. I had to be proud of him for that. Pierson also really improved in skills this year and it was rewarding to see the progress he'd made by the end of the season. It was a great season, thanks to Bishop and Julianne for all they did! Go Roadrunners!

Couples Halloween Party

This year Ryan and I hosted our "3rd Annual" Couples Halloween Party, and party we did! We had so much fun, I hope everyone there had as much fun as I did. The costumes this year were FABULOUS, it was so fun to see what everyone came up with...

Joe & Julianne, The "F Dude" and 80's chick, (walkman included)

Dustin & Kathryn, Donald Trump and Miss USA

Angie & Daron, The Renaissance Queen & King, NOT the Burger King guy!

Brooke & Jona, The Birthday girl and her pinata! - Winners of "Most Creative" & "Funniest"!

Devin & Staci D., those guys we hope we don't turn into in a few years! - 2nd Place for "Most Creative" & "Funniest"!

Dustin & Staci S., Danny & Sandy from Grease (sorry, you just can't appreciate Dustin's hair in the dark!)

Jon & April, Arwen & Aragorn, from Lord of the Rings. I was thoroughly impressed with April's creativity, loved the ears girl! - Runners up for "Best Couple" Costume

Megan & Jeremy, A very nice witch, and.....oh ya, that guy who hangs out at the casino that thinks he's a cowboy

Andrea & Derrick, Indian & Cowboy (AKA Pocahontas & Tom Selleck) - Derrick won "Best All Around", no one could resist that mustache!

Brad & Jana, smokin' hot in their 20's ensemble - Winners of "Best Couple" Costumes

Lyndsi & Darrin, Elmo & Ernie

Dustin & Kendra, Pirates!

We all enjoyed a delicious dinner of soups, salad and scrumptious desserts. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the desserts, Jana's was so pretty and Angie's was so gross. Thanks to everyone who brought such delicious food to share.


After dinner and costume contest it was on to the games! My fabulous friends, Kathryn and Staci, stepped up to help me with the games this year, they did such a good job I think they may have gotten themselves a permanent job. We did "minute to win it" games, which I am pretty sure were designed solely to entertain those watching...
This game the participants had to try to knock their orange into the hoola hoop with their banana...it had been awhile since I'd laughed that hard!


It was quite a battle, but in the end proved to be too difficult to actually accomplish, but what a laugh we had watching them try!

Darrin and Derrick gearing up for their game

In this game the participents had to try to knock candy pumkpkins off of cans with their tennis balls, as you can tell this one was a little scary...

The "candy elevator" was quite a competition as well, April took the victory!

The winners of each game went on to compete in the final challenge- being the first to move all of your cotton balls from one bowl to the other using only your nose and a little Vaseline!


All of the All Starts were great competitors and it really came down to the wire, Jeremy beat April by a hair!

The All Stars: April, Derrick, Brad, Devin, Jon, and the Champion of the night, Jeremy!

Thanks to all our great friends for making it such a fun night! Good food, good friends, and loads of laughs made for a night to remember!

A Happy Halloween!

Well the last few months of our lives have not been easy to say the least! It's been rough around here and a lot of things have fallen apart and fallen behind, especially my blog! So here I go, trying to get back in to the swing of things...rather than try to catch up on everything, I'll just start with the latest, Halloween!

Halloween was a fun day for the kids! I was happy that it fell on a Saturday, and that also meant we started off the day with Pierson's soccer game.
I had to include this picture, it just makes me laugh. He may not make the most goals, but as you can tell here, he sure tries hard! (And although it looks like it, no, he did not actually push this kid.)

After the game we headed home to do our pumpkin carving. The kids always love this, definitely a favorite part of our Halloween traditions.

The finished product. I was also thankful to Jeff this year, for his straw bails and corn to make our porch look so festive!

As we have been obsessed with Star Wars this year, my Jedi Knights were ready for Halloween...
Pierce as Obi Wan Kanobi

Prepared for battle and using for Force!

Madi went back and forth deciding on being a "girl Jedi" with a light saber, or "Princess Leia" with her gun.

Princess Leia it was, prepared for battle with her blaster gun!

I had to include this picture - Madi adores our little buddy, Tommy!

And with eyes like these, he is pretty irresistible!

Madi with all her goods, rootbeer on her costume and ketchup on her face. All proof of a great night!

A Trick-or Treat visit to our Hall cousins was also a highlight of the night! Here is Pierce with his best buddy cousin, Matthew, as Mario.

Sweet girls, Madi and Brooke, looking cute in her 50's attire!

What a great night, it was a very Happy Halloween!