Christmas 2009!!!

Everyone got up early and then went back to bed to wait for Ryan who woke up at 7:15. We all went down together to open presents. It was over quickly with everyone ripping everything open quickly despite mom's pleas to take turns and pose for pics. We had breakfast and then opened our stockings. Then we played played played with all our toys, got ready for Grandparents, visited them and opened more presents and ate lots of yummy food. Came home and watched movies we got for Christmas and went to bed.

It was a great year filled with wonderful memories for all of us! The kids were spoiled as always and we did a sub for santa family that they all gave toys to and delivered. We hope they realize how blessed we are and how much fun giving can be as well as receiving!

P.S. That really is a cell phone that Kyle got with unlimited minutes/texts from Cricket. I hate that he is getting so old and grown up!

Cousins from New York!

My little brother Shawn visited Utah with his kids for the first time in two years....boy, what a treat!! We had soooo much fun play play playing with our Utah cousins. We even took them sledding. We miss them terribly and LOVED their visit. We really hope to see them more often. Love you guys!

NOVA Graduation

Kyle graduated from the NOVA program this past December. We are proud of him and hope he will remember and live by all the great things they teach him in this program! His class made up a rap for the parents and Kyle did breakdancing while they said it - it was awesome!!! I am so proud of my boy!

Zoe

Well, mom finally gave in to getting a dog since I "promised" we would get one when Ryan got potty trained. It has been quite an ordeal finding the right dog. I have spent many countless hours researching kinds of dogs that are good for children and then trying to find an adult dog that was housebroken, purebred, socialized to little children, didn't bark, obedient, was little but not too little so Ryan wouldn't hurt it, wouldn't eat our ferret Sadie, current on shots, fixed, didn't cost a fortune and didn't live too far away for pick up. It was a BIG task to put it lightly.

This is Zoe. She is a miniature American Eskimo. She is 4 years old and absolutely beautiful and perfect for our little family minus the fact that she sheds and has to be groomed regularly. She is Carson's responsibility and he takes it very seriously. She is overweight and steals food so we have her on a diet and going for many walks every day. We'll skinny her up in no time!!

Welcome little Zoe - we love you!!!

Cole Wins Reflections!

Cole is my star this month!! He won 1st place in Reflections for all of the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades for Visual Arts in our school. He also went on to district but didn't move on from there. I was so proud of my little artist! He has been busily painting and drawing like crazy ever since. He loves to shine!

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a great day with Chris's family at the traditional Thanksgiving celebration with tons of cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. and tons and tons of yummy food. It was a day to be very thankful for our countless blessings!

Sarcophagus - What's That??!

So I guess one of the big projects in 6th grade is making your own Egyptian Sarcophagus. What is that???? After much googling and planning, this is what we came up with. It is a huge part of his grade and it took us over 7 hours to complete - but it turned out stunning - no bias here. Had to share the joys of "parent projects." At least Kyle is old enough to do most of these on his own and I only need to supervise and nit pick now - he he!