See ya later, Alligator!!!

We went to breakfast with the Wood Family this morning, because they are heading up North tomorrow to take Jordan to the MTC. It kind of trips me out a little every time one of Tony's young men leaves on his mission! Two years seems so long when you think that Daxton will be almost 4, Kamren will be 6 1/2, Karlin will be 8 1/2, and Kenzie will be almost 10, by the time he gets home! Good luck Elder Wood, we will miss you hanging out at our house playing games, and knitting....I mean crocheting on our couch!!! See you in 2 years!

After that, I took the kids to the mall, because Karlin woke up saying she wanted to get her ears pierced again! I didn't think she would do it, so I took them all! And to my GREAT surprise, and with a HUGE dent in my wallet, they ALL decided to have their ears pierced!!!! I was shocked, to say the least! Karlin, didn't even flinch let alone cry; Kamren went next, and she cried....well, actually she "Screamed her guts out", as she put it. I had to hold her down to even get the 2nd ear done; and Kenzie, tried to be brave, but she cried too! They still were all pretty brave in my book!

Heading Home!

Today we headed home early, because Tony forgot his suit for church on Sunday. I honestly think he was glad because he wanted to come home for Jordan Woods farewell. Thank you family for harboring us, again!!! And for all the fun family memories and craziness! Holiday's would not be holidays without all of you!

We had a party with Tony's family in Salt Lake on the way out of town. It was amazing to have all of his family together. I don't thing that has happened in a very long time, especially since Tony's mom lives in Arizona and doesn't come to Salt Lake too often. I am so glad that we were able to visit with ALL of our family! So long Christmas, see ya next year!

The bangs were kind of bugging me! Good thing Kenzie had a couple clips in her hair that she could share with her cousin, Clayton!

Happy Birthday Grandma D

Today I woke up to Karlin asking me if I would help her make cupcakes at 6:45AM! Apparently when you want to make something it doesn't matter what time it is when you are 6! Since I was up, we made cupcakes! 25 Main better watch out, because those are some good cupcakes. She is going to be the baker in our house, let's just hope she learns from her Aunt Stacy and not from her mom that can't even make Chocolate Chip cookies right!

After that, I went with my Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Jan out to lunch at the Greenery for my Grandma's 78th birthday! We had a great time having some girly time. I am so in awe of my Grandma! She is such a great grandma and friend. She has been there for every minute of my life, and I am so glad that I got to spend the day with her today. I love you, Grams!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day started off early at 5:30 AM! I guess I shouldn't complain we got our parents up before 3AM every year when we were little! Kamren said her favorite present was her big girl bike, Karlin said it was her cupcake maker and her Baby Alive, and Kenzie said she just liked giving presents to other people, I was in awe of that answer! She did get a new keyboard and a video camera, but apparently she is more into the giving this year. As for Daxton, he got a Geo Trax train set and has not stopped playing with it yet! He is in boy heaven! We ate breakfast at my mom's after presents, then went to my Grandma's, then off to my Dad's for dinner and Catan-we have our family all hooked! As for naps, no naps at all on Christmas! Daxton was extremely loopy by the end of the night, and so was I! Not to mention that it was a white out blizzard on Christmas and took us 40 minutes to drive 15 miles from my Dad's to my Mom's! Definitely a white Christmas!

I totally forgot to mention that my husband actually surprised me with the present for the first time EVER! I didn't think he was even paying attention, but he actually went out and bought me a Garmen watch for running! I was a little shocked that he could even figure out what I was talking about, and for him to keep it a secret-that alone is big!!! So ladies, anybody who is ready to run, better call me!!

Christmas Eve

We didn't really wake up with any plans for Christmas Eve day, but Tony saw a write up in the newspaper about a party going on at the Treehouse Museum, so we decided to go. Our kids love that place anyways, but for them to be having a Christmas eve party made it even better. And then to get a surprise visit from Santa was the icing on the cake, it was a good way to fill up a few hours too. Daxton was a wild man, as usual running around full speed ahead.

After that, we headed home to get warm clothes and then did our usual Christmas Eve tradition of going to the Ogden Christmas Village, thank goodness they had hot chocolate for sale this year because it was cold! We ended the night with a party at my moms house with all of the family and our yearly Pinata ( don't ask)! I don't know how I don't have any pictures of the pinata, but Kenzie was the slugger this year! We ended the night with Grandmas giving the kids their Christmas PJ's and then they all headed off to bed without even having to be asked! Maybe I should use the "Santa's coming" line more often!

Snow! Snow! Snow!!!

My kids were so excited to get to the snow and Grandma's house, they could barely stand themselves! We actually stopped on the way into town to buy them all snow boots, since we couldn't find ANY in St. George, go figure!! Good thing we did, because they were up bright and early out in the snow! They only lasted about 45 minutes, except Kenzie. I think the girl is half polar bear, she could have stayed out there all day! Daxton was even having a great old time! And I want big time props for being the ONLY parent/adult to actually go out and play in the snow with the kids. I think that snow should only be allowed in the mountains, but figured if I wanted some pictures I was going to have to brave the snow! The things we do for pictures!! :)

Christmas fun!

I have been a slacker, or maybe just a little busy with all of the fun of Christmas, yes I did say FUN! Our Christmas was actually fun and enjoyable this year. These pictures are of school fun before we left. Kamren got a Webkin from her Preschool teachers, she was very excited, and then we went to the hospital where they sang 3 songs to the Elderly Care unit, the NICU, and the Pediatiric unit. I was a little sick of their 3 songs by the time they sang to all of those floors, but I was so happy that she was so excited to make sick people feel better for Christmas.

I also got to help with Karlin's class party. We played lots of games and made Gingerbread men. I think those kids were on a sugar high for at least 3 days just from the last day of school!!! Wow!

2nd Grade Program

Kenzie had her school program last week, and thanks to my friend we actually have pictures of it since my camera went missing for a week! Kenzie's Indian name was "Bunny Ears". I loved the little story she wrote about how she got her name, so here it is:

My name is mouse ears. Because I don't listen to what my Mom and Dad tell me. In school I don't listen I even don't listen to my friends. One day at the end of school Mom and dad called my name. It's called Bunny Ears.

She says that now that she has bigger ears, she can listen better. Unfortunately, listening is something she needs a lot of work on. At least she recognizes that she has a problem with it-that is the first step to fixing a problem, right?!!!

She did a really good job at her program! We are very proud of our little bunny ears!

My reciept was as tall as my 6 year old!

The little boy in the background was NOT part of the deal!

Okay, D.S. You have completely and totally made me a believer!!!! I went to Albertsons tonight and spent $51.00 and SAVED $160.38!!!! My total was over 210.00 before they put in my Alberstson's card number and my coupons!! Wow! I was so excited! The stories that D tell, of wanted to jump up and down, and tell everybody around her are totally true! I was so excited that I had a perma grin all the way home, in fact, it still hasn't left! I was extra excited that this hauling included 2 rump roasts that were $5.00 each! Seriously D, thank you, thank you for your knowledge and for walking me through all my dumb and repeatative questions!!! Since D's blog is private, I thought I would put a link to the website that she showed me. It is grocery smarts, and the password for it if you haven't been on it before is g84cjg. After you have put the code in, if you save it to your favorites, you won't need the password anymore. Happy shopping! I know I am happier about the whole grocery shopping thing now!

Thankful that Thanksgiving is over!

Look at that!! Troy is actually SMILING
in a family picture! Wow!










All our goods!

That is my sister SQUISHED in the back seat of

the car! We almost had to decide whether we were

going home with our Mom, or our stuff was!

Kaylee and my sis, Jami

I think Tony appreciated that I was

snuggling with him in this picture!

Cousins are the best!

Grandma and Daxton in our thanksgiving dinner Garage!

After all the hype and preparations that surrounds Thanksgiving I am soooo glad to be back to a normal routine! I so appreciate my Mom and Scott and all the time and effort they put into us coming, but seriously.....6 kids and all of us adults is WAY to many people to have in their house! Add to that the fact that nobody, besides Troy and Kamren wanted to sleep in the beds they were given and the fact that Daxton decided that his port-a-crib in the laundry room no longer suited him, and it made for a very LONG 4 day trip! Then add to that just traveling 350 miles each way with that many kids! Okay I need to stop I am having anxiety just reliving it!!! There were PLENTY of good things! The dinner itself was great! And it had ALL of the people that I love most so that meant we didn't have to do alot of the normal traveling around from place to place! We went shopping the day after Thanksgiving and got ALL of the things that we stood in line at Target for an hour for at 5 AM, and we had some great laughs. Always remember, that if you get too far out in an intersections and you have to reverse b/c the light changes, to make sure you put your car back in drive before you try and go! (Inside joke, but it was hilarious!) And that you can only keep buying until your car is just full enough that the people that you brought with you can still fit WITH all of your purchases in the car!! The Santa Claus parade was fun, as usual, and not nearly as cold. My kids didn't even cry this year because they are pansy So. Utah babies about the cold! Thanks family for putting up with us and our messes! See you in 3 weeks and we can do it all over again!!! I think I am going to take some pills just at the thought of that!! :)

I'm offically a slacker!

I know I said I was getting invitations out, but I'm not! Sorry, this week has gotten away from me! Life is way too busy to worry about bringing invitations around! So, what you see on my blog is your personal invitation from us to you! Come if you can, you are ALL invited! If you are coming, please let me know so that I can plan for dinner!

Ugliest Sweater Party!!!

I am sorry I am a slacker!! I AM going to get you all an invitation, but with Thanksgiving and really just LIFE in general, I have not had a chance to get these out!!! So, I figured since most of us will see family that might have an ugly sweater you could borrow over Thanksgiving, I am putting this up! Get your ugliest sweaters out, and be prepared for a fun night! Adults only!!! Hope to see you all there!

My UTAH man!!!

Dear Tony,

I hope all of your RED dreams are coming true today up in good old Salt Lake City. Considering the fact that you actually had this.....

made for the trip, you got up at 4:30 this morning to leave for a game that started at 4 PM not 4 AM, and the fact that I have heard you talk of nothing else, besides Dixie Direct, of course, for a week straight..... Sweetie, I sure hope it all turns out in your favor and the BCS invite you seek will be yours!

Love your stuck at home with 5 little hooligans, wife!


Steve and Tony have a deal every year that they will take each other to the game, depending on who's turf it is on.


What a group this was, showing up on my doorstep at 7:30, this morning!