Homemade Christmas Eve

We have a tradition in our family of drawing names and making homemade presents for each other that we exchange on Christmas Eve. This year I tried making pajama pants for all the kids and they turned out really cute!

Dad made Samuel a "Build Your Own Birdhouse Kit" to complete
one of his Wolf electives for Cub Scouts.

Shelby made me a whole bunch of different scented bath salts.
I can hardly wait to try them out!

I made Shelby a tote bag that she can use for her library books.

Caleb made Savannah a personalized Christmas book and a ballerina skirt.

Joshua made Caleb a "Number One Penguin Lover" trophy!

Samuel made Joshua a volcano that he can actually make erupt over and over.
(unfortunately, it is still in the process of drying, so we haven't tried it out yet!)

Savannah made Daddy a snowglobe with pictures of the two of them in it.

The kids put on a nativity pageant (another of our family traditions) and it was really cute!

Shelby directed and everyone else had a part in it.

Is this not the sweetest Mary you have ever seen?

Merry Christmas! From our house to yours!

My Cute Kids

I took some great pics of the kids when we did our family photo shoot in Nevada. I was so excited to get home and blow them up to 8x10s to replace the current pics in their frames! Unfortunately, I realized all too late that I had the camera set to the lowest resolution......SO FRUSTRATING! Since I can't blow these up, I thought I would post them on my blog so at least the friends who visit my "virtual home" can see pictures of my kids!

Savannah

Shelby

Joshua

Caleb

Samuel

Keeping Christ in Christmas

I have had so much fun collecting nativities over the years and displaying them at Christmastime. I think it is a neat way for our family to remember the true meaning of Christmas. I find that I am currently collecting non-breakable nativities as they are the ones that will survive my active family! Anyway, here are a few of the nativities that are brightening our Christmas this year.

Merry Christmas!

I Am Thankful For My Family

I have been MIA from blogging for a while due to the logistics of getting a family of seven across country and back again. Everyone is now settled back into school and adjusted to the time change, and except for me having a yucky cold, we have survived! So what exactly was I up to, you might ask........


For Thanksgiving we went to a family reunion in Logandale, Nevada. It was so neat to be with my family, all 38 of them, and let our kids get to know their cousins again. Living so far away, this was a special treat for us! We took advantage of the beautiful red rocks in the area for a fun family photo shoot, so I thought I would post the pictures on my blog for those of you who know my family. (Sorry, you won't be seeing my family photo because it is going on my Christmas cards this year.....better make sure I have your address!)

Mom and Dad

Glen's Family




Shannon's Family



Krysten's Family


Mandy's Family

Rachel's Family

The Girls!

Yes, that is me on the end.....2nd oldest and definitely the shortest of the crew!

It was so much fun being with my brother and sisters again. We all piled in the car at 2:00 a.m. on Black Friday and went into Vegas to go Christmas shopping. After 12 hrs. of deliriously sleep deprived shopping, going to lunch and reminiscing together, our families were glad to get us back! Sometimes, a vacation can be priceless, and this one will always be remembered.

Our Many Travels

Or perhaps I should title this "How Many Pictures Can I Fit in One Post!"
We have been travelling across country! Savannah went on her "first" airplane ride (that she can remember anyway).The pilot decided to help the kids make up for time they were missing at school and taught them all about flying an airplane. They each got a chance to sit up in the cockpit and LOVED it!Here are my well-trained travelers in the airport at the "rainbow wall".We got to Aunt Shannon's house in Nevada and spent lots of time exploring the Lost City Museum. Notice Savannah is always posing.......where did she get that from? Joshua was so excited to find a Joshua Tree that we had to take a picture with it!

Savannah found some friends across the street and has been having lots of fun playing with girls her age. (Aunt Shannon's only girl is 14!) Daddy, can you add this to my Christmas list?

There was even a chance for a sleepover at her cousins house! Thanks, Courtney and Sierra, for making Savannah's first sleepover a memorable one!

After one day of rest, we were off to BYU to show Shelby and Caleb THE BEST university in the world! Now, all of my Utah friends, PLEASE don't hate me for coming to Utah and not visiting you......we were only in Utah for less than 24 hrs. and I knew this would be a whirlwind trip as it was without trying to meet up with my friends. I will catch you next time!

I thoroughly embarrassed Shelby by taking pictures of her in front of HOT college guys with my HUMONGOUS camera because it isn't cute and pink and tiny. So the only pics I got of her at BYU are of her back!

We drove up the Salt Lake City and spent the night at my cousin Sonda's house. The kids got a chance to meet their 2nd cousins and I got to *finally* meet Sonda's family. The boys played the playstation while Savannah and Tiara played girly princess stuff. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. THANKS SONDA AND DAVE! You guys are great!

Then it was off for a visit to Temple Square! Savannah, Samuel and Joshua had never been there and Shelby and Caleb can only vaguely remember, so I had to sieze the moment and GO!

It was the first time I have been in the new conference center and I was AMAZED at how huge it was! It was fun for the kids to see in person what they see on TV when we watch General Conference.

And of course, the Salt Lake Temple is a stunning sight. We loved seeing all the brides (notice we even got one in our pictures) and couldn't believe how busy it was!

The Church Museum of History and Art was a fun place for the kids to explore. They had this cute interactive children's exhibit where we spent a lot of time.

We got out of town before the big BYU/Utah football game (boohoo, BYU lost.....) and drove down to see my sister Krysten's family.

Of course the cousins had fun together being wild and crazy and I got to see my latest nephew (well sort of.....)

After spending the night, we drove to Panaca, NV (where I call HOME) and went to church. It has been over 10 years since I have been back; it was smaller than I remembered, but I fell in love with it all over again. As a matter of fact, I have spent all night trying to figure out how we could move there! Unfortunately there are not many jobs outside of teaching and farming in Lincoln County, and I don't think my husband's Chemistry/MBA degrees would be put to good use there.

We met up with Uncle Glen and Aunt Shannon's family and had a cookout at Cathedral Gorge.

The kids had fun exploring the moon caves and climbing to the top! It is incredible that we had 11 kids there and no one got hurt!

How could I not miss this??? There is so much beauty in the desert!

We took the kids to the Spring (our old swimming hole) and let Uncle Glen initiate them into the JOY of a moss fight!

I can't believe we got our fussy teenage girls in there!

AGAIN, I say, HOW CAN I NOT MISS THIS?!!!

Farewell, Panaca! I can't tell you how good it felt to finally have my children HOME experiencing the joys of country life and having fun at all our old hangouts!