Pre-School Christmas Program

Today was Xanders Pre-School Christmas Program! We have been practicing his parts for a few weeks now, and he was really excited to finally have his program. They sang songs and recited

'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Xander's line was "When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer"

He says it so well!! I love it! Here are a few pictures of the program, I used my camcorder to record the whole thing, so we didn't get much video on the camera :(



"You better watch out"

- Santa Clause is Comin' to Town

"Reindeer" - Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

This is Miss Brittani, she is Xander's buddy for the year. He likes her alot and talks about her all the time. At MVHS it is nice, because they all have a student that is their buddy, so I know that Xander is getting one on one time and they can help him and make sure that he is learning :)

This is Daxton. He and Xander are friends at Pre-School! Xander talks about him all the time too!

It's Finally Open!!! :)

After much anticipation,

The Disney Store is finally open!!!

The store opened at 8 am this morning! (Don't worry, I was not there until after 9 am) All of the other stores in the mall were still closed! I took some pictures of the inside of the store. My favorite thing is that the floor in the front half of the store is red and sparkly :) You can kind of see it in the last picture.

Today they are giving away free mickey ears with the store logo on them with any purchase. So of course I bought some things. They had really good prices on their little trinkets. I was able to get some fun stocking stuffers for the kids for way cheap! I even got Mara a shirt with the all the princesses on it and Xander one with Lightning McQueen! (they were only 5 bucks each!!) I did see some stuff that I couldn't decided on, so I will probably go back tomorrow while Xander is at Pre-School :)

I love that the store is finally open, and I can tell that I will be spending ALOT of money there in the future! LOL

I DID IT!!!!

This is for Lisa and JD!

Now you can stop bugging me!

As every little girl grows, so does her hair. Just not in the spots that you want it to. Mara has been sporting a mullet for a while. I have tried to forget about it by doing her hair in pig tails in the back. Then that hair style got old, so I started to do pony tails on the top since she has alot of hair up there. So that left the back open to criticism!! My loving family (Lisa and JD) have been making fun of her hair alot lately, especially last night. And the person that I am became really defensive, because I love that I have a girl and I want her hair to be long, and that little bit would curl so cute! I didn't want to cut it off because I was worried that the curl wouldn't come back.



After much thinking, when I was doing her hair this morning, I found the scissors and cut it! I haven't even told Pat that I did it yet! So honey, if you are reading this, I cut Mara's hair! ( I am such a nice wife! )



So there you go! That is the story of my morning :) And Lisa you were right, it does look better!!

Highlights of the weekend

We had this big box lying around and Mara decided that it was her play thing. She was constantly getting in and out all day long. The only drawback was that it was a little too tall for her to do it by herself, so I had to get her in and out :)

Here are a few pictures of Peek-A-Boo!

Last weekend when we had our first REAL snowstorm, my mom was leaving the house and was kind enough to get some snow boots for Xander and Mara. Mara has really developed a love for hers. Whenever we leave the house and I tell her to get her shoes, she comes back with her boots!

She know how to say boots now!

I love when she learns new words :)






We had a "Level 4" storm this weekend. Whatever that means! So we got alot of snow :) Saturday night my sister Karri was over, she and Xander decided to go outside and play in the snow. So they got all bundled up and went to play! I thought that they were going to build a snowman, but when I went out to take a picture, they had just been throwing snowballs at each other, LOL

Here is Xander on his way inside!

Christmas Tag

One of my good friends sent this to me. I like this because it talks about Christmas.

So here we go!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Mostly wrapping paper, it depends on the size, but I do use gift bags too.
2. Real or Artificial tree? Fake tree all the way!! So much easier to deal with :)
3. When do you put up the tree? We usually try the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was a little later this year (But I still got it up before Dec 1st)
4. When do you take the tree down? Usually after New Years
5. Do you like egg nog? Oh, yes!! I even blogged about it :)
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Probably a Barbie or a Cabbage Patch
7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes! My mom collects them, so I have started my own collection too. (it is quite small, but there is always time to get more)
8. Hardest person to buy for? My Father-in-law
9. Easiest person to buy for? My husband (he buys his own gifts, LOL)
10. Mail of email Christmas cards? Mail (I like getting the real thing!)
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I remember when I was a kid that I got a Hula Hoop, and I was mad, because I didn't ask for it and I really didn't want it either.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? It is a tie between White Christmas and Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually right after Xander's birthday, so in October (and I am done!!!!)
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas gift? No way
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Our family Christmas Eve cookies (peanut butter cookies with Hershey's Kisses on them!) and Fudge (it is my Grandma Jean's recipe, and I love it!)
16. Clear or colored lights on the tree? Definitely clear!
17. Favorite Christmas song? There are so many to pick from! Gosh! I love Bring a Torch Jenette Isabella and Away in a Manger because it reminds me of Chamber and A Cappella Choirs my senior year of high school. I love Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song because it reminds me of my dad. Definitely True Blue Miracle from Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (it makes me cry I love it so much) All of the Carpenters Christmas songs! Shall I go on.... I love Christmas music!!
18. Travel or stay home at Christmas? We travel to see family, but the farthest we go is Provo!! So I wouldn't really consider it traveling.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph!! :)
20. Angel or Star on the top of the tree? Angel
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or Morning? One on Christmas Eve (pajamas) and the rest in the morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Stupid people on the roads! Never shop on the weekends in December!!!!
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? My little tree was purple and silver, but all of my ornaments are Hallmark, so it is kind of an "Anything goes"
24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Sizzler on Christmas Eve!!! :)
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I have a hard time deciding what I want every year, but I am getting a few Disney Precious Moments figures :) I am way excited!

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you want to do it, go for it!!

Merry Christmas!!

OH, SANTA!!!

We went and saw Santa today!!

I have wanted to go for a week so we finally went! The Santa at the Provo Towne Center Mall is the best! He looks great! Xander was really excited and anxious to see him. We decided to have lunch first, so by the time we got there he was on a break! So we walked around the mall for 15 minutes. When we got back there was a line! But we didn't have to wait too long. Mara didn't really care about Santa, she just liked the train that went around! When it was her turn she freaked out, like any kid her age.

Here are the pics!

Update on Disney Store

Here is the latest picture of the store. I had heard rumors that it would be open by now, but it's not! I did find someone that worked there and asked when the store would be opening and she said

December 13th!!

Next Thursday!

I am so excited!! I will probably be there first thing when the store opens :)

Blue's Clues

This morning Xander and Mara were watching one of our DVDs of Blue's Clues. Mara starting singing along with the show, so I was a good mom and started the song over and got out the camera. The last part is my favorite :)

I Consider this...

THE FIRST SNOWFALL OF THE WINTER!

As Karen Carpenter would say :) We awoke this morning to snow :) I held Xander up to look through the kitchen window to see it and the first thing he said was "Can I go play in it?" Now I am thinking that I should have purchased snow boots and snow pants for him a few weeks ago when I started noticing them. If I were to go today, I don't know if I would be able to find his size!!! (I probably will, I just don't like to drive in the snow, so I am going to try to stay home if I can)

Here are a few pictures of the view from our porch:

O Christmas Tree!

I actually got the tree up before December!!!!! Granted it was the day before, but I am proud of myself. As many of you know, we live with my mother, so it was actually her tree that I put up. We have a tree of our own, but only put it up the first Christmas after we were married. Because the next year the condo was overrun with baby stuff, Xander was 2 months at that point, so I put up a small tree on one of our side tables.... Anyway, Xander helped me put it up while Mara was taking her nap, but I ran out of lights that worked :( So I had to rig the top of it with two strands that only half of the lights worked. But it worked out ok :) Now the next step is to put all the decorations on it. We are going to save that for another day :) I need to let my hands recover!

Putting up a Christmas tree hurts! :(

Festival of Trees!

On Wednesday night we went up to the

FESTIVAL OF TREES

at the South Towne Expo Center. It was the first time I had ever been there. We went with my brother Brent and his family and my mom. Our ward made a tree this year in honor of two babies in our ward that were born Down Syndrome with heart problems. So we went to see everything. I took pictures of some of the fun trees!

Here are Max, Conli and Xander looking at a fun Candy Land Tree :)

Conli wanted to hold Xander's hand the whole time! They were so cute :) They can be the best of friends sometimes.

Here is an AWESOME

Star Wars Tree!!

This is the tree that our ward made. It was called "Angels from Heaven"

I was able to help with it :)

This is Xander's favorite: Hot Wheels!!

A very different one: A Barbie House shaped like a tree! This was one of my favorites.

I LOVE BARBIE!!

This one Xander ran to saying "Jack!"

The super cool Nightmare Before Christmas tree!

I loved this one. It is full of Oragami :)

And the Nativity that was beside it. I totally want to learn how to make this!

The Best Tastes of the Season!!!

I am excited that the Christmas Season is upon us, besides the thought of there being snow storms. (I hate to drive in the snow and to be cold!) Recently while at WalMart I found a little treasure called

Christmas Crunch Cereal!!

I was so excited!! I told my sister that I found some and she is wanting some too. It has been a few years since I have seen this on the shelf. So I buy at least 1-2 boxes everytime I see it!! It takes me back to when I was a kid. Every Christmas my parents would give us our own boxes of cereal. We would write our names across the front of the box to make sure that our siblings would not eat it. My mom stopped giving cereal a few years ago :-( But seeing this makes me want to start the tradition again :-)

Another taste that I love is EGG NOG!!!

I got my first taste of egg nog when we were up in Boise at the end of September. We had gone to WalMart and they had samples. Pat wouldn't let me buy a quart :( said that there would be some when we got home. Well, there wasn't!! I had to wait another week before I could find some. So we have been drinking egg nog since early October! It is one of the fun things that is available during the fall season. It ends up that Xander drinks it more than I do! He usually drinks pink milk, but since there has been egg nog that is all he wants! (I do mix it with milk to make it last longer!) And Pat is a great husband that will make me Nog Nog Shakes, just like they were from Zuka Juice!! Good thing he still remembers how to make them!!

How do I look????

Mara loves to eat all by herself and usually gets fairly messy. But this one takes the cake!! I gave her a little pudding snack, and went about eating my own food and talking with my mom. Mara said to me "Hee go" which means "Here you go". So I turned around and found this face looking back at me!! It was the funniest thing! I love that kids can get so super messy and not realize that they have food all over their faces!!



On Saturday Xander helped my mom and I put christmas lights in the garden. Pat was such a great son in-law and put up the christmas lights on the house 2 weeks ago, but ran out of lights to do the garden. While cleaning the garage, my mom found a bag of lights so we did the rest! Xander was helping us hammer in some posts in the grass so we could string lights along the curbing. He had to go around hammering everything that he could find. Luckly it wasn't summer, or else all the bugs would have been in for it!!




Here is Mara and cousin Sawyer. Isn't Sawyer the sweetest thing! I am so jealous that she has red hair! Seeing my brother have a red headed child gives me hope that maybe I too could have one, someday!

What color are you????

You Are a Purple Crayon

Your world is colored in dreamy, divine, and classy colors. You hold yourself to a sky high standard, and you are always graceful. People envy, idolize, and copy you without realizing it. You are an icon for those who know you. And while it is hard to be a perfectionist, rest assured it's paying off! Your color wheel opposite is yellow. While yellow people may be wise, they lack the manners and class needed to impress you.

What Color Crayon Are You?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving!! We had a really full day. Thanksgiving this year was at my mom's house (our house) so I have been cleaning for a few days. The night before we set up all the tables and got them ready to go. And I made my Mud Pies! They turned out really good for my first time making them :) In the morning we watched some of the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was fun (Pat doesn't like parades, so he was somewhere else during that time LOL) I realized that I really want to go to New York and see Mary Poppins and Xanadu on Broadway!! Two shows that I grew up with!!! Around noon we started to get food going. (Our lunch was at 2) Karri was over and we were on potato duty. (we have been lucky for the past 4 years to get a BOX of potatoes from RC Willey every Thanksgiving, one of the small perks of Pat working there!) Xander wanted to help with the potatoes but didn't want his hands dirty. So we found some gloves and he was in charge of taking the potatoes that I had peeled and giving them to Karri to chop! He did a great job!




Here is Karri and I after eating! We were lucky to have dinner when we did. I was able to get Mara lunch at noon, and put her down for a nap. She missed Thanksgiving, but it was so nice not to have to worry about her :)



We had about 30 adults and 8 kids this year (which is small for my family) It was so fun to have a "kiddie table" Here is Luke, Max, Mariah and Xander! Luke and Mariah belong to my cousin Liz.



After dinner we went to visit with Pat's family and have desert. I am very lucky to have such a great mother in-law. She got a Banana Cream Pie just for me!!! YUMMMY :)
Pat's Aunt Kimbur and Uncle Kevin and family were in town from California. They have 3 kids that live here currently, and brought their other two with them. Their son Skyler "Red Shirts" for the BYU Football team! Anyway, we were all able to be together with them and his cousin Tera, her husband Ike and their little boy Dane. It is so great to have family close by and to be able to get together as often as we do :) We hung out for awhile, then came home and played Wii with Karri, Brent, Lisa, Mom and the kids. Max and Xander played baseball together! It was so funny! My mom grabbed Lisa's camera instead of hers (they have the same camera) and took pictures and video of them :) I will post them when I get them.

Then the kids decided to play "Hide & Seek". Their favorite place to hide is in the bathtub!! I don't know how Mara got in, they must have helped her LOL.



Overall it was a great Thanksgiving! I am so grateful for my family, especially my wonderful Husband. He loves me for who I am :) I love my kids and the smiles and trials they give me. I am thankful for the gospel in my life. I know that I could do better at some things, and am grateful for the knowledge that my Father in Heaven loves me and is watching out for me.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Wii

My mom decided to buy a Wii for her house, so that the whole family could play whenever we get together! She was able to get one last weekend, so during dinner we all made our own characters!

(Here is Xander's! He had to do it all by himself)

The first game of the night was bowling. JD, Chris, Mom and Xander all played! It was great to see Xander, and how excited he was to be playing again. (Pat's brother Ben has one and we were able to play when we went to Boise in September)

We even made a character for Grandma Joan (my grandmother) This is us playing doubles tennis! We played for a few rounds until she said that she wasn't feeling well. (she has a pacemaker) After she left that night, we looked in the instructions, and it said:

WARNING - Radio Frequency Interference

The Wii console and Wii Remote can emit radio waves that can affect the operation of nearby electronics, including cardiac pacemakers.

• Do not operate the Wii console or remote within 9 inches of a pacemaker
• If you have a pacemaker or other implanted medical device, do not use the Wii console or remote without first consulting your doctor or the manufacturer of your medical device.

We thought that was funny! We never would have thought that she shouldn't play! At least she got one game in! LOL

At least we had enough people that Pat could fill in for her :)

We have already purchased Star Wars Lego The Complete Saga, and Pat and I are almost 50% done! :)