Winter is "Snow" Fun!

We have been having so much fun these last couple of days. The kids tried out their new coats and snow boots in the snow and I had fun playing with my camera. I can't believe how crisp the picture is and how bright the colors are...such a world of difference from my Canon 3.5 mpxl Power Shot! I just loaded my Photo Explosion last night. It's like a photoshop program. I am still learning to use it...does anyone know anything about it?

Bella and Gunner are doing well together and became fast friends. They played and played yesterday having so much fun. I feel bad for Gunner though...like he's just thinking "Hey guys, what about me? I've been loyal, I've been good...how come SHE gets to stay in the house with you?!" haha

I'm flying!!!

Snow cave that dad helped build!!!

The finished product...

I love the details that show up! It's been fun learning a little bit more about aperture and shutter speed.

Working on the Snowman!

Cheese!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

{Christmas Day!}

We want to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas! We hope your holiday was just as wonderful as ours! It was nice to have a white Christmas this year...not so nice if you had to travel in it, but still fun to see fresh, white snow on Christmas Day!

The kids got Chet and I up at 6:00 in the morning and we headed downstairs to see what Santa brought everyone. They told us they even heard sleigh bells and thumping on roof last night! I thought I heard a few sounds up there myself!

This was the family present...


I have the BEST husband in the WHOLE world!!! He is far too good to me. He gave me a new cell phone that I was in major need of, a Photoshop program and THIS....

It is a Nikon D60 DSLR with the lens and memory card!!! I have been eying and pricing these babies for a VERY long time. I just never EVER thought that I would actually get one anytime soon. It was the best thing I think I've ever gotten and all I could do was bawl when I opened it! I can't wait to learn about all of the features and practice taking pictures! Oh, he also gave me a Digital SLR Photography book for Dummies to help me along the way :) With lots of reading and maybe a few photography classes down the road I can take pictures like a pro!

Chet wouldn't give me any hints of what he wanted so I was on my own. He got a digital picture frame for his desk at work, some clothes Rock Band for the Wii and the AC/DC Live RockBand track pack to go with it. Not as exciting as a nice camera is it?

The kids on Christmas morning!

On Christmas Eve we gave the kids a little present from us. Her name is Bella! She had to leave her home with Tammy and Glen and we decided to take her in and see how it all goes. She's a two year old Lhasa-Apso. We didn't name her, obviously, but I got thinking maybe we should change Gunner's name to "Edward"...what do you think???

Here are pictures of what Santa brought each of the kids.

Hunter

Talon

Kylee

Makayla

{Christmas Eve}

We started Christmas Eve with a yummy breakfast of Santa Waffles! It consisted of Ego waffles, raspberries, bananas, chocolate chips (eyeballs), apples and whipped cream. The kids loved it!

Chet and I finished up some last minute things and went to lunch with his group from work at Macaroni Grill. Then we headed home and got ready for dinner at Shellie's. Thanks for the invite!!!
There we played some games and watched the Nativity Story as well as a bit of A Christmas Story then we opened up our traditional jammy's and headed home to await Santa!

Kylee decided she was going to be goofy in this picture and I told her I was going to put it on my blog for everyone to see...I took another picture to post but it turned out blurry. So, oh well...that's what she gets for pulling faces like that :)
The kids love to track Santa on the NORAD site and see where he's visited. You can also call the number and talk to somebody and ask where he's at and when he'll be in your area. This is a little video clip of Hunter talking to someone from NORAD....too cute!

All You Gotta Do is DANCE!

Makayla had her Christmas Dance Recital last night and she did so good! She looked so stinkin' cute and I couldn't be more proud of the way she danced.

The place was quite loud during the recital and I just couldn't believe how rude some people were. They would just talk so loud through each dance and let their kids run around all over the place. To me it was the most chaotic dance recital I have EVER been to but at least Makayla had fun dancing.

Makayla and Tiara...so cute!!!

Weekend Recap!

We had quite the busy weekend. Not only trying to get some last minute stuff done but adding in a Jr. Jazz game and several Christmas parties!

Saturday we had the Diamse Family Christmas party. We ate some great Filipino food, played a game with some white elephant gifts and of course you can't have a Filipino party without the dancing! Chet probably thinks "what did I get myself into" when all of the Diamse's are together but we have fun and I just have to say...I love my family!!!

My parents are headed to San Diego to spend Christmas with Tracy and Christina. So, we are on our own for Christmas Eve this year and had to do our big family Christmas "brunch" and gift exchange on Sunday morning before church.

Then after church we met up with the Fullmer Family at Grandma and Grandpa's and had our annual Christmas talent show and caroling. We almost didn't get to go caroling b/c our family is getting SO big and it's getting hard to find a trailer that will fit us all. But thanks to Beau we were able to borrow a trailer and sing to our hearts content...not well, I might add...but we were able to go! Then it was back to Grandma's for treats and best of all hot chocolate!

I really didn't mean for the text to get bigger as it went...ha! I don't know what happened there.

Kylee played her own version of Christmas Canon on the piano that she composed by herself in about 20 minutes. She did it all by ear and I am quite impressed with her talent. (sorry had to have mommy bragging moment.) Makayla played a song on the piano and on the recorder, Talon played "Jingle Bells" on the guitar and Chet played a couple of songs for us on his guitar. As he was setting up his guitar and amp the little kids were asking when they should start plugging their ears...haha!

Real or Fake?

Christmas is almost here and the kids have finally passed the word onto Santa himself what they want him to bring them.

We had our Fullmer Family Christmas party and talent show last night and had so much fun. We had dinner and then the kids did their talents. Kylee played "Only Hope" from "A Walk to Remember" by Mandy Moore on the piano. Makayla did a dance, Talon played "Jingle Bells" on the guitar...learned it in 4 days and did great! And Hunter...well, he had good intentions to sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" but being my shy child, it didn't happen.

Then to top off the evening Santa came! The minute we lined up to see him Hunter took a good look at him and turned to me and said, "That's Grandpa!". I said, " No it isn't, he's right there, see?" and pointed him out in the crowd. Then he took another look at Santa, turned and said, "It's ANOTHER Grandpa!" He sat on his lap, told him what he wanted and collected his goody bag. When he came up to me afterwards he said, "He's fake." pretty matter of factly...haha

So tonight we went to South Towne Mall and after waiting over an hour and a half in line we got to see the REAL Santa. Hunter was very sure that he was the real one and was happy. How lucky are we that the REAL Santa chooses to go to the mall closest to us?!



Poor Makayla pretty much did her dance without any music b/c one speaker didn't work and it wasn't very loud...even with the volume turned up all the way. She will make up for it on Monday night at her Christmas Dance Recital if anybody wants to see it WITH the music and costumes!

Real Life!

{ LOL } ....

Isn't this the truth?

I think this explains it all....at least in my house!

(Thank goodness for things such as cropping and Photoshop!)

It's Party Time!!!

At least that's what Hunter has been thinking for these last few days. I have 3 extra kids for most of the week and they are none other than his bestest buddy, Davis and his sisters, Tiara and McCall. Sonda and Dave are on a fun cruise to celebrate their 10th Anniversary...so jealous...and I am taking care of their 3 youngest.

Things have gone good and the kids have had so much fun. I've had to break up a few fights once in a while but nothing I don't have to do with my own kids as it is. Davis and Hunter play so well together and the girls are darling. McCall is just the sweetest baby girl and Sonda may not get her back :) Chet and the kids have also been a big help in entertaining them and giving me a break once they get home. I will say that I have a huge admiration for mom for raising 7 kids of her own as well as a foster child. She is my hero!

The little gamer's. They could just sit and do this all day!

It's been fun having "little" girls around the house again. Tiara is such a total girl too. She knows exactly what she wants to wear, what socks will match, what shoes she wants to wear with the outfit and what clip she wants in her hair. She's destined for the fashion world!

Two peas in a pod!

Yesterday this just happened to show up on my porch via UPS. I knew Chet didn't do it because I know him too well. Besides, why would he just leave it there and give it to me now instead of for Christmas? Hmmm could it be an early drop off from Santa? I really doubt it although I'm SURE the first initial "S" was involved in the giving.

I have been wanting a little sewing machine that I can have for little projects and things that I need to do around here or for my kids. I knew they went on really good sales on Black Friday so I had talked about getting one then. Well, I decided against it and figured I'd just get one "sometime".

Well, Sonda kept offering to pay me or fly me out somewhere for taking her kids but I told her I wasn't taking her money, especially at Christmas time and I was just doing this for her as a friend and as a mom who knows what it's like to try and dish kids out so I can go on a nice trip with my husband!

So, THANK YOU Sonda and Dave for the really nice sewing machine! It is definitely nicer than one I would've picked out for myself. And it's A LOT more than you should've done!!! You are definitely NOT taking us to dinner now! I hope you have a very nice vacation and enjoy your "ALONE" time together. All of us who are parents of little kids know that those don't come very often!

Crazy Hair, Christmas Trees and Babies

Today was crazy hair day at school and we had fun with Makayla's hair.

It wasn't so fun trying to comb her hair out later though!








I am now almost 28 weeks along! I had my monthly visit to the Dr. on Thursday. Everything is looking good but I forgot to ask what I measured b/c we were in a big discussion about my pediatrician and the sad news that he has developed stomach cancer. I am SO sad about the situation b/c I really love having him as a pediatrician and hope that he can recover from it.

Everything else is looking good though. I have gained a total of 12 lbs. so far and the baby is moving around like crazy. I had to also take my glucose test...which I hate...it makes me feel so yucky and I hate having my blood drawn so it wasn't a visit I was looking forward to. I am just hoping I pass the test because I really, REALLY don't want to have to do it again!

Wow! Sorry the text ended up so big there...I have no idea what happened and for some dumb reason it won't let me fix it! How frustrating!!!

Tonight we met up with some friends who live in Logan. It was actually one of Chet's old mission companions and his wife and kids...The Johansen's. They are always so fun to hang around with and we don't get to see them very often so it was lots of fun. We went to dinner at TGIFridays and then went to the Festival of Trees. I love looking at the trees and gingerbread houses. People amaze me at their creativity and talent, but really...that place can be so depressing. Especially when you read the stories about who the tree is dedicated to.

This is a really cool gingerbread castle. It was HUGE and took over a month to make. It even had lights flickering in some of the windows to look like a fire was burning inside.

Hunter and a Superman tree he thought was SO cool!

This tree was amazing! It was completely made of glass!

The Johansen and Fullmer families

O Christmas Tree....

One of the best things about Christmas are the traditions and festivities. When it comes to our Christmas tree we have a little fake one downstairs that the kids decorate with the ornaments we give them every year as well as any that they make in school. Then we go and get a real one for upstairs.

Now, I like the whole traditional idea of going and picking out a real tree as well as the smell that it gives the house. However, I find that fake trees are cleaner, easier, less expensive in the long run and you don't have to worry so much about a fire hazard! I am really wanting a pre-lit tree to go upstairs in our front room as well but Chet is a very traditional person and INSISTS on getting a real tree every year. Even though he usually ends up grumpy and cussing b/c of the fuss and mess of it all. I just remind him that this is HIS idea to get a real one every year.

On the other hand, because he is such a traditional person and this means a lot to him to go out and get a real one every year I don't feel that it is my place to take that away from him. I think there will come a time when we're both too old to go out and get a real one so why not enjoy it and make the most of this tradition now, right?

We went to Smith's Marketplace to find our perfect tree.

What about this one?

And the winner is...

It really is a beautiful tree and my house smells so good right now! The smell won't last and when it doesn't I have a scentsy on the way to make up for it!