Christmas 2010

Just a warning: if you are not family you may get tired of the endless pictures in this post. Sorry! We had so many pictures it was hard to choose just a few; we had so much fun this year!

This picture requires some explanation. My mom had been saying that me and my brother had similar profiles, so we had to get close and examine them. Really, we weren't about to kiss! We had also just gotten back from a run, so I look scroungy. My brother and I both run, we haven't done a race yet together but it is a goal. We got to go on two runs together while he was here.

Hanging out! I love having my brother and his wife here. They live in Tennessee and I only get to see them once a year, so it was very exciting to have them!



Making cookies for Santa, a Christmas Eve tradition. The girls get to decorate two; one to eat and one for Santa.

The girls warmed up quick to Uncle Paul. I was worried about Corrine, she hasn't seen him for a year and that is more than half her life, but she was comfortable quite quick!

Then is was Christmas Eve. That night we opened presents to and from PJ and Jackie, since they were going to her family for Christmas day. That night we also had our nice, big dinner.

Jackie made the girls hats and scarfs, and they looked adorable.

Here am I opening a homemade present from Jackie.

Here are the girls in their Christmas pj's for this year. I bought the shirts and embroidered their initials on them and made the pants out of silky material lined with flannel.


Time to put out the cookies and milk for Santa! Then the girls went to bed and we played games and watched movies.

Christmas morning, we ate breakfast, PJ and Jackie left, then we opened all the rest of the presents.

Here is Michaela with her owl. I made each girl an owl out of my scrap fabric. They didn't cost me anything and they loved them!

Here is Corrine with her owl!

Here is my mom opening a HUGE picture of a cat that Ava made her! Ava made presents for everyone this year, and wrapped them up herself. She worked on this one all afternoon long.

Payden got boots and skis we bought her used online. When she opened the boots, I asked her to try them on because I was worried they would be too small. She tried shoving her foot in them, but couldn't get it in. So I took it from her. It smelled awful! I told her we would wash them. I couldn't get the liner out, so Jason took it from me. He looked inside, and said "There is a dead mouse in there"! No wonder they smelled so bad! Payden started crying (she had just tried to shove her foot in there) and everyone else started laughing and jumping and just making a bunch of noise. It was so funny! Poor Payden. She was still excited about her present after she calmed down.



Does everyone else's house look like this Chrismtas morning?

We also took a trip to the Temple to see the lights, and got a $30 ticket for parking in the wrong place!

Corrine looks so big in this picture!

A visit to Saint Nick

This year we got to see Santa at our ward party. Usually we go to the mall, but the santa and the set up looked so good here that it saved us a trip! Ava and Corrine were so excited to see Santa. Ava could hardly wait her turn to get up there.

Here is a pic with all of them, Michaela really didn't want to do it because her friends were there. She did humor me and go stand behind santa, so she is in the pic, just way int he back! Payden is just in between enough that she wanted to see Santa too.

She is asking Santa for a bubble gum gun(?) and a pillow pet. He brought her a pillow pet!

So cute! Ava and Corrine had so much fun sitting on Santa's lap!

Holiday Yummies

I always love holiday baking. It is one of my favorite traditions. (Who am I kidding, all of our traditions are my favorites!) I love planning out what I am going to make, getting the supplies, and spending a day or two making everything. Then plating it up and delivering. Usually, I make 20 or so plates of yummies, but this year we didn't know many people here so I only had six plates to do. I still enjoyed the process, though! The mint fudge was especially yummy. I made two batches!

We made "gingerbread" houses out of graham crackers for FHE one night. It was a fun activity, and fun to see how creative all of us are.

We used copious amounts of mini marshmallows. They make good snow.

Corrines was more of a shack than a house. But she loved it!


Here is mine. The only problem with doing this is that you have them sitting out in your kitchen for a week!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a lot of fun on Thanksgiving! We had my mom, David and Natalia, and Gene and Marlene over for dinner. We spent time playing games, playing wii, and hanging out.

Here is Corrine and Daddy singing some karoke!

This is our thankful turkey. We put it up a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, and one night we sit down and color a bunch of feathers. (That alone is a fun FHE!) Then we put the feathers in a bowl and throughout the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, we write on the backs of the feathers what we are thankful for, then tape them to the turkey. Ava had a lot of fun with it this year, she put a lot of feathers on! Then we read them on Thanksgiving.

Hanging out, looking at Black Friday ads and watching the parade.

My mom and I made dinner. We worked well together and made a delicious dinner! Really, everything tasted so good. We made turkey, artichoke parmisean stuffing, maple pecan sweet potatoes, homemade rolls, creamed leeks, cranberry sauce mashed potatoes and gravy. Marlene brought pink stuff, we have to have that! YUM! For dessert, I made a chocolate truffle pie and an apple pie, and Marlene brought a pumpkin pie, and we ate them all with homemade whipped cream. We were all so stuffed we could hardly move.

Ava and Corrine helped by putting out the leaves.

Here I am with my turkey. We brined it again this year, and I totally recommend it. It was THE BEST turkey.

The spread!

Leading up to Thanksgiving, Ava was very excited about the turkey, especially about getting to eat a big huge leg! It took her about two days to eat it!

Lots of yummy stuff! I still can't believe I pulled it off, but everything was ready on time and hot on the table. I have done this for a few years, it is so fun!

But even better than the food was the company. We loved having everyone here with us for the holiday. My mom and David and Natalia stayed overnight with us, and we loved having them. What a great Thanksgiving!

Fun with straws and faces

Silly girls.

How I love silly girls.


And sometimes they are just super silly. Ava made this contraption with straws, and her little sidekick did what she does best, copied her sister. Also, Ava is in PJ's 'cause she had PJ day at school. She was so excited to wear her PJ's to school! When I dropped her off though, she said "I hope it really is pj day, or I will be embarassed!" So cute. That might have had something to do with the fact that when we piled into the car to go to school that morning, in a rush as always, I said to her "Ava! We forgot to get you dressed!" A momentary look of shock and fear crossed her face before she got my joke and laughed. It was so cute.

Michaela's Quilt

For one of her Young Women's requirements, Michaela decided to make a quilt. She had a lot of fun doing it, and she did it herself. I just showed her what to do, and she did a great job. I expected to have to spend a lot more time with her helping her than I did. She is either a natural or very good at following instructions! I explained each step once, showed her how to do it, then turned her loose. Except for a couple of problems, that was all I did!

She did get the pre-requisite training in ripping up seams, which even seasoned seamstresses still need to do now and then. She sewed one strip on upside down. After making her quilt, she said she wanted a sewing machine for Christmas! I told her I have my old one in a box; we can get it out, get it tuned up and then she and Payden can use that one whenever they want.

She tied this quilt, because we only had a couple of weeks. She did a fantastic job. I am so pleased that my daughters share some of my interests! It was fun to help her with this project, and she loves the quilt she made. It is hard to see in the pictures, but it is a yellow and white floral quilt in 12 inch squares. I made sure to let her know that I will teach her what I know, but that I was never trained; I taught myself what I know about sewing. Marlene did teach me how to tie a quilt, and for that I am very grateful. If my girls want to have perfect quilts and sewing projects, they will need to take classes or something! But maybe I am teaching them something more important; the joy of doing something for pleasure and not because of the outcome. Who said quilts need to be perfect anyway?

Our little tree

We always have our fake pretty tree, then a real tree for all our special ornaments. I love the smell of a real tree. This year, we don't have much room, so we got a little tree. A VERY little tree. More of a bush, really, but we love it, and it smells good. Please excuse the little one in underwear. We are casually potty training, and that night she was in undies.

Here is our finished masterpiece, with all our beloved ornaments.


Jason and I got all snazzed up to go to his office party. It is held in a country club in Draper and is lots of fun. We got a yummy, free dinner and a nice night out.

Congratulations David and Natalia!

In November, David and Natalia got married. We are so happy for them and excited for their future. And I am so excited to have another sister in law!