Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas! This has definitely been a Christmas to really remember. Addison is at that age that she is really getting into it and understanding what is going on. Here is a picture of the tree.













Here is a picture of her helping Brett put the star on the tree. She really liked looking at the ornaments and talking about why they are each special and who gave them to us and why.

For Christmas Eve, it was always a tradition in my family to go to a movie. We decided as our family to continue that tradition. We went to Bolt. Addison really liked it and Brett and I thought it was pretty funny. After the movie we drove around and looked at Christmas lights. When we got home, we all got in our PJs and read the story of the birth of Jesus Christ from the Bible. After that, we decided to each open one present. It was really nice to be able to spend this special time together as a family.

We thought Addison would be up fairly early on Christmas day. Luckily she didn't get up until 8:30!! She was a very good girl and came into our room and informed us that it was time to go down to see what Santa brought. When she saw what Santa brought her, she fell down by the couch and made some sort of squealing noise. I am guessing that was her squeal of approval. :)












Here are some pictures of her opening up her presents. Brett and I gave her clothes and shoes because she is growing like a weed. She opened up her new school shirts and said, "More clothes?" I had to laugh. I told her that she is really blessed to have so many clothes and she said, "yes, I am." We had a nice quiet Christmas at home with just the three of us. It was really windy outside and cold, so we didn't try to venture outside. We stayed inside and played with our new presents and watched Kung-Fu Panda and Anastasia.






Here is the picture we take each Christmas with all the presents. Addison had a great day and we had a good time as a family. We were planning on leaving right after we opened presents and drive to Casper to surprise both sets of grandparents, but because the weather was so bad, we decided not to. We ended up getting almost a foot of snow between Christmas night and the day after. At least we were able to be together as a family to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Addison LOVES to sing!

So, I thought I would share a little of what Addison has been up to at school. She is loving it! She is attending a charter school that emphasizes Spanish. She has also been able to be apart of Choir at her school. They performed at Barnes and Nobel at a school event there, then at the tree lighting ceremony for Layton City, for her school in a school assembly and then an actual concert. She really enjoyed it. Here are some pictures. She is quite the little entertainer.









Here is Addison with the three girls she carpools with.
(From left to right, Addison, Riley Bybee, Emily Gordon and Kira Thompson).

Happy Thanksgiving!!

A lot has happened since last I wrote. It has been busy around the house getting things back to normal and getting ready for Christmas. The week after I got back from Miami, we played hosts to my entire family.

For those who know nothing of my family, it is pretty big. There are 7 kids, along with my mom and dad. All of us are married and many of us have kids. So, if you take all of us and add us together, there is a total of 27 people. Now...close your eyes and imagine 27 people crammed into a 5-bedroom, 2100 square foot home....not a recipe for comfort...but definitely a recipe for FUN!

It was great to see the entire family. We all get along fairly well together. It was great to have the entire family here. I stayed up late every night and although I was exhausted, I had a lot of fun. Needless to say, I ended up getting sick on Sunday. :( Still don't feel 100%, but it's all good.

So, how did I fit all these people in my house? Well, my parents graciously (and for their sanity) stayed in a near-by hotel along with one brother and his family. Addison had to be kicked out of her room and put in our walk-in closet....she kept asking us "do I have to sleep in the closet again?" The novelty wore off with her after the 2nd night. We also took our 5 ft-high storage area and finished some of it to make it into a make-shift kid play area with a TV and toys during the day and a sleep area for my youngest brother and his wife at night.

Family started to arrive on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and started leaving Friday. My last two brothers and their families left on Sunday.

To the left are some pictures of our front room that we turned into the dinning room. We cleared out all the furniture to make room for the tables and chairs our neighbor let us borrow. Immediately to the left is a picture of the kitchen. It was hard to fit all those people and all that food in our house, but we managed. We had a lot of good food and we ended up making 8 pumpkin pies....and they were all gone by Saturday!

I had a moment of clarity during Thanksgiving. During Thanksgiving dinner, our family has a tradition of going around the table saying what we are thankful for. During this, I found myself looking at all my brothers and sister and their spouses and my parents, and thinking of how grateful I am for the blessings of the temple, of the sealing power and eternal families. Yes, we fight sometimes and don't get a long 100% of the time, but we are family and we love each other. We will be together forever and for that I am grateful.

It was great to have all of us together and I can't wait for us to all be together again. I just wish it would have lasted a little longer. As you see to the left....my brother, Evan, is a little crazy. I think this is why we have so much fun together....we are all crazy. :)