Charity Get Together

As siblings, we decided that instead of drawing eachother's names for Christmas, we would take that money and do something in the form of charity instead. We decided that each year one of us would be in charge of deciding how the money would be used. Our first year we started with my oldest brother, Jason, being in charge and have worked our way down. That year we picked names off of a Giving Tree and used our money to buy things for those families.
Last year, our second year, my older sister, Tricia, was in charge. We chose to buy materials and tie blankets to give to Primary Children's Hospital. We all gathered at the hospital and dropped off the blankets.
This year was similiar. My brother Jedd was in charge and chose to buy toys to donate to Primary Children's Hospital. Once again, we all gathered at the hospital and dropped them off. Both years we have been there, there has been an awesome Christmas tree display.

We are only missing 3 people: Haylee, Nate and Blake who are across the country in Georgia.
Grandkids

Sadie, Lindsey, Paityn, Hannah and Andee in front of one of the other neat Christmas trees they had there.

Andee and cousin Hannah in front of the big display. This was a Christmas Tree from Festival of Trees that goes on every year. It was pretty amazing.

Paityn and cousin Sadie with a surfin' Santa.

My brother Jedd's oldest daughter, Madison, was able to be there with us. We don't get to see her very often and we were so excited to see her. She's 12 years old and one of the "big kids" now. Here she is with the "older" girls.

Madison with her two little sisters, Lindsey and Hannah. They just love their big sister so much.

One of the reasons Jedd chose to donate to Primary Children's Hospital is because Madison has spent quite a bit of time there herself and they have always been so good to her.

I didn't even get a picture of them, but there were bags and bags full of toys and things for the kids at the hospital. It's kind of anti-climactic because all you can do is take the toys to the front desk and they just set them aside to be taken elsewhere later. I guess it's just a good excuse to get together :)

After dropping of the toys and things, we went to eat at Sizzler. We love Sizzler! You can make fun of us all you want but we love it!

Paityn and Brooklyn sat together and didn't shut up the entire time! She loves to be with the "older" kids.

Andee and Sadie sat together. Andee was her usual self and did a lot of talking and not a lot of eating. What some cheesy grins!

Kenadie having a good time with Dylan. She's just all over the place and didn't sit still for one minute.

So I guess it's my turn to be in charge next Christmas. I'm already thinking about it and wondering what I'll do. It's going to be good!

Christmas 2010

I just love, love, love Christmas time. I get so excited for the day after Halloween when a few radio stations start playing Christmas music. I love the whole season. My season just happens to last 2 whole months! I always begin my Christmas shopping somewhere in August and Dave always gets so mad at me because then I end up over-buying. He's right, but I just can't help myself.
Ever since Paityn was a baby, we have done the Christmas Eve pajama thing (like so many, I know). Dave and I give pj's to the girls and then we give eachother pj's as well. I look forward to my new pajamas every year.

I made Dave smile! If you haven't noticed, he never does in pictures.
I found the girls' pj's at Disneyland this year. They were so cute in their matching evening attire!

Also, for Christmas Eve, Dave cooked us an awesome filet mignon steak dinner. It was delish!

When I was growing up, my siblings and I would often sleep squished in the same room, whether it be in a closet or squeezed together in one bed. So this year I told the girls they could sleep in their sleepingbags on the floor in my room. They were beside themselves with excitement and didn't go to sleep until 10:30 because they were up talking and giggling. It made me smile!

After staying up until 12:45 am, I was worried that we would have a really early morning but they didn't even wake up until about 7:45. That was with a little coaxing from Paityn, or else Andee could have slept a while longer.

Looking back now, I wish I would have taken more pictures of things like how it all looked before the girls went down and what each of them got individually, but this will have to do.

Andee checking her things out. She was funny because the first thing she wanted to open was her present from Becca (daycare/pre-school teacher). We had to physically steer her back to what Santa brought her.

Both Paityn and Andee got white desks with pink swivel chairs. That's what kept us up late :)

Another thing I tried to get was Kenadie's reaction to seeing everything for the first time, but it all happened so fast. Her face was just priceless. She stood there pointing with her little mouth in the shape of an "o" and jumping up and down. This little rocking horse was sitting on top of another wrapped present, but she didn't care, she got right on and started rocking.

Kenadie also got Lulu the Furreal kitty. This is as close to a pet cat as we will ever be getting. Kenadie loves it because she can pet it and it will purr and move.

Paityn at her desk

After a great breakfast (Dave cooked again and went all out...again DELISH!), we got everything settled and headed on down to Manti for more Christmas celebrations at my mom and dad's house. Everyone was able to be there except for my sister, Haylee, and her family. They did, however, join us via skype for the highlight of the night: White Elephant gift exchange! Again, wish I had more pictures.

My mom really spoils the grandkids. This year they got these really cute hampers (at least that's what we're using ours for). We also have the cousins pick names and give to eachother.

Kenadie got a new book among other fun things.

My mom has always done pajamas for the grandkids and since most of the grandkids on my side of the family are girls, there are a lot of nightgowns involved. Here's all the younger grand-daughters in their matching polka-dot nightgowns. My girls always LOVE these!

All the grandkids (minus 2 that weren't able to be there). Notice that there are only 3 boys out of the whole bunch. They range in age from 18 years down to 1 1/2 years.

We had a great Christmas and are already threatening the girls that we'll take things away if they don't learn how to behave :). The cycle just doesn't end

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

When we got the call that school was not going to happen (thanks Kim!), it didn't take long for my girls to decide that they were going to enjoy the snow. They were bundled up and ready to go before I could tell them yes or no. But it was so fun and even Kenadie got in on the action.

Everyone got involved, well, except me who just liked watching :) With a big deck, it gave Dave lots to do and with a big back yard, it gave lots of snow space to play.

Andee finding buried treasure in the snow. Who knows what could be under there from fall.

Andee got done so her and Kenadie just watched out the window while daddy shoveled snow.

The beginnings of a snowman.......

....and with a little help from dad, the finished product. Great snow for making snowmen!

Just Call Me "Amy Oakley"

You would think that with as many guns as we have in our house (locked safely away in a safe, in case you were worried) that I would know what to do with one if I had to. But no, I didn't have a clue and frankly, they made me a little (ok, a lot) nervous. So when a friend in the ward said that she was taking ladies from the ward to the shooting range, where they could take a little gun safety class and then shoot afterwards, I decided to join them. Dave has offered to let me shoot but I was not interested in the least. Did I mention that they make me really nervous?!
The day of the trip to the shooting range just happen to fall on a day that Dave would be, ironically, hunting. Before he left, he "tried" to show me how to work the gun but I wanted nothing to do with it. Just seeing him get it out made me breathe more rapidly. I tuned him out and said "no thanks"!
OK....so came the day and I thought about it all day. Worried might be a better word. I even considered not going because I kept imagining the worst. I sucked it up, toted my gun and ammo to the meeting place and we traveled to the shooting range in Springville. We started by having a gun safety class and then continued on into the shooting range itself. I was still pretty clueless. I was a little overwhelmed and I was sure glad our fearless leader knew what she was doing. With ear and eye protection on, we shouted our way through setting up targets and getting guns ready. We were a little jumpy and that first shot we heard while in there was a little bone rattling. But I soon learned that it was nothing compared to the first shot I took myself. After getting over the shock of the noise, the flash and just the fact that I had a gun in my hand and using it, it was kind of a big rush.

Got the stance, ready to go
We were all a little nervous. I think it made us all feel better knowing that those of us going for the first time felt the same way. I wasn't sure I knew what I was doing. Catherine "tried" to help :)

One guy there had this huge gun and asked if we wanted to try it. SURE, why not! It was really cool! I had my coat on the whole time because it was FREEZING in there.

Mine and Catherine's targets. I think I did pretty good. Watch out bad guys!

Catherine said she shot a lot more than what it showed. She's not sure where all the bullets went :) She had never shot a gun in her life and she did really well.

Amy and Stephanie with their targets. Stephanie was our fearless leader who arranged it all and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to guns. She was awesome. Thanks Stephanie!

Bonnie goes quite a bit too. She's a good shot!

I had a great time and now I think Dave has it in his mind that it could be the beginning of some wonderful husband/wife bonding time. Maybe not my kind of bonding but it could make for a fun datenight I guess. Anyone interested?

Happy Halloweeeeeeeen

What would Halloween be without the rain I ask you? It seems to be the turning point from summerish to winterish weather. And I guess it just wouldn't be the same without it.
Our Halloween started on Thursday with the school parade and carnival. Dave was nice enough to bring Andee and Kenadie down for the events. It's tradition. I've paraded my kids through the school every Halloween since Paityn was born. I love it.
Cinderella won out again this year for Andee. We went through quite a few different options but I guess thankfully she decided on something we already had.

Paityn chose something simple too. A cute little cat! You can't see them but she had a cute tail and some cute little paws that didn't stay on long.

And our little Kenadie had no choice. She got to wear something we already had too. You can't really tell here, but she's a 50's girl. It's so cute to see her toddle down the hall in this little poddle skirt. She found this horse, which was part of one of my students costume, and just "rode" around the room on it for quite a while. I hope Santa was watching :)

Friday was the night we carved our pumpkins. I always love this activity. It really shows my kids personalities.

Kenadie is interested in how everything tastes. She came to the conclusion that the insides of the pumpkin weren't that great tastin'.

This is typical Andee. She has been grossed out by the whole thing ever since her first Halloween.

Need I say more about how Kenadie felt about the whole thing.

Paityn has always loved doing this. She is now to the age where she does the whole thing by herself. She was very thoughtful about what she wanted her pumpkin to look like. It turned out great!

The full affect. Left to right: Paityn's, Kenadie's, Dave's, Andee's.

The Pumpkin Carving Crew. I'm part of the "behind the scenes" crew.

Saturday night was our ward Trunk or Treat. It was actually 3 wards combined and it was meant to be in the "trunks" but ended up inside the church itself due to the rain.

Paityn was once again a cat

A bundled-up Cinderella this time

And we changed Kenadie's costume to a ladybug because it was much warmer. And besides, she is our little "bug".

This was the scene at the beginning of trunk or treat. POuring rain, lots of umbrellas, lots of puddles and lots of cold, wet kids. They braved the weather for about 10 minutes until we saw that everyone was moving inside the church. To be honest, the conditions weren't much better. It was a combined, 3 ward activity and there were so many people crammed into the gym. IT was hot and hard to move around. Oh well. They got TONS of candy. I'm thinking that if it rains next year, we're just going to the mall (great idea Angie!)

Me and Kenadie manned the treats while the others went tricking

Oh boy! Kenadie couldn't believe all the candy.

Happy Halloween everyone!