Christmas Day

I love this picture!! The glow of the lights on the Christmas Tree in the corner the evidence that Santa stopped by in the night to deliver treasures for the kiddos. Kinda like the calm before the storm so to speak. I love that this moment is frozen and you can almost taste the anticipation!

You have been and always will be my Clark W. Griswold. Sparky even sported the appropriate shirt for the celebration!Every one getting spoiled at Grandma & Grandpa's...Waders!!!!??? No way!!!!And back home to see the goods Santa brought...

Ice fishing rod.... AWESOME!!Her prized possession!! A NINTENDO DS!!Their gifts to each other! Happy kids!From what I've been told, this was Lilly's favorite thing she got this year and has played with it quite a bit! I knew she would love it!I gave Clay a Keurig and it's been very much enjoyed! :)Merry Christmas everyone!!

Christmas Eve

I love spending time together as a family around the holidays. Even though Christmas is a crazy, stressful time of year it's so nice to continue the same traditions that I had as a little girl and start new ones with my kids. Unfortunately, my kids' Christmas traditions are split between Clay and I and their dad. And this year I only had them for an hour on Christmas Eve and for 6 hours in the afternoon on Christmas. We have to make the most of the time we get together. I hope my kids will always look back on their Christmas' with happy memories just like I did. I can't even imagine how hard it is for them to have divorced parents. :( Now that it's almost March I will try and get caught up and post about Christmas! :)

Books from Clay & I

PJ's from Grandma & Grandpa NielsenReading to Hadley... so stinking sweet!Continuing the PJ tradition...And a rare hug.... this is what it's all about.Happy Christmas Eve!

Teacher & Friend Gifts

Wanted to share these cute SIMPLE Christmas gifts that we made for Courtney's teacher and all the kids in her class. The wood apple was for her teacher, which I bought at Wood Creations.

For her classmates, I bought small notebooks at Staples and we covered the spines with scrapbook paper tied jute around them and attached a pen. Then we put all the gifts in brown lunch sacks that I had used a border punch along the top to cute them up. Added a label and tied on a tulle bow. Easy and perfect! I'm not a fan of singling out individual friends to give gifts to and I feel if you give to one, you give to all! We went with a fairly inexpensive gift that I hope everyone loved!

Christmas Eve Morning/Afternoon

On the morning of Christmas Eve, we got up pretty early and took the kids to breakfast at IHOP and then stopped real quick at Inkley's to see why my camera wouldn't take a decent picture. Yea, found out that I had accidentally switched the lens to manual focus, ugh!!! We are all good now! I'm just relieved that's all it was. Then we stopped and visited with Clay's dad at the nursing home and wished him a Merry Christmas!

The kids were then off to their dads and Ashley brought Lilly over to see us for a while, so we let her open a present. She was so happy and excited!! It was the cutest thing!!The proof is in the pictures! Happy little girl with her new cow doll. :)

Christmas Tradition

Every year it's a tradition to spend a Saturday in Layton doing our Christmas shopping. My mom, sisters and aunt are always there and this year we had an added bonus! Clay came with us! He was our chauffeur and hauled us all down south. Honestly, Clay is the best shopping company and we had a blast!!! I remembered my camera this year but it was on the fritz so I apologize for the poor quality photos but I think you will get the point.

Our first stop on the way was at Maddox Drive In for some lunch. Quite orgasmic, if you ask Breck! ;) She is our entertainment every year and has earned the nickname "Tour Guide Barbie". It definately wouldn't be the same without her!

Breck & Keesha having lunch in the car! Mmmmmm
Modeling in front of Tai PanWhen we came out of Tai Pan we saw this sweet muscle car, had to take a quick photo. Breck posed in front of it but my pictures were all blurry.Never a dull moment with Breck around! Had to take advantage of the toys at the mall! Biker Babe!!

Breck and Clay throwing a ball back and forth in Target.Looks like we made a haul!! Seriously always have a wonderful time with my awesome family! Can't wait till next year! ;)

Gingerbread Houses

I decided to start a new tradition and let Courtney decorate a gingerbread house. I cheated and bought a pre-made kit and wrapped it up for her as a surprise. She was pretty excited and begged me the rest of the week to put together. So finally we had Kenzlie over and they both decorated their houses (well, they did for a few minutes and then Keesha and I finished them) I should have known that's how it was going to go. Oh well, the girls had fun anyway and that's what it's all about. We just might continue this tradition. :)

Pepper

About three months ago our Pepper had to have some surgery. She had a tumor in one of her nipples and had to have it removed and also was spayed. The vet said if we didn't have her spayed she had a greater chance of having another tumor return. She did really well and I was relieved to have it taken care of. Within a week or so she was pretty much back to normal. Then once the weather turned cold I noticed she was moving a little slower than usual and had figured that it was due to the cold and recovering from the surgery. Unfortunately, there must have been more going on than we knew about because she passed away on Tuesday, December 6th. It was so sad to have to tell the kids and it has effected me more than I realized. I came to depend on her just being there to protect me and keep me company when I was alone. There is definatley a huge void in our family since losing her. Pepper was a very loyal, well mannered dog and even when she escaped from the yard she never left our property. She just sat on the porch and waited for me to come home. Silly girl. Sure, Pepper has been a VERY expensive dog, (chewed up lawn mower bags, chewed up 4 wheeler controls and grips, numerous dog beds, gloves, shoes and other random items) I love her. ;) She always loved us unconditionally and minded really well. I really miss my snow shoveling buddy. Rest in peace sweet girl. We love you!