Way back in October, I checked my little sisters out of school and Ashley, my BYU sister drove down to Salt Lake for a Secret Christmas Present for my parents. I hired my friend to take some pictures of all of the sisters at Memory Grove by the Capitol. I can't believe that the secret didn't get out before Christmas and so I am glad that I could surprise my parents for Christmas! Here are my favorites! (Danielle Rappleye did the photography! She is amazing!)

We had a wonderful, WHITE Christmas! We woke up at 5:30 am and did our own Fackrell Family Christmas with Regan making his wonderful Christmas French Toast. The kids went into the Music Room to see what Santa brought them, loved it, then Regan and I opened our presents! I got Regan a blown up picture of us on our wedding day and had it framed for his office, and he gave me some new shoes, a knife set and a huge skillet! Did I mention that Regan's big present was his new mountain bike and mine was a great digital video camera!
Anyway, we hope you had a wonerful Christmas!

So this Christmas was so much fun because Riley really only wanted 2 things, and Santa granted those 2 things: A Diego Rescue Center and a Leapster with Games. Sunny got a cute little kitchen with lots of fake food and a dolly with a stroller and bottle! When they came down the stairs, they were excited to see the news toys and Sunny immediatly started to stash food and dishes in the kitchen cabinets! Riley has not put down the Leapster hardly at all since he first saw it on the couch!

Sunny looked so cute in her black and pink Christmas Dress with matching bows of course! Riley and Sunny wore Christmas PJ's and matching slippers on Christmas Eve! Regan read a Christmas book on Christmas Eve-tradition, and then we left a plate of cookies for Santa!

Christmas Eve was fun because we had Regan with us all day long-well except when he went to the Golden Compass with my brothers, and oh ya, when he went to work also! But you know what, that is a lot better than what it usually is like! Anyway, we went to the mall with Andrea's family to get a picture with Santa Claus (a long time tradition), Riley played his violin with me in the Christmas Eve Talent Show (we played Jingle Bells and he did AWESOME!), Riley was a Wise Man and Sunny was an angel for the Nativity, and then we went to Regan's family party and saw Santa again! WOW-we saw a lot of family and we had a great time!

We have visited with a lot of family over the last few days and it has been a lot of fun to spend time with them! Whenever Sunny has an opportunity, she will go up to anyone with a book and pretty much MAKE them read it to her! It was fun to see Uncle Jordan during the holidays-he will be leaving on a mission pretty soon! Way to go Jordan!

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: "Elder Ballard Urges Students to Use New Media
At a commencement address on December 15, 2007, Elder M. Russell Ballard urged graduating students at Brigham Young University-Hawaii to use blogs and other forms of “new media” to contribute to a national conversation about the Church."

I read this article in the Newspaper and felt an urgency to share what I know of the Gospel through my blog. Who ever knew that blogging would be a way to share with our friends and family our testimonies of the Gospel? I have decided to share an aspect of the Gospel in my Blog once a week, so please check back weekly to see what is new.
Also check out www.lds.org anytime for answers to questions about the Church.

I think my brother would kill me if he saw this posting, but here goes nothing! I just had all of my family over at our house last night for my brother, Scotty's Graduation Party! He graduated from BYU-I this past weekend, and we had a party for him! He is a cute guy, a graduate now, and is staying in Utah! If any of you want to set him up with someone you know, let me know because he is a catch! Love ya Scotty!

Sounds like a Cartoon right? Well, this is for real! I was walking by the Music Room where our Christmas Tree is and all of a sudden it started to move! I freaked out, but then was too curious to be scared! Low and behold, one of our little kittens was in the Christmas Tree just hanging out! Of course a lot of the decorations were off, so I had to re-decorate the tree! Then Sunny had curlers in her hair for the first time and she just looked so darn cute! I think I have come to terms that her hair will never be as curly as Riley's, so I am resorting to curlers!

Riley wrote a letter to Santa Claus, with mom's help and then he decided to mail it to the North Pole! Well, a letter came back to Riley from Santa! He was so excited to see what Santa said! The next day, we got a knock on our door, Riley answered it, and Santa was at our house! Right when Riley saw him, he said, "Daddy!-why are you a Daddy Santa?" Regan had to dress up as Santa for one of our friends Family parties, and so he decided to come to our house to-not thinking that Riley would recognize him! I guess a boy knows his daddy even when he looks pretty funny!

My Aunt Linda came into town last weekend, so we spent some time with her. She played with the kids while the big kids (Regan and the girls) put together a gingerbread house! The frosting was not keeping the walls up, so Regan Hot Glued it! Riley & Sunny loved decorating it with candies-Sunny ate more than she decorated with! Here is the result!

So it has been a while since I have actually posted pictures and updated my blog so here we go! I actually thought that nothing went on, but then I downloaded my pictures, and ya-things went on! I just can't believe that I take so many pictures!
Pictures in Order:
*Girls Night Out-we went to the Forgotten Carols by Michael Mclean and out to dinner. It totally put me in the Christmas Spirit!
*Out to dinner at the Joseph Smith Building, the Garden with a bunch of friends. I love date night! We had to split up into 5 people on 1 table and 5 people on another table and it was so much fun to have all of the girls at 1 and the boys at another! Sorry Regan!
*As We left the Joseph Smith Movie, it was snowing so hard and I didn't have a hood on my coat, so needless to say, my hair was soaked! I started out with straight hair, and ended up with really curly hair!
*Regan and I went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert on Saturday night and it was amazing! Now I am really in the Christmas Spirit. We got in our seats at 6:00, and the concert didn't start until 7:30 so we had some relaxing time reading our books beforehand. Regan's mom was so sweet to watch our kids all night at our own house! Thanks Michelle!

So I am only posting this because one of my quartet members said that I needed to. Last night my quartet played at a company Christmas Party at Snowbird Resort. I didn't do my mapquest research before hand because I thought it was up Big Cottonwood Canyon. So here I am driving on snowy canyon roads thinking I am going up the right canyon, but all of a sudden it is a dead end and I am at Solitude Resort. It was there that I knew I had gone up the wrong canyon. I had driven up at least 20 miles of snowy canyon roads and by now, I was having a panic attack because I was already late for the party! I somehow got down the canyon which was a miracle because I was just bawling my eyes out. When I finally got to the lodge, it was 2 hours from when I had left my house (a trip for normal people would have taken 25 minutes). My bow was shaking as I played my viola with the quartet. The reason why I was so worked up about it all was because I was the organizer for the quartet and I had all of the quartet music!

Moral of Story: Know where you are going, before you go!
Little Cottonwood Canyon:
Snowbird, Alta SKI Resorts

Big Cottonwood Canyon:
Solitude, Brighton SKI resorts

We rode on Trax downtown and Riley & Sunny absolutly LOVED it! When the train started to move, they smiled SO big! We went downstairs in the Temple Square Visitor Center. Riley was looking at all of the Book of Mormon's and Bibles that are translated in many languages. He also wanted to get a picture with Joseph Smith. It is so amazing to me that the Gospel is in so many languages and available to so many people. I am so blessed to have the knowledge of the Gospel and to have the Book of Mormon at my fingertips.

We took our little family to Temple Square for Family Night last night. Riley and Sunny had never been to see the Christus on Temple Square, so it was really neat for Riley to see Jesus for the first time. He said to me, "Mom, how come Jesus won't talk to me?" I told him that it was just a statue to help us remember him. He said, "but I want him to talk to me." I told Riley that we can talk to Jesus when we say our prayers. It was really neat to walk around to see the gorgeous lights and to talk about the Gospel to our 2 young kids! Sunny was in awe as she sat on Regan's shoulders and took in all of the lights, people and sights!