Seay For All

We have a lot of traditions around Christmas time. Usually every Christmas Eve we go out to and have a nice dinner at the Chart House. This year we decided to have the same nice dinner only at home this time. Our good friends Todd and Jen always join us which has been a lot of fun over the years. Also my Mom, Dad, Ben, and Esther were all able to come over and enjoy a fun night. Part of the fun was the Wii...it's always fun to watch the adults try to keep up with the kids.
Another fun tradition is that we always let the kids open one present on Christmas Eve. They have now all caught on that every year it's pajamas. Hey they need to look cute for pictures in the morning :)

So a tradition has started and is now in its 8th year (I think) that my brother Scott brings snow to Southern California well at least at his house. It started in the beginning that he would drive up to the mountains fill a truck full of snow and then empty it on his front lawn. However it has changed quite a bit he now has found a company that brings it to him. The kids have sooooo much fun every year having snow ball fights and sledding. This year Jake was a crack up he carried his sled up and down the ramp nonstop for about 2 hours he didn't want to stop. Towards the end of the day some of the boys tried to be adventurous and surf down the hill it was fun watching them all try. Tera was awesome and had a constant supply of hot cocoa, bagels, and muffins to feed the hungry kids. I think this is one of the kids favorite Christmas traditions and we really appreciate being a part of it each year.

After the kids were done playing in the snow my family had a Christmas party and dinner. It is always a lot of fun! For the past couple of years us siblings have given each other white elephant gifts just to mix it up a little. The gifts are always crazy, funny, and make for a good laugh.

My parents gifts are always very thoughtful and this year was no exception. They had my Grandfathers map of the war along with his picture, awards, and discharge papers all framed and matted for each of us. General Patten ordered that an accurate map be kept of their progress through Europe. So my grandfather having an art background was ordered to draw the map which ended up taking him 2 years because of all the detail.(excuse all of the Christmas stuff in front of it...we haven't hung it yet)

Our church does a great Christmas party every year that the kids always look forward to. This year there was a skit that Mike participated in which was very fun for the kids to see him up on the stage.One big happy family :)
The kids all got up on the stage and sung Christmas songs which of course Jake loved. He might not be the best singer but he for sure wins on enthusiasm. After the skit and sing along Santa came to see all the kids.
Mikes parents were in town visiting which we always love. So they were able to join us for the party. The refreshments were delicious hot cocoa and tons of homemade cookies...

It seems like for each of kids birthdays I find myself asking the same question where has the time gone. I can't believe that my baby is 4...crazy!Jake was a great and easy baby. He slept well, ate good, and was usually always happy.
Jake was welcomed into our growing family with open arms. All of the kids wanted to hold him and play with him whether he was sleeping or not.My little guy has always been a trooper as he is rushed off from one practice to another and basically living in the car with me.
Out of all of my kids Jake has the most personality. We always say with Jake you never know what your going to get. He is so much fun to be around and is constantly making us all laugh.
Jake loves playing with his family, cousins, and friends. It is always a sad day when everyone leaves for school and he goes through the house looking for someone to play with.

Jake is a little too smart for his own good. He literally thinks hes the same age as his older brothers and so therefore should be able to do everything that they can do. He has always been very easy to reason with because he can think through the situation. Jake is amazing when it comes to video games and the computer. He has been by far the youngest to figure out how to play and operate most electronic games.

I love his huge smile he loves the camera...I think he's the only one in the family that does everyone else just tolerates it. I usually always have my camera out ready to take pictures. but for those moments when I don't it's Jake asking me to get it and take his picture.
I try very hard to make sure Jake has a good birthday separate from Christmas. I guess that is every parents idea when there are December birthdays. Jake wanted a white cake with white frosting and gummy bears on top...I'm happy that he is still easy to please. This year Jake asked for a webkinz and the new Mario Wii game he loves playing games with his brothers.

Happy Happy Birthday Jakers Your The Best!

So I am obviously posting this very late seeing how it was Christmas this last week, but I had so many awesome pictures. The task of narrowing them down was overwhelming. I decided the only logical way to get the most amount of pictures would be "collages" and even doing a lot of them I still left out tons and tons of cute pictures. The first day we got in the kids were already to go sledding. It is really nice because they have a magic carpet which is a lot like an escalator, so you don't have to climb back up the hill. Of course that meant the kids wanted to go over and over again which they loved.
The Alpine Slide is always our kids favorite thing while we are up there. This year was no exception...we even got Papa to join in the fun he is such a big kid. Tyler was finally old enough to go on his own so his last trip down he went solo and the guy at the top had to keep telling Tyler to sit on his butt. I saw him coming down the mountain on his sled on his knees. That was the only way he had enough strength to push the lever down. He was very cute doing that, but I'm sure that was not very safe. Every year my Mom wants a group picture of all of her grand kids which all of us parents dread, but this year the kids were great and we got some awesome pictures of everyone.
As we were taking group pictures of the cousins I needed to snap a couple shots of my kids. They were so happy to be in Big Bear, but I think they would have been happier if I had forgotten my camera :)
Dinner was very yummy! Everyone pitched in and dinner tasted excellent. The house that we were staying in was perfect and had enough room to sit all of us for dinner. Bree and her friend Nia also joined us for dinner it was a lot of fun having them. It still amazes me that all day of preparation can be done with and consumed within a matter of minutes, but they are some pretty tasty minutes.
I am so blessed to have such a great family. All of the kids had so much fun hanging out and playing together. They built forts outside, had laser gun wars with the Dads, played boardgames and of course video games, practiced their parts for the talent show, watched movies, and just couldn't get enough of each other.I had this crazy idea at dinner that we should try to get all of the kids to do a human pyramid. We attempted it with a lot of laughter and got some very funny shots. Of course us adults couldn't sit back and let the kids have all of the fun. We all decided to try to do one ourselves it was hysterical! If only you could hear a picture you would all be laughing out loud right now.
How amazing is this picture...We actually got an entire family picture with everyone in it!

Thanks again Scott and Tera!

Another season of soccer ended with a fun party. Spencer's team Strike Force had a very good season. Out of 48 teams they ended up placing second. All of the boys played well together and they had an awesome coach that taught them a ton. Spencer played sweeper the whole season and was awarded with the best defensive player on his team. Just when I thought the season was over I got a call yesterday from his coach that their team was chosen to move onto area playoffs...so that means another 2 games this week :)

(phone camera...picture was not that great)
It was my birthday at the beginning of the month and it was great. All of my friends and family were awesome remembering me. Most birthdays last a day, but lucky me mine lasted the whole week. This was my week: Priceless homemade cards, tons of birthday phone calls, lunch with Mom, shopping money, breakfast in bed, dinner out with friends, Clippers game, dinner out with Mike and friends, lunch out, dinner out, family dinner out. So as you can see all I did for the week was EAT!
Mike took me to one of my favorite restaurants Mastros, and of course it was amazing. The food was more than enough and then they brought out this dessert platter...crazy!
I was very spoiled by everyone...Thanks! Mike got me an ipod touch that I have been wanting and I love it. My good friend Jenny made me this amazing, perfect, beautiful quilt. My sister burned a ton of cds for my new ipod...I'm still loading them :) My Mom got me the cutest shirts she's the best. My awesome Mom in law gave me some shopping money (got a new pair of running shoes). I also got a couple of gift cards and of course dinners out from my friends.

THANKS EVERYONE...LOVE YOU!

(Cracking up at Tyler's shirt just noticed he was off a button)
Every year at our church all the kids do a primary program. It is one of my favorite Sundays out of the year. We were very lucky this year to have both my parents and Mikes parents come out for it. The kids all had an individual part that they wrote themselves and recited it from memory in front of everyone...they did great!

I think my favorite part was Jake. I have never laughed so hard in my life, and soon I couldn't hold back the tears. Every song that was sung there was Jake singing so LOUD almost screaming. He was so dang cute I didn't even know that he knew so many of the songs. As he was enthusiastically singing you could hear that he was really singing the right words to the songs. This was a total shock to me because the rest of my kids sing very quietly just enough so I think they're singing. So Jake was the star of the day. While he wasn't singing he just stared down at all of us with hugest cheesy grin. At that point I have to admit that I got emotional what a great kids I have...I am truly blessed.

Every October seems to come and go in a blur. You start the month off first trying to figure out where the year has gone and how in the world can it already be October. What's even crazier before Halloween is over there are Christmas decorations out at every store...complete madness! Anyway I do really enjoy all of the holidays they just seem to come quicker and quicker every year.

I think the last 3 months of every year consists of 75 percent of all my pictures. I love pictures at the pumpkin patch. Lucky for me my family puts up with me and my camera without complaining...well most of the time.
Tyler and Jake were Clone Troopers from Star Wars. I mean really are there any other costumes besides star wars? Not in my boys minds.Spencer also chose Star Wars for his costume. He was a Jawa which are the sand creatures.
Brooke was a turtle this year. We decided to have fun with some makeup and dress her costume up a little. She was such a cute turtle.

Grandma and Grandpa Williams came out to go trick or treating with us. Of course the kids loved that. When we got back Mike did his usual check of all the candy while making a pile for himself :) It was a fun night!

This is our second year that we have done a Halloween Party with a bunch of friends. Mike and Nikki are awesome and pretty much planned and took care of almost everything. We all brought soups and Nikki made bread bowls for dinner...they were all very yummy. The night started off with crafts and then once everyone had gotten there we had dinner. There were a lot of fun games: First the kids scooped up ghost poop (cotton balls). Then we broke the kids off into 3 teams to get their colored balloon. Inside the balloons were puzzle pieces so the kids raced to be the first to put their puzzle together. Next we had the kids favorite game the doughnut swing. Each doughnut is tied to a string and then the kids have to be the first to eat the whole thing without using their hands. After that we had a great sugar rush of ice cream sundaes with every topping imaginable.
All of the parents seemed to enjoy themselves as well through out all of the fun chaos. I love the picture of Mike holding the candy corn. Brooke made it a look alike of him...can you see the resemblance?

Our annual family trip to the pumpkin patch was a lot of fun. All of the kids once again decided to get individual pumpkins instead of one huge family pumpkin. I keep thinking that one year they will see the huge ones and change their mind...maybe next year.I would love for one year just one year to go to the pumpkin patch and need a sweater. Once again this year it was very warm and all the kids faces were flushed and they were looking for some shade. Don't get me wrong I love our Southern California weather I just would like a cool down in October every once in a while.
Sorry for all of the collages. I was having a hard time choosing which pictures to use.

Happy Halloween!

Brooke got Student of the Month at her Junior High School this week. I got a letter in the mail last week letting Mike and I know that she was getting this award. However the mystery was in what class was she getting it for. We are used to her getting awards for her academics so we assumed it was for Science, Language Arts, or something in that nature.

When they called her up to present her award it was for PE. Her PE teacher told everyone how awesome and athletic she is. Brooke got this award because of her time in the mile. 6 minutes and 40 seconds that was her time and it is the fastest girls time at the school. I'm so proud of her she amazes me everyday.

Each day our kids have different chores to do. The chores rotate through the kids so they don't have to do the same thing everyday. One day last week Spencer had bathroom duty and I decided to go check on how he was doing and this is what I found...Jake cleaning the toilet and having a good time doing it.
Got to love being the youngest :o)

This was Jakes first field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. He was so excited about going and picking the perfect medium sized pumpkin. I thought it was very funny that he told me he wanted a medium pumpkin...I didn't even no that he knew what size medium was. Jake is a total crack up and is so much fun to be around right now. Well I should say fun and exhausting to be around :)
The Pumpkin Patch that we went to was a lot of fun. There was a ton of stuff for the kids to do. They started off the day going on a hay ride through the maze of sunflowers and then they were dropped off to pick out their pumpkin. There was also a fun park to play at, animals to feed, and a hay stack to climb what more could a three year old ask for. Jake and his friend Mina had a great time together.Picking out the perfect pumpkin was the highlight of the day. Jake ended up picking a green pumpkin. I was a little surprised and I asked him why he chose a green one. He told me it was because it was my favorite color. What an awesome little guy choosing a pumpkin in his Moms favorite color.

Sunday night I had everyone over that could make it for a birthday dinner for Mom. Everyone seemed to have a good time. We had a great dinner...beef stew in sourdough bread bowls, salad, and 2 yummy desserts that Tera brought. Andi made an awesome chocolate bundt cake and Tera made cinnamon rolls. The desserts looked very yummy and everyone wanted seconds. I love getting together with my family we always have a lot of fun together.Brooke and Andi made Grandma a birthday tiara.
So Cute!

So for the past couple of years every General Conference Tera and I are talked into a swap of kids for a sleepover. It has kinda of become a little tradition that the kids love. This year Andi and Nate came back with us to our house while Tyler and Spencer stayed and Scott and Tera's house. The kids of course always have a fun time, but at the same time we do try and get them to watch most of conference. We usually print out Conference packets for them to do or make a game of bingo with key words that are usually discussed.
After conference Mike and i decided that it would be fun to let the kids all make their own personal pizza. Jake and Nate were very excited about putting on the peperoni. They played all day and got along perfectly it was awesome.
I had nothing but problems with Brooke and Andi the whole weekend J/K. Of course they were nothing but perfect as usual.