Monday, December 31, 2012

Christmas is here!!

We had a really great Christmas! Even despite the fact that three out of our five kids woke up sick on Christmas morning.  My huge surprise was a new Cannon rebel camera.  I couldn't wait to try it out.  This was the first picture I took.  It is such a nice camera.  I immediately could see a difference with every image I took. The colors are sharper and brighter. It captures details I never could with our other one.  Halle had a fun Christmas.  She got her Ariel bathtub set from Santa.  She opened her presents so fast that the rest of us couldn't keep up.
Mckenna got an mp3 player for Christmas! I love this picture of her.  She is looking so grown up these days.  She really likes listening to music and knows a lot of songs on the radio. 

Parker got a DSI xl from Santa this year.  It amazes me how fast he figures out anything electronic.  He loves the fact that he can take pictures and also create short videos.  He was recording the funniest clips of himself and then playing them back with his voice sounding like a chipmunk.  This was Parker's fourth day of opening up presents this year.  There are some cool things about having your birthday right before Christmas.
Hayden was so happy to wake up and find that Santa had brought him his train table!  He loves his trains and has played with it everyday since. He is at such a fun age right now.  Christmas was magical for him this year.  He got so excited about everything we did.  When I put up the tree at the beginning of the month he exclaimed, "it looks amazing!"
Our little Addy got a inflatable ball pit from Santa.  We love to see her smile!  She was so happy and contained playing in there with her toys all morning.

She eventually climbed out to see what else was going on.  She had her new sippy cup in hand as she explored.
Kev had a good Christmas too! His favorite gift was his 3 in 1 power tool.

Kev took this picture of the kids and I on Christmas morning. I was looking at my new photo calendar for 2013.  I love how all five kids are happily playing with their toys.  It was contentment for all.

We drove up to Salt Lake for a party at Great Grandpa Foster's.  I enjoyed seeing the excitement on his face as he opened his stocking.
We had a yummy lunch and then had a family gift exchange.

Hayden was really miserable for the rest of the day.  His fever got up to 103.  We gave him motrin and a blessing.  The poor little guy had to stay in isolation most of the day.

We went to Kev's parents house to open up more presents.

Mckenna was really happy with the robe Grandma Sue had made her.  Grandma had made pjammas for all the grandkids.
One of the highlights of Christmas was getting to talk with Spencer (Elder Foster) on skype.  It was great to see him and talk with him. He was really happy to see all the kids and hear what they have been up to.  He had Parker and Tucker come over so he could talk to them.  They are both being baptized this year and  he talked to them about the importance of baptism.  It was nice being able to talk to him as long as we wanted.
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Christmas eve!!

We spent Christmas eve with my family.  We had a delicious ham dinner!  It was my first time making the rolls from scratch.  Thank you Amy for your recipe, they turned out great.  It was fun to have my brother Greg with us.
We always enjoy having Grandma with us! We opened our English party poppers and found we had matching crowns.

The kids opened their presents from Grandma and Grandpa.  Halle got a poingo set.  It has a pen that you touch to the book and it helps you read the word.  It is great for her since she is learning to read.

Mckenna got the Uno attack game.  She had fun playing it with Kayley and Grandma.

Grandma Loni had a great idea to make snowflakes.  It had been so long that I couldn't even remember how to fold them.  Mckenna had to give us instructions.  We were making them for the kids in New Town, CT.  We are going to mail them off and they will be put on display at the kids new school.  It felt good knowing we could do something to help even if it was a small thing.  Halle worked hard on cutting this snowflake out. 
We went home and the kids opened up their Christmas jammies.  It is always fun seeing them lined up under the tree.

This was one of the best pictures we got.  It took a few tries.

We read our new Christmas book together.  It was the Christmas train by our prophet Thomas S. Monson.  It is such a good story.  Hayden loves trains and was enthralled with the story.

Parker writing his letter to Santa.  He put it right by the milk and cookies.  I remember Kenna doing this same thing at his age.
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Great to be eight!!

Our Parker boy turned eight years old on Sunday December 23rd.  We had a party for him at our house on Saturday.
It was nice to have all of Parker's great Grandparents there at his party.  He was showing  them his letter he got from Santa.  He wrote a letter at school telling Santa about what he had been up to this year.  He also asked him how he gets into our house because there isn't a chimney.  He was really happy with the letter he got back.
Parker talking with his great Grandma Smoot.  I am not sure what they were talking about. I thought it was a sweet picture of the two of them.

Parker got lots of fun new presents.  He got this air hockey table from my Dad and Stepmom.  It has provided lots of fun for the kids.  One of Parker's favorite gifts was his own set of scriptures.  He is learning how to look up passages and is memorizing his articles of  faith.  He has his baptism coming up in a little over a week.  We are all looking forward to that!

I made him a treasure chest cake this year.  He was happy with all that chocolate.


Parker and Dad got right to work on his new Star Wars fighter jet. 
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Holiday highlights!!

We made our visit to see Santa.  Addy was not happy to sit on Santa's lap this year.  It seems like most of our kids have gone through this stage before.
Halle was really excited to see Santa.  She made him a stocking that said what she wanted for Christmas on it.  Santa was looking it over and said he would get it for her.  She has her heart set on a Ariel bathtub set.

We went into Blickenstaff's toy store to warm up a little.  Kev and Kenna were really impressed with this tree made entirely of candy.

The kids had their first experience of riding trax into downtown Salt Lake.  The boys love it.  Hayden kept asking when it was time to go home so we could ride trax again.

We had a fun time visiting temple square and seeing all the lights.  We also went to the visitors center. 

A nice family gave candy canes to our kids while we were there.  Addy had her first taste of candy cane and couldn't get enough.

I spent many days in the kitchen cooking for all the parties.  I was assembling plates of cookies for our neighbors in this one.  Mckenna was nice and offered to help me make some of the treats.  It was great having her help.
We had fun at all our family Christmas parties.  I was glad to be able to hang out with my cousin Stephanie.  Our cute babies our six months apart in age just like we are.
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Saturday, December 15, 2012

Snow day!!

Kev had last Friday off from work so we decided to make a quick trip up to the cabin.  We drove up Thursday night and let the kids skip school on Friday. (we don't do this very often)  There wasn't much snow yet.  There were a few patches here and there.

Kev was working hard to get the snowmobiles ready for the winter season.

Addy and I hung out in the barn together.  You can tell how much she loved being behind the wheel by the smile on her face. 

The kids pulled out the old fashioned wooden sled.  They had a great time sledding down the hill together.  There were a few wipe outs but they had fun for hours. 

Halle pulling Hayden up the hill.  It makes me so happy when they are being sweet to each other. 

Parker had lots of fun trying out this snow boogie board.  He told me that he is going to pray real hard for some snow.  We are all hoping for more snow by Christmas.
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Rocks for Christmas...

Halle came home from school the other day with a new idea.  She happily announced to me that she wanted rocks for Christmas.  I was a little confused by her statement.  The past few weeks she had been telling me she wanted dolls and other toys. I wondered why she had changed her mind  She explained that if she got rocks she could paint them and then sell them.  "When I sell the rocks, I will make a lot of money!!"  I love the way her mind works.  Rocks + paint = $$$  I think we have an entrepreneur in the making!
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Christmas traditions...

The day after Thanksgiving we went up to Park City to get our Christmas ornament.  It was fun that Mike, Amy, and the kids were here with us this year. I was happy to be able to hold my cute niece Elle again. Mike and I have a lot of great memories of coming here since we were kids. 
It was a really nice day and not too cold.  It was fun being on the Main street and looking at all the cute shops. We also went and got some chocolate from The rocky mountain chocolate factory. 

The kids remembered the bikes from last year and wanted to try them out again.

We stopped for a photo op with the big bear.  The kids couldn't see very well with the sun shining in their eyes but they were still smiling.

Halle helped choose out our family ornament for this year. Here she is ready to put it on the tree.  We are so excited that the Christmas season is here!
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Monday, November 26, 2012

Thanksgiving!!

I was really grateful that my brother Mike, Amy, and their family came home for Thanksgiving.  I was excited to meet my new niece.  Elle Mahala Thurston was born on October 18th.  She was 7lbs 7oz and 19 3/4 inches long.
Elle is such a sweet little baby! It is hard to believe that Addy was this small almost exactly a year ago.  This was the first year that I hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my house.  I had never cooked the turkey before and so this was a new adventure.

Thankfully, my sister-in-law Amy was there to help and give advice.  She taught Loni and I how to make her delicious homemade rolls.  I learned the key to making good rolls is to use a lot of butter!  Thanks Amy for all your help.
The kids crawling around on the floor while we prepared the food.  It was such nice weather that the kids played outside most of the day.  Cousins Hailey and Brady loved playing on the tramp and swing set.  Kev even busted out his motorcycle and took the kids for a ride.  He quickly became Brady's favorite Uncle.

The Turkey turned out really well.  It was brown on the top and tender meat on the inside.  Kev had his first experience carving the Turkey.  He did an excellent job of getting all the meat off the bone.

We were so glad to have Grandma there with us!  She is always so thoughtful.  She brought surprises for the kids and decorations for the adults.  She gave me two pilgrim figurines which I put right on the table. 

Hayden with his dinner which he hardly touched.  I think all those chips he was snacking on filled him up. 

Parker and Halle both digging in on their Turkey legs.  We are definitely carnivores in this household!  It was a beautiful day filled with family, good food, and music.
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