Christmas 2012

Monday - December 24, 2012
We haven't hardly had any snow yet this year.  We said a prayer last week and asked Heavenly Father to give us some snow for Christmas.  We prayed that it would start snowing on the 24th, so we could still make it to our Moser Family Christmas Party, but it would be nice and snowy on Christmas Eve.  Heavenly Father answered our prayer!  The weather on the 23rd wasn't bad, so we could have gone to our Christmas party, but Roger was worn out from work and tired of making the drive back and forth to and home from Salt Lake, so we decided to miss the party.  The morning of Christmas Eve, we were so excited when we woke up and saw that there was a lot of snow on the ground!

Parker and Roger went outside to play in it.  Parker built himself a little fort to hide behind while Roger tried to throw snowballs at him, using Parker's snowball maker toy.  After that, Parker built a snowman and Roger decided to shovel the driveway.

 Alissa and Brinley were having too much fun playing their game on the Wii.

 This is Roger after he discovered that someone had stole our snow shovel.  Parker admitted that he had left it in the front yard.  We looked everywhere and it is nowhere to be found.  I'm assuming it got stolen, but who knows.  So, in this picture Roger is showing me the shovel that he will have to use to shovel the driveway.  Haha!  He's so funny!

On Christmas Eve, we let the kids open their Christmas Pajamas.  After they put their jammies on, they each got to pick one present from under the tree to open.  Then we tried something different.  We had been talking about fun Christmas traditions and Alissa suggested that we start a new one.  She suggested that after we open our pajamas, we put them on, then watch a Christmas movie while eating Apple Crisp.  Also, she helped me come up with another idea.  I suggested that Roger and I get to open new pajamas on Christmas Eve also.  Alissa suggested that the kids will pick out the pajamas for us.  I liked the idea.  I think that would be a lot of fun.  We didn't have the money to do that one this year, but definitely we will do it next year. 

We had a lot of fun eating apple crisp and watching our movie.  We hope that the movie would make the kids tired, and maybe they would fall asleep during it, so bedtime would be easy.  Parker fell asleep during it, but woke up at the end full of energy and excitement.  They were still just as excited when they went to bed.

  This is what it looked like after Santa came.

Tuesday - December 25, 2012

I was so tired and had such a hard time waking up on Christmas morning.  Before the kids went to bed, Roger told them that we would not open presents any earlier than 7:00am.  In the morning, roger woke me up a little before 7:00.  The kids were still asleep, but Roger was wide awake.  He had been awake for a little while.  He wanted me to wake up and he wanted to go wake the kids up.  I kept telling him, "Not yet, just let me get a little more sleep."  Not long after Roger started trying to wake me up, Parker woke up and came in our room.  He told us that him and his sisters made a deal that whoever woke up first would wake the others.  So Parker went to wake up his sisters.  Of course, they were instantly wide awake and excited to go open their presents.  They kept asking if they could just hold their stockings while they waited for me.  They promised that they wouldn't look inside, they just wanted to hold them.  I thought that was funny, but  I still said no.  Of course, they were going to look inside of them and I didn't want to miss out on that.  I wanted to be ready with the camera and camcorder.  I hurried to get out of bed and get ready, so all of the excitement could start.  I set up the camcorder, got the camera ready, and then it began.....  The kids wanted to see what was in their stockings first.  They were excited that there was some stuff in Mommy and Daddy's stockings also.  Our stockings had some yummy candy in it.  the kids' stockings had candy and toys.

We tried another thing different this year.  Instead of the kids just running, grabbing, and unwrapping as quickly as they can, we had them each grab a gift and open it at the same time.  Then they each showed off what they had gotten and we did it all over again until all of the gifts were opened.  I liked doing it that way this year, because we didn't have as big of a Christmas as we normally do.  It was a good way to make the opening of our gifts last longer.

Roger's Mom came after we finished opening our gifts.  She brought some gifts and treats to eat.  We really enjoyed her visit.  We were going to watch a movie, but instead, Roger and his mom got into a heated political debate.  That was craziness!  Alissa came over to me and said, "Dad always tells me that I shouldn't argue with my mom."  I told her that she'd have to remind him of that as soon as she gets a chance.  Their debate lasted for at least an hour.  Eventually they calmed down and conversation became normal again, but it was getting late, so Joyce had to leave.  She didn't want to be driving home in the dark.

Christmas Lights at Willard Bay - December 18, 2012

Tuesday - December 18, 2012

 We took the kids to Willard Bay to see the lights and visit Santa.  We loved the last time we went to Willard Bay, so we were excited to go again.  We had really bad timing this time.  We got there at the same time as a group of young men and young women.  They had seventy people in their group and there was only one wagon going that night.  So we had a long wait.  We almost left and drove to see the lights by our selves, but the kids were determined to ride on the wagon.

Here's Parker and Alissa while they were waiting in line.

 Roger stayed in line while I took the kids in to see Santa.  Brinley asked for some Squinkies.

 Alissa asked for some Rollerblades.

 Parker asked for more Geo Trax.

 Here we are when we got our turn to ride on the wagon.  The light from the camera was too bright.  I couldn't keep my eyes open.

 After our ride, we warmed up by the fire while Roger bought us some deep fried Oreos.  We were really curious what they would taste like.  They were really good!  Roger had to go back and buy us some more.  I was surprised by how yummy they were.  I really didn't think they were going to be that great.

Joyce and Jerry's Anniversary - December 14, 2012

Friday - December 14, 2012

 We headed back to Salt Lake on the 14th to celebrate Joyce's 50th wedding anniversary.  We had all been planning this since last Christmas.  It was a lot of fun.  The only bummer is that it just happened to fall on the day of Alissa's school program.  Alissa was so sad about it, because she had a big part in the play they were doing.  She was really sad to have to tell them that she couldn't be in the play.  It was a bummer for her to be at the practices and sit out while someone else did her part.  But she was okay.  She had a lot of fun playing with her cousins.  The kids stayed at Tyler and Melissa's house and Missy babysat them while we were gone.

A hummer limo picked us up from Cindi and Curt's house and drove us all to Tooele to pick up Roger's mom.  She was so surprised!  It was so fun to see her face when she realized that we were all in the car.  Then when she saw that Shane (who lives in Georgia) was there.  It would have been even better if Grant had been there, but his truck broke down and he wasn't able to get here in time.

 The Limo took us to the Cheese Cake Factory (Joyce's favorite restaurant).  After we ate dinner, we went to Desert Star.  It was a really fun night.  Roger was exhausted by the end of the night.  He had to work the night before and was only able to get 4 hours of sleep before we had to leave to get to Cindi's on time.  Even though he was so tired, he was still determined to get home that night.  He desperately wanted to sleep in our comfy bed in our home.  We got home late and had to drive through some yucky weather when we hit Willard Bay, but we made it.

Bone Family Christmas Party - December 9, 2012

Sunday - December 9, 2012

 On December 9th we had our Bone Family Christmas party at the Club House where Kari lives.  It was nice to have a big area for a party.  The heat wasn't working too well so we were a little cold, but I liked it, since I ended up getting a headache towards the end of the night and the cold air made it feel a lot better.  The kids had way too much fun running around with their cousins and playing outside in the snow.

 We enjoyed a yummy potluck.  I forgot that I had volunteered to bring bread bowls for the soups that were going to be served, so we had to use regular bowls.  I was so frustrated with myself for forgetting.  I had even forgot when the party was.  Luckily, Linda sent out a text message at the first of the week to remind everybody.

 This is my nephew, Damen.  He was playing outside and peaked in the door to see what we were doing.  He was surprised when I took his picture.

Parker was just chillin' on this little bench while he waited for everyone to finish eating.

 After dinner, we opened gifts.  We let the kids do the game where on your turn you get to chose to open a present or take a present that has already been opened.  We tried this a few years ago and it didn't go well.  It went a little better this year, except that Ben chose to take a gift from Damen.  Damen had loved his gift so much and was thrilled to have gotten it.  Ben said he wanted it, then went and traded it with Lizzy for something else that she had.  He told her that the gift was lame.  We convinced Lizzy to give the gift back to Damen, so it all worked out in the end.  It was just a bummer that Ben hadn't realized how much Damen loved and wanted that gift.  If he had realized, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have taken.

 The kids wanted to play outside for a little bit before we left.  I didn't like them playing out there, because it is super icy and slippery and they are right next to the pool.  So, I came out with them.  There wasn't much out there for the kids to play, but they had fun anyway.

Parker Under the Tree - December 5, 2012

Wednesday - December 5, 2012

Here are some pictures of our goofy little boy, Parker.  He really wanted to have me take his picture while he was under the tree.  He is so handsome.  I love these pictures of him!

Our Tree and Me - December 3, 2012

Monday - December 3, 2012
I was trying to get a good picture of my face, without my hair in the way, so I could use it in Jib Jabs.  I had one of the kids take the picture for me.  So, here I am!

Also, I just wanted to take a picture of our beautiful Christmas tree.  I love this time of year!

Brinley's First Sleepover - November 30, 2012

Friday - November 30, 2012

Brinley went to her first sleep over. She was so excited to go.  I wasn’t too worried about how she would do.  I just thought she’d be too busy and having too much fun to get scared or miss me.  She just called me at 7:40pm in tears.  She said that she missed me.  She didn’t want to come home, but she just really wanted to see me.  She wanted me to come to her friend’s house and see her for a little bit.  We only have one car and Roger was at work so I couldn’t go and see her.  She felt really bad.  I gave her the choice to come home, but she didn’t want to.  She eventually stopped crying and decided to stay.  She had a good time, but she woke up feeling sick.  She called me first thing in the morning and asked me to come and get her.  On the way home from her friend's house, Brinley threw up all over the back seat of the car.  10 minutes before Brinley had called me to pick her up, Alissa threw up all over her bed.  That was the start of a long day full of sick kids.