Saturday, January 28, 2012

December 2011 Activities

Our sweet little Amanda turned 2 months old on 12/10/11. Amanda is such a sweetheart, we all love her so much and are so grateful to have her in our family.




I attempted to add waves to Taylor's hair so one night I spent 45 minutes putting little braids in her hair after she got out of the bath.




The next morning. It turned out okay but don't think it was worth all the time to put the braids in and then take them out. I may just have to buckle down and buy a crimper (if they still make those).




Our friend Hollie had her annual gingerbread party which we always enjoy going to. Once again we didn't come close to placing in the top three but the big difference this year is we didn't stress, do a lot of prep work or spend a lot of money to not place in the top three like we did last year. I still think it turned out cute.







For family night later on in the month the kids made graham cracker houses.

Nathan's

Taylor's

Natalie's

The little girls and I attended the jingle jog at Nathan and Taylor's elementary school.

Even Amanda got dressed up for the occasion :-)




Taylor had a performance later that same day.

Then she got to decorate another graham cracker house. Doesn't she look so serious about it.Her finished product.



Preston's side of the family had their annual Christmas party which we were happy to attend. It is now held at a church building because there are A LOT of family members. We sang the traditional "Hang the baby's stocking" song for all those babies that have been born since the last Christmas. Normally the Mom's go up with the babies but for some reason the Dad's did this year which is fine by me. It was entertaining Preston would dance with Amanda during the song as if she was an adult. I was just waiting for her to spit up all over him because I had just fed her but she never did. Preston and his siblings had a good representation (3) of new babies which has never been the case before. This is only the new babies that were there that night.


All of Preston's side of the family with Nana who just turned 96 on the 8th of January. Just as a side note , notice that my son is wearing shorts and a t-shirt at a Christmas party. You know you live in Arizona when that happens.


We went to a local car dealership that does free pictures with Santa. Nathan who LOVES cars especially Camaro's and Corvette's got his picture taken in a couple of them. Nathan often discusses what kind of car he thinks he will drive when he grows up. He also discusses ideas for his customized license plate like ASUROKS or NATEDOG






As you can see Natalie is still timid about the Santa and would not see him by herself or get too close.




Since Preston was actually with us to see Santa this time we decided to do a picture with the whole family and Jolly Old St. Nick.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Thanksgiving Weekend 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving week. A couple of days before Taylor had a musical program and feast at her school.



On Thanksgiving morning Taylor got all dressed up and wanted a picture with the turkey so we would remember it was Thanksgiving day.


Thanksgiving morning.



Our yummy Thanksgiving spread with Preston walking into the picture frame on purpose.



Some pictures of the family before we ate.









We heated the pool for that weekend and had some fun swimming. Will say it is the first time I have ever swam on Thanksgiving day.

Some opted not to swim and enjoyed the swingset instead.

A cute picture of Taylor and cousin Henry.



We had a talent show that afternoon with the family. Nathan told some jokes.

Natalie sang "Once there was a snowman"



Taylor sang some Thanksgiving songs from her program.



On Friday after Thanksgiving we hung out at my Parent's house. This is a cute picture of Natalie and cousin Warner.


The grandkids had a standing long jump competition.



On Saturday morning most of us went rapelling.



This picture has quite a story behind it. Taylor, Thomas, Henry and Nathan climbed up the mountain to go to where Preston and Steven were waiting. I took a picture of the kids climbing up and then I headed back to the other side of the base of the mountain to watch. The kids missed the turn and went too far at the top and were lost. None of the adults were aware until Preston hollered down to ask if we were sending anyone up to rappell. Christina then headed up to find them. She found them with another lady that was up at the top. This stranger said that the kids had been trained right because when she found them they were all 4 kneeling in a circle praying.


Nathan rapelled for the first time. It was a 100 plus cliff.


Preston



Nathan (sorry out of order)


Taylor got all the gear on and started over the cliff and decided against it. We were proud of her for trying.
Me going down.



Saturday afternoon we played some minute to win it games.




It was a great weekend.