Church Christmas party

each year our ward does a  nativity for our christmas party with live animals horses goats, chickens etc..  The primary acts out the program and sings some songs.  This year K was an Angel upon a high scaffolding above the stable with her primary class and they sang angels we have heard on high...

J this year was asked to be one of the wise men and got to bring the gold to the baby lying in the stable..  J won't admit it but he loves acting and singing and does a great job at it..

It was fun to see them perform.  They asked S to sing one of the songs Mary's lullaby and she did a great job.  S and her dad were also asked to sing in todays christmas program in our sacrament meeting and they did a great job  and to top it of T played the piano for them!!!  I love seeing the rewards of fighting them to practice the piano paying of!!!  

my creations...

When we first moved out to Gilbert we found this great place to paint ceramics..  It is called Creative Hands we had one of K's birthday parties there and I have been hooked ever since...  I have made a christmas plate each year and here they are...  I did this one last month

This one was fun cause he lights ups and has are name carved in the tummy!!!
This one was my first attempt at a big project and it was fun to do...  Eventually I will get little christmas baby socks and use them for hats on the balls...

ITS DONE..........

I took the leap...  I started the wrapping process....  and after 2 hours I am done!!  Tomorrow is the last day of school for us for 2 weeks and I figured that if I didn't do it today I would be up all night christmas eve!!  I think that this is a first for me, I am usually done shopping ahead of time but I usually procrastinate the wrapping, always thinking that I will give R a chance to enjoy some of the holiday spirit...(since he hates shopping) but I always end up doing most of it by the time he wraps 1 present!!!  I love that he is a perfectionist!!!  We are all looking forward to a great relaxing holiday....  I so enjoy it when christmas is the sunday right after the last day of school but this year we get to wait almost a whole week!!!!!  uuggghhh!!  To keep the kids busy and not let them snoop!!!!  

We are finally starting to get some cool weather and for us in Arizona thats about as good as it gets to help get in the christmas spirit...  I guess maybe I should decorate my tree now...  I keep telling the kids that white lights on a plain green tree is beautiful!!!  I hope that all of you where ever you are have a happy holidays and a great new year!!  

the end of our trip

We ended our trip by driving to Iowa to visit some friends from our high school days..  We had a great visit and wished that we could have stayed another day..  They have a great family and our kids got along great J is still talking about his wrestling match with C and about the flash light tag.. This is a picture of both of our families and there are still 3 people missing it was to hard to round every one up and get a picture....

R and I went to high school with D and he met his wife in college,  we haven't seen them for a while and we had a great time catching up..  Thanks again D and D for a great ending to our vacation.  We hope to make it out to see you guys again and welcome you here anytime..
That is me looking back at R and the camera... our short flight from iowa to wisconsin we didn't get to sit together..
J and T playing with the camera...
Catching up on a few zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's

more Chicago Pictures

We stayed in chicago for a few days and enjoyed seeing a lot of sights..  they have a legoland there... no exciting rides but lots of fun stuff to look at..

we had dinner at the rain forrest cafe  with R's brother and family...
We loved the John Hancock observatory the view was breath taking...
another amazing lego statue..
We celebrated R's birthday there and these cute nieces of ours put together a treasure hunt for uncle R.  he followed many clues and at the end found a present which was a penguin which is his favorite....
We had a great time visiting our illinois wilsons and loved getting to know the new kids that we haven't met before..  we figured that the last time that we saw them A was just a baby and now they have two more..  Thanks you guys for a fun time and for letting us crash at your place..  We love ya..  

The start of Vacation

So off we go to Chicago...  can you tell that we are excited to be flying...

These next pictures are what happens when you take the red eye flight..
Check out the drool in this one..  all the way to the floor
J said that he never slept once...  I think that i will believe the picture!!
This is while we were waiting to get our rental car..

our thanksgiving vacation

We have been looking forward to thanksgiving Since May when my Parents got there mission call to be site missionaries in Nauvoo..  We decided to make a great vacation out of the thanksgiving holiday..  We took the kids out of school early and headed out to visit family and friends... We have been excited to see mom and dad in action and we were not disappointed..  They housed us and fed us and took us around Nauvoo and showed us what they do at each site they work in. Dad is showing us how they make their rugs out of rags.. We even got to see him take the rugs off and restring the loom..  What time consuming work stringing all the threads and making sure they are all in the right place..

This is mom telling us about the little school and how they were taught to read and write..
I think that the highlight of our trip was to see mom and dad sing and dance in the little play that they put on called rendezvous.  There were enough people there that they did it twice in one night..  This is mom at a relief society meeting..
This is Dad playing Dr. Stout and trying to take this crazy women to the crazy house..  I don't think that I have laughed that hard for a while..
Mom and Dad were the greeters and welcomed everyone to the show and began with a song..  They also ended the show with a big thank you and a wave good bye.
It is a very interesting thing to watch your parent do something that you never imagined them doing... They were wonderful and it was fun to watch them entertain and have a good time.  I am so lucky to have such great parents that are such a great example to me and my family..  I love you Mom and Dad..  Thanks for a great vacation...

T changed his costume after seeing this one.

one of the costumes at our trunk or treat was this glow stick person.....  It was so cool that T decided that this is what he was going to wear on halloween so we did it and here are the pictures...... Thanks to the Bowmans for the idea!!!

This really is t.. he is dressed all in black and then we safety pinned the glow sticks to him in the outline of a stick figure
We had a great time pinning him together...  it is really weird to see him walking down the street..
I think that this is one costume that we will probably do again..  we hope that you all had a great halloween and got lots and lots of candy, tricks and fun..

HALLOWEEN FUN

So it was trunk or treat time for our church and we had a great time... we won the best decorated trunk and like the dork I am I didn't take a picture of the trunk... But for our prize we won a jumbo box of boogers....  They feel and look like real boogers but have a tangy taste and  gummy bear texture...  Yum!!!  here are pictures of our halloween costumes...

This is the costume that he pulled out of the halloween box 3 minutes before we left....
J would have made a great hippi and he is one that would love a fro..
S's cape was very sparkly and we will be paying for it for months there is glitter everywhere!!
This is about as costumy as I get... The kids really wanted me to be green!!
K was are army brat!!  She wants to add this to her every day clothes now that halloween is over!!  R was on call this night so no picture of him.. we missed him and we are grateful when he is home...

Cake and Ice cream

Its a few days after the birthdays but hey at least they got cake and ice cream and blowing out candles and happy birthday sung to them...  We were grateful to have cousins and aunt and uncle to help with the harmonies in the song... Boy can we have fun...  

J wanted to have skookies for his bday dessert.... he was excited to see so many!!
K wanted cake so we put the candles on the cake and had them try to blow out only thier candles...  J's on top and K's on bottom...

J arrow of light

J got his arrow of light and was passed on to the 11 year old scouts...  we have some great leaders in our scout program and I am very thankful for them and for R he is the scout man in our house...  Nice job J..

Each scout that gets his arrow of light gets one of these arrows that has all the thing that he has done to get his arrow of light..  Thanks Sister Millie..
R made each of the boys a plaque like this for moving up to the brown uniform to showcase all the things that don't move onto the new shirt..  this is something his parents did for him and he wanted to carry on the tradition... Thanks Dad
The hole in the middle is for his picture but we haven't got it back from school picture day!!

Happy Birthday Miss K

We are so happy to have K in our family...  She brings such joy DRAMA and out right did she really say that moments that keep us laughing...  here are a few pictures to show how her growth....  oops starting from the present and going back...

We love to have popcorn while we watch movies and any other time of the day!!!  Not usually in bed but we were in a hotel and there wasn't any where to sit...
She wanted to help with the landscaping of our house but didn't want to put the umbrella down so I think that she sang while we worked.....  
Can this be my Barbie tower Please....
Look what I can do....  She loves to talk, dance and sing and can be found doing that where ever she is,  most famously at restaurant bathrooms at the top of her lungs...
She has the biggest blue eyes and big smile and we love to see it each morning and evening..  Happy birthday Sis  We love you K

My Sisters

My sisters and I have had a sisters weekend for 2 years now and the last one was this past Aug.  We had a great time and enjoyed each others company...  we celebrate each of our birthdays and shopped and went to the spa and shared some of our favorite thing..... here are a few..

As you can tell by this pictures we laugh hard we cry hard and we have a good time!!!  Sorry A I couldn't resist....
These are all of my sisters and we all get along relatively well...  we enjoy each others company and try to stay in contact with each other threw email phone calls and for me the slacker of the family the sisters weekend!!
I am thankful for each of my sisters and am grateful that we all get along so well and can enjoy each others company!!  Thanks all for such a great time and all the memories!!!  Love you all.  Mom we are excited for when you can join us..