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...