I do love Primary

I have been in Primary and the nursery for the last 4 years off and on, but mostly on :). It really is a lot of fun and I love all the kids that I get to work with. The class I had this last year was special because it was the second time I had been their teacher, I was also their nursery leader. I told them not to be suprised if I ended up being their teacher again in the future. Anyway I just got released and it is the perfect time for a break.

I wanted to share the Christmas present I gave to my primary class for a couple reasons:

1-I wanted to show that even a challenged crafter like myself can make something super cute and functional. Basically if I can do it you can too :)
2- So I could tell my awesome helpers thank you. I couldn't have done it without my mom, she helped me with the pattern and I don't have a sewing machine so that would have been hard, and Sel helped with the pins for a while. It would have taken me days without help.
3-I get a ton of ideas by looking at blogs and these "Crayon Cozies" make a great gift for the little ones, and it makes it easy to carry crayons anywhere you might need them. So if anyone is looking for a gift idea here you go :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Oh Christmas Tree

The first weekend of December we headed up on the mountain to find our perfect tree. And its a good thing we went when we did. It started to snow a little while we were up there, but by the next day about a foot of snow had come down at our house, so I can only imagine what it was like on the mountain. Jeff and I hardly ever get pictures together so Adrianna was there and she took our picture in front of the lucky tree that got to come home to our house. (and yes that is my belly sticking out because I cannot zip up my coat)

Ashton thinks he is so big. He is always wanting to help do everything. He helps me bring in firewood, and we got a little kid snow shovel this year. He would stay outside forever shoveling snow if I would let him. So of course he had to help daddy pull the tree up to the car.

And here are my two little men. They love being outdoors and doing things like this. I hope that we can keep up this tradition for many years to come.

Santa Clause is Coming to Town

Yesterday the boys were finally able to have a real holiday tradition come true this year. We didn't get to go trick-or-treating. We had Thanksgiving all by ourselves. And...we won't be able to go to see the lights at Temple Square in SLC this year. Thankfully last night we had our ward Christmas Party and Santa was there.


You can tell that they both were a little stand offish, but there was no crying or screaming. Dallen had a wonderful conversation with Santa and even smiled for me.

I think Ashton told Santa everything he wanted and even added some that mommy had never heard before. On the ride home we explained that Santa doesn't bring you everything on your list :)

They picked people to act out the 12 days of Christmas. It was really cute and the kids really enjoyed it. Dallen was part of the Ladies Dancing, Ashton was a Pyper Piping, I was a Lord A Leaping, and Daddy didn't get his picture but he was a bird of some kind. He didn't get his picture because he was in the front, which is unfortunate because he had a beak on his head.

The Primary performed "Picture a Christmas". It was so cute. You would have thought that Ashton had a solo the way he positioned himself right up front and center. He was so cute, he wouldn't hold still and he only sang part of the time. I was so busy watching Ashton and taking pictures that I didn't even notice Dallen run on stage. He went in front of all the kids so he could stand by his brother. He even tried to sing along with everybody. Needless to say they were a hit.



The priesthood did "Silent Night". It was so pretty. And of course I had a hard time holding on to Dallen. He felt like he needed to join the men. The Relief Society and Young Women did numbers too, but I told him those ones were for "grils".

We had a lot of fun.

~Thankful Tree~

Last week for FHE we made a Thankful Tree. It was so much fun and reminded us of all the things that we are thankful for. We let the boys tell us the things they were thankful for on their own. Here are some of Ashton's: Wii Games, Red Shorts, Grandparents. Some of Dallen's were: Jesus, Pizza, and Cake. They were so cute and we weren't suprised at all by what they said. Today I am thankful for 6 years with my eternal companion Jeff. This year's anniversary is a far cry from last years, but I am thankful for it all the same. Dallen has been sick all week, and he has graciously shared that with Ashton and Daddy, who are now sick. (So not even an anniversary date :(, maybe next year.)
Year 6 has brought us a wonderful Christmas filled with the Savior and a love for a close family. Kidney Stones that stayed with me for almost 3 weeks and allowed for us to be thankful for family once again taking care of us. It brought us our last pregnancy and a great suprise that she is a little girl. It brought us a 2nd birthday and a 4th birthday of our wonderfully rambunctious little boys. The 6th year has definitely been one to remember, and I can't wait for the next one.

Awww....It's a Baby

Today Jeff had the day off so we had wonderful Aunt Sel show us what the baby looks like in 3D. The boys absolutely loved it. They sat on Daddy's lap the whole time totally interested in everything that was going on. She also made sure little baby girl had all her parts. As far as she could see everything was happy and healthy. Yeah!!!

She wasn't totally cooperative, but we did get some decent shots. Here is a little profile.

Here she is peeking through some gunk :). She looks a little squished.

This is her precious litte feet resting together.

(Thanks again Aunt Sel for squeezing us in today. Love Ya!)

Halloween 2009

This year I decided to get the flu the week of Halloween so instead of going to State Volleyball to cheer on Aunt Jamie, or going trick-or-treating, we decided to stay home and keep our germs to ourselves. Luckily the boys didn't mind. We let them wear their costumes and they trick-or-treated to Jeff and I. He had a bowl and I had a bowl. They even knocked on the doors. And of course we had a photo shoot. Here is Optimus Prime (From Transformers for those of you that don't know.) He has been wearing this costume everyday since Halloween. He absolutely loves anything about Optimus Prime and Transformers.

And here is the cutest dragon ever. He was supposed to be Bumblebee from the Transformers movie, but unfortunately we never found one small enough for him. He loved being a dragon though. Luckily my mom had this costume. It was first worn by Uncle Casey and then I think AD and Ashton when he was 1.

It was so hard to get a pic that wasn't blurry, but here they are showing how tuff and scary they are.

These two have so much fun together. I am so happy they have eachother and that they are such good friends. They didn't even realize they were missing out on anything.

Who doesn't like to win stuff?

There is an awesome giveaway going on at my sis-in-laws crafty blog, Miss MacMurdy's. You can click the button on my side bar to enter for yourself. Here is what they are giving away:

Here's the deal:
Leave a comment, become a follower and announce this giveaway on your blog and you can have up to 3 entires in the contest.
What you can win:
The first name drawn will win a FREE custom designed Christmas/Holiday card. That's right- you get a design that will be all your own. Send me the pics and information, let me know your style and colors of choice and I will work with you to create the perfect card for you!
The second prize is for a FREE design from my etsy shop. You pick it, send me the images and information and it is yours to print where and how you wish!
The third prize is for 50% off any design from my etsy shop.
GOOD LUCK!!!
(Please note that these prizes are for design ONLY. You will be responsible for printing and distributing your cards.)

It's just that easy and you won't be disappointed!

Family Portraits

Ashton came running in to show me his latest picture and when I first looked at it I noticed there was something a little different. He is always drawing pictures of our family, but this is the first one that included his baby sister, (Awwww). I immediately said, "Don't erase it, I have to take a picture." I think he was proud that I wanted a picture of his drawing. He is such a sweetheart. Just this morning he saw one of the jammies that we already have for the baby and he said, "Aww, mommy I'm so excited to see the baby." This is a fun and easy Halloween craft that you can do with any age. We did this for FHE. All you do is trace everyone's foot, cut it out and then decorate to your hearts desire. It was a little hard to trace the little ones feet, they thought we were trying to tickle them. It took two of us to work on Dallen's. Jeff decorated his all on his own, I think he did a great job. The boys both got to pick everything on theirs as well. Ashton was very specific. He wanted a scary mouth and a tie like Daddy wears. I think they turned out way cute and the boys love them.

"I looked out the Window and What Did I See"

Well it wasn't popcorn....It was something better. "Uncle Ronnie", came home from serving his mission for a little over 2 years. Most of these little cuties were babies, or not even born yet (Kinsey). Ashton and Livi were the only ones old enough to remember him, but you wouldn't have known that. All of these kiddos were excited to see him. Aunt Mandy even made everyone these cute matching outfits. They were the best looking kids around. :)

And there he is stepping off the plane. We were all so excited to see him. Uncle Ronnie was in every one of Ashton's prayers from the day he left to....well...he still is. There were lots of hugs and some happy tears shed. It was a great weekend and we are so glad to have him home safe and sound.