You should see the other guy!

No, Seth has not taken up the sport of boxing.

Every boy needs a black eye at least once in his life right?



A size 10 foot did not react very well with Seth's face. I guess that's what you get when you play around with your big sister. It was not intentional and she did apologize, but Seth wishes he had a better story to tell than one in which his sister beat him up. (He was actually using a pillow to guard his face and then he moved it too soon--allowing Andrea's foot to make contact with his eye.)



The swelling went down after a couple of days. (Thank goodness we already took our family Christmas pictures!) We're hoping in a couple of years that he won't end up black and blue when goofing around with his sister.

New Fence

After the terrible wind storm that we had last January, we finally decided it was time to fix our badly broken fence. Nice look'in eh?

Celebrating the Holidays!

There are a lot of things to do and celebrate during the month of December. This picture collage shows the many things we have been doing. (You can click on the picture to see it bigger)



We drove to Paradise and enjoyed the SNOWY winterland.
We decorated a gingerbread house @ Grandma Leila's.
Seth & Kiana participated in our ward Christmas party--cute angels :)
The kids loved baking and decorating Christmas cakes/cupcakes.
Don't forget the annual family picture by the Christmas tree

There are still 9 days until Christmas--I wonder what we'll do next?

Christmas Card

What a great Christmas card! I have to brag because my sister-in-law (the one I don't care about and can't sit next to--ha ha) made our Christmas cards this year. If you're interested in having her make you some let me know--I'll hook you up! :)

Our Christmas Tree

O.K., I have to admit that I am a bit of a control freak and my husband does label me as a micro manager quite often. I can also be a scrooge with money. I am telling you this so you'll be able to understand the following story better. :)

A couple of years ago our neighbor offered us his artificial Christmas tree. We accepted and have used it for several years. I do miss the smell of pine from a live tree, but I don't miss vacuuming the dry needles that fall on the carpet or paying 50bucks to buy a tree each holiday season. We have in the past driven up to the mountains to cut down our own tree. The time and money in gas just doesn't seem worth it(this is where me being a scrooge with money plays into the story),besides I'm not too much into the look of a "Charlie Brown tree" that the mountains provide. Anyways . . . my eldest daughter continues to belittle our fake Christmas tree. She claims we need a REAL TREE. Since I am not giving in--I like my fake tree--I thought I should at least let go of some of my control and micro managing issues and allow the kids to decorate the tree anyway they want. (Yes, I am usually in control of how the tree is decorated too.)

I let the kids look at Christmas ads and told them they could spend 10 dollars to buy any extra things to help decorate the tree. When Aaron heard the plan he added another 5 dollars to the adventure--He always is the kids favorite! So, for family night we went out and the kids bought new decorations for the tree and came home and decorated our tree. I have to admit. The tree looks GREAT! I guess by letting go I was able to see things a different way and actually like it. I think I also guilted myself into letting go by realizing that someday my kids will not be here to decorate the tree--I need to enjoy my children while they are still young. I'm amazed it has taken me this long to figure out such a simple thing.

I love you Andrea, Seth, & Kiana. You did a great job decorating our tree. It looks BEAUTIFUL!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. Lots of food, family and good times. Here are a few pictures to document our fun holiday weekend.

Yummy Drumstick!!!