Top 11 Pictures from 2011

#1. I love this picture of Claire  because of the way she is looking at the snowman.

#2. This is a picture of my girls at Thanksgiving Point farm. I love how the window frames their faces.

#3. I absolutely love snow pictures. I love that my girls still love playing out in the snow!

#4. This is Claire all cuddled up with her rabbit after watching a movie. It's so cute to see her sleeping with her favorite stuffed animal.

#5. This is one of my favorite pictures of Malissa.
I especially love it in black and white!

#6. I love this shot of Luke with his sister at the beach.

He looks so happy to be helping his sister.

#7. This is a picture of my girls baking together with their new
aprons from Christmas. I love seeing them baking together.

#8. I LOVE this picture of Claire with one of our chickens.
The chickens love her and they even let her hold them.

#9.This is a recent picture of Claire trying on the gloves, hats and scarves.
She is probably wondering where the snow is.

#10. Another favorite picture of Malissa. I was surprised to see all the s'mores that she was eating one summer night in August. (She ended up not eating all of them)

#11. My favorite picture of Claire at Christmas. She looked so cozy laying next to the Christmas tree. It was fun to see how excited she was about our tree this year!

Black and White Wednesday

Cousins over Christmas. We miss you already!

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day we surprised the kids with a trip to Disneyland. We borrowed  mouse ears to put on the kids heads and they were blind folded. They were very surprised! Do you like how Claire was trying to peek?

Gadgets for Christmas.

Claire asked for a Rapunzel doll for Christmas. She was very happy when she recieved the doll from Santa.

Claire also recieved a kitchen hutch from Josh and I. I bought this kitchen hutch at a consignment store in October. It was mustard yellow when I bought it. I painted it white, bought contact paper and  new knobs. Claire has loved playing with it this week.

Merry Christmas 2011!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve every year the kids open new pajamas. It's a fun tradition!

This year on Christmas Eve my sister hosted dinner at her house. We also had a nativity program. It was a great night!

Baking Day

Grandma's Baking Day was last week. The kids always look forward to getting together with their cousins and Grandma! This year the Lytle's came up from California. We had a big group but it was a lot of fun!

The kids love decorating cookies!

Look what Malissa made!

We played "Don't Eat Santa" for the game.

The highlight of the day....decorating gingerbread houses.
Thank you Sue for a great day!

Performances and a service project

What a busy week! We started with Emma and Malissa's recital on Sunday. Their teacher is in High School but she is amazing! She is very paitent and great with the kids. On Monday, Malissa had a talent day in her music class. I love how she is not afraid to perform. At the end of the week Malissa participated with her school Teddy Bear Servive Project. (See last year for details) I was happy to catch a picture of Malissa hugging her first bear. It was a wonderful week!



Black and White Wednesday

Taking a picture of me with my camera.
Have a great week!

Santa at the Mall

On Friday I took Claire and Malissa to see Santa. Malissa had the day off from school so the timing was perfect. My two sisters and their kids joined us. We decided to go to the Fashion Place Mall because in the past they were the only mall that let you take your own pictures without having to pay for a photo package. Much to our dismay we found out that they changed their policy this year. My sister took her son first to see Santa. Santa's helper took a few pictures of him and the camera didn't work. It was a miracle! They told us that we could use our cameras. I was able to get a lot of shots of the kids with Santa. Claire did not want to sit on Santa's lap or talk to him. She did however give Santa a hug. I'm glad that it all worked out.

Black and White Wednesday

Malissa was so proud of her gingerbread man that she decorated on Sunday. She loves to help out with baking!

I found Claire laying next to the Christmas tree. I think she likes how cozy it feels next to the tree.

Table Redo

This is what our table used to look like.

This is what the table looks like after Josh and did a table redo over Thanksgiving break. HUGE improvement but a HUGE pain! I started this table the day before Thanksgiving and Josh finished it Monday night. Many hours of stripping the paint off, sanding, staining and re staining. I was ready to throw this table out the window. Luckily I'm married to a patient person who took over and did a great job! It's like we have a new table. I'm very happy with the results!

Black and White Wednesday

Trimming the Tree

Tonight we decorated our Christmas tree. Claire was SO EXCITED! (see picture above.) In fact she was so hiper that she finally fell asleep around 10:00 pm. The other kids were excited too. They always look forward to drinking egg nog, and sitting by the fire listening to Christmas music. Great family memories!

Now we have two.......

TEENAGERS!
Happy 13th Birthday to Emma! We celebrated her birthday last night because Emma and her friends are going to a movie tonight. This morning Emma's friends "kidnapped" Emma and took her to breakfast. They dressed up in black, disguised their voices and woke Emma up. She was very surprised!!!!

12 Birthday

11th Birthday

10th Birthday

13 Things we love about Emma!

1. She is a lot of fun!
2. She is talented at doing hair
3. She is a good friend
4. She makes good choices
5. She is thoughtful
6. She is a good teacher
7. She's smart
8. Great babysitter
9. She loves to bake
10. Takes good care of Claire
11. Artistic
12. She has a great sense of humor
13. She's beautiful inside and out

We love you Emma!

Snow in the American Fork Canyon

Last week we drove up to American Fork Canyon to see the pretty snow.The girls were so EXCITED! (Luke was sick) I love to see how excited the girls get when they see snow. Claire especially loved eating the snow and Malissa and Emma had fun throwing snowballs at each other. (We did get a little bit of snow on Friday night but not enough to make a snowman.)

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for FALL!

Black and White Wednesday

Claire with her favorite chicken.

Chair Redo

I just finished two chairs that are going in Emma and Luke's bedrooms. The chairs used to be green.(see bottom picture) Josh and I bought these chairs fifteen years ago to go with our kitchen table.Very outdated! I decided that the chairs needed a new look. I sanded, primed, and painted the chairs white. Then I bought a yard of foam, and heavy fabric and used my staple gun to staple the fabric to the chair base.That was it. I couldn't believe how easy it was!