A Conversation with Santa

Santa stopped by at our family Christmas Party and Karson ran right up to greet him. Karson LOVES Santa. It was so Magical to see Christmas through the eyes of a three year old this year. Karson was not at all afraid to sit on the Jolly Old Mans lap. I'm not sure what they were chatting about, but I think Karson would have sat there all night long, if Santa hadn't of put him down so Santa could get the list of the other good boys and girls. After everyone had a chance to visit with Santa we all sang some songs for him. Karson stood there right in front of Santa and sang as loud as he could. It was soooo cute. I have it all on video...but I haven't figured out how to post video yet:)
Of course Karson asked for a race car...is there anything else for that boy?

Santa told Ashlynn that her remembered her from last year. She told Santa that she wanted a DS and some games and a bike.

Brinley gave a a whole list of things. A Nintendo DS, a scooter, some barbies, a American doll ....

Dance "Showcase"

This year Brinley wanted to move up to the Hip Hop dance class with Ashlynn. So she was one of the youngest in the group. They usually have a Christmas dance recital. But for some reason...I don't know why... they opted for a showcase instead of a recital. Ashlynn was pretty bummed out, when she found out that she would not be on stage performing this year for family and friends. After all, that is the main reason she wanted to do dance...to perform. Instead they invited family to the studio to see what the girls had learned.

My Hip Hoppers

Tricky move Ashlynn!

Brinley doing her "coffee grinder"

Getting her groove on.



Ashlynn and Brinley did a GREAT job. It was SHORT and sweet...a whole 10 min. No kidding!

Brinley however said she wants to take a break from dance for a little while. Ashlynn wants to continue, but wants to do Ballet...so she can be more graceful. I think we will be looking for some place where she can perform. Anyone recommend a good studio?

The girls really do love each other and like hanging out with one another. Don't they look sooo happy together? Actually Ashlynn's earring is caught in Brinley's bun...which in turn pulls her earring out of her ear...which leads to screaming and crying as we are walking out the door to the show case. Got to Love it! Always Drama LOL!

Hoping Santa Gets His List Right

Can anyone else relate? Here's Brinley in her Hannah Montana wig ...crying Christmas Morning, because she though for certain that Santa had goofed up, when he gave ASHLYNN a Hannah Montana Barbie Doll. That is what SHE wanted and she insisted that it was hers. She soon calmed down when she unwrapped her Sharpey Barbie. Whew...I'm so hoping Santa gets it right this year and we have Christmas Morning without any tears.

Horse Drawn Adventure

This past weekend we headed to Thanksgiving Point to check out the lights.

We went a little bit early because I wanted to get some photos for our Christmas cards, but my kids were a bunch of belly ache rs and would not cooperate, so we quickly abanded that idea.

My girls are always up for posing for mom.

A good one of Brinley

I liked this one of Ashlynn, although it is a little out of focus.

While waiting for the lights to turn on we headed to the ice cream parlor for some Hot Chocolate

This isn't your ordinary Hot Chocolate. This is their Hot Chocolate float. MMMMM it so so yummy. They start off with Hot Chocolate add a scoop of ice cream (this cools it off just right)...add some whip cream, pecans and top it off with a Cherry. My plan was to just share with Karson. But he was not up for any of that nonsense. So I ordered my own. You MUST try one the next time you are there. And trust me you won't want to share yours with anyone either.

Brian with his girls, enjoying their Hot Chocolate

So it finally becomes time for us to head out to see the lights. We usually just drive through in our car, but this year we decided to take the Horse drawn wagon ride to see the lights. Not sure if we will be doing that next year. As you can see we were up close and "personal" to the horses. And apparently I am allergic to horses (along with Christmas Trees...and a whole list of other things). I was sneezing the whole way through the lights and by the end of our ride I was so stuffed up, my eyes were just an itching and I could not breathe. So next year I think it is back to the car. But it was a fun memory. Hoping to create many more memories, with my cute family.

Jingle all the Way!

The Halls Have Been Decked

My Entry Way...My Favorite So I've had all my Christmas totes strung all over the house for over a week now. So I've came to the conclusion that I am FINISHED decorating. What I have out is all that I'm putting up this year. It is time to clean things up and move on. So I thought I would share some of our Families Holiday decor.

MY Christmas tree. We ended up with two Christmas trees this year. You see we started with one...well actually it was two trees that had grown into one tree. Anyhow... I thought that after it was decorated, nobody was going to be able to tell it was two trees in one. So we went ahead and cut it down. Well as we were carrying it to the truck it split...YIKES! I figured once we got home, we would just wire the trunk back together. But the trunk ended up being too big for the stand. So we ended having two trees this year. I love it...now the kids can have their own tree to decorate their way. I think we will be getting two trees every year. You can never have too many Christmas Trees.

The kids decorating THEIR tree.

After our Thanksgiving feast at Grandma and Grandpa's house, we made Gingerbread houses. The kids had a blast. Brinley and Ashlynn fell to temptation and ATE their gingerbread houses. Here are Kyle's and Karson's. Karson put his candy on all by himself! And Kyle was trying to be a little more creative and made a barn.

Here's My Nutcracker Brian got me when he was in Germany last year around Christmas Time.

I HAVE to have a Poinsettia During the Holidays. I think they are so festive. And It has to be the BIG ones that they sell at Costco.

My Cute kiddos...I think I'm going to add some red berries to the wreath.

Chandelier...I do the same thing every year...Next year I think I will try some thing new!

I LOVE My snow flake hanging over my Kitchen island. I keep these up all during January.

My little bike on Our front Porch. I bought those cute candles that light up and flicker at Wal-greens. So cute and welcoming at night.

Hope your Holidays are Merry and Bright!

Looking for Tuscany...ended up with Spaghetti Sauce

So here's the results of my weekend project. I have always wanted to glaze my kitchen wall, to give it kind of the Tuscany feel. So Saturday morning I headed down to Lowes to pick up some glaze. I wasn't sure what color I wanted, but I KNEW I didn't want red or orange in it. So I picked up a quart of Mocha. Went home and proceeded to glaze. Did not like it. Just looked like I had a dirty wall and I needed more color. I remembered that I had some gel stain left over from glazing Kyle's Bedroom...But it was a little orange. Went a head and gave it a try. LOVED IT! So I proceeded to do the whole big wall...HATED it. It was way too Orange but there was no turning back now. By dear neighbor Bobby used to work in the paint department at Home Depot. I knew she had a stash of odds and ends paint, so I headed over to her house to see if she could help remedy my problem. She handed me a quart of a tobacco colored stain. It did help tone it down a bit. It STILL isn't what I set out to achieve. But all in all it turned out pretty good I think. It's just a little hard to get used to.

Brian actually LOVES it. He wants me to continue it onto the next wall, where the windows are. I don't think I'm up to that, it does need some more color over there though. Any Suggestions? Right now it is a bisque color. My family thinks I'm crazy, because they always catch me just staring at my wall. I do Love how it has warmed my kitchen up.

Photo Shoot at Silver Lake

When I first got my new camera, we took the kids to Silver Lake up AF canyon, for a little photo shoot. The lake had fallen quite a bit, exposing a huge pile of boulders on the lake bed. The kids had so much fun climbing and exploring on them and it turned out to be a perfect place for picture taking.

So here are a few of my favs.

Ashlynn is my must cooperative poser

Here's my girls

Brinley will bait her own fish hook. Not me...I can't stand the "pop" the worm makes when you put it on the hook. eeeeew!

Brian wishes his kids liked to fish more. Brinley is the one who likes it the most...but it still isn't her favorite thing.

Here's some of my favorites of Karson. Yes, we have some dental issues.

And here's our oldest... Kyle

My fave of Kyle

How come it is soooo difficult to get a good group shot...with everyone looking at the camera?

I've seen that you can merge group photos in photoshop, so you get EVERYONE looking at you, WITHOUT goofy smiles. I'm going to do some playing around with photoshop this week.

I simply LOVE this photo of Karson and Kyle. It's like Kyle is giving him some brotherly advice.

Aren't big Brothers the Best!

On a VERY sad note. I was downloading pictures from my camera onto the computer. Well Brinley's foot happened to catch the camera strap, pulling my camera to the floor. Now it is all messed up. I Had it for 40 days and of course it HAD a 30 day warranty on it. So anyhow it has been sent off for repairs. I should have it back in 2-4 weeks. Aaack.