MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Our Christmas time started out with... SNOW! and lots of it!

Then we had to make our very excited call to Santa Clause!On Christmas Eve Grama Annie and Pagah came over for our yearly pageant. Pagah just had nose surgery and was a wonderful Joseph! I don't think he realized he had a towel on his head for awhile. Grama was hilarious as you can see from the video! Gotta love those two! They sure make our lives merry and bright! Ammon was a fierce wise man, Alana insisted on being the donkey and Marrick was the baby Jesus holder. We read the Christmas story, sang Christmas songs and then laughed and had a great time.

Dad read the kids the Night before Christmas, then off to bed.

Santa blessed us with all sorts of fun and even breakfast cereal!

Marrick decided all he needed was a sucker.Santa had to be very creative to fill Daddy's stocking. He had a HUGE Gatorade in the bottom!On Christmas Eve, Santa magically snuck into Alana's room and put a collar and bow on SaphieHe left a note that Alana read very carefully with Dad. We can keep her! Thanks Santa!Ammon's favorite... Lego's, thanks Nana and Pop pop! WOW!
Alana got the pony she was dreaming about!And Hot Wheels galore!Dad has to tell you all about each one.
The boys love trucks.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night! We love you baby Jesus!

tagging for 6

Here is my 6th picture in my 6th electronic picture folder and I am tagging 6 friends, Amber, Catherine, Kim, Rachael, Anna and Jamie. I never do these things, so I thought I'd show a little non-humbug spirit.

This is Lexi and Clairie Gomez, my cousin Sacha's kiddos. They live across the street and like to play over a lot. Lex and Clairie like to play train the animals. Can you guess who pretends they are animals? They were either playing that or fighting over the baby. I can't remember.

Lovin' Life!

Alana entered the visual arts category for the national Reflections program. I was actually in charge of the program at Alana’s elementary school. Alana won 1st place at her school for her age group and then one first place for the local competition out of 35 entries. The local competition included 7 other schools and she is now going on to the regional competition. Reflections go all the way to a National level. It is a fun program and includes many arts areas. It sure was a lot of work for me to head up! Alana was so funny about her watercolor picture she titled, “Animal City.” She said, “Mom, if I knew it was a real contest I would have done a better job!” Go Alana Go! She is quite the little artist!Another tooth! Just in time to sing… “All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth!” Well, almost her 2 front teeth.So, the other morning I went for a late run and I left the boys in the tub with Daddy in charge. When I got home, this is what I saw looking at me from the front window… Hi naked Marrick!We LOVE our Pagah stories! Thanks for hanging out with us so much while Gramma Annie was gone for 4 weeks to Emma’s in Texas with her new baby and to Arizona for Anna’s new baby.Ok, so every Christmas Aaron gets really into something for the kids. Last year it was action figure ninja turtles, this year it is Hot Wheels. This man has been to every store that sells Hot Wheels and on EBay finding Just the RIGHT collection of cars for his boys to play with. Then of course you have to get the super duper tracks to go with the cars! The other night I came to bed to see this… Aaron with his favorites set out, just looking at them. I love that big kid!

A new addition to our family...

No, no baby... read on...

OK, OK, OK, this is crazy for me, but… Yes, I gave in and got a puppy. AHHHHH! What was I thinking?!!!
So, a little over 2 weeks ago Aaron is begging for a puppy, again (like for the last 3 years). What you need to know is that Aaron has always wanted a Rottweiler and I have never wanted a big dog, because we tried that out for a month or 2 and it was a disaster! So, Aaron was looking through the paper and found a miniature Pinscher, also known as a mini Doberman pinscher, mini Rottweiler, or king of the minis, or so they think they are. So, somehow I am talked into going to “LOOK” at this puppy. Of course when we get there it is up to mom and you need to know that Alana acts like a dog most days, so I gave in. OK, so here she is…

Saphira (after the dragon in Eragon, Aaron’s touch), or Saphie for short.

We told the kids that she is on trial at our house. Santa will be giving the final verdict. Well, Santa just paid for shots at the vet, so I think she is staying. Somehow this little dog (3 lbs, 14 oz to be exact) has found her way into everyone's heart! Alana is in heaven. She did not get a single toy out for like 10 days. She is so excited to have this dog and this little Saphie sure loves her!

I just had to throw in some pictures of the boys...

What happens when mom showers and you forget to put the syrup away after breakfast? Marrick sure keeps me busy, but that stinker is so cute!

Here is our super hero Toa Boy! Always making us smile!

Thanksgiving... much to be thankful for!

Our Thanksgiving started out quite eventfully when Aaron went to play his yearly Turkey bowl. Being a warm Thanksgiving morning for Utah, I decided to take the kids to watch him play. Turkey in the oven, we loaded up the van. Just in time, we unloaded the van, got to the field to watch our Dad when I saw him go up for the catch and "POP!" The football bent his finger backwards, the ligament broke a piece of his bone off and he lacerated 3/4 of his finger! Sick and wrong Aaron!! He had 5 of his boys from work with him and had to take them all back, bleeding all the way before going to the ER. His only comment was, "I hope this doesn't effect me hesitating when I catch a football again." Gotta love him. At least it was his RIGHT hand. Last time he broke something it was his left hand and he had to write a 12 page essay for finals. He goes to see the specialist on Friday. we just hope he doesn't need surgery. This man doesn't need any more pins and plates in his hands!
OK, so the feast began around 3 pm. Like my sis Anna said on her blog, we grew up with 100 people in a church or a school with mass amounts of food. So, this was a very quiet Thanksgiving for us as well. We had Pagah over, of course since Grama Annie was in Texas with Emma and Mark had no where to be so we had him over too. Happy Turkey Day!
Marrick loves his food. MMMMMM....



Our Thanksgiving ended with an exciting sugar-pie high and Marrick's famous...
Balloon Launcher!

OK, the Christmas tree did NOT go up on Thanksgiving, But it did go up December 1. This year I decided to get some new ornaments from Costco. I finally have a tree worth taking a picture of. Yeah for Christmas! Aaron and I are so excited this year. We have our presents bought and wrapped and are just going to focus on others and the spirit of the season.

Merry Christmas!

Playing in the Leaves!

When I think of Falling leaves, I think of September, October or the first of November, but Now it is December 2 and I have a tree that still has its leaves! Oh well! Party on leaves and happy autumn.

Playing in the leaves!

So much fun!

So cute!

Marrick goes so crazy in the leaves! He was so excited to jump into the big pile.

Pray for the Hansen Family

I just got off the phone with my mom this morning and Emma, who just had a baby a week ago has both of her babies in the hospital with RSV, Ethan and Beckham. Ethan is just 20 months and Beckham is a week old. Jake is in Chiropractic school and has finals all week too. Please pray for them. We love you Hansen family. Get better please! No more hospitals!

Dancing with our stars and Auntie again!!!

There is nothing better than when your children are being sweet and kind. This is a cute video of our kiddos dancing to Christmas music the other day. And I still don't know how to turn the video. Any tips? Maybe next time I will record the right way? Naaa, too easy!

I also wanted to pay tribute to my 2 wonderful sisters that had babies on Friday and Saturday...

Anna's little sweet Bella: Look at all that blonde hair! She is soooo sweet! I love the Anna growl. So beautiful and already a princess!

And Emma's sweet little Jack? (or Maybe Beckham?) I vote Jack (especially since I made him a gift with "Jack" on it!!!) He is such a boy and so handsome!!! Definately a Johnson! Oh, I just love new babies! Thier spirits are so strong and they are just amazing to be around. I feel so sad that I do not live closer to all of our family. Whoever gets to see these sweet lambs, be thankfull and give them kisses from Auntie Liza. Love you Anna, John and Bella! Love you Emma, Jake, Ethan and Lucky Jack! We miss you!

Happy Halloween! Alana was a purple kitty(she wanted to be a dog, but she settled for a cat), Ammon was the dinosaur, and marrick was a horse. Good thing our kids aren’t picky. Our kids chose a costume from the Cothran dress up box. It consists of… ANIMALS, go figure!

The animals from the back… Nice Ammon! Good scratchin’!

My Handsome Boys!

I play on a woman’s indoor soccer team and we all dressed up for our game. Yes, I actually played with the hair on and even did a header! You have to get very creative on a costume when you are playing soccer. All in good fun!!!




Grama Annie came to get the kids for her ward’s Halloween activity. Marrick was so terrified of Grama as a witch and Grama kept scaring him! Wicked Grama!

Pagah and Grama Annie are sooo hilarious on Halloween. They get their camping chairs, blanket and bucket of candy and sit on the porch for a couple of hours. But they don't just hand out any candy, the question was, "Chocolate or Candy Cane?" 90% of the kids say, "CANDY CANE!!!" the moms of course say, "Chocolate." The kids sure love those two!

This is the Gomez Family, My cousin that live across the street. Thier wizard of Oz family was too cute! Here is our family. Aaon was a Schizophrenic and I was the "official Candy taster"
Ohhhh, too much Candy! I'm done!
Attack of the Dinosaur!
Hope you had a Happy Halloween!

Happy Autumn Time!

I fogot to mention the most Important part about these pumpkins...

They are from Pagah and Grama Annie's GARDEN!!!!

YES, AMAZING!!!

I love the Autumn time where it’s not too hot and not too cold, the kids are excited about everything and there seems to be plenty to keep everyone busy. Carving pumpkins this year was so fun. Alana would finally put her hand in the pumpkin and dig out the goo. Ammon and Marrick thought we were crazy.
Ammon had a bat on one side and a ghost on the other.


Aaron always does the “Aaron Face.” On the back is a big Y.

Alana carved the whole pumpkin by herself, very impressive.

This is Marrick having the time of his life! Mom was gone and Daddy gave the Kids Chocolate pudding. Mmmmmmm....

Hey, if you get a chance, check out my blog for my newest project. www.flipforfamilynight.blogspot.com
I had an interview with Deseret Book yesterday in Salt Lake to try and get my books in their stores. We will see. My sister Emma did an amazing job illustrating them and I took the photographs and wrote them. They are in flip chart form, individual Family Home Evening lessons that are quick and easy. They have taken a lot of time, but they have been fulfilling.