Christmas light fun!

So tonight Chan and I decided to take the kids out on a small Christmas light adventure! I bought all the kids small bottles of sparking cider and we piled in the big truck and off we went!
I went online and found a house not too far from our house that does one of those Christmas light displays that is all synchronized to music so we went to see if it was any good.
And here it is!! It was way cool! And they used my hubbies favorite song by the Trans Siberian Orchestra! There was others too, but that was our favorite! Well worth driving over to see! Then we went down to Sandy City hall to see their display...
and this was the most exciting thing there! Kind of a bummer, but at least the other house made up for it! It was a fun night out with the family!! Can't believe it's Christmas Eve TOMORROW!! Yay!!!

Tis' better to give...

I have always felt it's better to give than to receive at Christmas and this year is no exception! However, it seems we have managed to do MORE for others than we ever have this year. Even with the "economy" the way it is and knowing what we had already planned and done for our own family (which you'll find out soon enough) we still wanted to do for others. I am proud to say that we did well this year!! We did the usual items from our Ward Secret Santa tree but also did our own thing with a family in our neighborhood and surprised them with a "elf helper" delivering them a gift card donation to help with their Christmas this year. Then my husbands siblings decided that instead of gifts to each other this year we should donate to a worthy cause- LOVED THAT! It's not something we have to do every year, but I have to say I loved the idea because there are so many people needing the help. So I was able to make donation in their names to the USO and Operation Family Fund- both support our troops and their families. Can I just say how blessed I feel! I am so grateful for all that the Lord has blessed me and my family with and I am even more grateful for the opportunity to share with others! It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling full of the Christmas spirit and I hope that by sharing it has reached you too! Merry Christmas everyone!! 8)

Night lights!

I had to get a shot of the house with all the lights on! I love the way it looks when it snows! It's SOOOOO pretty!! And we got a lot more snow after I took this last night! This Arizona girl LOVES me some snow!!
This year the kids all wanted a small Christmas tree in their rooms! It started with Brianne getting one and then the boys chimed in and said they wanted one! This one is Brianne's blue tree (her favorite color) and bright colored ornaments with white lights.
This is Carter's tree and it is white with gold, green and red ornaments and multi colored lights!
And last but not least Will's tree which is a silver tree with red beads and red lights! Can you guess his favorite color................. yeah it's RED! I never thought of it this way but those cute little trees make for a great festive night lite!! :)

My "Deco"

My friend Tammy and I both call our decorations our "Deco" so I wanted to share a bit of mine this year! I don't know if I have ever gotten a shot of this sign, but it's one of my favorite items! It's right by my front door! And I quite obviously have a bit of a snowflake theme going on!
Here's another one of my favorite things! CHRISTMAS CARDS! I love giving them and getting them! I stick them up with tape on my coat closet door so everyone can enjoy them!
This is the tree in my living room and it's new!! A lot of the ornaments are new too! I think this tree is much prettier than the one I had previously! (and don't you just love the snow out the front window!)
Here's a close up shot of some of the ornaments.
The tree is just on the right in this shot- and now you can see some of the other snowflakes!
Here's my dining room- the gingerbread houses we made are over on the sideboard.
This is above the piano- I love to take shots of the kids every year in a Santa hat. It will be fun to look over those when they get older and see how much they have changed!
This is down in my family room- I keep pictures of the kids/family on here normally, but during Christmas I put they previous years Santa pics! It's always fun to look at how much they have changed!
Here is the tree in my Family room- it hasn't changed much but I did add ornaments and a Santa to my wreath this year! I think it matches the tree now! FUN! I am planning on taking an outdoor pic of the house later tonight- we got some snow so it should look pretty!! :)

The best way to spread Christmas cheer...

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear! My favorite line from the movie "Elf"! Love that movie!!
But isn't it just the truth! There's nothing quite like a Christmas concert to get you feeling very festive!!
Brianne's official choir concert was held this past Wednesday and they did a great job! I could hear Brianne singing out of this huge group! I must REALLY know my daughter voice!
They sang some really fun songs- ones I am not familiar with- but I really enjoyed it!
At the very end Brianne had a narrating part thanking everyone for coming and hoping that they enjoyed the concert. She did such a great job! She has NO FEAR in public! Way to go Brianne! Thanks for the "Christmas Cheer!!"

NOVA graduation

This month was also a big one for Will- it was time for NOVA graduation! NOVA is a program similar to the "DARE" drug program. The 6th grade has been working with a police officer since the first weeks of school and finally it was time to graduate!
I thought it was WAY COOL that they invited some real hero's to shake their hands as they received their certificates. Those Marines got a standing ovation when they were introduced.
Will was all smiles when he got his! And the male officer behind him is who they worked with- he's a great guy!
I was very proud of Will! He did a great job!
I didn't embarrass him by making him pose at school! I waited till he got home and got this shot of him by the tree.
Here's a shot of the certificate and you can see what NOVA stands for! Pretty awesome! Way to go Will!

Brianne's solo!

The first week of December Brianne and her fellow choir members were asked to sing at the "light up the night" event for Christmas. So off we went to watch! It was a big night because Brianne had a small solo!
She did such a great job! The song is north pole rock and roll and she was awesome! The whole choir did a great job! I was very proud!
I was glad that she finally stepped out of her comfort zone and tried out for a solo! She has a great voice and I can't wait for their full Christmas concert coming up! Way to go Brianne!

Jr Jazz

So one afternoon about two weeks ago Carter informs me that he was invited to play on a Jr Jazz basketball team and he needed to get the paperwork and money in THAT DAY.... yeah gotta love that! But after asking why do you want to do this his response was "it will be a jolly good time"! How can you say no to THAT! So off we went to sign up and his first game was last Saturday.
They are really just playing for fun- and that's evident in this picture where they decided to hike up their shorts like John Stockton! FUNNY!
Basically all these boys play football together and have never practiced- they just want to play!
After warming up a bit and missing almost every basket- it was game time!
The reason Carter is smiling on the bench is because although they only had 6 players to their 11 they managed to jump out to a lead because they were stealing the ball like crazy and hitting a ton of 3 point shots!
It was a pretty fun game to watch! Our guys play some mean defense! We were ahead at the half and the game was close all the way to the end when one of Carter's friends made a 3 point shot to put the game into overtime!
The defense was still great and we made a couple shots and managed to pull out the win! It was crazy! So although this is "just for fun" they are actually doing pretty good.... well, so far!

Gingerbread Fun!

So while my kids were home over Thanksgiving break I decided it would be fun to go and get those gingerbread kits and make some gingerbread houses! This is a shot of Carter's house! He didn't take a ton of time doing his but I was grateful he WANTED to! But I did notice he put his favorite color of green on the roof! We had fun making them and decorating them to look festive!
This is on that I did. We went to the dollar store to get candies and this one the roof is sweet tarts! That tells you how small these are! They really are tiny! But cute!
This one is Brianne's and she picked it because it had the biggest "yard" to decorate! I love what she did with her roof! And what a welcoming walkway!!
Here's the other one I did- Chan was at work and I offered to save one for him and he thought that was a nice thought but it wasn't his kind of "gig"! I liked the shape of this one!
And last but not least here is Will's house! Yes- it IS shaped a bit like an outhouse but it was what he chose! I liked his columns and that your greeted by Santa! The best part was picking out the candy at the store and watching all of them eat and they decorated! Not to mention licking the spatulas of frosting! Gotta love it! They are the perfect decoration in my dining room!

Thanksgiving 2010

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Sweet Music

There is nothing more precious than hearing sweet music being played by a young student! Brianne has been taking piano lessons for about 2 months and had her first recital just a few weeks ago.
She was hardly nervous at all, but I have to admit that the song she played was not long at all... maybe 20 seconds!
She did an amazing job! She had to stand and say her name and what piece she was going to play before she sat to play it.
If she is this confident in playing before a crowd I can't wait to see her in a few years when she has more time under her belt! I am soooooo proud of her and can't wait till the next recital! Way to go Brianne!!

Championship Game!

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