Julia and Kendall sledding

Kendall will correct this if he saw it - her name is Daeia, not Julia.

Here are some cute pictures of the two of them sledding together a couple of days ago.  Kendall sure loves his big sister.

Love the looks on their faces!

Near the end of the course, they ended up turning around backwards and sledding down the rest of the way like this.

It is down

I started on Tuesday.  It took me two days.  It feels good to start fresh for the new year, although I do miss the festive feel.  I usually leave my snowmen up, but decided not to.  One good reason was that Julia needed to video record a couple of songs for her BYU audition and I figured snowmen in the background would be a little distracting (oh, and does she sound amazing!).

Yesterday morning the kids helped me carry the bins and tree bags downstairs so I could load it in the closet.  Kendall was sad as he helped carry the boxes downstairs this morning. He wants Christmas to be everyday so we can always be with our family. I told him we are always with our family. He corrected me, "No, Daeia has to go back to college. I don't want Christmas to end because she has to leave."

Have you ever seen a giraffe go sledding?

I have!

This is how a giraffe smiles ...

Took a wrong turn ...

How about a penguin?

Do you see Julia?

Oh what fun!

Our driveway is crazy ... and so is our backyard!  We have several levels of grassy areas with retaining walls.

Last week we received over 18 inches of snow.  A week later the back yard still had nearly a foot ... and has been untouched - except by the furry animals.

My brother, Richard, and his family stopped in for a visit and boy did we have fun!

Richard forged a sledding route for the kids ... and then more joined to make it even crazier.  Richard, John and I piled snow up along the retaining wall to make a slide area.  We also covered some boulders and directed the sledding path away from trees and shrubs.  When the kids hit the snow covered boulder, they would take flight on their sleds!  It was so much fun!

Kendall and his 4 year old cousin, RIV, were in the snow for nearly 6 hours!  It was beautiful out - in the 40's.  I took tons of photos and some fun video as well.

We have an awesome backyard ... but even better we have a fun uncle and Daddy that spend hours outside creating this amazing sledding path.

Anyone want to come play today?!?

Kerst on the saucer sled

Kerst - can't you just hear him screaming!

Kendall - just listen for the giggles!!!  When he got to the bottom he would ask me if he should go again.  OF COURSE!  I then heard Kendall and his cousin, RIV, talking to each other saying they were tired of walking up but not sledding down ... this was 4 hours into their 6 hour snow play time.

Kendall - this shows you how much air he gets going over the boulder we covered with snow.

John - enjoying the course after working so hard shoveling snow to create barricades, etc.

Jaley - the lighting was perfect!

Jaley

Jenna

My brother - Richard.  He started it all ... and was so fun!

Richard

Cousin - RIV (Richard IV)

Amelia

Christmas Morning

John and I stayed up to see if we could catch a glimpse of Santa.  The kids were a little wound up and took longer to fall asleep.  We gave up and put the camera on an tripod to try and catch him.

I told a couple of the kids that they couldn't get us out of bed too early ... and that I should average the their wake-up times to be the time we can be ready to open gifts.  They didn't like that idea.  Just imagine ... we have teenagers, a preteen and a 5 year old who can sleep until 10 ... the average time would work out to be 11:00 a.m. ;o)

The kids woke up and found the breakfast that Santa left.  We took our time getting ready, eating, etc and didn't start opening gifts until after 8:00. 

We all took turns starting with the youngest. It was fun to see the reactions and questions regarding the gifts.

I love Kerst's reaction.  Poor kid is surrounded by sisters ...

Or when Kerst asked, "What do you do with that?"  Julia showed him ...

 She did get a shaver, but this was a double sided potato peeler.  He was asking what you do with a potato peeler with two peeling options (soft or hard fruits/veggies).

I loved seeing them open special gifts they found for each other.  The kids all drew a name and went shopping for that person.  It was one of my favorite moments this season ... seeing them running around the store trying to hide from the person they were shopping for.  I was at the check out when John and Kerst came darting to the front, dodging back and forth hiding their future purchase.  They were able to dart to a self-check out with their hidden purchase.  Someone watching on a surveillance camera would have thought they were trying to shoplift.  It was quite a sight ... with lots of giggling from Kerst.

Kendall recorded a sweet book for Julia, Do you know how much I miss you?   He helped her open it.

Kendall opening his gift from Jaley.  I love his little feet sticking out ...

I am grateful my kids are pretty low-key.  Jaley was more than thrilled with her Chuck t-shirts and shoes.  Jenna LOVED her hard guitar case.  Kendall loved his dinosaurs.  Kerst was thrilled about his new waffle maker.  Julia was just grateful to be home with family ...

We are very blessed.

Julia and Mikaela sing Silent Night, O Holy Night

It was a real treat for me at church today to hear my very own Julia sing with her friend, Mikaela M.  It was gorgeous.  They sang Silent Night, O Holy Night.

I could listen to them all day.

It made my Christmas complete.  Oh how I miss her voice.

Caught Red Handed ... or white gloved

John and I were too tired to stay up to see if we could see Santa so we left the camera on a tripod to see if we could capture him.

The kids found this picture on the camera this morning.

Naughty or Nice - updated

Over a week ago Kendall received a video message from Santa.  Kendall has been trying hard to get on the nice list.

At breakfast this morning (before we opened our gifts, but Santa gifts were out in the open), Kendall said, "Wow I can't believe I made it on the nice list."

He sure makes me laugh!

Merry Christmas

Our church has produced some beautiful videos of Christ's life. They are a gift to the world ... and free to download from here.

We are thankful each day for the birth, life, death, resurrection and example of our Savior.

2011 Christmas Card

The cards went out a week later than I was expecting.  They had to be reprinted - the coloring was horrible (purple background sky, pink "snow").  Second time was a charm!
Presenting our 2011 Christmas Card.

We hope you enjoy it!

Who's Who in Whoville

Julia

All State Choir

Played Sandy in Grease

Graduated High School

Sophmore at BYU (thank you AP credits!)

studying Music Education

Jenna

Junior in HS

loves to swim

works as a lifeguard

got her license

sings and plays guitar

 Jaley

Freshman in HS

the artist in the family

#1 babysitter

loves interior decorating

loves to cook

Kerst

5th grade

bookworm

loves to sing

loves math and reading

loves to cook

Kendall

Kindergartener

learned to read (overnight!)

thinks he's the boss

he IS the boss

Ollie - Dec 24

It has been a fun December!  Thanks Ollie!

Kendall found Ollie this morning in a fort built out of some gifts.  Kendall told Ollie it wasn't nice to play with other's gifts.

Ollie - Dec 23

John and Julia were playing around last night with the recording equipment Julia received 2 years ago for Christmas (she would like to take it to college, but she is missing a component to allow her to use her laptop).  Looks like Ollie is trying to record a song too ...

snow angels

I have my own snow angels ... and they are gorgeous ones!  The girls decided to do a photo shoot in the snow (at least 18 inches here at our house!).  They put on red lipstick which made it even more dramatic.  When I saw the gorgeous girls ready to go outside, their red lips immediately reminded me of my Grandma T and my friend Lisa.  They always looked so stunning with their red lips.  My girls looked stunning too!

enjoy ... and let it snow!

Jenna

Julia

Jaley

This is my favorite.  A picture Julia took of herself with Jaley looking at her from behind.