New Years and some Random Pictures

This first picture is actually a Christmas Day left over. Darin got the game "Would you Rather" for Christmas and we all played it together. It was a fun game! This is a picture of Trent doing a "Pose" for a short amount of time. It's not so easy standing like that for a few minutes! Our family really enjoys games... I got Guestures from Eyn and so the day after Christmas we got to play it. It's pretty much Charades and it's GREAT!! We were unsure as to how good Amberly would be able to play but her and Trent did better than all the rest of us!! This picture is of Elizabeth on one of her turns. Great shot Darin!! :)
New Years Eve - It wasn't suppose to get as cold as it did that night!! Elizabeth went out with Friends that night. We had to do fireworks! We had such a hard time doing them this year because it got really windy and cold! The lighter refused to light and the little lighter sticks they give you when you buy fireworks kept going out. We ended up bringing a candle out that was protected in the jar it was in to help with lighting the stick and then immediately light the firework. It worked! It was cold, but fun!

Notice the wind blown hair and rosy cheeks!

The "unshaven" look. Darin actually had the last half of December off and 1st part of January off from work. It was nice being able to have everyone home for the break.

New Years Day we invited the grandparents up for a day of games. Actually, a day for the boys to play Darin's new Star Trek Monopoly. They played it and also our new Uno Spin. We love that game!!! It is really popular in our home right now! We have had some really "LONG" games! After the grandparents left we played another game of Monopoly and I actually played. (I'm not a monopoly fan!) I wiped them all out!! Trent tried to do a come back after I was "nice" to him a few times, but he could have never come back and beat me with all the property with hotels I owned! I like the game, but I hate how it makes me feel when I'm beating everyone and they all get gloomy.

Just a random picture of Amberly and a few of her animals. I found her this way one afternoon watching TV. Cute!

I found a gingerbread house half off and bought it for Amberly and Trent to make. They had a lot of fun putting it together, but I think they actually enjoyed eating it even more! They were nice and let everyone enjoy eating it with them. They really did a great job with it! It was hilarious because the roof just did not want to stay on so I was sitting there trying to hold it in place while they quickly decorated it. They just wanted it done so they could eat it! They ended up waiting till Darin got home so he could see it before it was consumed!

Happy New Year Everyone!! May 2010 be a Bright and Wonderful Year for all of us!!

Christmas!!

It feels like our family has so many Christmas traditions its sometimes hard to keep up with them!! Christmas Eve is always a busy one for our family. A good busy, but busy! We ended up finishing all our Christmas baking on this day and delivered all our goodies early in the evening. Eyn had to work that day (another post soon) and he missed out on most of this. We made plates for our neighbors and several of our friends in the ward. They were sure yummy!! It was fun to visit and spread some Christmas cheer! We then came home and had to quickly do our Christmas eve rituals. Since Elizabeth was a baby we have opened one present each year on this day and it has always been new pajamas. I remember a year that Trent (I think it was Trent) was so excited to open his present on Christmas Eve and then when he opened it and found pajamas he just started crying! He was really disappointed! Who wanted to open clothes! No tears anymore! (Luckily!) Then everyone settled down to listen to the Christmas story countdown we have been doing and to have Daddy read the Night Before Christmas. The traditional "M&M" cookies were put out for Santa, reindeer food thrown outside for them to eat, and then off to bed. All 4 children actually slept in Amberly and Elizabeth's bedroom. I didn't think they were ever going to calm down! I stood outside of the room with the door closed and just listened to them laughing and giggling. It was priceless! We actually didn't start opening presents this year until nearly 8:00. I was really glad! I was exhausted!! I think everyone was happy with what they got. The big presents this year included a new bike for Amberly, a DSi for Trent, Rockets Tickets (two games - Great seats!)for Eyn, and a new camera for Elizabeth. It was a beautiful Christmas morning!! Grandpa Bruce and Grandma Sharon came over around lunchtime and spent the afternoon with us. We had a fun time playing games and eating yummy food. (Ham, Sweet Potatoes, Cheesy Potato Casserole, Etc, Etc, Etc. Lots of it!!) Amberly riding her new bike. She was excited to get a bigger bike. She loves riding it!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that the wonderful Spirit of love felt each Christmas season will be felt in your homes all year long!!

Katy 3rd Ward Giving Tree

One of the highlights this Christmas season for me was being in charge of the giving tree for our ward at church. Each year our ward provides gifts for people who live in the Seally Branch and any within our ward who are struggling this Christmas time. I was asked to be in charge of it this year and found it to be a marvelous experience for me and my family. We were given a list of 117 gifts. We made ornaments which had a gift listed on each ornament. These were placed on a tree and the members then were able to choose which ones they would like to buy the present for. The bishop and Relief Society president were really worried that 117 presents was asking a lot of our members. But I actually never worried about that. It was amazing to me to see the stars pulled quickly off the tree and people saying that if there was extra to let them know and they could do more. It was incredible!! And then the gifts started arriving! I was really humbled by the entire experience. Some of these families just asked for warm clothes for their families. Someone asked for new underwear and socks. I was humbled by the requests and humbled by the generosity of others. It was a great way for me to truly feel of the Christmas spirit. I have told them I would be more than willing to do it next year and hope that happens!

This is the back of the suburban once it was loaded with all the gifts. It was packed full!! It was such a beautiful sight!

Trent's Christmas Orchestra Concert

It really amazes me how fast children can learn!! Just a few months ago we went to Trent's 1st concert in orchestra and it amazes me the difference in just a few months!! Wow!! They did really good!! I was so proud of him!! He loves playing the cello and is doing an amazing job at it!! He actually gets bored with his school music and is always transposing other music we have here at home to play. It amazes me at how talented he is!! Way to go Trent!!

If you look closely you can see Trent on the second row in the middle. What a cute kid!!

I'm looking forward to the next concert to see how much they have learned!

1st Grade Junior Achievement

Darin once again did Junior Achievement for Amberly's class. I think it is a highlight for both of them! Amberly just loves having her Daddy come and be a part of her class and I know he enjoys his time with her there too! Junior Achievement is such a wonderful parent led program. For 5 weeks straight he was able to go into her class and teach a lesson about Communities/families/working/money/saving, Etc. I get to go with him on the last day to "help out". It's always fun to see him interacting with the children and watch how they just love him!
We're very happy that Chevron is a strong sponsor of this program and allow their employees to take time off of work to go into the schools to do this. Chevron is big on volunteering.

Ms. Danchenka's 1st Grade Class Amberly waiting patiently to get chosen.
The following picture was actually really cute. Their activity was a charades game. Each child got to up and choose a job and "pretend" they were doing that job and the other children had to guess what it was. The favorite job was Teacher. Here Darin is demonstrating to the children the activity and had them guess what job he was doing. Notice the glasses on the nose and I think he put on the board 1+1=3. They got a big kick out of him and he quickly was apologizing to the teacher saying that in no way was he describing her! They all had fun taking a turn with it!

What Happened to December??? It just flew by!!

I put all my pictures in backwards... so we'll do a Pre-Christmas review backwards. Oh well. It will have to do..

This year was Trent's turn to put the Angel Moroni on the finished tree. We waited until Elizabeth got home from School to do it so it actually ended up being put up on Christmas eve. He was quite excited to have his turn. New Star of the year.. Each year for the past several years I have went out and bought a new star for our tree. As part of our Christmas tradition before Christmas we go in seach of the star. I hide the star somewhere in the house and everyone has to search to find it. I have usually gotten silver shiny stars or even more decorative, but this years star stuck out to me when I saw it in the store. I liked that it was simple and more homemade looking. I guess when I think of the birth of Christ and that a king was born in a lowly stable...I don't know, I guess the star just seemed to fit this year. :)
Elizabeth came home from BYU-Idaho on the 19th of December. We had already decorated the tree but we saved her special ornaments for her to put up.

The greatest gift we got this year was Elizabeth coming home from School. Quick story... her plane came home late in the evening so Darin and I went and picked her up alone. We left everyone else home. We took her out to get a bite to eat before home and arrived back here around midnight. Everyone had waited up for her but Amberly and fallen asleep on the couch. Elizabeth went over to her and tried to wake her up. Amberly gave her a hug and let her hold her but we could all tell she was not awake. She laid back on the couch by Darin as Elizabeth hugged on Trent and Eyn. Darin sat and rubbed Amberly trying to wake her up. She finally opened her eyes and looked at her Daddy and realized we were home and that meant one thing... Elizabeth was home!! She jumped off the couch and attacked Elizabeth. It was priceless!! She was so overjoyed to see her big sister. It was one of those moments that I'll always treasure!

Like I said earlier... decorating the tree. Nearly done with it!

Putting the tree together.
We had a great time decorating the tree and getting ready for the Christmas season!