Before they left

We had to get out and play some football with all these boys around.

We spent several hours on this field running,

flying a remote control airplane (and getting it stuck in trees), dog piling,

talking and just resting.

I love having my sisters and their families around. I come from such a great family!

Mario Cart

This is Sam's first introduction to video games. I don't think we will be investing in a wii anytime soon, but if I say NEVER.... then it will surely happen!

Surprise

The Wilsons got a huge Christmas surprise. Their dad found tickets to the Rose Bowl!!! Ohio State vs. Oregon. They were so excited. It was also a treat for us, b/c this meant they would get to come see us for a day. We had so much fun playing with all our cousins.


Sam LOVES this race track. Lucky for Chase, Sam got his own set this Christmas!

Kate is always such a good friend.

Christmas day at home

On 'Christmas Eve' we acted out Luke 2 and Poppie Mikie read us "Twas the Night Before Christmas." It was a wonderful night. I hope to repeat in the future. Here is Sam as a Wise man.

We woke up Christmas morning to wonderful surprises under the tree.


This was the best picture I had of our wonderful Christmas dinner. Maybe Todd will have a photo for me.

luke 2

Christmas in St. George

Our Family in the Red Rock (of St. George, Utah) 2009

This year we were lucky enough to have 2 Christmases. As soon as Olivia's school was over we began the 11 hour drive down and over to St. George to visit Grandma Ann and Great Grandpa Jack. The kids are really great in the car on these long trips. They don't even watch that many videos. I am glad we trained them from when they were young to endure these trips. This makes these kinds of long trips much more tolerable with the kids behaving so nicely.

Great Grandpa Jack is living with Ann for a while as he recovers from his surgery and a MINOR stroke. Olivia had to show him all her artwork that she brought on the trip.
The first thing the kids wanted to do when we arrived in St. George was to go to "the purple tent with the slides", AKA the indoor swimming pool. We were able to do this 2 of the days.

Ann lives in a wonderful neighborhood. They always have block parties. This block party was a lot of fun. Neighbors brought out their fire rings and we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Sam just loved the fire. I had a least 6 marshmallows!

The other activity that was great was this little boat that someone was pulling behind their truck. They were blasting Christmas music from their speakers. This was their way of caroling. Definitely a southern Utah Christmas.

Hi Dad and his big girls!

Wednesday night we went to a Nativity play at the Tuacahn theater. Before the Luke 2 reading we went on this train ride and after the reading we had HOT Cocoa and listened to some ladies with wonderful voices sing Christmas songs. The kids liked all 3 parts of this evening. Daniel and I are so blessed with such great kids. I loved watching Luke 2 with the kids, but it was also very rewarding to watch the kids drink their cocoa and listen to the singers.

This was our 'Christmas morning' at Grandma Ann's house. A tradition I love is making cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. yum yum

Lula had fun exploring everyone's presents.

Just before this picture was taken, Olivia realized we were leaving. She always gets very sad when it is time to leave her grandmas' houses. She has such a tender heart.

Sam's habit

One habit never previously mentioned is that Sam is a nail biter. It does have its benefits, but I am sure there will be a day when I wish he would not be a biter.
Here is Sam on his Christmas day program. I guess he should have worn something a bit nicer, but one thing is for sure, he only likes to wear shorts...no matter the weather!

Why I love this time of year

Breakfast

I went into the kitchen to check on the kids during breakfast and this is what I saw. Sam loves his sisters to sit RIGHT next to him on the short side of the table while he eats. It is hard to understand why, because half way thru the meal he is poking them! He is my sensitive boy that is a true boy- he loves his girls and loves bugging them!

merry birthday to me

I had a wonderful birthday with many birthday wishes, thanks to my family and Facebook.
I also received these beautiful flowers from my mom.

I love puffy flowers and I love a bouquet that can have green in it with very little of the green coming from leaves! Almost a week later, they look just as fresh!

trim the tree

The kids did a great job decorating the tree. It took the kids about 7 minutes to unwrap all Daniel and my childhood ornaments as well as all their own ornaments. I was a nervous wreck, but afterward I remembered my childhood memories of Leslie and me frantically unwrapping all the tissue paper protecting our ornaments to hang them.
Sam is a great tree decorator.

Lula has done such a great job at NOT touching the tree! We are very pleased with her!

cutting our tree

Our tree cutting day finally arrived and, yes, we brought along our frisbee. In case you did not know, Daniel loves throwing a frisbee around. As usual, it has been a great toy to have.

Before we got started hunting for our perfect tree we had to stop and ride the tractors.
We found our perfect tree. Really, there were so many trees to choose from, it was hard to go wrong. This land was near Scott's Valley. It is a very pretty part in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Olivia, Chloe, Sam and Daniel all got a turn sawing the tree.
Timber!!!!

When Olivia stumbled upon this tree she was cracking up. She thought this was the most hilarious tree she had ever seen. This was such an interesting moment for me as her mom. She is growing up and shows her own personality. I love her very much.

Then we have Lula. This was funny, too. We were trying to take this nice family picture by our tree. As soon as she got on Daniel's shoulders, she began to claw at his face. This picture captures the moment perfectly!

We began our trek back to our cars. Flash really wanted a cart to pull his tree on; kids are funny sometimes.

After the morning's adventures, we had hot cocoa, bagels, cheese, and cuties. Everyone had a great time! I am grateful my sister and her family live near us so that we can have fun traditions like this with their family.

Tree finding

I can't believe how quickly the perfect tree was found. See how huge that tree is!!! The kids had a great time here. They said this was one of the favorite things they did this weekend. I hope we have just as much fun when we go cut our tree down next weekend.

After we found the perfect tree (which took 20 minutes!!! haleluja) we sat outside and had the best doughnuts you have ever tasted. They were hot and dense and just crumbled in your hand as you devoured them. They were so good. Daniel said it right when he said they looked like doughnuts you see in the movies.

This place was heaven for Sam. He enjoyed the tractors, throwing rocks into a pond, eating doughnuts, watching the bunnies, and poking the mud with a stick.
One thing I love about Sam is that he will only wear shorts, no matter how cold it is. He is just like his dad!

Other things we did this weekend: cleaned up the Wilson's backyard a little (with the Oregon natural backyard, you could never clean it all), and we went to an IMAX dome theater showing of The Polar Express. The kids liked that even though it was a little scary. Olivia and I had to go out of the theater for a while!

Visiting John

We are lucky to have Daniel's brother's family also living in Portland. That way we can also visit his family! For Christmas John got a guitar. He was showing Olivia how to play it. We had a nice time. I spoke with Mercedes and Claribel (in Spanish) while John and Daniel talked. The kids colored and watched a movie.

Thanksgiving day

Thanksgiving day started as it should, with a Turkey Bowl. Daniel lives for this part of Thanksgiving, it is just as good as homemade pumpkin pie and whip cream.

Drew, Seth and Daniel had a great time playing in the foggy weather on the wet field. Daniel played quarterback some of the time and caught a few touchdown passes. I did not get the low down on Drew and Seth, but Daniel says they are great players.

After the game and a warm shower for the boys, we hung out at the house. Mike made a wonderful meal and 2 turkeys. We had a great time doing nothing.

Val and Mom made sure the snack plates were always full. We had 2 kinds of turkey, green beans, grilled onions with apples, yams with brown sugar and pecans(to die for and requested by Seth), stuffing, cranberry sauce with pomagranate, mashed potatoes, and I am sure there was more...Barbie help!

This is what was left of the fried turkey after Grandpa Mike stood in the rain and cold weather to watched it fry. It was really good.

Thanksgiving in Portland

We finally made it to Portland after delays at the Apple store in Palo Alto and traffic in Oregon. The kids were so excited to see their cousins. After Poppie Mike treated everyone to a great dinner, the Wilson boys made a bonfire and we roasted marshmallows for s'mores. The we just talked while the boys threw around a glow in the dark football. I really enjoyed tonight.

I would like to thank Barbie for introducing my kids to the idea of lighting marshmallows on fire. Olivia loved blowing them out, but who doesn't?? It didn't take Sam long to figure out how far a gooey marshmallow can fly when flug off his roasting fork!!

Chloë was so content to sit in her camp chair and point her marshmallow stick at the fire and then eat them.

Tony

I think one thing will never change with Daniel and his brothers. They always like to compare muscles.

I love you Daniel, but I think Tony wins.... this time!