Happy 2012

To celebrate New Years, Crystal, Jeff and their kids came down for a visit. Saturday we drove down to Red cliffs and  met up with Lance, Sharley and their girls for lunch and a fun day of climbing and repelling.

Miles was brave and gave it a try.

Riley and Dallin

Jessica

Brant, Morgan and Tanner

Brant and Tanner getting fancy

Christmas 2011

Every year the kids get a new ornament to add to their collection. They enjoy hanging them up on the family tree. When they start their own families, they will take their collection with them.

This year instead of making a gingerbread house, we made a gingerbread nativity. I saw this idea on pinterest and thought it was so cute.

One year when my siblings and I were little, we got up Christmas morning around 3am. So excited we started playing with all of our toys. Unfortunately, my parents weren't so pleased with the time and sent us all back to bed. Every year after that, on Christmas Eve, a chair was placed in the hall. If we got up and the chair was still there, we had to go back to bed. This ensured  our parents got a few hour of sleep. As a child it was torture, but now as a parent, I think it's brilliant, and it's a tradition  we carry on with our kids. Here they all are at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for us to move the chair Christmas morning.

 

Brant has been taking woods at CHS, and for Christmas he made Ralph and I this beautiful table. the top turns and the edges drop to form a triangle. It' is called a cricket table. It was a very nice surprise.

Catching up

I am already behind on my blogging. Oh well! I think the problem is that I started blogging and then soon after discovered pinterest. Though I can honestly say that I have used lots of "pins",  my blog has gotten the bad end of the deal. But I am catching up now even if only for my own records.

 During Thanksgiving break, while we were in Provo, we took a few family pictures. Jessica needed a new photo for a graphic art project she was working on and we needed one for a Christmas card. We went up to the Robison's Orchard for the great view and awesome old truck. Ralph's brother Ryan was the photographer.

 

Speaking of Jessica and Graphic arts, right before Christmas break we learned that she was selected as Sterling Scholar for Cedar High  in Trade and Technology (Graphics). This is a big deal and opens a lot of doors for scholarships. Right now she is preparing her portfolio for region competition in March and April.

Awards and Birthdays

We attended the cross country banquet with Brant. Brant had a fun year running and got better and better each race. When they got to the award segment of the dinner, we were surprised to find out that Brant was awarded the most improved on the team. He was thrilled that his team mates had voted for him.

Tanner turned 13 and celebrated with chocolate chip sensation. We now have 4 teenagers in the house. Hard to believe, no wonder I keep finding gray hairs :)

Bye Bye Birdie

Jessica decided to step out of the tech booth and participate in Cedar High schools production of Bye Bye Birdie. It was fun to see her trying something new, and we all enjoyed the play.

 

She also was asked to paint some of the signs and props for the show. 

Jessica is in the middle of the group (telephone hour) and on the right in the pink

SUU bound

I swear that we just had Halloween, I blinked and now it is December. Time flies and so many things happened in November, I am just a little behind blogging them.

Jessica was accepted into SUU (Southern Utah University) and she will be starting in the Fall of 2012.

Halloween

The kids love getting to carve their own pumpkins. This year Miles was so excited, we had to talk him out of carving his pumpkin 2 weeks before. His enthusiasm did helped the other kids, when it came time to clean out the insides (the part they hate the most), he volunteered to help everyone else.

Brant's pirate, Dallin's Spider and Tanner's werewolf.

Miles' skull. Jessica had a really cute Tom (Tom and Jerry) but I still don't know how to work my camera and it was so detailed that it didn't show up.

  Food is always part of our Halloween traditions. We start the morning with Pumpkin waffles and then Halloween night with Dinner in a Pumpkin and homemade rootbeer.

And of course, costumes and trick or treating.

Tanner as Batman

Brant as Harry Potter

Miles as a Ghost buster. He helped me make his costume. It was a lot of fun.