The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

I finally finished the stockings project that I'd begun--just on time! This photo was taken on Christmas Eve. This was a fun sewing project, and I was excited to finish all 6 stockings before Santa came!

On Christmas Eve, Buddy the dog morphed into Buddy the elf:

On December 23 we visited mom and dad in SLC. Mom tended Skyler while the rest of us toured temple square with dad. It had been years since Nate or I had gone to temple square at Christmas. What a neat experience! It was magical and our kids loved it (in spite of the cold!)

I will post about Christmas soon, but I needed to get the pre-Christmas stuff posted (I tried on Christmas Eve but it wasn't working). Hope you all had a great holiday!

Wicked!

Wicked, here we come! Yeah for Nate's cousins Heather and Kristen who called Angie, who called me--to tell us that the Wicked tickets were available on Monday if you were special and had the secret code (most people have to wait until Friday). Heather is special and had the code, so she passed it on to us! I called and bought our tickets for May 2! I don't know how good the seats are, but we're going! Shhh...please don't tell my kids because we're surprising them for Christmas!

My Amazing Emily

Can I just brag for a minute? Well, I'm going to whether you like it or not. Emily is an amazing daughter! Every month at school a child who exhibits the monthly character trait is chosen from each class to receive the Canyon Champs award (it's Canyon Elementary School). Last month the character trait was responsibility. It didn't surprise me at all that Emily won the award for being responsible. This is the girl that wakes up at 6 am every morning (the rest of the family wakes up at 6:30 or later) so that she can get her chores done before school.

Emily loves reading! The monthly goal for reading in her class is 400 minutes. Emily has averaged about 1400 minutes every month!

Today I received a phone call from Hogi Yogi asking to speak with a parent of Emily Pope. She entered a coloring contest in November, and she won! She gets a $50 savings bond! Pretty cool, don't you think?

Emily is also a great helper! I really don't know what I would do without her. I love you, Em!

In search of the Perfect Christmas Tree

We decided to start a fun new family tradition of cutting our own Christmas tree. Very early on the morning of the first Saturday in November, Nate, his brother Justin, and my brother Brett drove to Midway and stood in line in freezing cold weather in order to get tree permits. The permits are only $10, but they are limited so they go quickly. Luckily, we got our permits. So on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we made the drive to the Uintah National Forest by Heber to get our Christmas trees!

Here are our troopers! It was a freezing cold, windy morning. Angie, Sienna, Skyler and I waited in the car because it was just too cold for the babies (plus Skyler was hungry). It took an hour or so to find, cut, and haul back 3 beautiful Christmas trees! Then we drove back into Heber and ate lunch at the Dairy Keen. Yum!

Christmas Advent Project

I was talking with my sister about the advent calendar we had as children. I told her I had made a similar one with a Nativity theme a few years ago. I'm posting a photo so she could see what it looks like. If anyone is interested in making one of these I can email you the pictures. I scanned these cute pictures from a Nativity storybook. Then I printed them on iron-on transfer paper. I transferred it onto felt (felt sticks to felt--like flannelboard and requires little to no sewing). I made a background stable on a larger piece of felt. I also sewed pockets onto the larger piece. Each pocket is numbered and holds one of the nativity pictures. Every day in December they pull one picture out of the pocket and put it on the stable. My kids love this!

Twilight!!

I did it! I went to Twilight at midnight last night! IT WAS AWESOME! I loved it! I can't wait to go again! Kristen Stewart was the perfect Bella. And Robert Pattinson, while not my ideal Edward (and let's face it--who could live up to that ideal, anyway?..That is, I mean besides Nate, of course) came pretty darn close! Ah, the romance... Thanks for going with me Angie and Sierra! And it was fun being with so many cousins! Anyone ready to go again, like tonight?

2008 Family Photo

In September we went up Provo canyon to get an updated family picture taken. The colorful autumn leaves were so pretty and the kids were mostly agreeable (picture time can be so stressful, but it went okay)!