Christmas Eve at the Banfield's.

The food and company were great!

Lots of love going on.

The candy bar game.

Such frustration and concentration.

Then the kids and adults had a white elephant gift exchange.

Thanks for hosting Christmas Eve dinner and activities Melissa and Brian!

Merry Christmas to all!!!

The best mess of the year!

Preston's Christmas Program

Preston's program was shortly after lunch so I went to the school with Taco Bell in hand and ate lunch with Taylor and Preston. It was really fun to sit with them and see their friends.

There were so many parents there to see the kindergartners sing that it was so crazy and hectic to try and go up to the front and take a picture. So I had to settle for taking one afterwards.

They all did so great! I asked Preston to make sure he sings nice and loud for me so he said he would. I said do you promise? He said yes. I was so happy and surprised that he did.

He kept looking over at me and sung his heart out! I was so proud!

Preston is such a great student and wonderful son!

I am so proud of you Preston! You are such an awesome boy!

Ellie's Christmas Program

Ellie had her Christmas program at Preschool with Miss Peggy.

She was smiling and being so happy before it started,

then she decided to be a pill and not participate.

After some bribing she finally joined the rest of her class.

Brooklyn and Ellie were the prettiest angels I've ever seen.

A girl in her class over heard Ellie complaining that she didn't have any wings so she decided to take hers off and share them with Ellie. It was the sweetest thing!

The program was so cute and fun! Everybody did great!

We love you Miss Peggy! You are the BEST!!!

ewwww....

While at our ward Christmas party Ellie had to go potty.

We walked in the bathroom and someone had just started going.

This particular person ripped a couple times pretty loud and Ellie starts cracking up and I am motioning to her to be quiet while I am silently laughing.

I am dying and wanting to leave to avoid any embarrassment, but we stay and she comes out.

We smile at eachother and Ellie and I walk into the stall.

Ellie stands there staring at the toilet and says really loud,

"Ewwww, her butt was on that!"

Me: "Shhhhhh, it's ok."

Ellie: "No, wipe it. I don't want her germs!"

She said all this while the lady was still in the bathroom washing her hands.

Her tone of voice was so hilarious!

I died laughing the second the lady walked out.

Taylor's Christmas Program

Taylor and her friend Emma had a great time singing to each other during the program.

They kept looking at each other and laughing, but continued singing the whole time.

After the program they danced around in the cold out by the flag pole at Mt. View.

For a treat we went to the Golden Spoon before we picked up the other 3 kiddos.

Thanks for babysitting for us Melissa!
It was a fun night!

Ward Christmas Party

This year for our ward Christmas party,

we ate breakfast,

made ornaments,

got a family picture by the tree,

and decorated sugar cookies.

It was a lot of fun and as you can see the cookies were Peyton's favorite part!

My Angel

Our Tree.

My Angel topper.

She used to have a head...before Peyton got to her.

You see, she's not just our tree topper.

She's out all year, every year, ever since I bought her at who knows where.

For some reason I can not remember for the life of me.

Which is frustrating since for some reason people always seem to ask where I got her.

I really hope I find her head someday.

p.s. our tree is no longer uniform thanks to Peyton as well.

Winter Dance Recital

Friday night Ellie and Brooklyn

had their dance recital.

They were the Mermaid dancers.

They did such a great job and looked so beautiful on stage!

Great job little sis!

Shout Out to Kim!

My sister-in-law, Kim, turns the ripe old age of 26 today!

Happy Birthday!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Ten great things about Kim:

1. She's witty and fun!

2. She and her husband make gorgeous petite baby girls!

3. She has perfect beautiful skin!

4. She's extremely photogenic!

5. She doesn't mind my occasional swearing.

6. She's a great shopping partner!

7. She's willing to spend $300 to fly to Iowa with me!

8. She's very computer and other electronics savvy!

9. She was always willing to bring me a Coke back when I thought I "needed" one.

10. She loves me and can't live without me!!!

Love you too!

Happy Birthday Lisa!

Happy Birthday Lisa!

Thanks for being such a wonderful aunt to my kids!

You and CJ are the best!

Love you tons!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend. I'm kind of sad it's over already.

Thursday we had family pictures at 9 in the morning with Chris' mom's side.

Our assignment for lunch was rolls, pretzel jello and cranberries.

And of course everything was so dang delicious!

The kids played with the giant rubberband (spandex sewn together).
Every family needs one of these!

On Friday we went quad riding. It was so much fun and perfect weather!
Then we came home and put up our Christmas lights then hit up Barro's Pizza
and Frostbite.

Saturday we had Thanksgiving with Chris' dad's side of the family.
Yes, we get 2 Thanksgivings!
And the food is always amazing!
Then we went out and saw Enchanted.
It was really cute and funny!

Sunday was filled with sleeping in, a yummy breakfast, church, leftovers, decorating the tree,
tithing settlement, dinner and lots of Christmas music.

How was everyone else's holiday weekend?

Mmmmm....

the holidays are here!

New home for Lily

Remember this hyper beauty?

Well,we have found her a new home.

She was just too wild and I had no more patients for her.

Her constant jumping made it extremely difficult for any of us to go out back and play. I would tie her up so my kids could play and since it is getting nice and cool outside it was becoming very frequent. I felt so bad and finally decided it was time to find her a new family that she would fit in better with.

I posted an add on craigslist.com and she was gone in 2 hours!

I'm happy with who her new family is.

And very glad we have our backyard back!

Poor Gunner is going to not have a playmate anymore,

but at least he will get his family back!

Meeting Missy.

One year ago today, I met my sister, Missy. We have always known about eachother, but never spoke to one another. We have the same dad and she is 3 years younger than me. She called me out of the blue in October 2006. We spoke for hours on the phone for about 3 weeks when she decided to book a plane ticket to come to Arizona in January. I got really impatient and a few days later I booked plane tickets for Chris and I to go visit her and her family in Iowa 2 weeks later. It was such a sereal experience. We had a great time out there. It was so fun meeting her husband and 4 kids. In January she came and met my family. Then back in July I went out there again. It really sucks how much distance is between us, but I am so thankful for how close we have become! I can't wait for the day when our kids can finally meet eachother!

the scar.

Four years ago today, the scar was born.

It all started when Ellie was 8 days old and I woke up with my first (and only) breast infection.

Besides having my boob feel hot and very achy I felt like I had the flu.

I sent Taylor off to go play at a friends house and wrapped myself up in a blanket on the couch.

It was time for Ellie to eat and I was dreading it-

big time.

Preston was two and a climber.

He was in the kitchen and I kept calling his name trying to convince him to come out in the

living room with me.

I heard him climb on the counter and just thought, "oh great" and figured I'd get him down in a minute.

(this picture does this scar no justice)

Before I had the chance, I heard the motor to this:

immediately followed by a scream and crying.

I practically threw my newborn down on the cushion next to me and ran to the kitchen.

In the 2 seconds it took me to get there I pictured little fingers on the floor.

(thank goodness it wasn't his fingers)

I was horrified to find my 2 year old little boy sitting there on the counter with his sweet little 2 year old knee

RIPPED OPEN!

I grabbed a dish towel and put it on his knee and carried him to the couch where Ellie was waiting oh so patiently.
I was freaking out and seriously panicing and praying out loud what to do.
Luckily my mother-in-law was already on her way to help me out for a little bit.
Preston stopped crying before I did and that scared me cuz I thought maybe he was going into shock. He wasn't so that was good.
When she got there I asked her to go look in the blender to see if his skin was in it.
She looked and said there was nothing.
By this time I had called Chris to come home RIGHT NOW!
He wasn't too far away and got home pretty quickly.
Chris and his mom ended up taking Preston in to get stitched up by our dear friend,
Tony Ballew, who sadly passed away 2 summer's ago.
Preston's skin was tucked under the edge of his massive wound and fit back perfectly like a puzzle.
He ended up with 11 shots all around his knee and 9 stitches.
Chris said he screamed and screamed during the shots and had to hold him down.
Then as soon as the shots were over he passed out and slept during the rest of the procedure.
While they were gone I was at home crying my eyes out and feeling SO incredibly guilty for not getting up right away. And amazingly enough, I couldn't feel any pain or sickness for quite a few hours after the whole ordeal.
Thanks adrenaline.
Although, I would have rather of been the only one suffering that day.

The hand blender was on the counter, unplugged, and the 2 parts weren't even put together!
I sometimes still have a hard time getting the bottom part hooked in right!
Seriously! This kid was and sometimes still is WAY too smart for his own good!
So Preston has the COOLEST "S" shaped scar on his knee from his
mischieveous 2 year old days!

And it was the worst day of my whole life!!!

Goodbye Viggo

One morning in late June 2004, I woke up with the feeling I needed a blue-eyed kitten and his name would be Viggo. I told Chris (who is not a fan of cats, but likes kittens-and loves me enough to let me have one) and begged a little bit and off to the Humane Society we went. Sure enough we found a litter of 3 blue-eyed kittens. Two boys and a girl. I chose the one with a big dark spot on his nose. Adoption time was over so we had to come back the next day. Chris had to work so I got a sitter and convinced my sister-in-law (who does not like cats at all) to come with me. We got there and saw that all the kittens were still there so we got in the adoption line. As we were standing in the line a little boy walked through the doors and he was holding the kitten I had picked out! I was bummed for a second then realized that the other one was really mine. So we adopted the other brother who was just as cute, but without the unique spot on his nose. I was so excited and knew he was meant to be mine.

This morning Chris found him on the side of the road in our grass as he was leaving with our 3 older kids to church. Needless to say, they didn't go. We put him in a box and Chris was wonderful and dug a hole in our backyard. We wrote notes to him and read them to him and put them in his box. We are so sad he is gone and are still in shock.

Goodbye Viggo. We love you so much and will miss you!

Ellie's Party.

First was Crown and Wand making.

(Preston was the Prince)

Make-up and dress-ups!
(as you can tell, these dress-ups get played with A LOT)

Dancing!

Lots of fun presents.

Happy Birthday to me!

Birthday at Preschool

Ellie had school on her birthday and her teacher, Miss Peggy, put out a birthday sign for her.

She was so excited to get her very own balloon!

See you at my party tonight Brooklyn!

Happy Birthday Ellie!

*Real quick- this post is no where near what it is suppose to be! I am so frustrated! Our old computer holds most all of our old pictures, but it keeps shutting down after just a few minutes and I can't post any of Ellie's pics from when she was younger. Don't worry sweet pea, I'll make this post what it's suppose to be when we get it fixed!
In the mean time~

Happy Birthday!

You, like Preston, came on your due date.

You took your sweet time to get here and made mommy so tired I broke down and got my first epidural! Then you were born 40 minutes after getting it which caused me to be numb for 6 whole hours afterwards. Not fun. And talk about itchy!!!

You were my smallest baby (6 bls. 9 oz.) with the biggest and cutest pot belly.

You came out looking a bit like Mother Theresa.

(not the pot belly part)

You are such a beautiful girl with a lot of personality!
You have given our family 4 years of really fun and interesting stories to share!

We love you so much and are so glad you are in our family!

Hope you have a wonderful Birthday my sweet Ellie Morgan!

Late Night Reading.

Tonight I went and did my usual checking on the kids.

I peeked in the girls room and saw Taylor under her bed reading.

(a light under the bed? that's what happens when you are married to an electrician)

She looked so cute so I went and grabbed the camera and snuck in and took a picture.

The flash went off so she started to get up so I hurried and hid at the end of her bed.

She stood up to check things out so I just sat up and

scared the crap out of her!

(I didn't mean too, I swear!)

You should have seen the terrified look on her face!

She immediately started crying so I hugged her and I was dying laughing.

She soon joined in on the laughter too.

We both got a nice little ab workout.

It was pretty dang funny!
~

Photo explanation: She wasn't wearing shorts when I took the picture and I couldn't post her in just a t-shirt and panties, so I had her put pj shorts on and I took the picture with no flash that time.

I know, we are such slaves to the blog. But it's just too much fun!

Poor sick baby.

I hate it when my kids are sick.

No fun at all.

Unless of course they are cuddly and not flailing.

Not quite professionals.

Tonight we made Halloween cookies,

cuz that's what you do the day after Halloween,right?

Not too bad, huh?

Taylor was very proud of her pumpkin.

Luckily I got side-tracked only once.

Now it's 6:16 and I'm wondering who's going to clean this mess up, not to mention who's going to make us all dinner?