Turning a new leaf

So today at lunch, I was kindly reprimended by my dear friend...you know who you are... that I was neglecting my blog. Really?! Someone reads it? Cool!

Truthfully my intent in keeping up with a blog was to count my family history in a fun way, and try to let my kids know how awesome they are by posting fun times with them. HOWEVER, I love to share our lives with people I love, so YEAY, someone is reading the blog!! The next few entries are an attempt to capture our fun adventures in the past month and 1/2, and catch up.

Parties and Programs

I volunteered to host both the Jensen and Baxter Christmas parties this year. They ended up back to back (23rd and 24th) but I figure if my house is already clean...why not?

This is the Jensen Christmas Brunch!

We had delicious quiche, fruit, and cinnamon rolls! MMmm!

We swapped white elephant gifts. Check out Karl's face in the background as his mom opens up a gift from me...it wasn't that bad...just an old metal sign I'll never use. Reilly said he'd make it into a weather vane???

Alyssa and Grandpa :)

I was on the ward party committee, and helped put together a Christmas breakfast with Santa. It was really fun. Here are the kids waiting in line to see Santa.

Taylor was an inn keeper in his preschool version of the Nativity. He was a good sport (you can't tell though by the look on his face...:)

The kids all participated in a school Christmas sing. Ashlyn was set on wearing her pinkest outfit instead of the traditional red or green...such an Ashlyn thing to do. I suppose wearing tan and navy every day with their uniforms gets old...when given the chance

WEAR PINK!

Parker's class sang "The Grinch" song. He took the liberty to add actions, and facial expressions, (he was the only one), and was the funniest one there, I had tears in my eyes from laughing.
Connor was sweet to look for us and immediately pulled Taylor in to sit by him with his class. Taylor felt really cool as all the 5th grade girls ooed and awed at how cute he is...

not a bad ploy Connor...

The Baxter Christmas Eve Party kicked off with some sledding up AF Canyon. However, we had just had a storm, and the snow wasn't packed down. Really hard to sled in, plus it was REALLY cold, so we ended a little early.

At my house we let the kids put together some gingerbread houses, which had a hard time staying up. Stephanie was VERY patient repairing everyones house 5 times!

The adults joined in some board games and just ate snacks and vegged.

Of course what's a Baxter party without the Nativity? The kids were great this year (you never know who is going to boycott...) and all participated.

We then opened our cousin presents and gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. Everything was a hit, no tears thankgoodness! I've pretty much threatened my kids if they are ungrateful in the least, they are doomed.. with Christmas morning only hours away, they took me seriously. :)

Now...you may wonder how dinner went? Well, would you believe my luck: I put 2 pre-cooked hams in the oven to warm for 2 hours, then about an hour 1/2 into it, I thought, "I'm not smelling anything..." My top oven had broken!! It wasn't heating at all! AAAGH! The rolls were ready to be cooked and so we just cooked them up in the bottom oven, cut the ham off the bone, put it in a turkey bag and stuck it in the oven for an hour to heat. We also hand heated slices in a skillet. Switched the Nativity and presents with dinner, then ate around 7:00pm. We were starving by then needless to say! Whew! It all worked out, but was stressful and frustrating. I had to pay $200.00 to have the oven fixed!

Overall, our Christmas Parties were really fun, and I'm glad we've created such fun family traditions!