It's Great to be 8!!

Our sweet Ashlyn turned 8yrs. old yesterday!  She was so happy, and woke up at 6:30am, ready for her big day!  She said all week her friends at school have been so fun, and have carried her around at recess...to and from the bathroom and to their class. 

                                     

My mom and dad brought a cake on our snowshoeing outing, and we found a little pavillion and enjoyed a yummy treat.

Last night Ashlyn opened presents

We gave her a scrapbook kit with cute paper, and embellishments.  I printed off about 20 cute pics of Ashlyn and her friends and cousins to get her started.

Parker bought Ashlyn a month Club Penguin membership, and Karl and I gave her a set of scriptures with her name engraved. 

I took doughnuts to her class, and had extra that got eaten after school, so she opted out of a cake, and we just put 8 candles in a couple scoops of icecream.

Snowshoeing and Scouts!

We went showshoeing up AF Canyon...it's so wonderful to have the mountains so close, and to be able to just throw a few things together, and 20 mins. later, be sledding, or walking on a beautiful trail!

Parker was our Abominable Snowman!!

Just a little chat time on the fence.

Can't go snowshoeing without a snack or two...feeding my little chicks!

Taking a break...

Taking another break!

And another....

Thanks for going with us mom and dad!

We had a Court of Honor, and the boys got a few Merit Badges, and rank advancements.  Parker is ready to work on his Eagle now, and Connor has his Tenderfoot!!

Axis and Allies

At Christmas, my 5 brothers (and honorary friend) experienced a blast from the past, by challenging each other to an Axis and Allies game.  This is a highly competitive, world dominance, strategy game that turns them into crazy men!  After 6 hours of play (ended at 4am..) the winning team was declared, and all went to bed, happy...OK, so losing team wasn't so happy..)  It was like watching 5 teenagers going at it!  We girls didn't sit around and watch of course, that would have been tourture, but I did catch a pic of the action.

Midnight...just getting good!

My sisters...this is what we think of world dominance!

Kids + Christmas + Party = CRAZY FUN!

Each year we get together with all the cousins, and hold a kid Christmas party.  This year we held it the Monday after Christmas, so that Sean and his family could join us.  We went sledding up AF Canyon (perfect sledding day!) Then came back to my home, where we ate grilled cheese sandwiches, and tomato soup and drank hot chocolate!

Tenley and Alyssa!

 
 
 So Emma, what do you think of your constricting snow suit, the cold snow, and being pulled fast in a sled?  Fun isn't it!!

 Aunt Adrienne, Ashlyn and Taylor...herrrre weeeee goooo!

Parker and Connor walked across the frozen (thankgoodness) lake to "the bowl", where they enjoyed some older kid sledding.

Go grandma!

King of the...snow pile!

Maille and Taylor going at it with air-hockey! Tenley is our cute referee.

mmmmm....

We gathered all the cousins in a circle, and they opened gifts they had gotten for each other, then grandma and grandpa gave the kids presents.  Oh, the squeals of delight...let me re-phrase..the SCREAMS!  They would chant each other's name when it was their turn to open a gift...really fun post-Christmas day!



Gag!

Growing up in a family of 8 children wasn't always easy as a kid, especially since I was the oldest, :)  (no one obeyed me...), however PAYDAY is in full swing now! I cannot get enough of my brothers and sisters!  They are the funniest, craziest, kindest, lovliest people you would ever care to meet!  And they all scored with some amazing spouses!  Each year we hold an "adult only" party, where we exchange gag gifts!  Being a little on the competetive side, we tend to take it really seriously!   The gifts are gut-wrenching, fall off your chair funny, and we can hardly wait for the next year!

This year Matt and Ally took charge of the event, and we began our evening on a tractor hayride!

We then gathered in Matt's dads barn and Matt and Ally provided a wonderful, spiritual video and message about Christ. We also ate some great food!

We all draw names each year, and I have to say, that Nathan's gift was stellar!  He gave Adrienne a homemade "reverse coupon book".  In it, he listed a coupon for something Adrienne could do to serve each of her siblings.  I'm looking forward to my great foot rub, following one of my runs!

Christmas Morning...Finally!

I learned a lot this Christmas. Unfortunately, this included making mistakes I won't repeat next year. Overindulgence!  Yup, I fell into the deep, unfullfilling, empty trap of buying too much for children who began the Christmas season needing absolutely nothing! As Karl and I saw all that was waiting for our children early Christmas morning, we both felt heart-sick, and vowed to be better next year. I found myself in tears on Christmas day, worried we had taken Christ out of Christmas, by focusing too much on the fleeting thrills of the season, and not the things that matter most.  Any ideas would be appreciated...:)  

Here's to turning a new holly leaf!!

Santa's loot...

Sometimes I'm compelled to be humble.  One such opportunity came on a nice evening I had planned entertaining my in-laws with a beautiful pre-Christmas dinner.  The kids were playing around the tree, and subsequently knocked it over.  When we tried to put it back up, we realized it was bent, and the only way to potentially fix it, was to completely un-decorate it, and take it apart.  I WAS NOT about to do that, so one week before my company came, and my big kid Christmas party was to take place, our beautiful, perfectly decorated Christmas tree was destined to be crooked...can you tell in this picture?  Just cock your head a little to the right, now isn't that better??

 We had our cousins from Washington with us for Christmas morning.  That was really fun! This is the "I got robes, slippers or new PJ's for Christmas" club!

 The kids all got Wii accessories for Christmas, and were instructed to open it together. :) 

 Karl sent me a link of some headphones he wanted, I was needing an idea, so I immediately ordered them online, and the confirmation was directly sent to his e-mail since his e-mail was on our Amazon Acct...Surprise Karl!!

 Cute Sean and Melissa!  Thanks for sharing Christmas with us!

 Cozy PJ bottoms!!

 I got this awesome, warm, really fuzzy blanket!  Love it!

 Taylor got a remote control truck.  He was sad to not have fresh snow for Christmas, until, he realized he could play with his new toy outside!



Christmas Eve with the Jensen's!

Christmas Eve has to be my favorite day of the year!  You are at the pinnicle of anticipation for Christmas, and get to party all day with family!  We spent Christmas Eve at Karl's parents home, eating, playing games, and opening presents with his family. I have to say however, that the funnest part for me was when Karl, me, Lee and Lisa snuck away to their house to retro back to our dancin' days with several rounds of Dance Revolution on their Wii!  It was awesome!

 We simplified this year, and thanks to Costco, had a wonderful pasta bar!

 

We all came prepared with a white elephant gift to exchange.  Everyone was a great sport, and we had some great "gut laughs!"

Taylor was thrilled with his BYU socks!  However they ended up with Connor...trading is the name of the game!!

Grandparents and grandkids!

Christmas Programs and Performances

Early in December, I sent an e-mail to the grandparents to let them know of performances our kids would be involved in, incase they wanted to attend, and was surprised at how busy just 5 little children can be!

 Alyssa performed in her HS Choir.

 Taylor and his class performed for a nearby rest home. 

 Two cute girls and a beautiful photo-op!

Ashlyn is involved with our school children's choir, and they performed at the Joseph Smith Memorial Bld.

Ashlyn had a violin recital at the Alpine Tabernacle.

Traditions

I don't know about you, but sometimes I find myself with the belief, that if I don't maintain certain Christmas traditions, then my children will grow up scarred and dysfunctional, and it will all be traced back to the "year we didn't make sugar cookies..." etc. OK, so I really don't believe this, however my kids seem to think that Christmas really won't be as good without the following...

 Gingerbread houses.  My sisters generously donated their leftover supplies to us! 

 Ash and Taylor!  You wouldn't believe this, (OK, so maybe you veterans would..) but these works of art took about 2 hours of our evening!  2 LONG HOURS...

 This is my baby...I love my Christmas village!  Taylor helped me put everything up, and we just let our imaginations go as we turned out all the lights and stared at our magical village!

 The tree is up, and decorated, now we just count, arrange, and re-arrange our presents every day!

Arranging and re-arranging...

                              Lights...I am dysfunctional without lights on the house! Hey wait, is that my 13yr. old on the highest pitch of our roof! I just have to close my eyes!!

OK, so this was HILARIOUS!  I was asked to provide a game for Taylor's Kindergarten party, so I decided to put a spin on "The Limbo", by dressing up each group as Santa, and making them limbo with fat tummies and red shirts!  It became the hit game of the party!