Pinewood Derby

This is the first year we have done pinewood derby. My dad came down and helped Brenden build his car and Nathan Johansen put the weights in it for him. You would think because Merrial is an engineer that he would be all into this, but he isn't. I guess Nathan is the one that did all of Merrial's cars when he was younger.

Brenden's car is the black one with flames in the first lane.

He came in 2nd place in his den, which is not bad for a first timer. It makes it so we have room to improve for next year. Now that we know what we are kind of doing we might get even better next year. But he had a lot of fun racing, even though he was still sick I let him go for an hour. I felt bad he worked so hard on getting this car done, I couldn't make him miss it.

Here he is with his trophy for 2nd place in his den, you can tell he just isn't himself. He looks like he doesn't feel good, poor baby. He is very proud that he got 2nd, good for him.

January 15, Brenden turns 9

This year for Brenden's birthday, we really didn't do much. My dad came down, Craig and Jonnie came over and we had dinner, cake and ice cream. Then we opened presents. He got some clothes, some NFL stuff from Erin, Kacie and Great Nana. Big buck hunter gun game from my dad, toy story 3 wii game, some movies and some other little things.

He loves chocolate sheet cake and so that is what he ordered for his birthday cake.


He got almost all of the candles when he blew them out.


We didn't get to go do anything fun because Brooklyn was sick. Not only was she sick but she had Influenza B. Brenden and Addison ended up getting it also, so we have been sick all week long with over 102 degree fevers, throwing up, headache, stuffy nose, cough, you name the symptom we have had it. It has been a really long week for me. I sure hope that they get better soon, so we can do something fun with Brenden for his birthday. It has been 6 days and the doctor said it can last up to 10. I might have no hair by that point from pulling it all out. Good thing I love my kids!

Another Christmas and New Years Eve!

Every year Merrial's family all comes after Christmas. We have a big dinner, another program and gift exchanging.

My girls in there cute new outfits that match.

Here we are all listening to Craig sing songs from his childhood.

Merrials family all listening to Craig.

Brenden got a drum set toy from his cousin, it is really fun.

My sweet little Ashlyn asleep through most of the chaos.

So the next night was New Years Eve and my baby went to sleep at 8pm so I didn't get to go over to Merrial's parents house to play games like we do every year. I had most of the older kids at my house playing games in our basement. They got tired of that and they came up stairs and we played a good game of hand and foot. For those of you that don't know what that is, it is a card game. Then at midnight we let off fireworks in the negative degree weather. It was so cold!

Playing cards with Merrial's older nieces and nephews. We were having a lot of fun!


Letting off fireworks.

Addison insisted on being out there, but she was freezing to death.

Addison out lasted all of us, she is my night owl. If there is something going on she wants to be a part of it.

As you can see Brooklyn rang in the New Year asleep on the couch.
Hope everyone had a Happy New Year!

Christmas Day 2010

The kids were so excited this year, I didn't even have to wake them up like I usually do. Brenden and Brooklyn came running in my room and woke us up at 7:30am which wasn't bad. They then proceeded to wake up Addie which she didn't want to wake up. So while they did that I went out to see if Santa had come and get our breakfast casserole in the oven.

Here is our tree this year, after our mess last year we decided that a fake tree would be best for a little while. When our basement finally has furniture we will put a real tree down there.

The kids finally got Addie up and here they are waiting in the hall to go out to see what they got.

Addie and Ashlyn's kitchen from Santa. Addison also got the stick horse.


Here are their piles. Brenden and Brooklyn both got motor scooters. Some Wii games, DS games, lots of books this year. The two girls got some princess stuff. Addie got a couple of CDs for her to sing with. Ashlyn got a huge box of diapers, a couple of toys and some clothes. They all got a lot of fun things.

Brooklyn and Addison playing with the kitchen, they were having so much fun.

Brooklyn and Brenden looking at their piles. Brenden must see something that he really likes.

Brooklyn is really happy about this wii game that she got, as you can see.

Addison opening her princess bed tent and Brooklyn got a Tinkerbell one.

Brenden figuring out his bakugon's, I wasn't sure what those were but that is what he said he wanted. They are actually kind of cool, they are kind of like transformers.

Addison really happy about everything that she got.

Brenden out on his motor scooter. They are pretty awesome. I couldn't keep the kids off of them. I didn't get a picture of Brooklyn on hers for some reason.

Ashlyn was a sleep through all of opening presents on Christmas morning. So there was no pictures of her, but here she is in her Christmas day outfit.

So I have decided that I can never get a really good picture of the four of them. There is always at least one not cooperating, so this is the best I could do in there new church clothes. They really did look cute. We had a really good Christmas, Santa spoiled us like he always does. Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2010

This year for Christmas Eve we did it a little different. Usually we have quite a bit of Merrial's family here so we have a big dinner and program at his parents house. But this year we just had a few people, my dad and my sister Katie, Peter, Joe and Merrial's parents. So everyone came to my house for the big turkey dinner and program. It was very nice, first we sat down and had a really yummy dinner and then we did the Christmas story of Jesus' birth. My kids had to play all the parts so it was kind of fun. We sang Christmas Carols and then it was time to open our one present for Christmas Eve. Can anyone guess what their presents were? Pajamas! I had a really hard time this year finding pj's that matched, all my kids are different sizes and Brenden is a big boy now. So I just ended up matching the girls and Brenden has almost the same color. But they look pretty cute.

Merrial and Ashlyn taking a nap on Christmas Eve day, so they were ready to go for that night. Isn't that cute!

Addie was the Angel. Merrial's mom Jonnie was telling her what to say and she did such a good job, it was so cute. I have it on video, I will post that when I get it loaded.

Brooklyn playing Mary the mother of Jesus. Merrial's mom Jonnie telling her what to say.

Uncle Peter playing a Shepard with a towel on his head.

Joe was a wise men with the gifts for the baby Jesus. Ashlyn was baby Jesus, doesn't she look happy about it.

Brooklyn as Mary riding Brenden the donkey.

All four kids in their cute Christmas Pj's all ready to go to bed and wait for Santa to come, they were very excited and we had a hard time getting them to go to sleep.

Castle Dale City Christmas Party! Dec 9th

I take the kids to the Castle Dale City Christmas Party every year by myself. This year my friend Tiffany met me there so I wasn't all by myself. The kids always have a fun time, they have blowup things to go on, a hay ride, dinner and of course this is where we get to sit on Santa's lap.

Ashlyn dressed in one of her Christmas outfits at the party.

Addison was so excited to see santa, she jumped right up on his lap and told him what she wanted. She didn't want to get off, but there was a huge line behind us.

Brooklyn on the other hand was scared to death, you would think she has never seen Santa before, she was almost in tears. But she did end up telling him that she wanted a motor scooter.

Brenden was a little shy like he always is, but he told him he wanted a motor scooter also. He was a good sport to sit on his lap.

I was able to take a picture with all of them, this is the first year I have been able to do that. It turned out ok.

After sitting on Santa's lap we went on the hayride and then ate dinner and let the kids play until it was over. It was a fun night, maybe next year Merrial will finally come with us.