Texas Surprise!!!

On Christmas, while Shelley and I were sitting in the kitchen, she mentioned to me that she was planning to go to Texas to spend New Years with Ryan's sister, Bobbi and her children. We talked about how we hadn't seen Bobbi or her kids for about 5 years and how fun it would be to go surprise them. Well we kept talking and we all decided to do it. We left for Texas on December 29th and drove 16 hours to surprise them. They knew that Shelley was coming, but they didn't know that she was bringing the rest of us. We got there at 9:00 am and they were all very surprised and happy to see us. We ate breakfast and then went to Six Flags over Texas. We had such a great day. It's sad some times to live far away from family, especially when your nieces and nephews grow up so fast.

The Happy Meal McDonald's (as seen on The Travel Channel)

Ryan and Kira

Kira, Kathryn and Emma

Austin, Shelley and Braxton

Ryan and the girls on the teacups. Emma is on there too.

Me, Emma and Kathryn

Shelley

Me and Emma

Braxton and Austin

Getting on the teacups

One of the best roller coasters ever!!!

My tired and very cute kids

The whole gang

We had a great time with family. We were there for four days. Poor Braxton came down with the flu the first night and wanted to spend most of the time sleeping at the hotel. We didn't get much sleep, but we still loved being there. He misses his cousin Austin all the time, so it was so nice to see them together.

Christmas 2010

We had a very quiet and laid back Christmas. It was perfect. We didn't travel or have any huge party, we just spent the day as a family. Shelley came over on Christmas Eve and spent the night. Usually, we get to sleep in on Christmas morning, but this year, Braxton got up at 6:30 and was ready to go. We had a great dinner and it was fun to stay in our pjs all day and just be together.

Grandma and Braxton. Braxton just read the note that said that we were going to Disneyland in January.

Emma in the wonderful Christmas mess

Checking out our stockings

Braxton really wanted a Kinect. We didn't think Santa would be able to make that wish come true this year. Well, we won one at Ryan's work party this year!!! So, we gave it to Santa and let him take the credit for making Christmas dreams come true. The Kinect is really fun.

A very excited girl. Who wouldn't love a Dora ball and Sock Monkey?

Braxton has been asking Santa for Mario Kart for Wii for years. He FINALLY got it!!

Ryan, Emma, Grandma Shelley and Braxton.

Merry Christmas

Believe

"You always come around this time of year with your big ole bag that's full of Christmas cheer

And when it starts to snow the little boys and girls all know soon they'll hear the sound of your reindeer.

Now sometimes grownups grow up to believe that you don't really come on Christmas Eve,

But I don't think that's true 'cause I know I see you in sparking little eyes around the tree."

"Oh Santa Claus, I still believe in you.

And there's still a kid inside of me that still believes you're true.

Oh Santa Claus, the kids are tucked in tight.

And I'll be waiting up for you tonight."

-Santa Claus (I Still Believe in You), Alabama

Gotta Love Christmas in the 70's

My mom had the Boney M Christmas record. Hearing this song on the radio makes my heart very happy, it reminds me of Christmas when I was a kid. Ryan had never heard of Boney M and didn't believe me that there was such a group, so I found this online.(I must admit that I secretly hope every year that the ward choir will sing this song, this exact version, during the Christmas sacrament meeting, but they never do....maybe this year)

O Holy Night

My favorite Christmas carol is O Holy Night. It is such a beautiful song. A few years ago, Jean, Ryan and I went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert, the special guests were The King's Singers. It was an amazing concert, I bought the CD so that I could listen to the songs over and over. They sang O Holy Night and it was perfection. I can say that it is one of my favorite versions. I love it. (The video is a little long, but if you love Christmas, you shouldn't mind.)

The Wellington Christmas Parade

A few months ago, I was asked to help with our ward's float for the Wellington Christmas Parade. I had no idea what to expect, I have never done anything like this before. They had a float in the parade last year, so there was a trailer ready to go. Luckily, there were alot of creative people on this committee, I was amazed at how much we got done at that first meeting. We called our float, "The First Gifts". We started decorating the day before Thanksgiving and the finishing touches were done a few hours before the parade began. We had a Santa, 3 Kings and some sign holders on the float. We had a great sound system that played Christmas music. We had some volunteers handing out glow stick bracelets with pass-along cards on them. The pass-along cards were so that people could order a free Christmas DVD. We handed out 900 glow sticks and pass-along cards. It was really fun. Ryan and Braxton were both on the float. The weather really cooperated with us. It's crazy that it's December and we have no snow!!! Oh and where was the littlest Brophy? She was watching the parade with Grandma and enjoying the candy that people were throwing. Thanks Grandma!!!!!

Cutest sign-holder ever

Some of the volunteers with their glow sticks

Our drivers and jacks of all trades

More volunteers

The back of the float

Another sign

Sign-holder and the 3 Kings getting ready to go

Santa waiting for the parade to start

Santa and a cute boy who is on the Nice List (well at least today he is)

The Official Countdown Now Begins (even though I've been counting down since July)

The unwritten rule in our house is no decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Ryan thinks that if I had a choice, I would just skip Thanksgiving and go into Christmas right after Halloween. Give me a break. I grew up in Canada, our Thanksgiving is the second week of October, so my mom always started decorating for Christmas the day after Halloween. Since we moved right after Christmas last year and 2 guys packed up all my Christmas in boxes, we are still trying to find most of our Christmas decorations. We finally found our Christmas tree stand this morning, so we hope to have that decorated by Monday. Anyway, since I have no awesome decoration pictures to show, here is my favorite scene from the movie "Elf". I almost felt the same level of excitement yesterday when we were at the mall and we saw that Santa was there. PS: I love "Smiling's my favorite."

Christmas 2009

Since we were getting ready to move at the end of December, we decided to have a nice, low-key Christmas at our house in Kaysville. On Christmas Eve, we did go to Wyoming to visit Ryan's family. Braxton got his interactive dinosaur, D-Rex, Santa actually left a note for Braxton saying that D-Rex couldn't fit in his bag, so he left D-Rex on the roof. Ryan climbed up there and sure enough, D-Rex was up there. Emma got a stroller and a doll. She would hug every present that she opened. It was very cute.

Excited Girl

Cookies for Santa

D-Rex

She loves her new baby

Christmas mess is the best mess

It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Well, maybe not for Emma. She did enjoy watching Santa from afar, though.

PS: The picture is not that great because my scanner isn't working and I had to take a picture of the picture.

Sub For Santa

I love the magic of Christmas. I believe in Santa Clause. I love the excitement and the look on children's faces on Christmas morning. I love Toys 4 Tots. Since we've been married, Ryan and I have always made a little room in our Christmas budget to buy a little something for that great charity. A few years ago, Braxton began to understand why we put toys in the big box at Albertsons and he loves it too. Today, I received an email from the Adoption Exchange regarding their Sub For Santa program. They provide Christmas presents for over 300 foster children in the State of Utah. Since our Emma was in foster care, this program holds a special place in my heart. I know that times are tough, especially this time of the year, but if you have a little extra and are looking for a great way to give this Christmas season, please contact Lindsay or Michelle @ 801-265-0444 or use this link https://secure2.convio.net/tae/site/SSurvey?JServSessionIdr003=l1lchgbim1.app1a&SURVEY_ID=7560&ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS

I cannot wait for Christmas!!! I am already blasting my Christmas music at home.

9 Months From Today......

Tonight as I was tucking Braxton into bed, he asked me, "Mom, how many more days until Christmas? I would really like to have Mario Kart for Wii this year." I then realized that Christmas is exactly 9 months from today. Since I love all things Christmas, my heart jumped for joy and for a moment I felt much excitement. Then I remembered it is 9 whole months away, so I shouldn't be dusting off my Christmas CD just yet. But it was fun to think about for a split second. So, mom, you now only have 9 months to knit Emma's stocking. You better get cracking. (Here is a cute picture of Braxton, I think he was 3 in this picture.)

Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we went to Ryan's aunt and uncle's house in Evanston for a small get together. It was fun and we hadn't been up to Wyoming for awhile so it was nice to see everyone. Christmas Day was fun and exciting. Santa came and as usual was very generous. We spent the day at home and we had our turkey dinner with just the three of us. I probably wouldn't have gotten out of my pajamas the whole day, but we had company over in the evening. I just love Christmas. Makes me sad to think about taking down the Christmas tree. I would leave it up all year if I could get away with it.

"Just what I wanted!!!"

Football and Pokemon cards in their stockings

Braxton took this nice shot of his knee, with Ryan and me in the background :)

Braxton reading while Molly checks things out

Hooray for the Santa mess!!!

Cookie Confession

Today, I have been finishing up some baking and again I am reminded that for some reason, I cannot bake cookies. I can bake a pie, a cake , cupcakes and a great apple crisp, but give me a cookie recipe and I will mess it up. I even mess up the pre-made dough that you buy at the store. It's a tough thing to be so bad at cookies when you live with two boys who LOVE cookies and ask for them often. They are both good sports (especially Ryan) and will eat them. I will never make cookies for my neighbors at Christmas because what if the Relief Society President found out my cookie secret. Anyway, this morning, Braxton and I made sugar cookies. Half of them are not edible, but we had fun with the cookie cutters and decorating the cookies. Someday when Braxton decides to get married, I am going to make sure she is a good cookie maker so that my grandchildren do not have to suffer like their father and grandfather did.

We love sprinkles!!

Masterpiece Braxton enjoying the pudding from the chocolate pie I made.

A Very Special Visitor

We know that Santa is VERY busy this time of year, so we were pretty excited today when he stopped by our house just to make sure that we were still being good and to see if we had any last minute requests. Thank you Santa, you made our day!!!