Our Forever Family

Whenever my dad comes down to visit and he is staying longer than 2 days he gets bored unless he has a project. My mom suggested I come up with a few projects for him to keep him busy. I did have a few in mind! I wanted more shelves for our food storage area. It was getting over loaded and now I have plenty for now! Before with my 2 shelves clearing out the food: After!! Love it!! My dad is so handy!! Then he decided I needed some shelves in my unfinished basement that has pretty much anything that we don't use regularly. I clean this up and then it gradually creeps it's way out to the middle as we come and get things out. Then I clean it up again! I don't think these things are going to creep out anymore! Then he decided I needed a work bench to use my new scroll saw I got for Christmas from them. He even added an outlet so I can plug it in easy. This toy box was another idea I had in mind for the girls. David and my dad worked on that Christmas day. David is go...

Our Little Piece of Heaven Jenna Marie. Our newest addition in our home. We love her so much! It is fun having a new baby in our home. December 26, 2009 4:31 pm 7 lbs. 8 ozs. 20 1/4 inches long Grandchild #18. Proud daddy She looks like she fits the mold! Looking a lot like her brothers and sisters! The kids were so excited to finally meet Jenna. Because of the H1N1 they don't allow children under 12 in the hospital. We tried to get out of the hospital as soon as we could. We are glad to be home! Gosh, this is looking like a lot of kids! I can't believe they are all ours!! We love our family. We are so blessed!!

Talking to Grandpa and Grandma Lee on Skype at Aunt Melissa's house. Showing off our Christmas presents in the camera. Technology is so nice! The girls painting their nails with their new polish. Boys playing a game of Pokemon Playing with Salon Barbie in her room. Building the Bionicle from Grandpa and Grandma Lee. The new stockings I made for Grandpa and Grandma. I was going to have it be a surprise when they woke up Christmas morning. Cameron told them first thing when they got here. Not such a surprise! My dad was teasing Cameron about the erector set. Santa gave it to Cameron. From this picture it looks like Santa gave it to grandpa! Cameron got Pokemon cards in his stocking. Jason got a bumble bee transformer and Ice Age 3. He was in heaven! Melanie got a new bike. To bad the snow is outside or she'd be out riding it! Alyssa got a "My Little Pony House" from Santa. The toilet flushes and all! We had a great Christmas. Christmas is so magical! Coming...

My parents drove down from WA on the 23rd and we have loved having them here for Christmas. It's been 5 years since we have spent Christmas with my parents. The kids are enjoying them lots! We built ginger bread houses while David and my dad went to the movie Avatar , which they loved! Breakfast dinner on Christmas Eve! Reenacting the Nativity. Alyssa is an angel, Melanie is Mary, Jason is Joseph and Cameron is a shepherd. Maybe one of these years I will make outfits instead of going through the bin of my extra fabric! I wanted to do Christmas pajamas this year and hope to keep this tradition going. The kids LOVED their jammies!! Something new and soft to sleep in and wake up all warm and snugly!! The girls have kittens on theirs and the boys have dinosaurs. Both were a huge hit!

Mom and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa)- 1 day Christmas- 3 days Baby- 4 days So much excitement here. And snow today to add to the fun! The kids have their last school day tomorrow. I've been crossing off my mental list now for a week as I accomplish things in preparation for this week. It's been busy, but fun. A family in our ward did a 12 days of Christmas for us and we met them tonight. I was surprised at who it was and never would have guessed. The kids have loved to find treats by our door every night for the past week and a half. Alyssa has been trying to transition from being the baby to wanting to be a "big girl". She wants both at different times. It makes me laugh and just try to keep her my baby for a little bit longer. Yesterday she decided she wanted to take a nap in the crib still set up in her room. She hasn't slept in that since last summer. So I let her one last time and she loved it! She is also getting interested in the potty and wearing ...

Yesterday David turned 31. Where is the time going? Crazy!! The kids were so excited. They love parties! The strawberry cheesecake was a a big hit and completely gone before the night was over. David got a new temple bag and temple pants. Both badly needed! Does it look like David is tired? After I took his picture close up I realized he had dark circles around his eyes! David has been up way late every night for the past I don't know how long. To much on his plate? I think so! We were up after midnight on the 14th, I wished him a happy birthday and went to bed while he continued to work. Last night he said he was up until 3:30 am. I fell asleep on the couch and eventually migrated to bed. I know he is ready for these late nights to be over! So am I!! I am so glad I married David. I know I've said this before but it's true. I'm so glad he is so dedicated to our family. With all of this craziness he is fitting in going to the temple twice a week to do ...

Project Finished and it feels good! I really wanted names on them so I asked around the ward and found someone who's mom has a machine that does lettering. Yeah! So she was so nice and did them all for me for FREE!! One day I am going to have a machine that does more than a straight stitch and a zig zag stitch. Just glad to have them done and the kids love them so that makes me happy! **I did make a stocking for the baby, but David won't let me hang it until it's official! Good thing when we made this board last year we pounded an extra nail!

So this is late in coming but we have been so busy this last week, well mostly David, so I have been patiently waiting for him to help me download pictures off our NEW CAMERA!! Yes, Santa came early this year. Just in time to capture photos of our new baby! And the holidays of course. We went to St. George for Thanksgiving to spend it with David's parents and his brother, Tony. It was so much fun and a much needed break from our own home! Here is a run down of some of the things we did there. We went to the lighting of the St. George Temple. David took the picture of the temple with the sun setting as we were walking up. It was so gorgeous! Tony took Cameron on a lizard hunt up behind their house where there are trails. Cameron came home so excited because they actually caught one! Well, they killed it in the process of catching it but it didn't matter to Cameron one bit. He was so proud of that lizard they caught. They were gone for several hours turning over every r...