Our Forever Family

Stephen's gourmet hot chocolate, chocolate mint truffle. I LOVE this hot chocolate! I didn't think I would like it when I saw it at Walmart. I thought it would taste too minty and I wasn't willing to take the risk! After sledding with some friends last week we went back to their house and had chips and dip and this hot chocolate! The perfect blend, so I went and bought the biggest one available. I feel like I am sipping on the most luxurious hot chocolate ever. We will be having this as part of our New Year's Eve night treats! HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVERYONE!!!

With all the snow, you got to have fun in it! This is what David, Cameron and Melanie were up to this afternoon! The outside shot- Laying down inside!! This picture was taken from the same spot I took David and Melanie laying down. Melanie jumped into the picture and got hurt on her leg before the shot which is why she is sad. It's hard to see how big it is inside, but you could comfortably fit 5 people sitting up inside!! The shovel that did all the work!! Good job honey!!

This is for my parents, grandpa and grandma McGary to the kids. They gave us money for each of the kids for Christmas and I went and bought hair bows with some of it. The girls were in desperate need of some!!! They have the cutest ones at the Quilted Bear!! Are these girls really sisters?!?!

Well, we attempted to go to WA and it just wasn't meant to be. We left Tuesday night with plans to drive all night but just before Ogden we read on the reader over the freeway that I-84 was closed at the Idaho border. So we turned around and drove the hour back home, parked the packed truck in the garage and slept in our nice cozy bed! It's a good thing we didn't go. Christmas morning there was a blizzard outside here. We don't know how much it snowed because the drifts were so high! It was so crazy. We brought the cats in and they stayed in the bathroom all day and night. And it's still snowing a lot, but it's not windy so it looks pretty!! While I made the traditional Candy Cane coffeecake breakfast Christmas Eve, David and the kids decorated a ginger bread house. They had fun doing that and it kept them busy. We also did the traditional story in the bible, Luke Chapter 2 before bed. The kids had fun dressing up in the scrap fabric I gave them.

David serves in the Deacon's Quorum at church (12 & 13 year old boys) and has been in there for a year now. He absolutely LOVES serving in that calling and has really come to love the boys that are in his class. They have a very large quorum of about 15 boys. A couple of the boys, Erik and Jacob, started calling David 'Super Dave' at church and mutual a while ago and it's caught on with not only all the boys in the quorum but all of the Young Men and even some in our ward. Even the bishop now refers to David as 'Super Dave'. I told him it must be the 'really cool truck' he drives. Everyone wants to ride with David whether it's a camp out or an activity they are going to. Maybe it's because they can also relate to him a little more because he's not one of the boys' dad! What ever it is, it's a compliment to David. Yesterday at church Jacob and Erik gave David a birthday/Christmas present. They were so excited about this present!! W

We are going to WA for CHRISTMAS !!!!! I don't know why I am sooo excited about this. I love to spend Christmas with just our family and starting our own traditions with our kids, opening presents as we please and just being together. But I am REALLY excited to spend Christmas with David's parents and his Grandpa, just us!! We will also get to go to the infamous McGary Christmas party that we have missed out on for about the last 6 years. WAY EXCITED FOR THAT!! Then on Sunday we are going to get to see Alex (Seth's son) get baptized!! Hooray for FAMILY !!

We went to the library today and were surprised to see that it was story time full of fun activities! I didn't bring my camera so I took a picture at home. Santa was there along with 3 crafts for the kids to do. Since we were late, Jason and Melanie chose the Rudolph mask!! They told Santa what they wanted for Christmas and then we did our usual of picking out movies and books at the library! Cameron was pretty bummed that he didn't get one. I reminded him of all the fun things he does at school that Melanie and Jason don't get to. I wish I were more ready for Christmas, but I'm not. I have lots of shopping to do this weekend so David can watch the kids. I have a feeling I am going to be waiting in lots of lines and finding a lot of empty shelves. Hopefully I won't be out to long. I like buying gifts, but will be glad when it's all done!

David has been working like a dog the past month and all he wanted was a day with me! Yay!! I thought that was a great idea and thank you Chris and mostly Andrea (the mom does all the work!) for watching our kids ALL day on Saturday. Our plans were to go to the temple in the morning after dropping off the kids and when we drove up to the temple is was closed for cleaning for 2 weeks. So that was a bummer! We had a couple's massage at Massage Envy. That was the first for either of us. I would recommend it to anyone!! I would go have one done any day again!! We did some shopping and then got ready for our night on the town. We went to dinner here- Always fabulous and delicious!! Then we went to an excellent concert by Jon Schmidt who is an AMAZING pianist and entertainer!! We will go again next year! It was so much fun. Words can't describe sometimes the feelings of a perfect night! Here we are all dressed up! Sunday afternoon my neighbor came over for a quick photo shoot. Thi

Today David turns 30!! I will post our fun day of last Saturday soon, but I just wanted to give a shout out to my hubby on his big day!! Love ya babe!!

I just found out about a NEW website that is launching and having FREE giveaways TODAY!! Go to www.bloggled.com to see how to enter to get them!! Here is what bloggled is: This coming Monday the 15th we will be launching our Blog backup tool. The blog to book tool is only a few weeks away, but we wanted to get the word out as soon as we could. Bloggled is different than all other existing self-publishing websites that enable users to convert their blog into a book. With Bloggled.com no software has to be downloaded (as with blurb.com) and all tools and options are browser based. Our editing tools for your blog are second to none in the industry. On Monday we are going to be giving away free prizes including iPod touches and Cricut cutting machines. You'll need to visit our site, www.bloggled.com for complete details, because there are certain things you need to do in order to win the free prizes. So go and check it out...I want that CRICUT MACHINE!!

Cameron started wrestling last month. It's been really good for him. It's a little more structured than t-ball or soccer. They actually warm up and stretch and do drills before they wrestle, which is good. They run, bear crawl, spider walk, cart wheels, and a lot of other things that I don't know the name for. He got knocked in the nose last night from the other boy that was wrestling him. Afterwards he was crying and said "wrestling isn't good! You hurt people!" I'm just glad that this program you just learn the basics. I really don't think he is ready to compete. Next month he could do it if we paid for it, but we just might wait another year. Cameron REALLY likes to win, and I don't think he could handle losing all the time right now. We'll see what happens!!

On Saturday the kids and I went to the Quilted Bear where they had in their store 2 real live reindeer and Santa Claus! Walking into the store the kids were asking me if the reindeer would be flying and also if Rudolph would be there!! I just love the magic of Christmas for kids and how excited they get! Alyssa wouldn't get anywhere near the deer or Santa!

Wow!! Did we have the funnest Thanksgiving!! I love getting together with family!! We were so lucky to get together with a lot of my family. I can't remember the last time we had Thanksgiving on my parent's side. It's been at least 4 years!! Way too long!! Alise and Juan were here a week before for a dr. appt. and my cousins wedding, my parents showed up Wednesday night with Cody and Brandon (Tyson & Becky's boys), Seth and Heather and their 4 kids showed up Thursday morning. Chris, Andrea, and Amy and their cousin spent Turkey day with us also. We were packed, but enjoyed yummy food and even better company. We are so blessed to come from such a fun family!! What did we do? Here are a few pictures to share of our wonderfully fun week! The "before Thanksgiving project" Alise and I did before the rest of the company arrived Wednesday. The walls were all white before as well as the toy box. Now it matches and ties the boys' blankets in that I made 1 1/2 y