My Baby turns 7

Wow... my baby is seven today. Lexie has a very sweet spirit. She loves to hug and cuddle and she is very smart. She loves school and has many friends. She is very tiny and cute. Since today is her birthday she is excited that she has no chores. Lexie asked for chocolate cake and mac and cheese for her birthday dinner. For her birthday she got some clothes, a webkins, a cash register and a po go stick.

Ostrich Festival Parade

Myranda marched in her first parade. We went to support her. My kids really hadn't been to a parade before. It was a fun morning and I can't wait to go again.

My little man is now 12

Happy Birthday Braxton...

Brax turned 12 on March 10th. He is now a deacon. I can not believe how big he is getting. Not just in age and size, but in responsibility. I can always count on Braxton to help out. I know that he will be a great example to others.

Braxton was able to attend a 12 year old camp out on Friday night since he was turning 12 the next day. He went rock climbing and repelling. What an adventure. He got home in the afternoon and we went shopping. Then had dinner and presents. Brax got an erector set that makes a remote control car, new church clothes, an I tunes gift card, and trapeze lessons. Lexie made him lots of paper gifts. Mason and Alexa gave him a book and some duct tape. Brax makes wonderful duct tape wallets. He has sold a few at school and has come home with quite a bit of money.

We have his friend party scheduled for March 17th. We have reserved the Game Truck for his party. I will be in Colorado and will miss his party. I trust Matt and am grateful to him for holding the party by himself. Myranda is in charge of taking tons of photos. I can't wait the hear how it went.

Baking with Grandma

Here are some pics of the kids baking with grandma. Matt and I were not there. I do know that the kids had the best time :)

Christmas Service.

This year grandma helped the kids bake lots of yummy treats and Christmas cards to take to a nursing home. They worked hard. On the Saturday before our Christmas party all of the cousins (in AZ) put on a little show for the residents and handed out the gifts to everyone. This was such a moving experience for my family. The audience really enjoyed the kids and appreciated the gift. One resident that sticks out in my mind was an older lady who was in her room, Matt and Lexie knock on her door and Lexie walks up to hand her the gift, the lady asks her "is that for me?" Lexie nodes and hands her the gift, the lady thanks her then as we are walking away we hear her sobbing. She was so touched that the sweet little girl had given her a little something. All of my kids want to do that again. Bryan even said he would like to pursue a career in helping older people. Another part that stuck out was when Bryan was singing a gentleman was so moved that he started to cry. Bryan felt kinda bad, but we explained that he was touched, not sad. This started out as service for them, but I think I got way more than the residents did. I hope to do it again next year.

Our Christmas

We had the best Christmas. I am so blessed to have the family that I do. This was a quiet Christmas. We started out by making caramel corn for neighbors then eating tamales for our Christmas eve dinner. After that we made homemade cinnamon rolls...YUMMY!! Then as a family we opened one gift (new pj's) put them on and watched A Christmas Story. I had never seen that show before and heard from tons of people that it was good. I agree. When the show was over the kids went outside to sprinkle "Grinch be gone" that Lexie brought home from school, placed some cookies and eggnog out for Santa and went to bed.

We woke up at 6:30 on Christmas morning. Santa was very good to us this year. As a family we got the Kinect and a dance game and we played that all day :) Our church was at noon and our ward only had sacrament. Came home and ate some ham, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and bread. Then later pie. We neglected to take photos of our Christmas. I regret that. So here are a couple more from the Christmas party :)

Family Christmas Party

This year we had our big family get together on December 10th. We had it in our carport. We had a nice country Christmas. The carport was decorated with lots of straw and lights. The dinner menu was chili, cornbread, salad and other goodies. What would a cold night be without hot cider and coco. We played a trivia game, and went on a hay ride around the neighborhood. The kids sang carols and we all had a fun time. We had a surprise visit from Santa himself. This year all of the dads were actually around to see him.