Birthdays, birthdays, and more birthdays!

As soon as Christmas is over we start celebrating birthdays at our house.

Addi's is first on Jan. 14. She turned 6 this year. We got up early to open presents before dad had to go to work.

Later that day she had a Princess birthday party. First the girl's got to decorate Princess crowns.

After decorating their crowns we turned on a Princess movie and they took turns getting glitter toes. I didn't get any pictures because I was trying to make sure we got all those toes done.

Then they played "Kiss the Frog."

Then on to the presents!

Instead of a birthday cake Addi wanted each of the girls to decorate their own cupcake. I was thrilled with that idea because all I had to do was bake the cupcakes.

Jensen's birthday was next on Jan. 24. She turned 13 this year which means I now have three teenagers. Scary! She chose to invite her friend Emily to go with us to the new Provo Beach Resort. Lexi, Emily, and Jensen chose to go on the Ropes Course first. Oakley and Addi decided it looked too high and scary so we decided to bowl.

After the girls had spent some time on the ropes course they decided they wanted to bowl also so we all bowled a game together.

Jensen bowling, look at that form!

Emily

Lexi

Oakley

Addi

When we were done bowling we all went to Wingers for dinner.

We let our kids get their first cell phone when they turn 13 so Jensen got to go with her dad a few days before her birthday (because he was going to be gone on her birthday) to pick one out.

She wanted to have crepes for her birthday dessert and since Matt was going to be gone on her birthday we had them the night before her birthday. Since her birthday was on a Monday I got some cupcakes for Family Home Evening treat and we put a candle in hers and sang to her.

She also got to open one other present on her birthday. See how excited she is!

It's turkey bacon! Yeah, I know, who knew turkey bacon was so exciting?

Lexi's birthday was after Jensen's on Feb. 11 and she turned 15. She wanted me to check her and a friend out of school and take them to lunch and shopping at the mall (does that sound like a 15 year old or what?!). She wanted Better Than Pokemon Cake (or Robert Redford or whatever you call it ;) for her birthday dessert. I made two and we took one of them to drumline and surprised her with it and sang happy birthday to her. I think I got a couple of pictures but I can't figure out how to get them off of the camera and onto the computer so I'll have to add them later.

And later this week on Feb. 17 is Matt's birthday. Thankfully after that we are done with birthdays at our house until June.

Christmas 2010

Does anyone else feel like they blog about Christmas every few weeks? I can't believe how fast it comes around but we had another wonderful Christmas. Matt was the Activities Chairperson for our ward so he was in charge of the ward Christmas party.

Here's our cute primary kids acting out the Nativity and singing a song.

Matt asked the Payson High Chamber singers to sing for the Christmas party.

I only got a good picture of the guys, the rest were all blurry but the girls were there too.

Santa even made a visit.

We headed down to Blanding again this year. On the 23rd we had a Christmas party with my dad's side of the family. Of course we had good food, singing, and lots of laughter.

Kolton and I sang again this year.

And we played the present game.

This ended up being our last Christmas with Grandma Clessa. Of course none of us knew it would be but now I'm so grateful we decided to spend Christmas in Blanding.

Christmas Eve morning we went to the Stake Center and had a Zumba class with family and friends.

A blurry picture of me teaching.

After Zumba Matt, Jensen, Oakley, Addi, Jeremy, Kristi, Camryn, Carter, Logan, and my dad went hiking at Natural Bridges.

Kristi, Carter, Logan, Oakley, Addi, Jensen, Camryn, and Jeremy.

Addi, Jensen, and Oakley

Dad, Camryn, Logan, Jeremy, Carter, Jensen, Addi, and Oakley

Addi

Oakley

Addi

That night we had a party with my mom's family. More good food, singing, and laughter.

Kolton opened a pair of Batman underwear during the present game and figured the best way to keep them from getting stolen was to put them on immediately. Luckily he put them on over his pants. Logan thought it was pretty cool and wanted to be an Underwear Superhero too.

Christmas morning started off with everyone meeting in Grandma and Grandpa's room to read the Christmas story out of the scriptures. We say we do this to remember the true meaning of Christmas but really we just do it to torture the kids. ;) J/K It's one of my favorite traditions of Christmas and helps us get in the right spirit for the day.

Jensen, Addi, Mom, Oakley, Lexi, and Kolton waiting "patiently" for everyone to get to G & G's room.

Getting their first look at the loot.

After we were done opening presents Grandma and Grandpa had another present for the kids to open. It had Mickey and Minnie ears for all the kids. G & G are taking us all to Disneyland in April!

We had another fantastic Christmas.

I wanted to add a couple of stories of Grandma Clessa so that I don't forget them. One of Matt's favorite Grandma treats is Honey Candy. She always makes sure she sets some aside for him. This year at Christmas she asked if he and the kids could come and help her make it because she wasn't strong enough to pull it anymore. Matt took the kids down on Christmas Eve afternoon and helped her make it. He is really grateful that he had the opportunity to spend that time with her and learn how to make it.
Grandma had been in the hospital in Nov. with pneumonia and had been having a hard time recovering fully. She always makes Christmas dinner for everyone but my mom told us that she wasn't up to it this year so we would just have dinner at my mom's house. Apparently someone forgot to tell Grandma though and she still made dinner for everyone.