Smithsonians

Monday, December 24, 2012

Santa

John, Cassie and I took Mallory and Trevor to see Santa at the mall today. Crazy, I know! We went pretty early, so the crowd wasn't that bad. It was worth it too! Mallory ran right up to Santa and gave him a big hug! It is hard to see in the first picture, but it was adorable!

Mallory and Santa

Trevor, Santa, Mallory

Mallory offered Santa her sucker as she was leaving. That was so nice because Mallory LOVES suckers! Too bad she ended up dropping her sucker over the railing and lost it!

I had no luck finding cranberries today. A worker at Target told me to get dried cranberries and have them sit in hot water for about 30 minutes. I'm going to try that. However it turns out, it will be better than cranberry sauce from a can!

There was a lot of snow today! It sure makes outside look beautiful! Before bed, we had the kids open their Christmas jammies. Preston is a little excited about tomorrow!

Preston, Cassie, Trevor

Maysen, Mallory, Jorja, Stockton, Preston

I had a lot of obnoxious pictures of Preston. I finally got some good ones of him. Why the change of attitude? I might or might not have threatened to take away Christmas if I didn't get a good picture from him.

Maysen, Jorja, Stockton, Preston

Mike, Maysen, Jorja, Stockton, Preston

Mike, Maysen, Jorja, Stockton, Stephanie, Preston

Wasn't that smile worth it?

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Favorite Scriptures

Matt, Sam, John, Cassie, Mallory and Trevor all came to church with us! I loved it! We had our musical program where people in our ward are playing all kinds of instruments. Stockton's scout leader was playing the saxophone. There were some instruments I didn't even recognize! The funniest moment came when Brother Bingham got up and said Brother Kimball was called out. (He was the concluding speaker.) Brother Kimball was right behind him. He had been in the choir. When Brother Bingham saw him he said, "Prayers really do work." Haha! I guess he had been frantically looking up church talks on his phone with the Bishop. It was pretty funny.

We had Young Womens at Becky Johnson's house. They had hot chocolate and donuts and a sweet little program. We also handed out the Christmas gift which I really love. For the birthday gift this year, we framed a picture of the girls favorite scripture. Then when they received their frame, Becky had a book where they would write down why this was their favorite scripture. The Christmas gift was a compilation of all the favorite scriptures and why. Ashley put it together and it looked so cute. I love mine.

This evening we had our annual street Christmas cookie party. Becky invites the entire street for cookies and cider right before Christmas. As we were walking over, Stockton threw up on the side of the road. I had no idea he was sick. Mike took him right home. Poor guy. Hope he isn't sick for Christmas!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Perfect Picture

I went and played racquetball with Matt and John. I lost horribly! It was a lot of fun though. As we got in the car, I got a phone call from Mike. He said our pictures were finished being framed and were ready to pick up! I was excited! I really wanted them to be there before Christmas! Mike and I raced down to the studio. I love them! They look so good in the frame! We already have the first picture hanging up. It looks like it belongs there!

Stockton, Stephanie, Preston, Jorja, Mike, Maysen

I can't wait to see what the other picture looks like when we are able to get it on the wall. I am so happy we were able to get these done!

This evening I went to see The Hobbit. I went with Matt, John, Pace (John's friend), Dad, Bubs, Lincoln and Ella. It was fun, but I was annoyed that the movie was split up. I guess making two movies out of it is okay, but three is ridiculous!

Friday, December 21, 2012

Pictures With Scott

Okay, these pictures are from yesterday. I had Mike take them so I can show them to my friend in Florida sometime. When did Scott get so tall? That is what I am wondering.

Stephanie with her little cousin Scott

This picture is not as blurry, but I like the one above better.

Today Mike and I were able to go pick up our pictures! Except we didn't. We got two giant family pictures, so we left them there to be framed. We did get a CD and were able to take that home. Maybe I can send out New Year cards. I really thought I would have the pictures back in time to do Christmas cards this year. Oh well, I absolutely love the pictures.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Good-bye Parrydise!

We packed up and headed home today. Early this morning Mike and I took Jorja and Preston up to the springs. Yesterday John, Matt and Cassie went up there. Matt came back so frozen. He said he had never been so cold in his life. That included being lost in the canyons.

Anyway, Jorja and Preston really wanted to go up there. It was so fast! Too bad Maysen and Stockton didn't want to go. Stockton would have loved it if we had been willing to take him yesterday! Preston really wanted me to take pictures of him in his snow fort again before left. He was really sad to leave it.

Preston enjoying his fort

One of the disadvantages of long eyelashes.

It took quite awhile to get all packed up and ready to leave. As we were driving out of the parking lot, Mike noticed that I had a flat. It took about 45 minutes to get enough air in the tire so we could drive it to the nearest gas station. We were so far behind schedule when we arrived at Grandma's house. Grandma and Grandpa had been pretty sick. We tried to hurry out of there so we wouldn't bother them. We didn't see Grandma at all. When we got home, John asked why we had hurried out of there so fast. I thought Grandpa wanted us out. It was a misunderstanding. Too bad, but it worked out all right. I was pretty nervous about driving home alone. (Well, me and all the kids). We got home safely around 8:00 at night. So tired!

We had a few stops along the way. We dropped off laundry at Jackie's house. She said she would wash it for me. Such a life saver! (The original plan was for Mike to take everyone home and I would stay and wash the laundry with John. Now that John and Cassie didn't need a ride, I didn't want to drive the jeep home by myself. Mike had to get home because he was scheduled to go on call tomorrow.) Anyway, I was able to see Markell, Scott and Traci while I was there. Quick hellos, but so good to see them. When I was talking to Scott and Traci I mentioned that we had friends who lived in Florida. He is actually a professor at the University of Florida. Anyway, Paul and Brooke Madsen are in Scott and Traci's ward! They were in our ward in Georgia. Small world! Paul and Brooke are in Utah right now. They are taking their littlest adoptive daughter (Rosie) to the temple.

Speaking of Paul and Brooke . . . . The last stop we had was stopping by Maysen's pottery class. We weren't able to make it in time for her to attend, but she was able to pick up her chip and dip bowl. It looks amazing! Brooke Madsen was Maysen's first pottery teacher. Maysen now takes pottery from Brooke's teacher. Maysen had seen a bowl very similar to her chip and dip bowl at Brooke's house. That is where she got the idea from. I don't have a picture of it now, but I love it!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Doctor Preston

I just love this picture that Matt took of my family! I love my life. I am so very blessed. I wish I could freeze time. I feel like my children are at the perfect ages. We can do pretty much anything with them, and they get to be with us. I can't even bring myself to think about how my life is going to change when Maysen is out of highschool. I guess I will just have to soak up every minute with these beauties while they are mine!

Mike, Maysen, Stephanie, Preston, Stockton, Jorja

Maysen, Jorja, Stephanie, Preston, Mike, Stockton

Trevor and Stockton

Jorja and Trevor

John pretending he is Super Dave

Maysen going off the jump

This was the only time I was able to get a picture of Maysen as she was going off the jump. The last time she went down she crashed before the jump. She started again and ended up going off of the jump in super slow motion. She landed hard on her tailbone, and now is very sore. Silly how you can get hurt going so slow, but not hurt when you are acting like a lunatic!

Jorja and Preston begged to play Mafia again. They asked about it all day long. We played (without Maysen). This time we added a doctor to the group. The doctor was able to save one person. The mafia ended up killing Preston, but the doctor saved him. We then realized we shouldn't tell who was saved, the host should just say someone was saved. The next time the mafia ended up killing me, but the doctor saved me. Preston was the doctor. He whispered in my ear, "When they realized I was a good guy, I was able to save other good guys. So I saved you!" So cute! The last game Preston ended up being the doctor again. He saved himself every time. Then, the last time the mafia (Stockton) ended up killing Preston and the doctor (Preston) ended up saving Stockton!

We did have one crazy mafia game. I was the mafia. I'm pretty sure it was the only time I was the mafia. I looked up and saw Matt and assumed he was the other mafia. He pointed to Cassie to kill her. Then when the cop was suppose to look up, we hear Matt say, "Whoops. The mafia should just kill me." Apparently Matt was the cop and not the mafia! Everyone voted for John to accuse, but he was just an ordinary citizen. The next turn when I looked up I saw John. I forgot we had accused him. Then I noticed Jorja was looking. I thought she was doing a Matt and looking at the wrong time. I pointed to John (assuming he was the other mafia) and said we should kill her). She pointed at me. I didn't realize Jorja was actually the other mafia. We were trying to kill each other without realizing it. Sam ended up being killed in the crosshairs. When we were voting on people, I still had no idea who the other mafia person was. It wasn't like I could just ask. Man, it was crazy. Especially listening to Matt tell the story about how the mafias were trying to kill each other. Poor Stockton was the host for the first time that game. He did the best he could with what he was given!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Mina

Only one picture today. Mina and Jorja were being so cute together. I frantically ran to my camera and looked for pictures I was willing to erase. I erased quite a bit, so there will be more pictures tomorrow. Although, there won't be a bagillion like the last few days!

Mina and Jorja

Brett, Rachel and my dad left this morning. It was so sad. Especially since Rachel and Mina ended up being sick last night. Poor girls. I hope they travel well!

We played Mafia tonight. Preston LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it! Jorja liked it too. I had to force Maysen to play, she did not want to play at all. She didn't play the last game because Preston wanted to be on his own team. Maysen was okay with that.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Forts and Jumps

Well, I filled up my camera card today. Mike said, "You had room for over 1,000 pictures!" Whoops! Most of the pictures came when I had the camera on speed setting so I could get pictures of them coming off the jump. Our day was spent outside and inside playing games. Mostly Dominion and Ticket to Ride. Wonderful, wonderful day!

Preston at Fort Preston