Girl's while we were away

The girls had a great time with Kevin's parents while we were in Utah. Grandpa surprised Allison with another birthday cake. It is always great to celebrate your birthday for a few days. Allison loved the extra attention. The girls really had a great time in Twin. They saw a movie and went skating. The night before we picked them up a wind storm came through. Ashley had a hard time falling asleep but forgot all about it when they woke up and found a tree down.

The girls had a good time playing around on it. When we arrived to get them they weren't ready to leave and get back to reality. I am glad they had such a great time.

Week in Salt Lake

In August we celebrated our 15th anniversary. We really wanted to take a big trip but because of our schedules there just hasn't been time. We decided to just get away and do the big trip some other time. After much discussion we decided that Salt Lake City would be a great place to get away to. It was within driving distance and wouldn't cost to much money to stay there. On our way to Utah we dropped the girls off in Twin at Kevin's parents. In fifteen years this is the first time that we have gotten away by ourselves for this amount of time. We had a great time. The girls thought we were boring because we did a lot of shopping. I don't know what they expected us to do. We also did some sightseeing. I had never been to Temple Square when it was all lit up with Christmas lights. It was crowded but we still enjoyed ourselves.

We also went up to This is the place park. I can't believe that with all the times that I have been Salt Lake that this is the first time I had been here. We had a great time roaming around and reading about the pioneers. I could have spent the whole day there. I just love history, especially church history. I can't wait till we take our trip back east for Kevin's graduation and visit more spots.

Kevin and I had a great time just enjoying each other. We missed our kids but knew they were in good hands. I can't wait till the next time that we can do it again.

Allison is 10!!!

Today we celebrated Allison's 10th birthday. This year has been a big year for birthday's. Ashley turned 5 which to me means she is a big girl now and out of the preschool stage. Madison became a teenager and now Allison hit the double digits. I can not believe how fast my little girls are growing up.
Allison has mixed feelings about not ever having her birthday on a school day. It doesn't bother her that her birthday is two days after Christmas but she does wish sometimes that she would be able to celebrate at school. I try my hardest to make things special for her because I know how difficult it can be to have a birthday this time of the year. We didn't have much to do today so we stopped over at the Ewings house because they had a gift for her. She was pleased to find out that we were going to their house. After a short visit we headed home to wait for Dad to get home from work to continue the celebration. Allison had kept us all in suspense all day on where she was going to pick for dinner. She chose Cafe Ole. It was kind of a surprise because she tries to pretend she doesn't like it there but mexican is her favorite type of food. After we ordered she opened her first set of gifts. She didn't want to bring them all to the restaurant. Allison likes to guess what things are and she was pretty sure what a few of her gifts were so she chose to open the ones that she didn't know. She was really surprised by one of her gifts. Kevin thought it would be fun to wrap up the frog and give it to her for a change. Allison's reaction was classic. Allison also opened a gift from Madison. Madison worked all day on a duct tape wallet for her. Madison made one for herself a while back and knew that Allison wanted one.
Madison was so sweet and made Ashley one too so she wouldn't feel left out. She didn't want Allison to know what she had been up to all day so she wrapped all three up.

We had a great dinner and then we were off to the Cheesecake factory. When I ask Allison what kind of cake she wanted she told me cheesecake. She just wanted to one from Costco but we were heading out of town the next day and I knew we would not have time to eat it all before we left. I instead suggested that she could pick out a piece at the Cheesecake Factory and it would be all hers. She was pleasantly surprised and loved the idea. Once Allison was done with her piece of cake she was ready to finish opening her gifts. Allison had a great birthday. She is such an important part of our family. I am so grateful that she is our daughter. Things would not be the same without her. We are so blessed.

One of my dreams has come true

Kevin downloaded Allison's pictures off of her camera earlier today and as I looked through them I was in heaven. It is no surprise that I love pictures. Kevin jokes that our kids might be the most photographed kids ever. Sometimes I do feel like I just need to be with them to catch every minute that I can but I know that is not possible. Well back to Allison's pictures. She got some really great pictures of them at the hotel with Nana and Grandpa. I now do get to capture and document the moments that I am not there for. Allison's camera has not left her side since she got it. Here are a few of the cute pictures she got. I even end up in pictures. This is nice. People always say that my kids are going to want to see me in pictures when they look back at them.

Christmas Day

We had awesome day today. There was no fighting or arguing we all just got along and enjoyed each other. The girls were not pounding down our bedroom door this morning, it was kind of nice. We had decided that we would not open gifts before church and they really didn't mind. Ashley was the first one up and the only reason I knew was because I heard her in the living room with her stocking. I reminded her that she needed to wait till everyone else was up. Since she could see part of what was inside, she carried it around till it was time. Once they were all up they opened their stockings Allison didn't think that it was funny that she got some coal. Since the girls were so great about our decision to wait to open gifts, I got them one that they could open before church. Madison knew right away what it was going to be. Church cloths. I think they all look so cute. The morning went so smoothly and I got exactly what I wanted. A calm smooth Sunday morning. It was so nice not to have the normal stress of Sunday mornings. The girls were awesome and helped me out so that I could stay relaxed before speaking at church.

After church the girls were all ready to open gifts. Allison was Santa this year and handed the presents out. She says that this is the first time that she has been able to do it but I am not sure on that one. Ashley opened the first gift and she could not have been any happier. All month she has been telling everyone that she was going to get a horse for her Liliana doll. I would ask her how she knew and she would tell me that she ask Santa for it. She would have been heart broken if there wouldn't have been one. All morning before church the girls tried to guess what each gift was so they all knew which ones they wanted to open first. Allison was next and she opened
a camera. She was so happy. I do not know how many times I have heard today."I got a camera, a real camera." I love seeing the joy in her face. The first gift Madison opened was a
Kindle. She has wanted one for several month. When she didn't get one for her birthday earlier this month, she was really hoping to get one for Christmas. We continued to open gifts and the girls had a great time. They received a lot of what they ask for but there were still some things that didn't make the cut. I didn't hear once any sort of bad attitude but instead gratitude. The girls gave each other hugs voluntarily as they opened each others gifts to each other. There was such a great spirit in the house the whole day. Kevin got his favorite gift.
I do not remember when Allison started giving Kevin this frog but it sure brings a good laugh every time that he unwraps it.
We also had a great time sharing our day with Nana and Grandpa. I am grateful that we were able to share these memories with them, even with Grandpa and his hew career in modeling.

Once the gifts were all open, the girls opened their stuff and played nicely while I got dinner ready. We had a lovely dinner before we headed to Nana and Grandpa's hotel so the girls could swim.
The girls had a great time swimming and getting all their extra energy out. Or at least I hope they did for Louise's sake because they are staying the night with her at the hotel. Today was a wonderful day. I am thankful for this Christmas season and to opportunity that we have to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve

Tonight we did our normal Christmas Eve traditions with one little twist. Kevin's parents joined us and the girls were so excited. Holiday's are always more fun with family around. We started our evening with are traditional meatball dinner.
The girls have always liked Nana's better then mine and I found out this year why. I have been making the sauce wrong all this time. Now that I know, I will do it right and the girls will like mine too.
After dinner we went out to look at Christmas lights. We drove by this one that has been one of our favorites for the past couple of years. Apparently everyone else heard about it because you couldn't even get into the neighborhood. When we finally made it to the house we found out why it was so popular. Louise said they featured it on the news the night before. Despite the lines we still had a great time looking at lights.
Once we were home it was time for the girls to open their one gift for Christmas Eve. I love this tradition every year. The girls know they are pajamas but they don't know what they look like and it drives them crazy until they find out.
I love that I can still find matching ones. The girls don't even seem to mind that they match. The color wasn't their favorite this year but they love how comfortable they are.
We finished our night out with our candy tray and watched home videos. It was a great evening. I love all the traditions that we have. I hope the girls remember all this when they get older.

Busy busy busy. . . Christmas break.

Wow these last couple of days have been so crazy. Last night we attended Madison's Christmas band concert.
I am just amazed every time I hear them. They keep on getting better and better. I love that she decided to stay in band. After the concert Madison and I made plans to go shopping for her sisters Christmas gifts. While I was waiting for Madison to get her instrument put away, a Young Women from our ward ask if I could give her a ride home. The lights were out at her house and her parents were having problems getting the car out of the garage. When I pulled into the neighborhood, I noticed that the whole neighborhood didn't have lights. I called Kevin to see where he was because I was not sure how we were going to get into our house. He hadn't made it home yet and wasn't worried. Madison and I went on with our original plans and went shopping. While out shopping we witnessed an accident. No body was hurt and the driver of the car that was hit was a police officer so we didn't need to stick around for anything. In the mean time Kevin got home and realized it was harder then he thought to get into our house with no electricity. He ended up putting Allison over the fence and talking her through how to unlock the door. I am thankful for the flashlight app on his phone or I don't know how she would have done it. It is kind of nice to know our house is that safe. Once in the house Kevin had more difficulties because all of flashlights had no batteries and he didn't know where the candles were. Kevin finally had everything found and as he had lit the candle the lights came on. It was a crazy late night.
Today was the girls last day of school before Christmas break. Ashley started her morning off with a Christmas concert at school. Miss Dawn and Capri came to see the concert. Ashley was so excited to have so many people there to see her. Kevin even made it. The songs they sang were so cute. Ashley did a great job. I loved the last song they sang with the sunglasses. The kids were so cute up there. After the concert I thought it might be fun for Allison if I brought her lunch at school. I have done this several times for Madison on her birthday but can't do it on Allison's birthday. I wanted it to be a surprise so I pretended to pack her a lunch this morning. Since Capri and Miss Dawn were staying the rest of the day with us, I brought Capri along for another surprise. Allison was delightfully surprised. We ended up eating in the hall with her because she had Idaho history bee practice. It was fun watching her study with her friends.
We finished our day out with some more fun. Allison was at the Moellers for the evening and Capri stayed at our house. Madison ask if we could get Just Dance from redbox. Madison, Ashley and Capri had so much fun with it.


It is nice to finally be on Christmas break. We could all use a couple weeks of relaxing.