Positive Referral

I received a phone call from the Vice Principal at the kids' school about a month ago.  That always makes me nervous and I really don't know why.  Our kids are so good, I really have no need to worry.  She was calling because Minnie received a Positive Referral.  This is given by their teacher.  They choose a child who really shows respect, follows the rules, and helps others.  They have their name up on the wall for a month and then they get recognized at a Bulldog Assembly.  I was able to attend and snap a few pictures.  It was fun.  Goofy's class ended up winning the spirit stick that day too.  Both their classes were recognized for being good at either lunch time or Perspectives.  I was proud of my kids!  I sat down next to a lady who just finished her first year in the Pathways Program.  It was so neat to meet her and talk about that, too.

Wedding

Oh, I do love weddings! The bride looked so beautiful, and the groom made his flight!  He had to be at the BYU bowl game the night before, so we were worried he would miss his flight, but he made it!  We didn't get to see him until the actual wedding.  He had us all crying in the temple.  There was so much love in the room.  It was a great experience.
Here we are waiting for them to come out of the temple.  Uncle Mike picked up Goofy and had him give Collette a kiss. I almost caught it on camera.  Too cute! Her bouquet was gorgeous.  Her mom made it and used antique jewelry for all the centers of the flowers.  I love that idea and hope my girls will let me do that for theirs someday!

Here is one of all Mike's brothers and sisters that were there:

We had a luncheon at a chapel afterwards, then were able to have a little downtime before the reception, which was held in a beautiful reception manor in Bountiful.  I forgot to be prepared and my battery died after just a couple pictures at the reception.  Luckily, PC's sister had her new iPad with her and sent me a bunch of pictures she took.  We all had fun dancing and eating the yummy food.

I love PC's photo bomb!

Salt Lake CIty

The day after Christmas, we drove to Utah.  We made it to my sister's house in 9 hours, with only 3 stops.  It wasn't a bad drive, of course, I let PC do all the driving.  Baby Girl did ok.  I ended up sitting beside her in the afternoon.  It was so nice and roomy in the Suburban though.  Plus, all the kids had their new electronics from Christmas, so it made it pretty quiet too.  I think we only watched two movies the whole day.  Brian and Mandy's family also stayed at my sister's house, so it was pretty full!  We made pizzas that night.  They were yummy!
The next day, Auntie K took Tink and two of her cousins to the temple to do baptisms for the dead at the Draper Temple.  It was Tink's first time.  It was so nice she could go with family and in the same temple her uncle would get married in the next day!

That afternoon, we took the Trax into Salt Lake City.  We went to the Church History museum so the kids could play.  I ran into an old friend from our ward in England there.  That was fun!  We were meeting up with a great friend and her kids at the food court in the mall, so we went over there and let the kids play for a while at the play park.  Then we all ate Chick-fil-A.

We met up with the rest of PC's family that was in at the visitor's center in Temple Square, so we could all walk around and see the lights.  Sounds like a good idea, right?  Well, when you get over 30 people together to walk through crowds of other people, it is really hard to stay all together.  Plus, our kids were freezing and cranky.

I can't believe I didn't get any pictures with my friend. It was really crazy and cold.  

We had to get the standard Trax photos on the way home.  The dark haired girl is a friend who also went up with my sister.  Yeah, I used to babysit her.  I must be getting old, but I sure don't feel like it!

Merry Christmas!

We had a lot of fun this Christmas.  We always let the kids open their stockings before breakfast, then they can go get dressed while we cook.  We just did monkey bread, scrambled eggs, and hot chocolate.  No stress there, so that was nice.  PC kept joking with the kids for the past couple of months that all they were getting for Christmas was underwear and socks.  They were still worried even on Christmas Eve that that was really going to happen.  The last thing Goofy asked before going to bed was, "Are we really only getting underwear and socks for Christmas?"  They all really did need new socks, so they all got socks in their stockings.  I absolutely love this picture of Baby Girl holding up her new socks!

We played a trick on Tink this year.  She has been wanting an iPad mini for a long time now.  We got a good deal on Black Friday, so we did get her one, but we had to have fun with it.  I wrapped my old iPad box up and put an eye pad inside it.  We have the whole thing videotaped and it is pretty awesome.  All the kids get so excited when they see the box, and Tink even tries to come and give me a hug before she opens the box.  We tell her to open it and she sees the eye pad and does her typical "tween" look at us--head titled, eyes up, and a little sigh.  I gave her her real gift and when she opened that one, she said, "Is this one real?"  It was still in the shrink wrap, so yes, it was real.  She has loved it!  That was her gift of love.  Her gift of fun was a bluetooth speaker and accessory kit for her new iPad, and her gift of learning was an iTunes gift card.  Bucko also got lucky this year with a Nintendo 3DSXL for his gift of love.  We gave him a 3DS game for his gift of fun and some books and a drum pad/sticks for his gift of learning.  Minnie got a fake American Girl doll (a gymnast one) for her gift of fun, a reading pillow for her bed for her gift of love, and a cookbook and kid knives for her gift of learning.  Goofy inherited Bucko's old DS, so we got him a case for it and a couple games for his gift of love.  He got a couple books for learning and a sit on bouncy ball for his gift of fun.  Baby Girl was easy.  She got some bath toys for love, an electronic nursery rhyme book for learning, and a farm animal toy for fun.  The kids exchanged gifts as well.  Tink made a sign for Bucko. Bucko gave a stuffed animal to Goofy.  Minnie made a babysitting bag for Tink.  Goofy got a Minnie Mouse doll for Baby Girl, and Baby Girl got Minnie a word search puzzle book and nail polish.
For lunch, we went over to Nana and Papa's.  We were able to Skype with Uncle Mike and soon-to-be Aunt Collette.  Then we came home and packed, so we could leave for Utah the next day.

Christmas Eve

We had some of PC's family over for taco salad on Christmas Eve.  Afterwards, we acted out the nativity.  It was lots of fun.  Baby Girl and Goofy were sheep, with PC and I as the shepherds.  Minnie was the angel.  Bucko, Tink, and Johnny were the Wise Men,  and PC's sister and family took the parts of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.  Papa narrated for us with Nana and Uncle Mark in the audience.  I made Mark the official photographer.

PC's Birthday

We had to have PC open his presents in the morning, because we wanted him to use them that day.  His birthday was on a Sunday this year, and the kids got him engraved collar stays.  They say, "We love you" and "World's Best Dad" on them.  I got him two pairs of cuff links--Captain America and 007.  I think he really liked them all.
I made his favorite cookies 'n cream cake.  None of us were feeling the greatest though.  We all went to bed early.

Gingerbread Houses and Cousin Gifts

We always go to Nana and Papa's to make gingerbread houses.  Poor Tink woke up with a fever the day before.  She was feeling better and refused to miss it, but by the time we got to decorate the houses, she was asleep on the couch.  She felt awful the next day too, and finally felt better after that.  It was a yucky virus, but thankfully no one else in the family got it.  Baby Girl had a stomach bug, but it was different and no one else had that one either.
Here are all the houses lined up on Nana's table:

We also did a cousin gift exchange again this year for all the cousins who live in Colorado.  The kids just have so much fun doing this.  They had a great time.  Baby Girl opened her first gift ever. She got a cute stuffed dog.  Goofy is so into Spider-Man and he got a coloring thing and container both with Spider-Man on them.  I loved his cousin's expression as she waited for him to open his present from her! (She's in the bottom left corner of the collage below.)  Minnie got fingernail polish, which she loves!  Bucko got Pokemon cards--yes, he is still into Pokemon!  Tink got Reese's and bracelets.  They were all perfect for the kids.  It's so much fun to watch everyone open their gifts.  I'm so glad we do this!