Our Silly Elf

Ojo, pronounced O-ho since it's Spanish for eye, or spelled O-J-O, joined our family celebrations 2 years ago. Since then, we have found him doing all sorts of silly things. In fact, he's the first thing the kids look for when they wake up. They take their complaints and tattling straight to him. On occasions, you'll find a child having a heart to heart with the little guy. You can easily see why so many elves have been adopted, they're a lot of fun and a favorite tradition.

Gingerbread

There is something about the rustic, traditional gingerbread men that I love. They are hard to mess up so it's a perfect thing to do with the kids. I love the masterpieces each child creates. At first there was a lot of competition for the cutting out and decorating parts, but lucky for everyone I doubled the batch so there wasn't a lack of anything. In fact, by the end the kids' attention was waning. It was fun to have some cousins here to help.




In case you can't tell, Ruby's favorite part was the chocolate chips. She was quite generous with them, putting lots on her gingerbread men and lots in her mouth.

Sharing & Sevice

Our Joy School group has been focusing on the joys of sharing and service. I love that we discuss these joys during the holidays.

They made gingerbread girls for their secret buddies.And made ornaments to decorate a tree for an elderly couple.Casting for the nativity was a little tricky, seeing as there are 5 girls and they all wanted to be Mary. Dalanie got to be the inn keeper, which happened to have the only speaking part. She'd get so excited and nervous all at the same time.

If You're Happy And You Know It

Clap your hands.The clapping is fun, but not nearly as entertaining as "your face will surely show it."Ruby came home from nursery one day making these faces whenever the song was sung. Classic.

Hitting The Road

Brent presented Precision Planting to a group of farmers in Delta, UT. And for once I got to tag along. We made arrangements for the kids for the week, so I could take to the road with him. It turns out that the organizer of the event was my college roommate's brother, small world. About 50 guys were there, so it was a worthwhile trip.
But our road trip didn't end there, we continued on to St. George where we met up with an old mission companion and his wife. We hadn't seen them for awhile so it was fun to catch up. And then onto Vegas for the NFR.
Brent has been trying to get me there since we've been married. I've always drug my heels, I'm not quite the Vegas type. So we found an awesome non-smoking, non-gaming condo to stay in. So instead of always being on the strip, we only went for a show (Mystere,) and to eat on occasion.The Bellagio was decked out and I don't think I could ever tire of watching their fountain show.I manged to get Tuf Cooper and Matt Shiozawa's autographs for Hudson at Cowboy Christmas.We also went to the temple. We caught up with Tracy and NiCole, who just so happened to plan a trip the same time. We were lucky enough to find 4 seats together for the rodeo on Friday night.

The drive down was pretty broken up, but we spent all of Saturday in the car on our way home. It was a long drive, but turned out being one of my favorite times because I had 10 hours of uninterrupted conversation.

Ugly Sweater Party

We hosted an ugly sweater party. It was a first for everyone involved. Shopping for the party was half of the fun. I landed upon some dandies. It put tacky things in a whole new light.

We had an eggnog bar, photo booth, and kooky karaoke. My cheeks still hurt from laughing. It's safe to say we'll be making it an annual event.

Spike

Over Thanksgiving, the boys were pulling fish out of a head-gate when Brent netted a turtle.Hudson staked his claim and named him Spike, Brent started researching turtles, and we loaded him up for the ride home with us.He lived in a rubbermaid, went to show & tell, and sun bathed under a heat lamp before we decided to let him go.
We initially thought he was a red eared slider, but his belly revealed that he is a painted turtle.Dr. Moralez has a warm, spring fed pond where we turned Spike loose. It's going to make a great home for the little guy. We watched him forage and hide in the moss for awhile before going fishing.

Brent helped them out with a zipline, so in return they let the kids fish in their pond.

Dooby-Doo Turns Two

Any talk of birthdays in the weeks leading up to the actual event and Ruby would volunteer "two" while twisting her fingers. Well the day finally arrived and Dalanie could hardly contain herself. Luckily Ruby didn't mind the help in opening her presents.
Delighted with her "neigh" that she can comb to her hearts content.She sure can slurp spaghetti.
And then there was a little family get together with some cake and icecream.


The turtle cake was inspired by our temporary pet, Spike or better know as Spikey.

She now has a hot pink gift bag that doubles as her purse. She doesn't go many places without it. The other night I made her put it up before going to bed. Later when I tucked her in, she was asleep on the floor next to her bag. We did have to draw the line for church today.

She has her dad smitten. A look with her brown eyes and added facial expression and she's got him in the palm of her hand.

She is very quick to say sorry after hitting or yelling. She will always rub your cheek and say sorry, followed by a kiss.

She loves M&Ms, dancing, singing, and rocking her babies.

Trimming The Tree

Brent braved the blizzard and brought us the most beautiful tree yet. It smells so good, in fact, I kept smelling my hands as I was wrapping the lights. Hudson was reluctant to go off to school, so I promised to wait until he got home to decorate it. When he walked in the door and saw the tree lit up he threatened "You're going down!" I assured him that wrapping the lights is the boring part.

He quickly forgave me and we got to work decorating.