Merry Christmas!!

It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone again!! Where does all the time go? It seemed to have flown right by this year. But for a little kid, I'm sure those last couple of weeks before Christmas just seem to drag on. I think they did for Hayden, he would ask how many more days, and I'd tell him "oh, 12 more days" and he'd sigh and say, "12 moooore days." He started to realize it was getting closer when he brought home his advent chain that they made in school. They had to remove a link a day until Christmas. So, he knew the closer he got to the bell the closer it was to Christmas.

He didn't have too hard of a time falling asleep on Christmas Eve. But around 2:30, we heard him moving around in his bed, so Waylen went in to check on him. Waylen said he was wide awake, and just shaking, and Hayden told him "I'm just sooo excited." Waylen told him Santa still hadn't come and that he needed to go back to sleep. And luckily, he did go back to sleep!!

Kayla woke up around her usual time of 7:30, and Hayden wasn't too long after her. So, we got a pretty early start on Christmas morning. --The kids loved the truck that Santa brought for Hayden (and Kayla too!!) Although, they won't really be able to enjoy it very much until probably summer. It was really hard to drive in the house, they just had to keep going forward a little, then put it in reverse, then forward again. Kayla loved every minute of it, she was laughing the whole time!! A few days later, we took them down to the church, and let them drive it around in the gym for awhile. They had so much fun, and Kayla got pretty good at driving too!!

Santa brought Kayla her very own vacuum, since she always loves to help clean house. At first, she was so interested in the truck that she didn't even notice the vacuum. But once she noticed it, that was the end, she was off and "cleaning". She didn't care too much about opening all her other presents, she was either busy playing in the truck or with her vacuum.--She'd come back every so often to help open her presents, or see what mom was showing her that she got. That was until mom showed her what she got from Uncle Bradley's family- a bath time baby!! There was no coming back after that, she had her baby and stayed busy playing with it!!

We let the kids open all of their presents (which was probably way too much-Nana and Papa Mike kind of spoiled them), then Waylen and I opened our presents while the kids stayed busy playing with all of their new toys. A little later, Waylen's parents came down to see what Santa had brought the kids, and joined us for a little breakfast of french toast. Then they were off, to visit with Melody's family. --Later that afternoon, we went down to Waylen's parents' for a nice Christmas dinner of ham, deep-fried turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, and much more. Like on Thanksgiving, we all ate until we about popped!! After dinner, the kids all took turns opening their presents from Grandma Debby and Papa Larry. Once again, they were spoiled a little with all the nice presents that they got from them too!! Then after the kids, the adults had their turn at opening presents. --We spent the rest of the day relaxing and visiting while it snowed outside. It was nice to have a White Christmas, but it's the only day of the year that I don't mind it snowing!!

That pretty much wraps up our Christmas Day!! We had a great one and thanks to everyone for all the nice gifts and helping us have a very Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we went over to Waylen's parents and had dinner with them and Waylen's sister, Melody, and her family. After dinner, the kids added the people and animals to the stable while Grandma read a story.

Then we listened to a few more Christmas stories, then Hayden and his cousin, Hailee enjoyed singing us some Christmas songs.
Kayla and her cousin, Lexie, even wanted some time to be front and center.
After all this, we moved on to the birthday party portion of the night, and you ask who is so "lucky" to have a birthday on Christmas Eve?

That would be, Me!!! And the candles say it all, yes, I am offically out of my 20's now. I just can't believe that I'm 30. When I was younger 30 seemed so old. But now that I'm 30, it just doesn't seem that old, or I at least don't feel like I'm old!! -(Not sure what Hayden is doing?)

Thanks to everyone (my family in GA included) for all the nice presents and making this birthday a great one!! And sorry that I don't let you all get by with the -Here's your birthday/Christmas present!!

The Making of a Gingerbread House

A couple of days ago, we decorated a gingerbread house with the kids. Well, actually, Waylen did most of the decorating, while Hayden helped supervise and made sure he put enough "stuffing" on the house.

While they worked on the house, Kayla decorated the snowman and gingerbread man, and enjoyed eating most of the candy.

The end result, turned out to be pretty cute, and the kids loved it!!

Party Time!!

Every year, Waylen's grandparents have a Christmas party with all of his extended family. In the past, it has always been held at Waylen's grandma's house. The family has grown so much in the past few years, that it was moved to the church, so we weren't all crammed into their house.

Grandpa and Grandma's grandchildren and great-children that were there:

We enjoyed a delicious meal of enchiladas and enchilada pie, then we had a talent show. Hayden sang a couple of songs with his cousins, while Kayla danced on the stage for everyone!!

Then after the talent show, we had a little game, then it was time to exchange gifts. Here's Kayla and her cousin, Sophie, (Sosie-as Kayla calls her) checking out their prizes from the game.

The party was a lot of fun, and the kids enjoyed every minute of it. They stopped just long enough to get a picture with Grandma and Grandpa Snuffy. They both love them so much, and love to go visit them.

It Never Fails

On Sunday, I wanted to get a cute picture of the kids in their Christmas outfits. But it never fails, it never works out that way!!

Either Kayla was looking at Hayden while Hayden was looking at the camera -with a not so thrilled look on his face

Or when Hayden decided to smile (with a cheesy grin of course), Kayla was looking at something on the kitchen floor

Or when Kayla was finally looking at the camera (but with no smile), Hayden was looking at Kayla smiling!!

Then when they both were looking at the camera, with Kayla smiling a little smile, Hayden had his nose all wrinkled up!!In the end, they ended up sitting on the floor, both looking at the camera, with I guess what you could call a smile from both of them.

Maybe I'll try again next week, and see if the results are the same!!!

It's all a Pattern

Earlier today, Hayden was watching some old home videos of when he was a baby. While watching he made a comment AGAIN about a baby brother. --Hayden has made several comments in the last few months about a baby brother. One was said to Waylen this summer, he told his dad "My baby brother is on his way." Then about two months ago, he asked us "What is taking my little brother so long to get here?" --So anyways, while watching the video he said "See I just want a baby brother." --I then asked him, "Well, what if mom has another baby and it's a girl?" He said, "That would be horrible!" Then he said, "It wouldn't be a girl, if you do it in a pattern." I gave him a weird look, and I guess he knew I was wondering what he was talking about because then he said, "You know, in a pattern. Boy, girl, boy, girl." So, there's Hayden's reasoning for how you determine whether a baby is a girl or a boy. It's all a pattern, you see!!

I can teach you how to be nice!!

Last night, we were over at Waylen's parents' and we were talking with the kids about the presents under their tree. The conversation went something like this:

Us: Kayla what's under Grandma's tree?

Kayla: Presents.

Us: Who are they for?

Kayla: Me

Hayden then joined the conversation and at some point it went like this:
Us: Are there any presents for Daddy?

Hayden: I don't think so!!

Us: Oh, I guess Daddy's too naughty!!

Hayden: That's o.k. Daddy- I can teach you how to be nice!!!

Parade of Lights

Last Saturday we went over to Pueblo and spent the day doing some Christmas shopping. Then that night, we headed over to Canyon City for the parade of lights. Waylen's brother, Ben, works for an electrical company in that area, and they built a float for the parade. So, we decided to go check it out!! --

I think Hayden was getting a little tired of waiting for the parade to start!! Whereas, Kayla enjoyed drinking my "hot" chocolate that I got. --I wanted a nice cup of hot chocolate, but what I got was basically what you could call a cup of cold chocolate. But Kayla didn't seem to mind!!

Let the parade begin:

Ben's company ended up placing 2nd, but it was the best one in the parade!! Although, you can't tell much from the picture below:

That's Ben on the pole in this picture:

Just a few more pictures from the parade:

The kids loved the parade and had fun watching all the neat floats. But, we were all starting to get cold by the end of the parade. Much different from the parade of lights I went to while visiting my family in Georgia a few Thanksgivings ago. There were probably people walking around wearing shorts and flip-flops I'm sure!!

Fun at the Mall

After the parade of lights on Saturday night, we went and stayed in Colorado Springs for the night. Then on Sunday, we went and did more Christmas shopping, but when we got to the mall Sunday morning around 10, not very many of the stores were open yet. So, we decided to let the kids play in the play area while we waited until they opened at 11. The kids had so much fun. Kayla and my niece, Sophie, were running all around and doing everything the big kids did. Well, except they didn't attempt to climb on top of this little house like Hayden and my nephew, Ronan.

Then, they also all had to have a turn riding a few of the kiddy rides in the mall too:

By then, all the stores had opened, and it was time to shop, and thankfully we were able to finish up with most of our Christmas shopping. Every year, I say I am going to have it all done by such and such date, and every year I always seem to fail at reaching that goal. There's always next year, right?

He Sees You When You're.........

Hayden was pretty excited to be able to visit with Santa when we were in Pueblo last weekend. --We keep telling him to be nice because Santa is watching, and he has really given it a lot of thought. The other night this is the conversation we had with Hayden:

Mom: You better be nice Santa's watching you.

Hayden: No, he's not!!

Dad: Yes, he is -he sees everything that you do.

Hayden: He does not because he lives at the North Pole. He has to be there to make all the toys.

(Slight Pause from Mom and Dad) then Dad says: The elves make all the toys.

Hayden: Yeah, but Santa has to be there to be in charge.

Kayla wasn't near as excited to visit with Santa as Hayden was. She wouldn't even go sit on his lap, so Waylen had to sit in with her for her picture with Santa. But she loved posing for this silly picture:

Hayden and Kayla have been Elfed

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Deck the Halls

We spent the afternoon on Friday putting up our Christmas decorations. We were going to get all the ones up in the house, plus do the ones outside. But by the time, we got all the decorations gathered up from the garage and into the house, tand put the tree together, it was getting into the late afternoon. I told Waylen he should put up the lights outside while I decorated the tree and got the Christmas village set up. But he usually always has the job of setting up the village, so everything can be just right!! So, needless to say, our decking the halls ended up taking us two afternoons.

The kids had lots of fun putting all the ornaments on the tree. At first, Hayden wanted to put all the pretty silver and blue bulbs, bows, and ribbons. So, we would have had what I call a "pretty tree." But at the last minute, he decided he wanted to decorate it with all the ornaments, so we ended up with what I call a "kiddy tree."

All of Kayla's ornaments ended up on the very bottom of the tree.

Hayden put most of his in the same spot, and every branch on that side of the tree had an ornament on it.

So, I had to do quite a bit of rearranging to even it all out. In the end, it turned out pretty cute, although you can't tell by this picture.

Hayden loves the village, and usually wants to plug it in first thing in the morning. I always walk by and will notice it on, so I unplug it, then later on he will notice that it's not on, and will plug it back in, so then I will unplug it again. Waylen was out a couple of nights ago, tying down the bear and Santa a little better, so they don't blow all around or away in the wind. I walked into the living room and there were the kids perched up on the couch watching out the window. They were both standing like Kayla when I saw them, but by the time I got the camera, Hayden had changed positions. But I still had to take a picture. Then Hayden wanted me to take one of his silly face, of course!!

The end result of the outside decorations turned out to be cute too, although our Santa just doesn't want to stand up straight.

It's Turkey Time!!

We had a good Thanksgiving this year. We spent Thanksgiving Day with Waylen's family (his mom, dad, grandparents, sister -Melody and her family, brother-Ben and his wife, and a couple that are friends of Waylen's parents). It was a fun day, and we all ate until we about popped. Paul, Larry's friend, deep fried us a turkey, and we had an oven-baked turkey too, plus a ham, plus all of the side dishes (green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, stuffing,), plus we had about 5 different pies to choose from. Yummy!! Hayden's favorite thing was the "pig" which "was cooked." The deep-fried turkey was a hit with all the adults. It was pretty tasty!! --After lunch, we just took it easy the rest of the day relaxing and visiting with each other. It snowed pretty much all day, so it was a perfect day to just be lazy!!

Hayden enjoyed watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on T.V. when we first got to Grandma's house.

The kids are all ready to enjoy their Thanksgiving feast!!

Here are the kids enjoying some more food later in the evening!!

All in all, we had a great Thanksgiving, and it was nice to have a day to just relax before all the hustle and bustle of December started.

Our Fashion Diva!!

Check out another one of Kayla's Fashion Statements. Nice mini skirt, huh?

Fun with Stickers

Cheap Entertainment:

For those of you have not heard the latest news with our family: Waylen has been called to serve as 2nd counselor in the bishopric. We got called one morning during the first week of November to meet with the Stake President that evening. All that day, I kept having the thought that it was possible that it was the bishopric. Then, that night as I was getting dinner ready I had the thought come to me that clearly said Paul Roberts will be our next bishop, and then about 30 minutes later, when I was giving the kids a bath my thoughts continued to the fact that yes, Waylen would be in the bishopric. So, I wasn't surprised when Pres. Barr said that Waylen had been asked to serve in the bishopric. Waylen said he too had felt all day that it would be the bishopric. So, he wasn't too surprised either!! --But I can't describe how I felt when he said that it was Paul Roberts who was to be the new bishop. ---It has really added to my testimony of the truthfulness of personal revelation and has made me even more thankful to be a member of the church because of the amazing experiences and opportunities that we get to have as members of the church.
We are excited about this new journey that we are beginning. I'm sure it will have it's hard times with meetings here and there, and late meetings at that!! --Waylen had to go to Mutual before we met with Pres. Barr, and right before he left, Hayden had been telling his Daddy that he didn't want him to go to his meeting. He just wanted him home!! So, I know it will be hard for Hayden, because most nights, it has to be Daddy to brush his teeth, and read him a book. He doesn't like the way I brush his teeth!! Then on Sunday, after Waylen went up to the front to sit, Kayla just kept saying, "Daddy, Hold me!!" So, I'm sure Sundays will be a challenge too!! But I also know without a doubt, that we will be truly blessed in many ways from Waylen's willingness to serve. --So, let the adventure begin!!!

Twilight

I went this Saturday with my mother-in-law, and 2 sister-in-laws to see the movie "Twilight". All I can say is, it was awesome!! I loved it!! If you haven't read the books, you should, they are great. I was a little hestitant at first about reading them because of them being about vampires and such, I thought I don't want to read about vampires being all crazed and killing everyone around them. But it was nothing like that, and I was hooked right away!! Yes, they are all 4 really long books, but once you get started you just can't stop!! --Now, we are all beginning our wait for the next movie in the series, New Moon. Can't wait!! --Scroll down and check out the slideshow from the movie at the bottom of my blog!!

Thank a Mormon!!

In my email today I received a newsletter from LDS Living, and in this newsletter it had the following news headline: Evangelicals Thank LDS for Proposition 8 Work, Call for Christians to Stand Against Attacks

I have always been a dedicated voter, but have never been a "big political" person, so to say. Meaning, I gather the facts, decide how I feel on the person/issue, and move on. But for some reason, this election has been a bit different, I wonder why!! --So, anyways, I went to this article and then at the end it links you to the website: http://www.article6blog.com/. Maybe some of you are aware of it. It is nice to know that we do have supporters with us on our stand against Prop 8. But it's a shame that our members are the ones to get the "burnt of the attacks." --This website has many great articles that do bring out a lot of great points. A few that really stuck out in my mind were:

• Invite an LDS friend, colleague to lunch. Host a barbecue–to tell them “Thank you for your efforts to protect marriage. Thank you for your unfailing decency, civility, and respect for others in the community as you exercise your basic civil rights as Americans to participate in political debate. We’re so sorry for what your community is going through. We’ll stand by you, now and in the future, as fellow citizens, friends and neighbors.


• Nonetheless, given that between only 2 and 5% of the votes cast in favor Proposition 8 were cast by Mormons, the actions of the protesters are hugely and disproportionately aimed at Mormons.


• I’ll say it again - they’re targeting the wrong people. While the Mormon Church may have encouraged large donations to the Yes on 8 cause, it wasn’t the votes of the Mormons that put the measure over the top. It was the votes of blacks and Latinos who turned out in large numbers for Barack Obama and voted something like 70%-30% for the measure.
  If you want to protest the people who were the most responsible for passing the measure, take your angry LGBT crowd and bus them down to South Central or East L.A. and call those people bigots and homophobes. I’d pay good money to see that."


• Anti-Mormon sentiment was wrong in the primary, just as it is wrong now. What is a shame is that it is taking something like this to turn the tide on that.


• As I have argued I, as an Evangelical, have a moral obligation to come to the aid of the Mormons in the face of this sort of onslaught, but as the protests spread, I have a practical one as well. Simply put, we’re next. Mormons are the battlefront in what is all our battle. The opposition has used the force of the courts and the people of California have said “NO” - now they seek through intimidation and violence to do what they could not achieve legally. They wish to dictate our religious expression and practice to us - first the LDS and then the rest of us. We are not just defending the LDS here, we are defending ourselves.

And the next one isn't a surprise:

• it is clear we have a media problem as much as a protest problem. Much creedal Christian support is being given to the Mormons on this, but none of it is being heard about. Unsurprisingly, the protests are drawing the press but the efforts at unity are not. As with every conservative issue, it is incumbent on the conservative media outlets - talk radio, Christian broadcasting, and blogs - to get this word out there. "It is not, nor can it ever be, enough for creedal Christians to offer their support for the Mormons, as “the point of the spear” quietly, but let them continue to take the brunt of Prop 8 opposition attacks. We must overcome the press imposed blackout of the coverage of these supportive efforts.

The list could go on, there was a lot of great things in the articles. It really helped brighten my thoughts on the whole thing. I was a little surprised when Prop 8 passed, it just shows that there is still SOME good amongst us in our world. But then all the attacks started, and it's like "Oh, but here's all the evilness again." --And all you see on television, on the internet, and in the newspaper is about the pickoting at temples and the burning of books. So, I was glad when I read these articles. --Maybe some GOOD can come out of all the EVIL involved in this issue, perhaps we along with others of Christan faith can hold up to the saying: UNITED WE STAND!!

Halloween- A 3 day Holiday

Halloween is one of those holidays that can seem like it lasts forever, kind of like Easter does, with parties here and parties there. That's how Halloween was this year, it lasted for like 3 days. On Wednesday night (the 29th) we had our ward Trunk or Treat. On Thursday, Hayden dressed up for their party at school. Then, we finally wrapped up the holiday with trick-or-treating on Halloween.

Hayden's costume was the Woody costume that his Grandma Debby made for her Toy Story float this year. But Hayden made sure to let everyone know that he wasn't "Woody" or " a toy" but was a "plain cowboy."

Kayla was a lion, and it was the perfect costume for her, since she can sometimes act like a lion.
I wanted to get a cute picture of both the kids together, but that is always a challenge.

This ended up being one of the cutest ones, and it was taken on Halloween when Hayden decided that he needed his stick horse for part of his costume too!!!

Here's the kids enjoying the Trunk or Treat. Kayla wasn't too sure about it at first, but then she realized they were giving her candy and she was all for it!!

Hayden looks anxious to see who wins the costume contest at the church party. --And the winner is --The cowboy!! He got to choose between pop and a bag of mini candy bars. Hard decision for a boy who loooves both pop and chocolate. (Just like his mom!!) --Kayla stayed hidden in the back and kept looking at the Grim-Reaper next to her.

The kids really had a lot of fun this year for Halloween. They enjoyed all the trunk or treating and trick or treating, and of course they enjoyed all the candy they got. They even had fun trying out the mask that daddy got for Halloween.