Hold Onto Your Hats!

Okay to say we've been a bit busy is an understatement! Our days have been packed with fun things, and just now it seems to be some what calming down. Only to get ready to leave for the cabin tomorrow...but we'll take calm for today! Check out what we've been up to! (In no particular order!)

*Liberty's 1st grade Christmas Sing...she did so well. The older boys did this too and it never gets old. They do a great job!
*Spent alot of time together as a family...live nativity, and other fun family activities!


*Don't forget the annual elf yourself! Always great for laughs!

*I finally got a new do! Very easy and I love it!

*One photo from our RS Christmas Party that I was in charge of, and yes, it turned out to be really fun!

*Liberty and Brit getting a chance to sit on Santa's lap...at first Brit didn't mind.

*But when he turned around to see who had him...this is what happened.

*Liberty dressing up Brit again! This kid has some funny expressions! I love it!

*Craig and I got to go see the lights at Temple Square. We were up there for Carly's wedding. It was a cold and foggy night. Very cool looking with all the lights.

*Helping with Liberty's class Christmas party. It was pajama day at school, doesn't she look cute in her jammies! It was a fun party. I hope the kids liked it.

*Back at Temple Square...while waiting for the dinner to start we headed to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to check out the decorations. This tree was HUGE, and I loved the decorations. Took advantage of the photo op!

*On Christmas Eve Brit turned 10 months old. This little boy on a daily basis steals my heart. He is such a good baby, he is funny, makes the best faces, babbles tons, crawls around and gets into everything, but I can't imagine life without him in our family!

*and all through the busyness....this is how we have all felt! Just give us a nap!

These are just a few things, there have been MANY MANY more! We hope you all had a great Christmas! We loved spending time with family and enjoying the season. More on Christmas to come soon! Have a safe and Happy New Year!

K-I-D-N-A-P...KIDNAP...KIDNAP...WHOOPEE!

I really should be getting my house cleaned right now...but had to post this before I forgot all the details. Last week, Craig's brother Todd told us that he was wanting to kidnap our kids and take them down to the Las Vegas Bowl to watch BYU play with his family. Everything was VERY tight lipped. I packed for the boys without them knowing a thing. The plan was for them to leave Monday night.

Well, I got worried when Sunday night Zach began throwing up. He wasn't feeling good, we had to get him better fast! Craig told him that there was a huge surprise for him and that he needed to get better for it. It worked, he stopped throwing up and began to feel better. We headed to the family party and still there was no clue. We gathered and visited, ate dinner and then the fun part began. Todd went to each boy and asked if they wanted to go see the lights with him in Spanish Fork (about 20 minutes away). They were all for it! I don't think any of them wanted to be a part of the Nativity we traditionally hold. Zach really perked up at this idea! He came and asked me if it would be okay, of course I said yes.

They all sneaked out quietly, not making a big scene. Keep in mind they are all still thinking they are going to the lights. They all are familiar with Spanish Fork and obviously can read the exit signs...well, Spanish Fork came and went and nothing was said. (Craig was texting Todd to find out what was going on, we wanted to hear about the reaction when the truth came out) It wasn't until they came to Nephi, which is almost an hour away that it seemed like it was taking a LONG time! The conversation went something like this:

Hayden (Todd's son): "How long is it going to take to get to the lights??"

Todd: "Oh, I think I missed that exit. Can you think of anything else to do?"

KyLee (Todd's wife): "Hey, maybe we could go to Las Vegas."

Kids: "Why would we go to Vegas?"

Todd: "I'm sure there is something going on there."

KyLee: "Isn't BYU playing there?"

The kids went CRAZY!!! They were all so excited, screaming, yelling the whole nine yards!

I am not exact on what was said, but it was something like the above conversation! What a great surprise! I love it, they are going to have a great time! Zach is feeling much better, which makes me happy. I can't wait to hear the whole story and about all the fun they had!

GO COUGARS!!!

Live Nativity

This Christmas season we were wanting to find new and fun things to do as a family. Some friends of our told us about this Live Nativity which is held in Alpine. We found out when and where it was held and on a very cold Saturday night we ventured out. We were really impressed! It was such a unique experience. We loved it so much we went back with Craig's family on Monday night. It was much more crowded but not as cold Monday. I was glad to go back because I forgot my camera the first time we went. Check out some of our photos...I think it will be something that we will go to for many years to come.

Craig, Liberty & Brit by the dancing camel.

This was the dancing camel...seriously he rocked back and forth the entire time. Zach was trying to get it to look at him.

Zach and Chris....not sure why they wanted a photo with the camels rear end, but me being the good mom I took the photo!

Zach with some shepherds that were telling us something. He was pretty into the whole experience.

Brit was loving every minute of this...he was looking at all the animals, probably wondering where he was.

Kids checking out the sheep...too bad I didn't get any sheep in the photo! OOOPS!

Some of our group taking advantage of a photo op!

Zach being Zach!

Chris and Caleb with some cute shepherd girls! They were so embarassed!

Craig, Kyle, Collin & Brit

The family, this would have been really cute except Caleb's weird pose! WHATEVER!

The little girls looking at the manger scene. They were loving the real baby Jesus. It was very quiet and respectful when you entered into the manger. I think everyone felt something different when they walked in.

Of course we had to find a boy shepherd to take a photo of the girls with.

Some of the gang waiting for our hayride back to the car. Trying to stay warm
around the fire.

Here's Brit after it was all said and done! Zonked out!

This was a great Christmas activity. We can't wait to go again next year!

Thanksgiving Day In Rewind

Here is our Thanksgiving day in reverse.....

This is what my family room looked like the morning after Thanksgiving. We had 8 kids sacked out all over the place. It was a fun sleepover to end a great Thanksgiving!

Brit and Craig getting sleepy...everyone was winding down.

Liberty getting her groove on!

Zach taking his turn at DDR

Caleb and Chris and Dance Dance Revolution...which was quite humorous!

Brit playing.

"Please return me to the Veenker home if lost" this was put on McKay's back after being found playing outside alone.

Craig getting a chance for a nap!

The gang playing Bingo...Grandma had Pez machine for prizes. A huge hit!

Kyle & Craig discussing something important I am sure!

Zach enjoying his Thanksgiving dinner!

These are the name cards that I made for the family. After 40 of these I was glad to be done!

We started our Thanksgiving morning out right with powdered donuts. Do you think Brit loved them??? He was a cracked up, he had this giddy grin on the entire time he ate! So cute!

Thanksgiving was fun! We spent the day with Veenker's, the day was spent eating, talking, laughing, playing, sleeping, games, sleeping & even dancing. It was a great day!

Nine Months, WHAT???

Brit @ 9 Months

My baby Brit is growing WAY TO FAST! He has really branched out this last month. He is pulling himself up to everything, walking around the couch and table, eating table food (not everything yet), talking up a storm (mom and dad only thing we can understand), dancing, reading books, getting teeth, getting so tall, loves playing peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake, watching and laughing at his brothers and sister all the time, and still managing to steal every single one of our hearts daily! He is a big boy, he is looking so much like his brothers it is crazy!

I tried to keep Brit from crumpling up the nine sign so I put it on a stick...well that only sort of helped...the sign was pretty much thrashed by the time I was done taking photos.

When I sat him on the couch where I have taken his photo every month, he charmed me for a second so I could snap on photo then forget it, he wanted off and wanted to be standing. He loves this being big stuff! I tried to get a photo of him standing on his own...but didn't succeed.

The delay on my camera just missed him standing on his own.

Brit reaching for the camera, he was pretty much done at this point.


And now completely done...look at his expression, you can see how done he really is. (I love how his eyebrow is raised, yet he still has a smirk on his face.)

Zach's Football Banquet

Zach and his great coach, Coach Hill

Last week we went to Zach's football banquet which was held at Pirate Island Pizza. It was a fun night to watch all the boys on the team get together and enjoy each others company. We watched a highlight video, ate pizza, and did awards. Zach got a cool football trophy and dogtag. This is Zach's second year playing tackle and he loves it. The team mom made posters for all the boys to sign...which I thought was a great idea. If you look close in the photo you can see Zach's poster just to the right of him...notice the face he is making. His tongue is sticking out, which is kind of his signature face for photos. Everyone else is smiling normal and cute, and then there is my Zach. It has been fun to see all the friends that Zach has made, he has become good friends with his coaches son Jaxon. Can't wait for next year. Good job Zach on another great season!

Look Alike...You Be The Judge

While Visiting Teaching this month my partner mentioned that she and her 2 daughters thought that my Caleb looked like the guy who plays Finn on Glee....I guess I had never thought about it. So I had to come home and do my homework and put them up against each other. You be the judge, do they look alike?

Here is the Finn dude from Glee...

Here's my Caleb...

What do you think??? I guess I can sort of see it. I think they are both darling! Of couse I am the mom and I am bias to my child!