Better late than never..

Just wanted to throw a quick {almost late} birthday wish to my best friend in the whole world, Stephanie Pickle! We have been friends since 7th grade. I am now lucky enough to live just around the corner from her and we see each other {at least} like 5 times a week, I love it!

Here are a few things I love most about Steph...

• she is very non-judgemental, I can always be myself around her
• she is always up for an adventure {whether it is lunch, a play date or a week in Cancun}
• she is beautiful {and completely unaware}
• she is extremely creative and talented
• she has an adorable family
• she is enthusiastic about yummy food {same as me}
• she has a great sense of humor and isn't easily offended
• she is always up to help, especially with babysitting :)
• she is extremely thoughtful
• she is easy to talk to
• she is great with my kids
• she is a wonderful example
  

I could go on but I am afraid I might miss her b-day deadline :) I love you Steph! Thanks for being my friend for the last 16 years! You are the best!

in case you were wondering

what Santa might do if he misplaced the ONE thing some good little girl was counting on...I think he might spend quite a bit of time panicking, going through drawers, closets, and any other small hiding places {several times}. He just might check the garage, then the recycle garbage can {in the snow} then the over flowing great big garbage can {YUCK!} and then he might just say a little prayer and check the garage ONE MORE TIME. Whew! Then an unopened box just might show up to be place by the tree and make all Christmas dreams come true for some little girl!

On another note...I just wanted to post a couple photos from our Christmas Eve festivities!

We had our Christmas Eve dinner, complete with brussel sprouts that were eaten by all in honor of Granny Goose! {miss her}

We decorated gingerbread houses, well, Luke and Paislee ate candy while the rest of us tried our best to decorate. {Mike is super creative when it comes to this project, too bad I stink and ruined most of his design, OOPS}

We got our Christmas jammies! {My favorite was when Luke asked Jeremy why he had girls on his jammies - see the pic below. And then Paislee -sooo excited to wear her bag as a purse, even after watching everyone else pull jammies out of their bags she was still happy wearing hers as a purse!}

We also played some holiday pictionary, which Chad's team won {of course}!

Watched a little ELF - only the greatest Christmas show ever!

And of course, we ate loads and loads of treats!

More to come tomorrow! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Its about time!

We have been busy, busy, busy {as I am sure most of you have} trying to get all of our "Christmasy" stuff done and ready for the BIG day!

Just thought I would update you on a few...

• The kids have been enjoying their advent gifts each morning - here is the fun Little People Nativity, I came down to find Adi sharing her breakfast with them!

• Last Saturday we had a crazy morning, I baked 13+ DOZEN sugar cookies then we had 10 kids from our primary class over and they decorated every last one! It was soooo much fun - I was really impressed with the creativity that 10 year olds can have.
  

• Then it was off to our annual "Girls Christmas Party". This was the 11th year for our get-together and we had lots of good food, great gifts and, of course, fun times! I feel so lucky to have such a good group of girlfriends!
  

• Monday night we headed up to Temple Square for family night with the Pickle's. {After the catastrophe of trying to park} we enjoyed seeing all the lights and nativities. I can't believe that this was the first time we have ever gone as a family, we are gonna have to add this to our annual traditions list!
  

• Adi had her Christmas performance on Wednesday! She did sooo good and made the CUTEST Rudolph ever! The highlight of it all was the visit from Hefa from High School Musical, did you know he has connections to Santa?
  

• Today, there were a few more dozen cookies to be decorated - no pics though - the kids spent about 2 minutes at the table before they were through. Stephanie and I did most of them ourselves! {that was a 1st} Paislee was a big help though, she ate 3 on her own!

There! That's a pretty good update, albeit a little boring! But school's out and grandma comes tomorrow, YIPEE! The countdown is on!

Our Nativity Outing

We all got bundled up last night and headed to Hee Haw Farm. They had a really fun Nativity Hayride...we had stops for each part{shepherds, angels, wisemen, the king, the inn keeper}, they told their story and then we sang a song after each one and ended in the stable. It was fun to have the kids learn about this story in another way and see them understand it a little more.
This is Michelle, our wagon guide, Mike and I taught her for almost 2 years in Primary when we were very first married. It was so fun to see how grown up she is {she was 7&8 back then} and surprised that we still recognized her! That class still has a special place in our heart!
TTFN!

a few RaNDoM observations

• Walmart can be my happy place {at least at 7am on a Friday morning - the isles are beautiful when fully stocked}
• The sound of a flock of geese flying overhead is very disturbing - until you identify what it is - then it's pretty cool.
• Shaving, with a new razor{after going without one for a week} can make you feel like a new woman.

That's all!

Happy weekend!

a visit to Santa

Last night we took a trip to see Santa Clause at the mall.

Adi and Luke were really excited to make sure he knew what they wanted, Paislee, on the other hand, would rather go without!

Merry Christmas!

kids are all nestled snug in their beds...

...while visions of this man, St. Nikalous, dance in their heads!

Or, it may be possible that they are having nightmares involving his companion/slave, Ruprect.

October 6th is St. Nikalous Day and because of Mike's mission ties and the fact that we lived in Germany for a short time - we continue to celebrate as the Germans do and get out our best {or biggest, as is the case this year} shoes, make sure they are good and clean, and set them out for St. Nikalous' visit.

Legend has it that he comes to inspect the children on the eve of Dec. 6th {his death date} each year and can tell quite a lot about them from their shoes. If they are clean/good he will leave small gifts and treats in and around their shoes.

The downside to this legend {in true German fashion} is that he is accompanied by his slave Ruprect - a short, mean, black man. Ruprect carries a bag where he will stuff all naughty children and beat them with a stick!

(I know this sounds harsh - but the Germans aren't exactly into PC}

I'm thinkin that Ruprect can keep his bag this year...well, unless Jeremy makes an appearance ;)

He did it!

Chad {my "little" brother} got his board results back today and he passed! Well...he didn't just pass - he got a 95!

I am so proud of him - he has really buckled down and worked super hard to be responsible and get things in order. Unfortunately, this means that he will be leaving shortly after Christmas for Arizona where he plans to get rich and become a stylist to the rich and famous!

We are ALL very sad to have him leave but excited to see him succeed! I will miss his support and the example he sets for me with his constant focus on bettering himself and helping others! Love ya Chaddy! Congrats!!!