Treasure Toy Chest

Matt is wonderful!!! Right around Thanksgiving I told him that I thought it would be fun to build a toy chest to put McKenzie and Madisynns dressup stuff in, and give to them for Christmas. He agreed, but he wasn't sure if he could get it done in time. He finished it on Christmas Eve. It is beautiful, he did a wonderful job!!! The best part is he didn't have a pattern to follow, he made it up as he went. Good job Matt, now you can make some more beautiful stuff for me!

Another Christmas party

We had a Christmas party on Christmas day with just my Mom, brothers, and Sister and their families. It was great. Again we had great food, I was starving, but I let my eyes get the best of me and couldn't eat it all. After we ate, we opened gifts. My Mom had a bunch of gifts to give to the grand kids. McKenzie couldn't control herself and started opening them up so fast, she was ahead of everyone. We told her to stop, but she is a sneaky little stinker and kept doing it. She ended up waiting for everyone to catch up to her, before she opened her last gift. The kids loved what Grandma gave to them!!! After the gifts from grandma the cousins had their own gift exchange. That went really well. When that was done we got the kids in their pajamas, had scripture and prayer, and put a movie on for the kids downstairs. The adults had their own gift exchange, and then my mom had presents for us. When she was going through all of my Dad's stuff she saved a lot of it to give as gifts to us this year. It meant a lot to us. It made me really sad on the last gift that we opened it said to Karen from Dad, and inside all of the gifts were his favorite shirts. The shirts were long sleeved different colors and they said Champion on them. I instantly cried when I opened it up. I could picture in my head my Dad wearing that exact same shirt. His favorite ones were the maroon, and black ones. After we were done with that, we brought down the gift we had all gone in on for my Mom. The gift contained scrapbook items, and sewing items. She has been saying that she wanted to get crafty, so we got her crafty items. We also wrote her letters. This all started back last year, we all wrote my Dad letters because he was going through a hard time. It helped him and he carried them and read them all of the time. When he died we read the letters at his funeral, so my sister thought it would be a good idea to write letters to my Mom, to help her through this tough time. I hope that she holds them dear to her as my Dad did with his letters. We had planned to play games, but we never got that far. We just opened presents and talked, I wouldn't have had it any other way. At the end of the night the girls were so pooped and exhausted, that they were cranky. Madisynn fell asleep in my arms, after a long struggle, and McKenzie fell asleep in a chair in minutes. While we were getting ready to go, I laid Madisynn down on the couch and my brother Quinn picked McKenzie up off of the chair and laid her down on the couch. Very sweet of him!!! I wish the night could have lasted longer, it was great to be around my Brothers and Sister. I've missed them so much. I just wish my Dad could have been there with us, he probably was in spirit. I sure hope so. I love you Dad, and miss you so much!

Christmas morning

Well we slept great, and then Matt's parents called and woke us up at 7:00 A.M. They live in Illinois, so they are a couple hrs. ahead of us. They woke up at 6:00 A.M. and had their Christmas. The funny part it was Matt's mom that got everyone up that early! They have their 23 year old son Jacob living with them still, so she was excited! Matt's family always woke up that early and opened their gifts. We did too, but we never opened our presents up until about 9 in the morning. We couldn't go upstairs until our parents came down and got us. It was hard doing that growing up, but the older I got, I enjoyed it more because it made Christmas last longer. So we got the call, and I told Matt don't you dare go and wake our kids up they need to sleep until they wake up, plus I was still very tired. Don't get me wrong here, I was excited for Christmas, and to see my girls enjoy it too, but I need my sleep or I'm a very mean person. McKenzie woke up at about 8, and Madisynn shortly after her. We didn't start opening gifts until about 9. Mckenzie was mad that Santa ate the cookies, We said we put them out for him don't you remember? She then asked if we could get some more for him. We just laughed and said no sweetie Santa has gone back home now. She seemed ok with that answer, thank goodness. The girls enjoyed opening up their presents. McKenzie loved her gifts, but she just wanted to keep opening up presents. Madisynn had a hard time getting the paper off, but she knew the general idea. I was so excited to get everyone a stocking for Christmas. I mean I couldn't not let Quinn and my Mom not have anything to open on Christmas morning, so we got them a little something. They were so thrilled, especially my Mom because she hasn't had a stocking made for her for the longest time. I think she said since before she was married. I wanted Christmas to be special for her, and make her feel good since my Dad wouldn't be here. I think Mckenzie's favorite gift was her dressup stuff. She thinks that she is a beautiful princess, and she is of course!!! I think Madisynn's favorite gift was her Laugh & Learn Piggy bank. I picked it out with her in the store, and she held onto it the whold time. Matt's favorite gift was his scroll saw. My favorite gift was seeing everyone be happy with what they got. After we opened up gifts we had our traditional breakfast of pancakes, eggs, hasbrowns, bacon, sausage, and orange juice. Yum, my favorite!!! After we spent the day putting stuff away, and cleaning up, we got ready for the Christmas party with my brothers and sisters families. It was a great Christmas, and I wish you all a Merry Christmas. =)

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve. It was a cold day that ended up snowing, so yea we had a white Christmas! We started the festivities at about 5:00, with Matt and I and our little girls, my Mom, and my little brother Quinn. We had French dip sandwiches, and yummy potatoes for dinner. The girls loved them and snarfed them down. What a difference it makes when your kids eat and are happy! I felt more relaxed because of it. We put home alone 2 on and watched it. My 2 girls didn't want to watch it, so we put Aladdin on for them upstairs. Fine with me because we were able to watch and not be interrupted. We laughed so hard, through the whole movie, I forgot how funny it was. We watched the Nativity not the living sciptures version, it is real life version. It was so good, I highly recommend that you all see it. It really puts a perspective on how things were. I felt so bad for Mary and Joseph. We always open up a gift every Christmas eve, and it's always pajamas. This year McKenzie got princess pajamas, and Madisynn got lumberjack pajamas. They are adorable!!! We had scriptures and prayers with the girls, put cookies on a plate for Santa clause, and put them down in bed. Then us adults played fact or crap, and I lost miserably. My Mom went to bed afterwards, and me, Matt, and my brother watched hot shots part deux. Very funny, but I fell asleep. We all ended up going to bed around 1:00 A.M. It was a very fun night, and it was the first Christmas Eve that we were able to spend with family in about 5 years. I hope you all had a great Christmas Eve as well!

Ghosts or Spirits

Another thing happened last night or should I say early this morning. I woke up at about 3:30 or so and tried to roll over. I couldn't because something was laying on my side of the bed at the bottom. I realized that it was McKenzie. I don't remember hearing her come into our room. I must have really been out of it, because usually I hear everything. It was so cute because she was curled up in this little ball, just so little and sweet. Lately Mckenzie has been getting scared of the dark. She keeps saying that monsters are going to get her. I thought she was talking about Monsters inc. at first, but then she started saying that she was scared to go downstairs by herself because Ernie was going to get her. I have no idea who ernie is, but it kind of freaks me out. I keep telling her that ernie is not going to get her, that there are no such thing as monsters. Matt brought up a good point. He said yeah there are no such thing as monsters, but their is such thing as ghosts or spirits. It kind of scared me when he said this. I mean what if she is seeing spirits, and what if they're not good ones? We blessed our house when we moved in. Maybe we should bless her room. My Mom also brought up a good point when I told her what has been going on. She said mcKenzie's room needed to be filled with cute cheerful things. She also said that most importantly it needed a picture of Christ. That was a brilliant idea with the picture of christ, I don't know why I didn't think of it before. Right now Mckenzies room doesn't have a lot in it. I would have more, but I just didn't want to decorate and then have to move again. I really need to get out of that mode of thinking. So I'm going to decorate her room more, and before any of you say get a night light, I already did. It's a big rock night light that sits on her dresser. It lights up the room pretty good at night. Getting back to McKenzie on our bed this morning I woke her up and asked her if she was ok. She said that she was scared. I knew that she couldn't get in the habbit of sleeping in our bed, so I took her back to her bed snuggled her and brought her a picture of christ. She asked if she could leave her door open, I said sure. I also told her to look at Jesus and ask him to help her fall asleep and not be afraid. I did the same tonight. When I went in to check on her, she was spread eagle on her bed with the picture of christ under her arm. I really hope that the picture and the decorating will make a difference. If any of you have any suggestions please let me know.

Sweet things husbands do =)

Last night I was up late writing in our blog. Matt went to sleep way before I did, which is the norm because I have a hard time falling asleep. For Matt's birthday I gave him some dove dark chocholates. These dove chocholates have little sayings on the wrapper. Well Matt found one that said Smile before bed. You'll sleep better. He layed it down on top of my scriptures so I could see it. I've just been going through a rough time and he thought this would cheer me up. It did. It brought a smile to face, and I got a little teary, but I didn't cry. I thought it was really sweet that he would do something like that for me! So what kind of sweet little things do your husbands do for you???

Party time!!!

Tonight was Matt's side of the family's christmas party. We were excited to go! It had been so long since we had seen the whole family. Wow a lot can happen in 5 years. It was great to see my friends that I used to work with that are now my family. It was also great to be able to visit and see Matt's sister and her family. We haven't seen them since July. Well we had more good food and good conversation. Later in the night santa clause came to visit the little kids. McKenzie was in his face the whole time. Santa would pick a candy cane and the candy cane had the kids names on them. This determined who got to sit on his lap. Madisynn's name was drawn first. Oh she was so adorable on santas lap. She wasn't shy at all! McKenzie just wanted to get on santa's lap so bad, but he kept drawing other kids names. She was right beside santa the whole time. Santa fineally called her name about half way through. She was so excited to sit on santa's lap get a candy cane and get a present. Madisynn got a little sketch a doodle, bubbles, a ball, and a growing pet egg. That should be fun you put the egg in water, and the egg will break after 12-24 hrs slowly. After the egg shell is compeltely broken the pet will grow daily. Sounds pretty awesome to me. Can't wait to try it. McKenzie got a seal that expands up to 6 times it's size when put in water. That soundes pretty cool too, but McKenzie left it at the party. I guess we'll have to go find another one! After Santa was done visiting with the kids he left and we had a program where the families if they wanted to could share something. This family is full of talented people. I know that I will never forget the talents that were shared.

A Night out on Temple Square

We have been planning on going to see the lights at Temple Square for a few weeks now. We kept postponing it because things kept coming up. Well we finally did it tonight as a family! The girls had a blast, well I'm not sure about Madisynn she just sat in the stroller most of the time. McKenzie didn't want to go home. We haven't been to Temple Square in 5 years. We remember that their were tons of lights everywhere and that they were just beautiful. This year their didn't seem to be as many lights as they used to have. It was still beautiful, but it was kind of dissapointing. It was still fun to go see! The area around temple square has changed a lot also. They tore the big crossroads mall out and totally gutted out the ZCMI. Good news though, the church bought back the ZCMI because it's a historic land mark, and they didn't want it torn down. Anyways while we were at Temple Square we listened to the Nativity that they put on over speakerphone. McKenzie thought that was pretty neat. We went inside the tabernacle, They remodeled it. It looks very nice, more spacious! We walked around all of temple square, and the temple grounds to look at the lights. My favorite part of the evening was going and seeing the statue of Christ in the Visitors center. It is just beautiful!!! I was even more thankful that we were able to get a picture of us infront of it to always remember it. On the way back to our car, we walked by the conference center. That was decorated also, and it was beautful too. I'm grateful that we were able to go out as a family and have a great time.

Joy school Christmas party

Tonight was McKenzie's joy school party. She was so excited to go!!! We had great food, and great conversation. I made my friend shaina's cherry dessert squares, they were so yummy! They were a huge success. =) For part of the party the kids put on a nativity play for us. They did so good. It was really cute. McKenzie was the angel. She was the cutest angel ever. I think she thought she was a princess though. Madisynn wasn't part of the play, but she just wanted to be around everybody. I got a couple shots of her, and then we made her come sit back down. She never would have held still if she was a part of it. Christmas Eve we are going to watch the movie the Nativity and read about the nativity so McKenzie understands it more. It is important that we teach our kids.

Farewell to Fred the Snowman

Poor Fred almost made it through the month. I was hoping that he would make till January. Nope. My brother Quinn came over last week and saw him and started laughing. He said he looked like some kind of deformed Jaba the hut. My Mom even said that he was looking pretty sad. I realized they were right and I needed to bring him down. He only had 1 eye left, or it was a part of his mouth. I'm not exactly sure. I decided to bring him down earlier today. Bye Fred we will miss you. You were fun to build, and my girls had fun saying high to you every day.

Belly Buttons: cute or not cute you decide!!!

I know this is a weird topic to talk about, but my kids are fasinated with their belly buttons. I don't know if this goes with all kids, but mine play with them all of the time. Maybe it's because they both have outtie belly buttons so it's easier to grab on too! While I was making matt's birthday cake the other day, I looked down and saw Madisynn playing with her belly button. I couldn't resist it I had to take a picture of it. Of course I had to add one of McKenzie's belly button too so here is a picture of both my girls belly butttons. I love to mess with my kids, I always tell them to try and kiss there belly buttons. It's so funny to see them try! McKenzie has just figured out that she can't do it, and she'll say Mommy I can't reach.

Bunny in my tummy

Well McKenzie has informed us that she has a bunny in her tummy. She turned to me one day while we were eating breakfast and said I have a lot of stuff in my tummy. I asked her what kind of stuff and she said I have a bunny in my tummy. I just looked at her and laughed and said what??? I have a bunny in tummy. I asked how in the world did it get there? She said Grandma put it in there! I should have taken a picture right then, but I wasn't thinking about it. Better late than never.

She says that she likes having it live in her tummy. Ha Ha!!!

Surprise Package =)

Today I recieved a package. It was on my bed, I opened it up only to see:

Madisynn =)

What a great surprise!!!

McKenzie thought it was so great that she wanted to get in the box with Madisynn and have a picture taken too. Hey why not! They had a lot of fun!!!

Matt's Birthday

Matt's birthday was yesterday. I wanted to make it better than last year. Last year he was in the hospital for his birthday. We couldn't light candles in the hospital, and he didn't really want to eat because everything tasted like paste. It was an aweful birthday last year. Anything would beat that. So I asked Matt what he would like to do. He said he wanted Papa Johns pizza for dinner and that he wanted a pumpkin cheesecake for his birthday cake. Easy enough for me, the cheesecake took about 15-20 min to make it, and matt ordered the pizza and they picked it up on the way home from work. Good enough for me, I was able to decorate those sugar cookies and get them out of my way. So we ate pizza talked and played phase 10. It was just nice to sit and talk and not watch a movie. Don't get me wrong I love to watch movies, but sometimes I feel like that's all we do. Mckenzie was so thrilled to see presents, that she tried to open them. She was right by Matt's side the whole time. I can't wait for her birthday in April, she'll have so much fun! Madisynn looks like she is high in the picture I took of her. It's funny because she looks like that in almost every picture I take of her. My Mom enjoyed herself with us, that was the first time in 4 years that we have had a member of either of our families to spend it with. Matt said he enjoyed his birthday, and I really hope he did!!! Happy Birthday again Matt! I love you with all my heart!

Cookies!!!

I decided to bake and decorate sugar cookies with my kids yesterday. We made the dough the day before that was a ton of fun. I don't do this often enough. I thought the girls would have more fun decorating them. Boy was I wrong McKenzie only decorated 2 and Madisynn decorated one. They didn't even want to eat the candy. I swear they had eaten like 3 hrs. before we started to decorate. Anyways I decorated about 4 1/2 dozen cookes by myself. It was a real party!!! When Matt and my Mom got home from work, I made them decorate some, because I was tired of trying to come up with more ideas. It was worth all the hard work, because these cookies tasted so good! There is nothing better than homemade cookies!!! Doesn't the cookie in Madisynn's hand look especially tasty?!? She would rather squish it in her hands than eat it!