A visit from our "Fairy Godmother"

Krista, aka "Fairy Godmother" as the girls call her, visited us last night. We always love to see Krista!

Wheee!! We went sledding!

We went to Newcastle over the weekend and thought we could do some sledding. There wasn't much snow but we made it work. We found a place along the highway about 4 miles North of Newcastle. Hopefully, the next time we want to sled there will be more snow. Oh well, we had fun anyway and got some cute pics.

Christmas 2008- So much to blog about!

On Christmas Eve, Grandma, Grandpa, Matt, Kristen, Addison, and Foxy came over to our house. We ate chilli, appetizers, and desserts. As is tradition, we each opened one present (in my case, I got to open two because Alanna had wrapped the slippers she got me in two different packages and didn't think it would be right if I only opened one) and we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and laughed as hard as we usually do. This year there was also some Wii playing, and boy was I sore after that one round of boxing!

Brad and I were up late wrapping Christmas presents that weren't wrapped earlier because he hid them and I didn't know where they were. Besides, we didn't really put any presents under the tree until 2 days before Christmas because Miley and the cats were eager to open them.

Christmas morning I made a sausage and egg crescent roll bake (I was up before the kids believe it or not). After eating breakfast we put the prime rib in the new (yes, brand new) oven.

Then, of course, we had to get that all important group Christmas picture in front of the Christmas tree! This always seems to be a challenge because so many things have to come together for it to work:

1. We have to decide on which camera to use (this year it was dad's, that is until the batteries

died after 2 shots, and then it was Kristen's whose batteries were low)

2. We have to decide where to place the camera (this year it was on the back of the couch)

3. We have to decide where to place the subjects so that everyone is seen (this is when the kids

are eager to open presents, the dogs aren't quite sure what's going on so they are running

around trying to get in on the action, and the adults are usually uncomfortable from sitting or

kneeling on the floor, and by the end everyone is whining)

4. Everyone needs to have their eyes open at the same time (as you can see in the group

picture that Kristen emailed me, Addie's eyes are almost open, 1 out of 9, not that bad).

5. Then after everyone goes home you just hope that someone will email you these treasured

group photos.

After all of that, it was finally time to open presents; the three girls couldn't wait much longer. Addie helped Makenna and Alanna pass out the presents. The dogs were too tired to care about opening Christmas presents but did look festive in their Christmas outfits while they slept in the recliner nearby.

There was a lot of excitement, a little confusion (Matt trying to figure out how to get into the coffee gift basket), and some picture taking (for blogging purposes, of course).

After presents and some time to play, the prime rib was ready. I am happy to report that the oven did a splendid job, and from all the reviews I heard, the prime rib was wonderful!

We had an awesome time!

Yeah! My New Stove is Here

Yeah! My new stove is finally here! We got a call at 7:15 this morning saying it would be delivereed today between 8am-noon today. And, at 7:30am it was here! Way to go Home Depot! Now, we can make that Prime Rib for Christmas dinner!

Dear Santa,

Again, this year in school, Alanna had to write a letter to Santa. This is what it said:

Dear Santa,

Hey Santa do you remember me? You gave me a swimming baby last year. Have you ever met Orenseto, Madalen's Santa? Well if you have...tell him I said hi. I can't wait to tell you about my wish list!

The very first thing I want for Christmas is a green i-pod. The second thing I want for Christmas is a new chair for my desk. I want a tall leather Broncos chair. The third thing I want is a picture of all the reindeer before they take off or a picture with you in the factory.

Did you and the elves get all of the toys made for Christmas? I hope you did. Because if you didn't Christmas will be ruined. But, I'm sure the elves were ahead of schedule.

Well, I want you to know that I really, really love my sister. And I know she really deserves something. She really wants Twilight.

And I really want my own phone that I can text on. If you could pay for it that would be nice. My parents won't pay for texting!

Love,
Alanna

It's Almost Christmas

Well, Christmas is almost here! Today Bonnie stopped by to do Christmas with us and Richard and Skylar.

It has been very cold all day. I think the warmest it got today was 6 degrees below zero; so, needless to say we have been cooped up in the house and the kids (and, I suppose, the adults) are starting to get stir crazy.

These are pictures of our screen door from this morning covered with frost.

The girls have been occupying themselves with their Nintendo DS's that their Uncle Richard got for them. They were sooo excited when they opened them but , unfortunately, I didn' t capture their excitement on camera.

I did manage to get some pictures taken today, though. The girls let Jake and Miley open their presents today so I attempted to take pics of them in their new Christmas outfits (they wouldn't stay still). They kept trying to take off their leg warmers and Miley didn't even want to walk on her front legs with the warmers on.

Rose was enjoying Makenna's "mini concert" from the comfort of the flute case. Makenna is having a contest for band over the Christmas break. She has to play 2 songs for at least 32 different people over the break. So, if you stop by our house, expect to listen to a "mini concert" by Makenna! Consider this an invitation to come visit us!