Visiting the Man in Red

We were so excited to go home for the holidays this year and get to visit with our Barlow, Lee, Pittl, and Reil families. Our first outing was to the Fashion Show Mall so the kids could visit with Santa. I think Santa should consider getting a chair in a different color next year, there is just A LOT of red (tee hee).


While we were on the strip we decided to visit the conservatory in the Bellagio.

I'm not sure which was cuter, the ice skating penguins...

...or the polar bears made out of carnations.

Gavin of course, thought the trains were the best.

I think the Christmas tree was 30 feet tall.

Happy Holidays indeed Bellagio!

What are you looking at?

Gavin took alien eyeballs (white chocolate covered oreos with gummy lifesavers and chocolate chips) to share with his class for his birthday.

He came home with his cute birthday crown and birthday badge.

We just had a family party this year, but Gavin didn't mind. He LOVED his alien cake with FIVE eyeballs!

With his favorite boys...

...and his favorite girls.

I can't believe he's a whole hand old!

Sing with me, "It was a one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people-eater!" Wait, that song's not quite right.

Make a wish...

...blow out the candles. He had just one left for his one girlfriend, Kassidy, ha ha ha!

It's great to open presents the week before Christmas!

He got lots of wonderful gifts from his extended family and friends. Most of them had a certain theme (you'd never guess, Thomas the tank engine, right?) and he was just thrilled.

Happy 5th Birthday Gavin! We love you so much!!

Christmas Craftin'

I made this "Jingle All the Way" picture with little jingle bells inside at our Ward's Super Saturday. I think it turned out super cute!


These are "mug" cakes, not "cup" cakes- tee hee. I got this recipe also from our Super Saturday and made them for teacher and bus driver gifts. Leave a comment if you'd like the recipe and I'll post it.


I made "24 Days of Christmas" books for my parents. My mom shared hers with her Relief Society sisters and 70 sisters wanted a copy, yippee!

I L.O.V.E. kindergarten Christmas ornaments with photos. Gavin made his first one with a cute penguin frame and another playdough snowman ornament- two cute!

Kaleb made this cute snowman and snowflake.

Noe made this pretty glass ornament with ribbon and a Hershey's Kissletoe ball. Unfortunately, the ball got broken (and then eaten) before I got a picture of it.

But if you'd like to make one yourself, this is what it looked like.

Christmas craftin' is one of our favorite traditions!

Sugar Rocks

We love oranges and at Christmas time we love getting little mandarins. Well this year we got mini-mandarins, sugar rocks! You can fit at least 3 in your hand at once. Len felt like a giant holding pumpkins.


After you peal and segment them, each segment is the size of a jelly bean.

Len decided a whole orange is really bite-size!

Nativity Pageant

Our Ward Christmas Party hosted another delicious turkey dinner with all the trimmings. This year the entertainment was switched up a bit and we had performances by the Priesthood Brethren, Relief Society Sisters, Young Women & Young Men, and the Primary Children. The Primary's Nativity Pageant was my favorite, of course.


Kaleb was one of the narrators.


Noe was the new star.

Gavin was supposed to be a camel, but he got stage fright. All of the kids that made it on stage did a great job!

*We also had a fun Christmas party with the Activity Day girls. They made cards to send to the 5 missionaries serving from our ward. We also played a few gift exchange games- pass the parcel, right/left pass, and White Elephant. Homemade cookies were also enjoyed by all!

Slew of Posts to do!

I just uploaded 794 photos from our holiday vacation. Plus I have photos from our holiday activities before and after that. I definitely have a lot of posts to do to get caught up. Here's a sweet little pic of baby Hiram wearing the outfit we bought to tell his siblings "It's a Boy!" when I was pregnant with him. So glad he's here now!

Christmas Greetings

In 2011
Our family tasted a little of heaven
When we became a family of seven


Our little Hiram was born
On a cool October morn
We are so grateful that he is our son


Teague is now 2
He thinks there is nothing he cannot do
He is a daredevil through and through


Gavin is newly 5
In Junior Kindergarten he has thrived
He loves to play and sing and jive


Noe is our dancing queen
She loves to read, write, and draw supreme
She is silly and sweet like a jelly bean


Kaleb a Star Wars fan has become
Now he wants to be a Jedi Padawan
But he's not allowed to join the War of Clones


Len and Jen to the UK did go
To Ireland, England, and their familiar Canterbury row
They'd love to visit again soon, don't ya know


We hope you've had a wonderful year as well
And deep into Christmas joy you will delve
Lots of joy and happiness throughout 2012

The Power of a Word

My husband and I have been discussing a topic today that he read about on our friend, Lincoln's blog. Apparently, in Utah right now there are a bunch of billboards up from a Christian church (of a different denomination than ours) that say, "Are you going to Heaven or Hell?" Lincoln posted how that phrasing can be very detrimental to many people, but how if you change the words 'going to' to 'creating' it becomes a very empowering phrase, "Are you creating Heaven or Hell?"

It doesn't matter what your personal beliefs are. What matters is what you are doing with those beliefs. What are you creating with your life? During this time of 'Peace on Earth' I hope each of us can focus on creating Heaven!

Attitude of Gratitude

We had the missionaries over to join our American Thanksgiving celebration. Elder DeSousa is from France and this was his first Thanksgiving ever, Elder Pohue is from Tahiti and has had Canadian Thanksgivings before (with us at the Woolsey's this year), and Elder Cherry is from Arizona so he felt right at home with our feast! They shared a message with us about gratitude as well. They said what if we woke up tomorrow and only had the things we had thanked Heavenly Father for the night before in our prayers. That definitely made me pause to reflect. I am always grateful for the big things- my family, the gospel, our home, etc. But I am so grateful for so many little things- electricity, running water, music on the radio, having food to eat everyday! We are so blessed. We had our annual interviews for what we are grateful for this year. The rules were to give something serious, something silly, and to not repeat what someone else had said.


Living in a stable, peaceful country.
Celebrating two Thanksgivings (twice the turkey!).


All the people I love.
Naps.

My family.

Ice cream.

My family, that includes Beary (my favorite stuffed bear) and all of my toys.
Santa Claus.

Going to Gramma & Grampa's house for Christmas.
Watching "Accidents Happen" (Thomas the tank engine) on the computer.

Having Daddy home from work to play with me.
Electrical cords and plugs.

All the love I get from everyone.
Mommy's milk and warm blankies.

We are so grateful for all of you in our lives too!