Black and White!

Almost 5 years old!!!

2-1/2 years old

13 years old

15 years old and driving!!! AGHHHH!

11 years old

I love my family!!!!

So I was trying out some black and white photos!  I am working on getting better--- 

Wheeler Farm!

So I have been wanting to take my kids pictures and I finally did it!  They have all been sick for about 10 days each which, when you take into account they all did not get sick the exact same day, some got it later than others etc--- we have been sick a LONG time!!!!!!  I couldn't take any more so I loaded the kids in the car and off we went to take pictures.  What else are you going to do with sick kids??  I want everyone to know that I am not all that bad. . . . . I gave the really sick kids a bucket to take with them in the car :|   Okay so I am not up for mother of the year, but at least I got some cute pics!  See if you can tell what kids are sick. . . . .

Best Buds

Nathan and Boo really are close.  I love that they like each other! :)  This could prove to be beneficial in a few more years.   It is funny to me that usually it is the big brother that is teasing and/or bugging the younger sister, but he really is such a good big brother.  Boo really likes to just be with him, and so at school she is always trying to hug him and say hi to him.  He gets embarrassed sometimes.  They started in a new school this year.  It is a charter school, and I was not quite sure how I would like it.  It has been fabulous!!! I love the uniforms, and I love that they are on the same schedule as the middle school kids!  They are having a good time there, and they don't mind the changes that they have had to make.  

Buddy is in 5th grade this year!!!

Boo ready for 3rd grade!

"WOW!! What an experience that was. . . . . "

These are my daughters and their cute friends!  They got all dressed up for the ward prom!

I am glad that my girls have such good friends! They are all so beautiful!

So last Saturday our ward had a prom for everyone 12 and up. Sister Anderton the oldest sister in our ward was the prom queen.  This was kind of for her, she had mentioned several times that she had never been to prom.  So we had one for her.  My girl borrowed some prom dresses from our neighbor- (they are beautiful dresses).  The girls spent all afternoon with their friends getting all made up for the night.  Somehow I could see my future as I looked into the bathroom with five girls all taking their turn in the mirror, curling irons all over the counter, and poofs of hairspray that seemed to be clouding the room and into the hall.  I myself had to get all fancy to go to the prom.  After all I was asked.  Yep, Mike asked me to the prom.  He had my friend Julie take me to get fries and he hooked a piece of yarn to the front door and had fish every few feet that he had cut out, on the back of the fish he had written things that he liked about me. Then at the end of the string the last fish said "Out of all the fish in the sea will you go to Grandview Ward Prom with me?"  It was funny. . . .Anyway so we went with the girls and we had a fun night.  WAIT. . . . . . My house is flooding. . . . . . . I will be back to finish. . . . . . . . AGHHHHHHH  the story of my life right now. . . .  Back to the prom.  We had a fun time, especially with our daughters.  It was fun to be with them and I loved to see them dance with their dad.  We have a lot of youth in our ward.  We have about 50 young women and about the same number of young men.  They all seem to have a good time together, and just have fun.  One young man in our ward has aspergers, he is a nice kid but he walks to the beat of his own drum.  He loved the dance and he really enjoyed showing his skills.  I really do like him, his mom is one of my really good friends.  So now skip ahead to Sunday, it is testimony meeting and we are running late.  This young man (he is a senior in high school) gets up and talks about how much he likes this ward and all of the friends that he has here.  He then goes on about the dance and how danced with Kayla -------- and that he really loved the dance off, when he just got to show his moves, and then he says "The last slow dance I danced with Ali ******* WOW! What an experience that was!"  I really thought I was going to lose it!!!! I looked over at Ali who I have never seen so red in my entire life.  I was laughing so uncontrollably I had tears running down my face, my shoulders were bouncing up and down so hard from trying to keep my laughter at bay.  I even snorted twice!  I am sure it is not as funny reading my lame attempt to recapture the moment, but I still get a good chuckle.  Ali made his week!  In his Sunday school class they asked him what he meant by that and he just kept responding with "She is just such a princess".  The experience I'm sure will stay with Ali for a long time.

Sisters. . . . Sisters. . . .

I love my sisters!!!  And my mom!  We had a fantastic time this last weekend.  For the past few years my mom and sisters have taken a weekend and gone to Park City.  We go and just be.....  We stay up at a lodge in the Canyons.  It is gorgeous up there this time of year.  In the past we have all had money to spend, and we would go to the spa one of the days. Not this year :(    But all was not lost because we gave each other pedi's, we painted on glitter toes, and we did each others hair and make-up.  We had a lot of fun just being girls.  We played a lot of games, and I won't give away too much information but let's just say that the loser of the game was expected to do things she might not normally do (nothing bad. . . just could lead to embarrassment) And mom lost three times in a row!!! Ha HA ha  . . . . . . She was a good sport!  We went to a movie and of coarse I had popcorn with my Milk Duds- is there any other way to eat popcorn???  One thing that is tradition is going to get a Carmel apple and Rocky Mountain Chocolate  MmmmMmMMmmmm!  My favorite is the Apple Pie Carmel Apple- Once again is there any other Carmel apple???  We had a fun time. We painted a Halloween sign, and we sparkled pumpkins. I love being with my sisters!  It seemed like for a brief moment I was in another life! Now I am back in town and everything has come back. . . .   If I click my heels and repeat "There's no place like Park City. . . . . .  There's no place like Park City. . . . . . " That  I might be magically transported back to the land of no worries?  I guess it is good to want to return, that means that we had a good time, and I will look forward to next year!

Me, Mary and Rachael

Jerika, Erica, Rachael, and Robyn doing our signs

Oh yeah! Who says you have to spend money on a pedi when you have sisters and mom!?

Staycation!!!

So this year we were not able to leave and go on a big family vacation and so we did what we would like to call a "Staycation".  A staycation is where we find things that we can do close to home and this year it was one that did not cost much money.  We actually had two weeks of staycation, one with Mikes family and one with my family.  The first week Mikes entire family came here to Salt Lake and each family was in charge of a different day.  They had to come up with an activity and the food for that day.  It was fun to have his entire family here for a few days.  One day we went to the park and did relay races, had a picnic and went swimming.  The next day we went up into the mountains and camped for one night.  It is funny because Mike's mom and dad and his sister Kelly are NOT campers, so I am sure that this was not their favorite day.  We had a lot of fun.  I had to come down the canyon and take Nathan to football practice and so the week was a little crazy for me, bringing him back home for football every night.  The family went hiking up to doughnut falls which I heard was a lot of fun.  The next morning on the way down the canyon we stopped at the base of Little Cottonwood canyon and we went rock climbing.  WOW!!!!!  Jenny and Jason are pretty much professionals!! Yep- they helped everyone of us scale the mountain wall.  I have to say that I was nervous and not sure if I would be able to do it, but I just kept looking up and I did it!!!! Yeah!! I made it to the top.  The kids were even able to try.  That night they did a talent show at a church and all of the kids were able to show off their talents.  They had so much fun and it was funny because Reagan wanted to get up on stage so bad and dance that they let her get up there and they put some music on and she went to town.  She was dancing like no one was watching.  And just like the energizer bunny she never quit.  The next day was our day and so we were going to a park to do the zorbes.  I think everyone had fun but the wind started up and it was just too much for the zorbes so we ended up at our house playing games.  The next couple of days were spent up at Kelly's house in Logan.  Then the following week we were packing up our gear again to head up to the campground again for a week a camping with my family.  It was kind of sad that only us and Rach and Jon's family and mom were able to stay the entire time.  Mary and JD came up for one day and dad could only stay a day, but it was still fun!  We ended up having a fantastic staycation!!!!

This is the first day- She still looks happy and clean!!! Wait until the last day. . . . 

Mike and Blueberry or "Blue Mary" as Reagan calls her

Trying to do the relay races with the little girls. . . lol

She couldn't get enough balloons!  

I think this is the biggest tire that they have ever seen

Me and Ali

Reagan and Thatcher at Bingham Copper mine

Boo and Blueberry up camping.  Boo loves to take care of babies.

Nate figured out this trap, and was sure that he would catch some wild animals. . . . 

He was right....  He did catch several potguts during our week of camping. In fact he even caught one and I am not sure how he did this part, but he made a leash and he even got it around it's neck.  He was going to take it for a walk around the campground, but the potgut didn't like that idea to well.

This one got away- you can see him jumping out. Eventually Nathan and the little girls made a containment center that was taller and the animals couldn't jump out- it was their own private zoo.

Em and Jen 

I am not really sure how many hours that Saige spent catching the potguts that were up at camp.  She would stand there for ever.  If you look closely you can see the one that is between her and her trap.

There goes Buddy. . .  He did get a little nervous he made it about 2/3 of the way up.  It really was high.

There he is. . . . . yeah, yeah!

"Mine Sagie"  She is so cute. . . . especially in the repelling equipment.  I don't think the girl knows what fear is.

She only went up maybe 15 feet to a little ledge and then came back down but I thought she did a good job.

Ali is amazing!  She was nervous but you would never know.  She just put the harness on and got to work.  She made it all the way to the top, she looked like a natural.  She really liked it and is hoping that Santa for Christmas can bring her some repelling equipment.  

Reagan and Thatcher 

Emily has conquered a lot a fears this summer.  She wasn't sure she would try this but she did.  I am proud of her for trying things that are hard to do!  I had to just keep telling her 

"You can do hard things"

Boo Boo did a great job. She was a little nervous but at least she tried.

It was my first time ever really rock climbing- I loved it!

Yes that is me at the top of the 85 foot mountain!!!  I did it!!!

What is camping without tin foil dinners????

Nathan and I had to go down the canyon for football and on the way back up one night we saw these moose right on the side of the road.  So of coarse I had to pull off the side and take a pic. They were so close to the car at one point Nate could have reached out and touched them.

 I don't think you are supposed to look cute while camping-

Waiting and waiting. . . . . . . . . ..

That's my man!

No matter what we did it seems like the face was NEVER clean

Camping is rough!  You can tell that she has had a long day, just look at that face!

Yep! Staycations are exhausting!!!!!

That about says it all. . . .   

Our cRaZy Summer!

So life just keeps on keeping on!  Who knew that when the kids got older that life got a lot more cRaZy!!!!  Seriously, I am not sure what I was thinking as a young mother with all of my little kiddies under my feet when I would cry out in frustration "I can't wait until the kids are older and I will have some time to myself!"  I am sure that if I had expressed those feelings to more "mature" mothers that they silently enjoyed a good chuckle, or even an out-right belly laugh.  My life is not my own.  So this is my life the last few weeks according to Ali, Emily, Nathan, Boo, Saige, and Reagan---- oh yeah and the other one Mike.  

My little pioneer!  Ali went on trek this year.  What a "great" experience.  I was really worried about her and what kind of time she would have.  She did have a good time even though it was really hard.  The missionaries were new there and this was their first trek, they had our stake treking all over the place.  When everything was said and done they walked 36 miles!!!! It was supposed to be 25 miles total which was still long.  My dad just got back from his and the total of theirs was 13 miles.  The first night they walked pushing their handcart 17 miles.  There were a lot of bloody feet the first night.  She really liked the women's pull.  How grateful I am that I live in this day and age, and for all that the pioneers did for us! 

My cute little Reagan! One of the cutest things that she does right now is sing the entire song of "I Love to See the Temple"  She knows all the words and I love to hear her sing it especially with her little lisp.  

My sister got married in June.  She made a beautiful bride!  I am so happy for her and JD!

Some of the nieces and nephews!  Always there to help!

Mary with Saige and Reagan.  They thought she was a princess- she looked like it

Girls Camp!!!!!

Our girls camp this year was excellent!  The camp director's uncle owned this fantastic property.  It was full of fun things to do.  The whole time I kept thinking how much Mike would love to have a place like this that he could just create all of these super fun things.  This high log was one of the many fun toys that was there.

This swing was probably about 20 feet high.  The first day we were there, almost all of the girls went on the swing.  I was nervous to go on the swing, it was a lot higher once you got up on top.  Emily is TERRIFIED of heights.  The first day there was no getting her even close to the swing.  The next day I could see it in her eyes- the desire to go on it and claim her victory over her fear.  I could also see how scared she was, and I knew that she had to try.  To make a long story shorter. . . We were up on the top of the log for probably 45 minutes.  She was paralyzed with fear.  Her legs were shaking, she was in tears.  I was in tears as I looked down to the ground where about 40 young women and leaders looked on and gave her the "I love you" sign with their hands.  The encouraged her as she faced one of the scariest things that she has ever done.  All of these fantastic young women were so supportive even though at this point they were all waiting for dinner which had been ready for a long time and it was getting cold.  

SHE DID IT!!!!!!  

I am so proud of her!  She is a hero to me.

There was a pond and a huge water slide that girls would go down on a boogie board and skip across the pond.  What a fun place!

The leaders would wait until the girls were asleep and then we would have 

FuN!!!  We would swing on out into the night which was really cool.  We also went cow tipping , we laughed and laughed!!!
Ali and Breanna.  I had such a fun time being at camp with my girls.  I love to be with them, There is so much more that I could say about camp. . . .  It really was a fantastic camp!

Where did April and May go?????

What the heck is going on?  My life is crazy!  I know it has been too long when I can't even remember what the name of my blog is.  No need to worry though. . . . . rest at ease I finally remembered.  Whew:)  The kids and I have had a couple of crazy months.  Ali and Emily were in the Temple Celebration.  What a neat experience.  Ali was in the choir and Emily was a dancer.  I hope that it is something that they will always remember.  I know that I will.  I was such a whaaaa even at the rehersals.  We went for the dress rehersal where the kids ran through it twice.  Yep, I cried both times.  That's right both times.  It really was one of the neatest experiences.  It is kind of nice to have it done and not have to go to all of the practices, but it will be something that I will always remember.  

I am also happy that dance is over for the summer!!!!!  We have had Nationals where Emily did really well- She got a 1 in one of her dances and a 2 in her other one.  We just had our dance recital too.  I love to see the kids dance, and then it is nice to have it over for a couple of months. I also did the dance pictures this year again.  I think that they turned out cute. 

Mike, Nathan and Boo all had a birthday in May and this was the big "8" birthday!!!!  Boo got to have her big party at Classic Skating!  Nine Screaming, Giggling, singing loud little eight year olds at Classic Skating!  If I get to it there might be a post about her birthday-  We will see :)  She also had a fantastic time going to get her ears pierced and go with grandma to pick out her baptism dress.  It was a really fun day.

My mom broke her shoulder in McDonalds parking lot just a couple of days before my baby brother left on his mission.  He is going to Lima Peru.  We will all miss him!!!  

Soccer and Football for us have also ended----- about two weeks ago. . . . hmmmm that is because I am kind of a loser and I did not get the kids to their practices, or their games.  Something had to give and I am afraid that soccer and football were the ones that had to go.  It is not all my fault though.  Mike took Nathan with him to Alabama to work with him for a few weeks.  I really miss him, but he needed to be with his dad.  I think that he is really loving it!  He doesn't even miss me---- What is up with that???  All I do for him :)

My sister Mary is getting married in a couple of weeks!  Yeah for Mary!!!  We really like her man.  He is a good guy and he is lucky to have Mary.  What a fun time for them, and a busy time for us.  This is one more thing that has occupied some of my time.  

Now all of the girls camps are going to start.  Monday the girls leave for Oakcrest.  I hope they have a great time.  Emily is not so sure.  Then they come home and the next week is girls camp.  I love girls camp!!!!  It will be fun!  Then they come back and the next week is Mary's wedding.  Then the next week Ali goes on Trek--- She is really nervous for that one.  I know that it is hard but I am hoping that she had a really good experience.

That is my month of June!!!!  It will be fun and busy!  I love summer!!!!  

She Looks Harmless!

That's right she looks like a sweet little girl, and she can be if she wants but oh boy watch out!

So there are no cute fun pictures to remember these "funny" little things, no smiles yet- but I am hoping to use this when Saige is a mom to show her what she put me through and when she comes to me in tears because of her own daughter, there will be proof that she put me through *#@$^*.  These are a few of the things that went on this week. . . .

1. Nathan has a long metal rod with a dinosaur bone on the end, it is really heavy and she beat up Jane with it.

2.  She has pulled out all of Reagan's clothes from her drawers and all of the ones that are hanging up and covered the floor at least four times in the last two days.

3.  She has pulled out fake green grass out of my decorations and scattered it throughout the house.

4. She painted not only her toe and fingernails, but Reagan's nails and her feet almost the entire top of them. She also painted table and carpet.

5.  She poured her fruit punch onto the couch in the kitchen.

6.  She got my stamps from my office and stamped the rug in the family room orange.

7.  She held her hand to me (we hold up our hand when we are leaving with the I love you sign) with all five fingers and said "this means I don't love you cuz' you are mad at me!"

8.  She found a stick and she said it was her wand and she ran around hitting everything she could around the house including trying to break the fireplace.

9.  She dumped out a box of cereal.

10.  She completely ignores me when I try to tell her something.  She will just keep on running.

11.  The other day when I said she could not play with friends, she snuck out and went to a friends house.  Later I found her and then said she couldn't even go in our back yard.  I turned to make dinner and about one minute later I heard her saying "come on Reagan, just be really quiet, come on shhhhh"  she turned around and saw me and while laughing said "OH I didn't know you were there"  I asked "Are you sneaking outside?"  Saige replied "Ahh. . . .Yeah" 

The list could go on and on but I think you all get the picture.  Finally I had had enough!!!!  She was sitting eating something when I said I was going to take something away and she said Santa would bring her one the next day to which I replied "Santa will NEVER come and see you again unless you start making good choices!  If I were you I would start to make good choices"  To which she said "Well if I were you I would not get so mad at everything."   AGHHHHHHH!!!!! Please help me!!  I love her though!

They Came!!!

I thought that we should document that the leprechaun did indeed come.  They came and left their magic footprints all through the house.  They jumped in the kitchen window walked all over the counter and jumped to the floor where they  treked over to the fridge and turned the milk green!

Yep! once again they left green candy and gold coins in the shoes that were left by the front door.  Last night I went to the store and when I got home Nathan thought that he was clever and put everyones shoes in the closet and filled the front hall with all of his shoes, slippers, and boots.  He was hoping for all of the treats- 

Saige could not believe that the leprechauns left footprints everywhere!  Her squeal of excitement was so cute!

This was the last we saw of the leprechauns feet.  He must of climbed up the front door on his way out of the house.  Now I can't wait of the green dinner tonight!!!

When mom doesn't help!

Saige now likes to do her own hair!  Beautiful!!!

I think this is the "new" look!

Thank you all for all of your words of encouragement!  Life is looking up, and each day is getting better.  I really do appreciate all the thoughts and love that you shared.  Now it is time to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and realize that God in in charge of my life and all things are in His hands :)  Now on with life......

This is what happens when mom lets the girls be in charge of themselves.  Saige as you all know is an independent spirit (to say the least) so when it is time to get dressed, get Reagan dressed, do hair, and pretty much anything else you can think of Saige knows how to do it better than me EVERYTIME--- and really is it worth the battle?  Picking my battles with her is going to be key.  She may win a lot of the battles but I will win the war!!! (I hope)   I wish that I had taken more pics of all of the beautiful outfits that she comes up with but these will have to do.  I will also say that both of the little girls 98% of the time will only wear dresses.  Everyday they NEED to wear a "princess dress"  so that they can dance, so needless to say all winter long we have looked like a polygamist family with the dresses and the jeans underneath.  I have been worn down.......  There are Sundays that we have walked into the church with Saige in full Cinderella garb, or when she is in princess attire with "crown" and all.  Hey however I can get her there without the fight.  I am just happy that we have avoided the Ariel costume with the long flowing, flaming red hair--- not that is hasn't been asked for, because it has I just conveniently can't find it especially of Sunday's.  

"I will try the faith of my people"

I have heard this my entire life and we read in the scriptures that the Lord will try the faith of his people, but who knew that it would be so often and it would be so difficult.  It seem like the harder I try to do the things that you hear will bring you closer to our Heavenly Father and our Savior the further away I feel like I become, and the more I feel, and hear the thoughts of the opposing team screaming in my ear.  Sometimes finding joy in the journey becomes a full time job.  After all is said and done I am hoping that this job will have benefits.  I am sorry that this has been somewhat of a downer, but in the end I have heard that down times are good for us right?  During hard times I am really grateful for the power of prayer and the strength that it can give to me.  I appreciate that each new day is just that it is a new day :)  Here is to a new day!

That party was KICKIN' !!!

This is my favorite "dance" pic of the night!  Boyd and Natalie perfect picture! I am sure that my dance pictures looked a lot like that- nervous to be with a boy :|

We stayed late after everyone had left and sang into the night!  Karen took the cake with the her solo....... "I like big butts and I can not lie ......... "  Oh I wish I had that on video!

Janae and West

Kevin and Dawn 

Kenny and Pam wanted this picture to embarrass Kayla

Kristen and Spence- what a classic dance pose

Forrest and Karen- You can tell that Forrest is loving it!

Steven and Collette- who knew that Steven could sing like that!  Wow!  American Woman.......  I didn't even recognize him when we first got there.

Ted and Norma- She was dancin' like there was no tomorrow!  She had been talking to me for while when she finally looked at me and said "Who are you anyways?"  I told her and she looked a little confused.  At church the next day she came up to me laughing and said  "You do not even look the same. Now this looks like you."  

Bryan and Alayna

Cliff and Wendy-

Troy and Julie

Troy and Jen

Jared and Jen

Will and Joyce

We had a party for our friend Natalie who turned 40.  This was a tight party!  It was an 80's surprise party at a funeral home.  We got to dress up in totally rad clothes and just putting them on I felt cool!  I was lucky enough to have scored the most totally awesome shoes!  I found the Reebok high tops!  The jewelry was from Claire's yep that's right the jewelry is back "IN".  My girls were fighting for who got to wear what.  They wanted it all after the party.  I felt like I had got the hair and the outfit just right when Ali looked at me and said "You look like you were on Back to the Future.   Yes I was ready for the party!  I had such a great time at the party.  I did miss Mike and was sad that he couldn't be there.  This is right up his alley...  When he gets home we are going to have another 80's night and maybe go out to eat and go bowling, and who knows we just might bring it ALL back!! :)

My baby is Two!

My little princess.... She doesn't want anything to do with pants only dresses for this girl.  She refuses to even wear jammies it has to be a "pretty dress" also known as nightgowns.

The baby and stroller were a hit!

It's funny that she knows where the make-up goes just getting it there is a little harder than it looks when I do it.

I can't believe that my baby turned two years old!  Yeah!!!! and Aahhh sad!-  I have a little of both feelings.  She has been so fun.  She really has a sweet personality.  She was so excited for her birthday, she would sang happy birthday to herself all day long, and told everyone she came in contact with happy birthday! She got a baby and a stroller there is nothing better, she was so happy.  In her little life right now we are struggling to keep clothes and diapers on her, and my make-up off of her.  She just makes me laugh, I guess that's what happens with your sixth-  It takes too much energy to get to worked up about all that stuff.  There is a definite difference between mothering my first ones and my last! (Poor Ali and Emily)  

Better Late than Never

This is my little cook!  Anytime of the day, anywhere we are she wants to help cook.  How did Santa know she would love this????

It looks like both girls were pleasantly surprised with what Santa chose to bring them.

OHHH NOOOO!  now Santa did it he got Nathan a 22.  Mike was jealous cuz Nathans in nicer :)

These two girls were so fun to watch on Christmas morning!!! Everything was super exciting!

Back by popular demand..... Back in the day when I was a kid at the Nielsen Christmas party my dad did this skit.  A duet with "Animal"  we always loved to watch him sing, and it never ceases to amaze the little kids that Animal can sing too.

This year Abe's family skit was Merry the Christmas fairy saves Christmas.  I think that Abe makes a great flower.

Rachaels little boy Ben portrays Rachael for their family skit.  He is so cute!

Jake's little kids on the island of misfit toys!  Their skit even scared them, they were not even able to finish the skit! LOL

These are the hot men in my family!  Top right Abe, Mike, Adam, Jon.  Bottom right Jake, Ike, 

Dad, and my little buddy!  I think this should be on a calendar :)

Okay so here are our Christmas Eve party pics and Christmas morning!  My favorite family tradition for as long as I can remember is the Nielsen Christmas eve party.  We have done it as long as I can remember, and after grandma and grandpa Nielsen died my family kept on goin!  When I was growing up my dad was inevitably the MC and every year he would go to the D.I. and purchase his new Christmas outfit.  It usually consisted of red and green of course, some plaid and a snazzy vest of some sort.  He was the only one who would dress up for the occasion.  That tradition has followed us, but it has also expanded.  Every year on Christmas eve morning all the boys meet at a D.I. somewhere.  The attire has had to change a little bit, it is sad to say, because you just can't find the same awesome clothes that you used too.  So now the boys come up with a theme.  This is a family blog so I probably shouldn't tell all of the theme's!  HAHAHA  So this year when the boys got together they decided to choose a color for each other, thus the array of color :)   They come to the party dressed in their new outfit with tags and all. The other part of the Christmas eve party is the skits.  Every family puts on a skit, they come up with it usually the day of and we perform it for everyone.  Some of the skits throughout the years have been really funny.  I wish that I had a video to put on here of the one we did this year.  Our family did synchronized swimming to the nut cracker.  Yep that's right, we all paraded out in our swimming suits, and the swim caps and had a "swim" routine that I think we pulled off rather well.  We lined the front of the stage with chairs covered with blue blankets to look like water.  We were awesome! :)  hahahah.....   Needless to say the night was a huge success ending with Santa making an entrance.  The kids were so excited, and to think that he took time out of his busy schedule to make an appearance.  

We need help this new year!!!

Happy New Year!!!! I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!  We had a fabulous season.  It seems like somewhat of a blur...... Was I really there???  I think so.  We had such a fun time.  Christmas is always fun with kids, I love to see their faces when they take their first glimpse at the tree with the presents all around it.  Fun times.  On New Years we had some friends over and played games.  I had a great time we had over 30 people in our house which I thought was fun.  I just wish there was a little more room.  

As this new year has started I thought that I would come up with some goals for me and some for our family.  One thing that I have not been to good at is having family home evening consistently, so I thought that I would start off the year right.  We had our first family home evening of the year and it was on the first vision. Joseph Smith, 14 years old, sees the Father and his Son... You know the one. I figured that I should start with the basics, turns out that I might need to start out even more basic... is that possible?  Mike was telling the story about Joseph going into the grove to pray and asked the question who appeared to Joseph?  To which my SEVEN year old (BOO Yes she is seven... she will be eight in a few months) replied "Wasn't that Pete and Pickle?"  AHHHHH..... I thought we had done a little better than that :)  I guess that there is always room for improvement right?  I guess anything for us at this point will be an improvement:)  I am pretty sure that this (the first vision)  is something we have discussed before.  She will be going in for her baptism interview in not to long and I hope she will pass!  Looks like the family home evening goal will be a good one for us this year!

Dance Pictures (I HOPE!)

My cute Boo!!!  She did such a good job. She is the youngest in her class I wasn't sure she would be able to keep up but she did fantastic.

Yep even I got into the action again, and I think that we improved since last year.  It has been a fun out for me.

Ali and Emily were both in this dance and they both did fabulous!!!  It was fun to see them dance together.

I think that this dance got the loudest cheers!!!  Buddy and the boys stole the show.  They did such a great job in the hip-hop dance.  Little studs!!!!  I was surprised how good they did!

Buddy started out on the floor and did the worm across the stage.

"Ellie the Elf"  was the name of this song and it was all about how this one little elf is so naughty! Hmmmmmm....... But what a cute naughty little elf.

Boo in her other dance... caught in mid air!  good shot!

Breanna, Emily, Jessie (the teacher, and friend) and Ali 

Emily

Ali

Buddy

Boo and Saige

Boo

Saige

Santa Baby.... 

Emily and the clogging dance team!  They are so fun to watch. I love it, they do fantastic!!!

Christmas Dance Recital

Okay me and the computer are in a fight!!!!  I could not for the life of me get it to post anything that I wrote or any pics..... So here we go again.  I will try to say a little something.  We had our Christmas dance recital which was really fun.  I think it is more fun for the grandparents because we had someone in our family in I think all but four dances.  The kids did so good.  I am proud of them and all of the hard work they put into it.  You guys did awesome!!!!!!   

Okay I see that we are still in a fight, me vs. the computer.  The computer is winning...... I hope to post the pictures soon. For now it is time to go to the Christmas Eve party... The best night of the year!!!!!  I will pick this up in a couple of days and hopefully get the pictures on there then :)

AGHHH!

Last week we had our Pidcock family party.  It is always a really fun party- but this year was a little different.  Grandma and grandpa always give us money and that day we go out and we buy ourselves a gift from them.  We all love it, especially grandma! It makes her shopping really easy.  This year Mike and I split up and I took the two oldest girls with me and we were off the hit KHOLS where there seems to always be great sales! :)  Anyway in our rush to get there, we were at a stop light and out of the corner of my eye I could see the cars moving.... so I started going and did not realize until it was to late that the cars that were going were only the ones turning left.  Yes, I got in my first real accident----- AGHHHH  And it was my fault!  That really takes the fun out of shopping!  Luckily there was no damage done to the truck, but our little car was not built to run into things!  I have somewhat been beating myself up over this little incident and today I read something that I think has helped.  I was reminded of the talk by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin "Come What May and Love it".  So I read through it again.  I loved the talk when he gave it and I loved it again today.  One thing he said was this, "The next time you are tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead.  It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable".  (I sure could have used this advice on Saturday.) He reminded me that all of these things in life can make us better. Come what may and love it- no matter what is going on.  It has given me permission to forgive myself for running into a big stationary object!  Next time I will pay more attention!  

The newest ornaments!

Boo found a fabulous frog that moves it legs when you pull the string!

Buddy got a snowman playing soccer... which is so him.

Emily stayed with her bird theme.  I love it!

I picked out this chicken and Ali loved it too and so  gave it to her.

Reagan picked a "thishy" (fishy) that she LOVED!  In the store she saw the fish and said "AWhhhh comeear thishy" and held it like a baby while she pet it like it was her puppy.  She was fun!

Dad also got a fishy!!!

The infamous bells!  read on......

Every year we have a tradition that we go out as a family and everyone gets to pick out a new ornament for the family Christmas tree.  It has been fun every year to look back and see what the kids have picked out in years past.  The first year we started this Emily picked out one of the funniest ones that we have.  She picked out a red bird.  It is not just any red bird it is about 10 inches long and it really is quite big.  It doesn't hang on the tree it has to sit on a branch.  We actually tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't even think about it.  Now I am glad it is one of my favorites.  Years have come and gone and the ornaments are always fun, but none have really compared to the bird....... until this year I think we have a winner.  Saige was so funny picking out hers.  She at one point had probably ten in the basket ready to purchase every one--- but she did have a favorite that she had to have.  This duo of bells- big brass bells.  It was the most beautiful thing she had seen and it made music.  I believe this will also go down as one of the favorites!