Mele Kalikimaka!

For all of you who may not receive this years Christmas Card (Kara, Jane Taylor,......) here it is. I realized that some of my friends have moved but just didn't have enough time today to track down addresses, so this will have to do! We are off to Hawaii in just a few hours so we hope you all have a very, Merry Christmas and we will see you next year! If I can get my new Mac to work in Hawaii I'll try to post some pictures there. Aloha!

Genius!

Every once in a while we are graced by the presence of genius. In my case, this blessing comes to me in the form of my wonderful, talented, smart sister-in-law, Kierstin, who fixed my problem with blogging my pictures. Thanks, Honey!

A Sweet Trade!

Tonight we passed out gifts to some friends in our neighborhood for Christmas. Caden did all the delivering and was SO excited when we went to the Rhodes and they gave him a present back. He came back to the car with a huge duffle bag and said "Mom, I made a sweet trade with Dusty. I gave him something small and he gave me something BIG!" Needless to say, He made a really good trade! Jane had MADE all the boys their own, fun, super-soft blanket with their name on it. As I have sown MANY blankets, I was so impressed and appreciative. They boys all love the special fabrics she picked out for them. Caden and Chase are snuggled in their beds for the night with their new gifts! Thanks so much Jane - you ROCK!

(OK-now I am really mad! I Have the cutest picture of them with their blankets and I still can't get my pics to post. I did everything the Mac guy told me. I did all my software updates and restarted my computer and its still jacked up!)

A Time For Giving....

Yesterday was such a busy but fun day. First, I had a party for both of my boys school classes. I set up a 3D movie theater in their auditorium. It was Santa VS the Snowman 3D. For any of you with kids, find this at an IMax theater near you. It is awesome! I made treat boxes for everyone with popcorn and Nerds ropes. Then everyone got wither a Snowman or Santa cup with soda. The kids were SO excited and absolutely LOVED the movie. As you can imagine, it was crazy setting up the movie, handing out treats, and getting everyones 3D glasses to fit, all while trying to keep and eye on Crew. So that explains why I have no pictures of this.

Then, last night, we went to Salt Lake with the Mortons. We visited 2 homeless shelters, one in Midvale and one is Salt Lake. We dropped off toys (Chase donated some of his own, brand new toys that he saved from his birthday) blankets, bedding, etc. It was sad to hear of the families (67 in Midvale, 31 in Salt Lake) and all of the single adults (5oo in Salt Lake alone) who were at the shelters. There was a long line of people waiting outside the Salt Lake shelter. The volunteers said that they were waiting to be bussed down to the Midvale shelter but fortunately everyone would be able to sleep inside somewhere for the night. Thank goodness cause it was freezing. After dropping off out donations we went to the temple, We ate at the Lion House Pantry (a restaurant in Brigham Youngs old house), walked the temple grounds, and then saw the Joseph movie. It was a great night and a great learning experience for all of us.

(Not sure WHAT is wrong with my computer - I can't download ANY pictures! Frustrating!)

Ward Christmas Breakfast

Well, it was dumping snow as the guys were trying to cook French Toast OUTSIDE but all in all the ward breakfast was great. We had a live band, great food, a visit from Santa and a super fun arts and crafts station for the kids. Of course, I'm biased because I organized the kids activities but they did have a blast. We colored felt Christmas puzzles, Made 3D Nativity scenes, and Jingle Bell necklaces. The cutest of all the kids were the Clarks who were dressed as elves and Santa. Then it was off to the kids last soccer games of the season. Chase has really done great on his school soccer team. He scores several goals every game and is really starting to understand passing and positions. He team won every game this season by a ton! Caden, who was the family soccer stud in the Fall, has had quite the opposite season. His team lost every single game and he seems to have lost his soccer skills as well. We think he must still be daydreaming about the ocean. Oh well - his team does win for being the cutest!

(For some reason my pictures won't load - I will try tomorrow)

Winter Wonderland

For those of you outside of the state, we have (now actually had) a lot of snow. It was quite a shock at first from Hawaii weather but really fun. The kids played in the yard all day Sunday and on Monday I took the boys and Boston sledding at the park by the temple. They loved it. Now we've gotten our winter fix and we are ready to go back to Hawaii. I've heard it had been pouring there though - not fun.

On a side note, Shannon had the cutest party for Hayes and Olivia tonight at Kangaroo Zoo. I can't believe those little munchkins are 3 already. Can I just say thank goodness for miracles - those babies are perfect. And now that they are 3 I will have to stop calling them the babies! Happy Birthday (party) Princess and Crazy Boy!

Aloha!

We had the BEST time in Hawaii with my family. All the kids were great and had a blast! Here is the only picture of all of us walking the beach after Thanksgiving dinner.
Trenton in the ocean. All our boys LOVE the beach!
Brennen and his grandma by our pool.
Crew and his Daddy (or MaMa, as that's what Crew calls both of us)
Chase and Brennen on the deck of a glass bottom boat that we toured Lahina in.

Hawaii was perfect as always. My family NEVER vacations together so it was a really special trip. We were able to cram a lot of activities into one week with my sister but the kids would have been happy just being at the beach all day every day. Our condo is amazing and is almost done. There were still quite a few contractors there the whole time we were. I just hope everyone is done by the time we come back for Christmas break. We had kind of a crazy flight home but its good to be back for just a little while. I have so much to do for the holidays before we leave again. To all my Utah friends - if it weren't for you, I don't think I'd ever come home. Can't wait to see everyone again - Jane, I can't believe I missed your party AGAIN!