Christmas Pictures

It has been quite a while since all of the grandkids on my side of the family have been together for pictures. My mom wanted to get her wall updated, and we were all more than happy to get some new pictures of the kids. Wendy has a friend that is a photographer that agreed to attempt the madness of 8 kids together in some pictures, so we all gathered at Wendy's house and had a photo session with Heidi. I got out my kids Christmas dresses early so they could wear them for pictures and I think they are so cute!

Here's some shots she got of Kaylee and Gabby:

Here's a few of my sister Janeene's three kids:

A few shots of Wendy's boys:

and finally, the pictures of all of the kids together:

Afghan from Great-Grandma Pearson

For Kaylee's Birthday my Grandma made Kaylee a beautiful afghan blanket. My grandma just turned 89 years old in August. I think it is so amazing, and so special that she made this special gift for Kaylee. Kaylee loves her afghan, and has hugged it so many times and said that she loves her blanket from great-grandma. I hope that she will always remember just how special that gift is from her great-grandma. The first picture is a picture of Kaylee, Gabby, and I at my Grandma's birthday party a couple months ago.

Lights at Temple Square

Last Tuesday we went downtown to Temple Square to enjoy the Christmas lights, the nativities, and the Christmas Spirit downtown. We stopped by the reflecting pool and as Kaylee was tossing some coins into the pool she also lost her bracelet off her arm. Paul was awesome and fished it out for her.

We went and listened to the story of the nativity, and went up to see the Christus (it was really, really crowed up there so I didn't get any pictures). Then we strolled through all the lights at Temple Square and enjoyed it. Then we headed home. I love remembering the true meaning of Christmas and walking around Temple Square at this time of the year.

Happy Birthday Kaylee!

This week my little girl is turning EIGHT!!! I don't know how the time has flown by so fast. I can't believe how much she has grown. Since her birthday is on Christmas Eve she decided that she wanted to have her family dinner on Sunday this year. She even wrote up the menu all by herself, and made assignments for people to bring to contribute to dinner. Here is the menu she came up with: Homemade pizza, Marla potatoes (potatoes that are sliced up, cooked, and mixed with cheese and Sour Cream that Marla makes), bread sticks, homemade root beer, fruit, vegetables, and cake & ice cream. My whole family came over for dinner and we had a great dinner get together. After dinner she blew out her candles, and opened her presents. Aunt Marla gave her toe socks, a paper airplane kit, and earrings; Chris & Melissa gave her a bin of Lego's; Grandma and Papa gave her a cute dress; Wendy, Spencer, Roman, and Hudson gave her nail polish and a hair day (Wendy is a cosmetologist); Brenda & Dave gave her a Children's Christmas Cookbook (Kaylee loves to read cookbooks); Gabby gave her a Crayola color spinner;My cousin Tiffany and her boys Corbin & Carter gave her some chapter books to read; Mom and Dad (Me & Paul) gave her a new Razor scooter and a green puff vest; and my 89 year old Grandma (Kaylee's Great-Grandma) made her a blanket.

After the presents were opened I picked up her vest and my dad took it from me. That was absolutely the most entertaining moment of the evening. My dad decided to put on Kaylee's vest! Hilarious! First he tried to put it on the right way, and when that didn't work he decided to wear it backwards...the best he could. I hope you all enjoy these pictures as much as I do!

Flashback Friday

This picture is from November of 2003. Kaylee was almost one-year-old. She is sitting in a tree next to the Salt Lake City Temple. We were visiting from Washington for my little sister Brenda's wedding, and for Paul and I to be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on our 2-year wedding anniversary.

Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday this week is from when Paul went to Florida for some Navy Recruiter Training. While he was there he went out deep-sea fishing and caught a nice fish. So, this picture is from about March of 2006 in Pensacola, Florida.

Festival of Trees

Today I took Kaylee and Gabby to the Festival of Trees with Marla, Wendy, and Wendy's boys. I have always LOVED going to the Festival of Trees and seeing all the decorated trees, gingerbread houses, and other Christmas Decor. We started out walking down the several isles of beautifully decorated Christmas Trees. There were TONS of snowmen trees this year (Some amazing...some not quite as stunning). There was such a cute teddy bear nativity and tree, a sock monkey tree, and some super cute pink little girl trees.

Next we headed over to the Gingerbread houses and checked out the amazing workmanship with candy. A few that we really liked were the Candyland board, Noah's Ark, The lighthouse, and a candyland village.

Our final stop was at the Kid Corner. There was Elf wands (streamer wands), crafts, face decorating, huge bubbles, and more!