Bella the artist

Today in Joy School I had the kids make snowmen. Today was all about making decisions. The kids got to choose how to decorate their snowmen. Bella chose to give hers a anatomically correct heart. I wonder if she's been reading Uncle Adam's medical books. I have no idea where she learned to draw a heart but I think she did a pretty good job.

Good bye for now

Tonight we lost one of my most favorite prophets ever. I will miss him dearly. I can only imagine that at this time there is a great celebration happening in heaven. Think of all the people he is being reunited with. He has said how much he has missed his wife since her passing. I am so glad that he is with her again. Thank you President Hinkley for all you have done for this church and it's members.

Caution! Major Backlogging Ahead!

It is not as if I have not had anything to write lately. We had Christmas for goodness sakes. You see,I have a issue with procrastination. The longer I went without posting the more I didn't want to do it. It's crazy because I really do like to blog. I am doing this more for me than for anyone else. Since this is my journal of sorts I have to catch up. Don't feel obligated to read the whole thing. It's going to be long.

Joy School Nativity Program
December 16th Bella had a Joy School Nativity program. They put it on twice. Once for the residents of Legacy House and once for the families. Bella got to play Mary and did an excellent job. Her friend Zander was Joseph, Ryan was a shepherd Kaden was a wise man and Emma was the angel. They did a super job playing their parts and singing their songs.





















Christmas Eve
This Christmas Eve was VERY full. We started out with Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Hilton's. This was the last year that Grandma is going to do this. I am so grateful she gave it one more go.

Next we headed over to my parents house to act out the Nativity story and pick up or P.J.'s (My mom gets these for the whole family every year). Hayley really wanted to play the part of Mary and convinced Grandmerry to cast her in the role. Finding a willing participant to play Joseph was not as easy. Jaden finally agreed. Mariah, Jonathan and Seth were the wise men, Isabella, Gabriel were shepherds Faith, Mystery and Kennedy were the angels, and poor little Elizabeth had to play Baby Jesus (she did NOT like this one bit).



After visiting with my family we headed up to Turners to spend the night. We decided this year that it would be fun to sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It is usually really difficult to open up all our gifts and get out to Christmas breakfast by 10:00. Staying overnight made for a less rushed Christmas morning. Getting all of our gifts out was not as easy. Lucky for us Scott works with Paul and he was able to take loads of gifts to work and Paul took them to his house.

Lisa decided to sleep over with her kids as well. The kids loved that they got to sleep with their cousins. Hayley, Mikayla and Mariah slept in on the floor in the office, Jaden and Dallas slept in the boys room downstairs and Isabella got to sleep with Aunt Lisa and her cute little puppy Kobe. I am so glad we slept over because it snowed like crazy Christmas Eve.


There were a lot of gifs to set out on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day
Christmas morning was CRAZY. If we ever do it again there are going to be some definite ground rules. One of these rules will include us taking turns. The kids were going so fast I missed them opening half of their presents. Despite the craziness we had a lot of fun. It was nice that the kids got to play with their toys instead of rushing out the door to get to breakfast on time.

Speaking of breakfast Judy out did herself this year. The menu included breakfast casseroles (two varieties), stuffed french toast, crepes, sausage, sweet breads, bacon, fruit, eggnog, and juice.

(click to enlarge)
At 1:00 we headed down the hill to spend some time with my family. We spent most of the time exchanging gifts with one another. We all take turns by family giving our gifts to others. It takes us a long time to do this but I love watching everyone open up their gifts. We then had a quick lunch and headed up to Ogden to visit my Grandma Taintor. All of my dad's sisters came with a lot of my cousins I don't see very often. It was really nice to get to spend the evening with them.



I wish that Christmas lasted two days. I always feel like I am cramming the day too full.

Happy Birthday Bella

I am way behind on my blogging. Way behind. I hate to post out of order but today's post cannot wait. It is Isabella's 4th birthday. Her body is slowing growing to fit the tremendous spirit it holds. She is to say the least, a very energetic child. She is always ready to tackle anyone to the ground, especially Jaden. I don't think she's ever ate a meal without leaving the table at least three times. She can't hold still that long. She loves going to Joy School. She loves playing with her friends. She is always willing to play dress-up at the drop of a hat. She loves her Dora talking house and playing Nick Jr. games on my computer. She also likes to choose her own clothes. She prefers shorts and t-shirts (I have to hide them in the winter. She finds them nonetheless). I can't imagine my life without this curly-haired princess. I can't believe I thought she was going to be a boy. She has been surprising us since her birth. She was born so quickly it took her five minutes to catch her breath. I don't think she has slowed down yet. In fact right now she is running back and forth squealing with delight. She likes to entertain the others as they eat breakfast. She really should be eating but she hasn't got hungry enough to force herself to be seated. Happy Birthday Bella!