HaPPy MLK & New PRESIDENT'S DaY!

Last night for FHE we did our annual-MLK lesson. We talked about despite the color of our skin how Heavenly Father loves us all the same, and that we are ALL still brothers and sisters.
(Dacie-left; Colton-Right)
So the kids took the lesson to heart and tried different colors!

(Ryland-left; Sterling-right)

Now you cannot help but turn on the TV and ONLY see the inauguration of a new president taking place today. The day after celebrating MLK's birthday we are welcoming our first African American President (Obama)-I think that it is fitting.

Although there is allot of uncertainty and speculation with this new president. I am holding out hopeful that he will listen to the very GOD who established this nation and be good on his promises for GooD & RighTeouS things....

Hark, How the LIghts!

...SO we kept the tradition alive and went to see the lights in Talaquipaqui-- a resort in Sedona-- The Day after New Years!It is always a treat to walk around and see the different themes and light displays people have set up around the resort! They are always original and creative.

This one above had a whole camp set up with blue lighted skies and white lighted clouds, along with this cute saying!
Horton hears a Who?

A complete Gingerbread village

Wall-E

Santa and Clan taking hot air balloon rides (a local past-time around these parts)

Santa's Workshop

A Charlie Brown Christmas --

Mind you these are all set up around the time shares & rooms

Lego Land

Even lighted sprinkler systems in the trees!

...and they even represented the real reason we "light up" this holiday season

They had so many more....

The best part was one of Dan's old patients hooked us up with these tickets...so it was free (along with the free hot apple cider)!

It was a good closure (even though I accidentally let Dacie fall into a fountain while we were dancing) to our FUN week+ we spent as a family with daddy!

The Rest of Phoenix! (X-mas Vacation)

***So maybe my New Years goal should be to FINISH my posts about Christmas!

Not only did we get Quality Cousin/Family Time while in Phoenix,

and Fabulous Family Photos

BUT..

We got to open some MORE presents! Wahoo!!!!

A birthday Present Pedicure with Kerri (for me)

A date night to the movies with no babysitting fees

Some teeth work done for Dan and I.
I got my mouth prepped for my new Crown!

The LONGEST temple session we have ever done (through some miscommunication).

We went during the day and came back home at night--(after sneaking in some dinner at my FAVORITE place--Claim Jumper too)!

..and yet another free babysitting day!

Some shopping at the Mall

A FHE lesson on Joseph Smith's birthday...and the kids creations of what were suppose to be candy centipedes. They did not quite look like the book pictures, but I am sure tasted as good- he he he

AND some fun with Grandma and Grandpa!

Colton got to go shooting clay discs with Gpa & Clint,

The boys went to the park and library w/ -Gma and the Blairs

...and a final farewell w/ falling leaves solicited by Grandpa!

It was a great couple of days. Because we had nothing we HAD to be back for--it was nice to just take our time and do our thing--when usually we are rushed and have quite the agenda of things to get done while we are down there!

ChrisTmas Day!

Every time we get the gifts all laid out (w/ 4 kids & 4 adults). I always feel like we get MUCH more than we deserve.
It was a GREAT day of opening gifts...
Ryland and Sterling got some scooters and helmets/pads

Dacie had and ALL GIRL Christmas. It was soooo fun to get GIRL TOYS! This was the first year that gifts were ever feasible with her. We got crowns, and barbies, and cell phones, and strollers, and dolls, and brooms and vacuums, and a hoodie. IF you think getting these gifts was fun-- I LOVED shopping for a GIRL!

This is how Dacie looked for most of Christmas morn! What a GIRL!

Ryland has been begging Santa and his parents for a dog for the last 2 years. I found this dog that barks and wags his tail at a friends garage sale, and she just gave it to me. He was in reverent awe with it for most the morning.

Ironically Sterling's favorite gift was a McDonald's cash register I got at the same garage sale. The kids favorite toys were garage sale items. I know where to start shopping for next year. One man's trash is another man's treasure!

Meals were delicious today as well.

Cara and John made us a huge BRUNCH with eggs, and snowman biscuits, and orange juice, and applesauce, and sausage....

then the evening meal it was our turn and we had ham, and stuffing, and shrimp, and veggies, and sparkling cider....

not to mention the goodie plate that was constantly re-filled sitting on the counter all day!

Yummy!

The rest of the day consisted of me trying to "clean-up" after a SMASHING PARTY, some video game playing in our room, and the boys insistent on playing through their entire entourage of gifts at a fury of a pace (just in case they disappeared tommorow-you know!).

Dacie just took on and off her shoes, adding accessories and taking them off for most of the day.

Our living room had a permanent fixture added to it after Grandma Hutchings presents were unwrapped (An immediate FORT!) Sweet!

I got in some book reading and we played some board games LATE into the early morn!

What a wonderful Happy kind of DAY!

MeRRy ChRisTmas to ALL!

Oh HoLy NiGhT!

Christmas Eve is probably my most Favorite time of the season (only slightly competing with the first entry of the kids faces on Christmas morn), because it is Christmas in its purest form.

We like to deliver goodies, eat a simple dinner, sing songs and perform the nativity.

Just being with our little family.

There is not allot of gifts, big dinners, messes, papers, bows, parties, crying....etc.

Don't get me wrong-- I LOVE those things (except the crying part).

But I appreciate the simpleness of this evening.

The mix of giving and remembering the reason we celebrate Christmas,

and I LOVE being with my children and seeing them understand and GIVE!

Christmas Eve is a peaceful night (until the kids are in bed-ha ha) just as it should be!This year we delivered goodies and carols to our immediate neighbors (with electric guitar from Sterling, and whistle, tambourine by Ryland) and took dinner to a family whose mom is pregnant and the dad had cancer.

Not only did we have the opportunity to give BUT received so much in return. We are so grateful to friends and people who showed their love to us. We felt special--(we even got a special treats from some friends who drove all the way in from Camp Verde-The Dickerson's-we felt like royalty!-- one of their cute treats is pictured above, ours were NOT as cute!)

My sister had taken the kids earlier in the day so I could vacuum, mop floors and make my house look presentable. As well as cook all the last minute goodies. That was such an early Christmas present for me. I have never had that.

Later, after we delivered goodies my sister and her hubby joined us for our "program". They spent the night on our floor so they could experience Christmas morn in its perfect form-WITH KIDS!!!

We have never had a pj tradition, but Grandma S went shopping with me at Thanksgiving and the kids needed some new pj's and I found these adorable ones. So we let them open the first gift of Christmas--PJ's from Grandma S...and then I went camera happy (maybe this is a new tradition).
They looked so warm and comfy I wanted to climb into bed with them. They all went right to sleep.... after a fun day with Aunt Cara

and visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads!!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good NIGHT!

The Lights of Christmas

We heard through the grapevine... about this light show in Cornville (an adjoining town).

So Cara, my friend Julie Hoggard and I bundled up our kids (7 between the 2 of us) and went and watched the 45 minute light show!
It was pretty much AmaZinG!!!
This man works on these lights for 10 months out of the year.
One minute of music takes 10 hours to time to the lights.
It was just as I had seen on the web passed around
...and the best part is that it is FREE!
Even though it was 40 degrees(at the most), the kids did not move an INCH the entire show
(with one exception of Dacie dancing to a few of the tunes in her spot, only to return to it right after).
We delivered some presents after and called it a GREAT NIGHT!!!
...So you better ALL come visit next year!

I'm Dreaming of a WHITE Christmas...

We decided to give the kids a WhItE ArIzOnA Christmas!!

Aunt Kerri's man Marcy (who has never seen snow) was visiting from Texas--
So we decided to make a day of it and play in the SNOW!
We drove up North about 60 miles and played in the snow that has been dumping
for days!
(Here is Colton's 1st snowman that he immediately made upon exiting the car door)
Quite the masterpiece!
Dan has a cousin that lives up in Flag (Ken and Kimberly Higginson)--so we met up on the slopes!
(This is about as much action as we got from Ryland--the moment we got on the hill he was ready to go back to the car for some of the hot vanilla chocolate waiting there)

It was the same snow play area we went to last year...except the smaller hill was not run down enough-- and was pretty sluggish with fresh powder to sink in, not slide on!
So we moved on over to the bigger hill where we picked up some SPEED!
Dan went and went down the hill.
I could barely stop him to talk to him.
Dacie missed her naps (all for a good cause), and was on some Benadryl for her recent illness.
She was quite the non-responsive "slug" the whole day!
...at least she was not crying and got the warm clothes!

Aunt Kerri going down the hill (my only shot of her above--l have to borrow pictures from her later)
Kerri and I went with our feet down
AND we ended up with faces and fronts full of serious amounts of snow!
Since we see snow about once or twice a year (as it should be...according to Dan)--we always borrow snow attire.
The people we borrow from did not have quite the amount of clothes available as they did last year.
So we had to improvise--
Layers of pants, shorts, and swim shirts
Sterling even got to wear an old pair of my hiking boots from college (I knew I had hung on to them for a reason)-about 10 sizes to big!
I think that may have contributed to the lack of enthusiasm the kids showed, like they had in the past with the snow! (or it could have been that Sterling got plowed over with his cousin Ashley by a sledder)
They were ready to go home...
We rarely saw Colton (above)-he was grabbing people's sleds left and right (don't leave yours unattended!) and kept going and going down the hill w/ his 2nd cousin Isaac.

These two made out in the snow clothes department--which was good considering they did most the sitting!

(Dacie is snuggled in between Dan's legs in this shot. It was to prove that our 1-year-old was not afraid AT ALL!)

One of the funniest things about the day was Dacie's complacency--

Dan would take her down the hill at a pretty fast pace and then pull her up on the sled.

She laid on the sled and went down the hill without so much as a peep!

(If you look at the group of people above Dan-that would have been our sledding troupe)

Dacie had it made...this was the hardest thing about the whole day was walking back up the hill

Quite the workout!

After all was said and done we only could stay for about 2 hours (perfect amount of time for our snow wimps) before we had to head back to Cottonwood, to make it back in time for Dan;s work party. It was a fun gathering and much too short of a day!

I'm not gonna lie--it is allot of work to pack clothes, meals, blankets, & hot chocolate...for a few short hours BUT it is worth it when you look at the pictures and remember the memories (kinda like the beach-how grateful we are to parents who went to all that extra work for us!)

Colton and cousin Ashley making snowballs with the snowball maker!

HAPPY SNOW DAYS TO YOU!!!