What we've been doing since Christmas

So this is what the kids have been doing since Christmas. They have been loving riding their new 4-wheelers!! Since its been so warm, it has been really muddy in the yard, not good for mom, but loads of fun for the kids!!
Here is Brooke getting ready for her turn!

Here is Britton riding his and Jalan's 4-wheeler. Here is Disnee giving Macee a ride on hers and Brooke's.

Troy "acting" like he's trying to get it to work, but really he was just having a turn!:)

What a girl..such a cutie with her helmet!

J-boy on his, getting started and ready to roll.

Britton again.

Daddy trying to get them started up and going...yes these pics are backwards again.

The cute boys

Christmas 2008 Pictures

On Christmas Eve, our family decided to do our little nativity reading, and we had the kids dress up and act it out. Here is Macee practicing to me Mary and riding the "donkey". So daddy read the Christmas Story from Luke 2..

Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus...Macee had trouble with the towel and decided to let Brooke be her instead.

Here the shepherds were coming to see the baby Jesus

The one wise man that we had left came to bring gifts.

After the nativity, we did our usual tradition of opening one present, of course, PJ's! Here are the kids in their new pj's. Oh ya, so the kids were so excited, we ended up opening all the gifts from the kids to each other that night as well. It was a nice and fun time.

So about 4:47 am, jalan came in to see if we could wake up to open presents..."Go back to bed, absolutely not!" Then again at 5:15, then again at 5:30, when dad finally succomed and the "yes", which sent many squeals down the hall as the news was passed along to the rest of the kids. so down we went to see what Santa had brought. Here is Macee after opening a gift..she was loving it!

Brooke with her new Harry Potter series

Jalan with his new k'nex set!!

Britton with his new roller blades! yikes!

Disnee and her new Lurlene McDaniel books...we are so glad both girls asked for books this year!! yeah!!

Macee and her new kitchen! so cute and she was so thrilled!

Santa was so good to us this year, and we all had a wonderful time. Troy of course, got me some amazing presents, and spoiled me again. I think I might have done ok with his gifts, I dont think he will be returning them like usual! We sure missed all of our family at this time of year. We miss you all so much! Hope everyone had a great day and continue with this wonderful spirit throughout 2009 as well. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

More Pictures

another one

Merry Christmas

WEll, my wonderful husband got me a new camera for Christmas, that I have been bugging him to get me for a while:)!!! I have been so excited trying to learn how to use the thing. I took this fun picture of the kids, thanks to my photographer friend, Jill...thank you Jill for the idea...I copied her. Anyway, not too bad for a newbie. I cant wait to learn how to use this and take some good pictures!!

Blessings

As I sit here at 4:30 am, I have been pondering much in my heart this early morning. I havent been able to sleep very well the past few nights, so I have had alot of time on my hands. How grateful I am to be a woman and have the opportunity to be a mother. 10 years ago, as I delievered my first born son into this world, it created very tender feelings for me toward the baby Jesus and Mary. I gave a talk in church Sunday, and talked of this very thing. Of how special of a time that was for me, to have that experience at Christmas time...I got to have that experience a second time 5 years ago with our last daughter being born only a mere 4 days before Christmas. Then my little nephew Luke was born on the 18th of this month, again causing me to reflect on these experiences. I am so grateful to have been given the wonderful opportunity to be given these sweet spirits for a little while to have and to take care of and raise up. As I lay there this morning, my mind was taken back 16 years ago, when Troy first proposed to me. I dont know why these were going through my mind....but I was remembering how it felt when he asked me to be his for time and all eternity. WOW! How blessed I am! How could a great catch like him be interested in me??? I have been continued to have so many blessings poured over me, my cup runneth over. I am blessed and am so grateful for those many blessings in my life. Our hearts are all especially soft this time of year, as we think of and celebrate the birth of the Savior, and I'm so grateful for those tender feelings. They help us to remember what this is all about. Not the presents, or the cookies or the tree. But Jesus the Christ. The Savior of the world, the Lamb of God, was the greatest gift ever given. I am so grateful for that gift. Merry Christmas everyone.

Happy Birthday Macee!!

Today is Macee's 5th birthday!! holy coW!! my baby is growing up WAY too fast!!! She was up bright and early and ready to open her presents, which is why she looks like she just woke up in the pics!! Of course, these photos are uploaded backwards, my inability to do this blog thing right...but anyway, here is her with some of her presents. She got a new table and chair set for her room, and a cute outfit from mom and dad. She got some fun tupperware dishes from grama and papa spear to use on the table too!! Our sweet family from Great Britain sent her $10 like they do every year..thanks guys!! and she went and bought her a little dolly set that she hasnt let go of since she bought it. Wow these kids are spoiled!

Here are some things about Macee:

*She LOVES to go to preschool

*she can shower, dry, and dress herself and comb her hair...is that a lazy mom or smart kid?

*she loves to play make believe

*she LOVES her daddy, and wont leave him alone, she follows him around with the mistletoe..what a cutie!

*she loves to play with her brothers, even though usually they wont let her

*she is so quiet and sweet when she goes to church or school..people dont know her other side:)

*she loves to drink strawberry milk

*she is a big girl and sleeps in her big girl bed every night, as long as she gets a bedtime story!

*her favorite foods are candy, katsu, strawberries, well, any fruit, cheese, yogurt and cereal

*What a good sweet girl you are Macee and we love you so much!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!

Preschool Christmas Program

Macee had her Christmas Program for preschool on Wednesday. It was CRAZY busy, and so many people!! It was inside the Lutheran Church, so it was pretty crazy..especially when they passed the plate around for donations....haha. Macee was so cute, as much as we could see her, she was in the back of a whole crowd of kids. Im so proud of her, she has gotten so much braver and grown up to even go at all!! Great job sis!!

Happy 10th Birthday Jalan!!

Well, yesterday was our firstborn son, Jalan's 10th birthday!! i cant believe it has been 10 years since I had that little guy. Wow what a fun time that was! Jalan had a fun day, opening presents, shopping with our family, eating pizza, eating coconut cream pie, and spending time with his loved ones!! We had a great day yesterday. thanks to everyone for the gifts...we love this time of year!!

Here Jalan is after getting his $25 of gold coins from Grama and Papa Spear! yeah!!!
Here is us eating pie and singing Happy Birthday!!

Jalan and his coconut cream pie...thanks for the recipe uncle Brandon!!!! yum!!

Here are some things about Jalan right now:

He is so smart!

He is very artistic..he got an etch a sketch for his bday and is amazing at what he can do on that thing!!

He is growing so fast, and getting too tall for all his pants!

He loves to receive praise and attention..he's a ham

He is soooo reverent in primary, and got to conduct sharing time today because he was

He is a good example to his friends

He is such a great helper to his mom when he wants to

He loves to play with his siblings

He is very giving, and is so thoughtful of others

He loves sports of all kinds

We are so happy to have Jalan in our family. You are such a great kid and wonderful gift to your mom and dad!! Happy Birthday Lou!!!!

Busy December

Wow December is always so full of events, I'm exhausted by Christmas. So far, these are a few of the things we have been up to this month. Jalan had a Christmas concert at school, and here he is singing. He did such a great job singing so loudly and doing an excellent job on the sign language as they sang, "Let There Be Peace On Earth". Here is Brooke at her Christmas concert singing along with the Jr High Choir. We cant believe the amount of support this town is always showing. The schools are PACKED to the rim at least 30 minutes prior to the shows starting. Its really nice to see, but makes it so fun to sit knee to knee to everyone in Centralia to watch our kids! Great job Brooke!!

Also, Jalan won the Hoop Shoot again this year for his class, so he got to go to the city wide Hoop Shoot. Here he is with his group, trying for a shot. He was put in the 10-11 year old group, even though he was still 9. Whatever...so the boys were all way bigger than him of course! He didnt win, but he did good for him. He also had to shoot from the real free throw line...wow!! Congrats to Jalan for making it!

We still have tons more to do this month...including Jalan's birthday tomorrow! I didnt post on everything, since its so boring..but this is some. I will post more later with hopefully better pics...so on to the rest of December!!.....

Our beautiful Brookie!!

Brooke is on the cheer squad again this year for the Jr. High Tigers!! She is loving it again, and is such a cute, outgoing cheery gal! I took her picture the other night before she left to a game, and was just in awe at how beautiful she has gotten lately. I just had to post and show everyone what a beauty this girl is. She is a lovely cheerleader and lots of fun!! Go Tigers!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, I have been a procrastinator in posting....we have had my mom and dad here to visit, so it has made it harder to make time to post! So we had quite an eventful week prior the thanksgiving. Last Monday, my dad started to have trouble with a sore leg, so we talked him into going into the ER..and he landed in the hospital with a bloodclot in his leg. He spent the next 3 days there. They finally decided it was the superficial kind, not the dangerous kind, so he was ok as far as that went. But the Dr's were concerned of why he had it in the first place. So...he spent some time getting tests done. On WEdnesday afternoon, the Dr said, all looks fine for an old guy..so he could go home! WE were thrilled he wouldnt be spending Thanksgiving in Centralia Hospital! So we were able to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner here at our house with my mom and dad! Well, now to backtrack to tell of another glitch. While Nic and Casey and Brandon were here visiting the week before, we had a close call with the oven..well, a fire in the oven due to some spilled granola bar remains....anyway..to get the fire out, Disnee had to throw a cup of water into the oven to put out the flames. So....all was fine, and so I cleaned the oven and thought all was well. When Brandon got the deer jerkey ready to put in the oven, the oven wouldnt work...so that was a bummer. I somehow managed to forget about this, until Wednesday morning when I was starting to make the pumpkin pies for thanksgiving. OOps...the oven is broke!! Luckily, we have a double oven..however, the bottom only worked. IT is a very small little oven and usually burns anything that goes in it. So...that was all I had to cook: 4 pumpkin pies, 2 lemon merengue??? pies, 2 batches of rolls, green bean casserole, ham, TURKEY, and I think thats it......Miraculously, somehow the turkey fit!! and the rest of the food turned out well, and we had a wonderful yummy Thanksgiving Dinner! Im grateful for blessings!

Im so grateful for the great parents Troy and I have and for their love and support to our family. Im so grateful for my wonderful kids who are such a blessing to me. Im so grateful for Troy and for the rock he is to me and the wonderful husband, friend, father and person he is. I am so blessed with so many things and I know that all we receive comes from our Father in Heaven. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.