Tis the season

Natalie with her namesake. She love Grandma Beth.
Bring on the Dora.
Trying to feel good, but no dice.
Life is good.
Christmas Eve
Natalie with her princess stuff - she loves it!!!
New puzzle for Dylan.
Yeah for us - Braxton got a Nerf gun from his cousin. He loves them, which is a little scary for the rest of us.
The kids starting their Christmas Eve craft.

The month of December has been absolutely crazy for us. We were only home 4 nights out of the entire month up until Christmas - seriously. I don't know what happened this year but we had lots of fun shopping for the kids. Normally we keep it pretty low keyed and don't get crazy. Nati was so excited for "ho ho" to come. I think that added to our excitement - having them all so excited. We spend Christmas Eve with Jason's family. It was a fun night of food, games, gifts and visiting. The next morning we got the kids up and didn't even make it up the stairs when Braxton said that he was going to throw up. And he did....before we even sat down, he was running for the bathroom. So Dylan and Nati started opening gifts while my little buddy was taking care of business. It was so sad. Dylan had been asking for a Nintendo DS for a while and we just kept putting it off. Those things are pricey. But good mother that I am, I got up at 2 am the day after Thanksgiving to get a good deal on one for him. It was great - he opened all of the presents and was trying to appear happy. Then I told him to check his stocking. He was so excited to get it. Braxton made it in time to open his Leapster 2, and Nati got a Leapfrog game thing also. So they all have their hand held games. We didn't want to spread whatever bug Brax had so Jason took the other two to his parents for breakfast and then I took them to the other grandparents for lunch. All in all, excluding the sickness, it was a great Christmas. We spent the whole afternoon just lounging and enjoying our time together. I love Christmas and we hope that you all had a wonderful day.

And, Natalie was up all last night with the fun "Braxton Christmas morning bug". Good times!!

Mary & Joseph

Mary & Joseph arriving at the inn.
Mary with baby Jesus, Joseph (the thought of fatherhood freaked him out), Angels, Three Kings and Shepherds.

We went over to a friends house last week for a Christmas FHE. Organized person that she is, she had costumes for the kids to act out the Nativity. Natalie was Mary and Braxton was Joseph. Dylan was a shepherd. They did their thing and then each family read a Christmas story followed by a piano number played so well (way to go Jessica). It was a fun night with friends.

Mother Daughter Day!!

on the bus - yes, I got new glasses.
at the post office.
the Dollar Store
Her favorite man.
in front of the huge tree.

Nati had a fun field trip for pre-school this week. We went to the Springville Post Office first to mail letters to Santa then headed to the Dollar Store. They earned pennies for reading and saved them to buy a toy. Natalie picked play dough and loves it. Then we went to the mall to see Santa. She was super excited to see him. After all that we went to McDonald's for lunch. It was a fun day for us, although a little too long at McDonald's (2 hours), but I had a blast being with just her. It seems like those times of just one on one are so very few. She is growing up way too fast.

Trip to Temple Square

the view from The President's Room
Our Ward
girls enjoying hot cocoa and the view at the same time.
Becca, Shavon & I.

On Tuesday I was able to go to the SL Temple with the YM/YW. I was a little stressed before because I had to drive & I don't do well driving in downtown SL. Luckily I had another leader in the front with me - thanks to Kaye! We split the group up into smaller groups and let them wander around for a bit. We also had a fireside in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was a wonderful night, the weather was perfect and the youth were great. I did get told on the way back that my back seats aren't that comfortable & that next time they want to ride with Sister Mousser because she lets them listen to whatever as loud as they want. Whatever - I am a fun leader, just a little cautious when it comes to music. Gotta love the sassy girls!!

Parties & Gingerbread houses

We had the annual Lee Family Christmas Party on Saturday. It's always a fun thing for the kids to play with their cousins, play bingo and eat lots of yummy food. The best part of the night was watching Grandma Beth, Nati & Gavin playing with their new paddle balls. They would play for about 30 seconds and then have to switch paddles. It was so cute. Thanks for a fun night Mom & Dad!!




We also went over to Cam & Kate's to make gingerbread houses on Sunday. It's become a yearly tradition and it is so fun. Jason was a bit - shall we say..concerned about how accurate our house was to our real house. He put the garage on with the appropriate house numbers. We had a blast. Thanks to Cam & Kate for hosting.

Natalie Carter - a.k.a. Sassy Girl

Happy Holidays to us! This is what happens when you tell her that she needs to come in from playing in the snow. She was soaked through and so cold and bad parents that we are, we made her come in to get warm.

YW Xmas Party

My cute Miamaid class.
what cute young women & leaders!!
Kaye, Shavon, Becca & I
just getting started.

Last night was the YW Christmas Party. We went out to eat at the new Pizza Pie Cafe in Provo. Such yummy food, all-you-can-eat buffet style including dessert pizza. Bring on the cookie dough and oreo pizza:) Each of the girls brought a gift to exchange in the fun left/right "Twas the Night Before Christmas" story. We had so much fun. I love all of our girls and other leaders. They make all of the effort and time worth it.

New ornaments & Santa

Santa with the kids.
All of the grandkids - including the one in the pink making a break. She wasn't so happy about seeing Santa.
Dylan, Braxton & Natalie with Grandma.
What a fun grandma!

We went with Jason's family for the annual ornament shopping experience. Every year Jason's mom buys each of the grandkids a new ornament. We all go to Provo Towne Center and look for ornaments and then go see the man of the season. The kids love their new addition to the tree. Dylan picked Indiana Jones, Braxton picked Tower of Terror & Nati picked Sleeping Beauty. Then we headed upstairs to see Santa. Nati ran to him. She was so excited. I didn't even have the camera ready yet and missed the cute scene of her hugging him. It was a fun night with the Carter's. Many thanks to grandma for starting off the season so well!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Grandma & Grandpa passed the tradition on to......
Mom & Dad. Yes, that is her real hair!!
Dinner in a new/almost done room.The kids table.
Making chocolates the Sunday before.
My two little Indians. Braxton took off his shirt & wanted to get paint on his face so Nati had to also.

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. It was a first for us for 2 reasons - 1) This is the first year that my grandma didn't have it at her house. My mom has taken up the dinner responsibility. Kind of a sad thing for me. I had every Thanksgiving dinner at grandmas house up until I got married. I guess it's the end of one era and on to a new one. Mom did a great job considering that they are right in the middle of a remodel. Their new room wasn't quite done yet but we ate in there anyways and enjoyed not having to worry about what got on the floor. My brother Danny and his family were there along with grandma & grandpa. It was great!! 2) Jason's parents went out of town. We missed seeing them this year. We just ate at my parents and stayed there to look at the ads and make a game plan for the shopping fest the next morning - side note: I was up at 2 am to get a certain present for a certain person. I was the first one at this particular store and I got it!!! Oh, yeah!! Although I am getting too old for this and am still tired from a full day of shopping. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!