Emma got her ears pierced.

Emma has been wanting to get her ears pierced for awhile now. One afternoon after playing with her friend Claire (who just had her ears pierced) she decide she was ready. We took her the next evening to get them done, but she decided against it, so we went and had ice cream instead. After leaving the mall, she cried off and on the whole evening saying she wanted to get them done so bad but she was just a little scared. The next morning after church, Lucas took her and she came out to the car shaking her head like she didn't go through with it, but she was teasing and she DID it! She loves them and they look super cute on her.

Ava eating rice cereal and finding her hands!

Here are a couple shots of Ava eating rice cereal for the first time and a picture of her mesmorized by her little hands. These picture were from January ( I am playing catch up!)

Boys night out at the Monster Truck Show

Lucas and Nathan went to a Monster Truck Show. You will find Nathan racing cars and trucks all over the house and I have banged up baseboards to prove it so this was right up his alley!They actually stayed for the whole show and didn't get home until almost 11 pm. Nathan stayed awake through the whole thing and had a great time. That was a late night for a little guy with an 8pm bedtime!

Painting Stencil Shirts

Lucas and the kids painted stencil shirts one evening. I bought $3 solid color shirts at Walmart a size too big and washed them in hot water to make sure the shrinkage would happen before we painted them. Lucas picked up some stencils and fabric paint at Michaels and the shirts turned out really good!

I loved this shot of our tree that evening!

Ava turns 4 months

My sweet little girl turned 4 months today and oh how she has grown.

Happy 4 month birthday peanut!

Merry Christmas

Emmanuel, God with us. You left your throne to take on flesh and live with us. Your birth was the beginning of our salvation. Thank you God for sending your son. Merry Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas this year with my family here in Layton. My mom and Dad, brothers, Dallas and Dylan, and Dylan's fiancee, Danae, drove down from Montana. My sister Darcy, her husband, Dave, and their kids, Declan and Dana, flew in from Philadelphia. On Christmas Eve we went to Alpine's Christmas Eve service and then over to the Edwards' for finger foods. When we got home the kids cozied up in their PJ's and opened a few presents. On Christmas Day, we opened presents and enjoyed the Christmas dinner my mom and I prepared together. Later, the kids went sledding again and then after Grammie and Grampie and all the kids went to bed the rest of us played Catch Phrase (our new favorite game) for a few hours.

(Check out some more Christmas photos on the slide show on the right.)

Sledding, Making Sugar Cookies and Decorating Graham Cracker Houses

`Tis the season to SLED! Our side yards have a small slope in the front and a steeper slope in the back and so the kids are able sled in the winter right outside.

Uncle Boo (Dylan), Grampie, Uncle Dave, Lucas and Nathan

Uncle Buddie (Dallas) and Emma
Declan, Nathan, Uncle Boo and Emma
Uncle Boo,Nathan, Emma, Uncle Dave and Uncle Buddie Uncle Dave, Declan and Nathan
Our snow bunny, Emma
Sugar Cookies
Graham Cracker Houses
Emma and Danae

Nathan's Christmas Program

Nathan's Preschool Christmas Program was on December 18th.

His class sang "Away in a Manger" and "Joy to the World" and recited a verse with actions.

The verse went like this: A savior us born to you! Glory to God in the Highest.

He sang his songs and recited his verse for us numerous times at home, but once he got on stage he just watched everyone and his classmates and didn't really get into it until the verse. After the program, we enjoyed all of the treats each family brought to celebrate.

Here is a family picture we took before we left for the program.

Nathan's class on stage during the short program. He was waving to us in this picture.
Nathan giving us a framed gift he made at school.
Cousins! Nathan, Ava, Emma, Declan and Dana Leigh

December Part 1

My sister, Darcy, and her kids, Dana Leigh (1) and Declan (3), flew in from Philadelphia to spend a few weeks with us. We played, and played and played all month!

Dana Leigh, Darcy , Ava and Nathan

Delcan and Emma dancing

Lucas and I before we left for Granite's Christmas Party Kneading and Kneading and Kneading the dough to make Salt-Dough Ornaments

LOTS of ornaments in the oven

Painting the ornaments

Some of the salt-dough ornaments we made
The kids played outside on the large snow bank made by the snow plow.

Emma's class had a Christmas party before enjoying Christmas vacation at home. They created a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, played Christmas memory match, decorated salt-dough ornaments that Emma and I baked for the party, enjoyed a puppet show, exchanged Christmas gifts with Mrs. Stewart and had treats!

We also celebrated Mrs. Stewart's birthday during the Christmas party too.

Ava and her swing

I put a post on facebook awhile ago that read: "Dawn loves that I have friends that know what I need even when I don't. Thanks for a good night of sleep Michele and Eric." I had alot of people ask me what that post was all about. Here is the story behind it....... When Ava was a couple of weeks old, she would not sleep well at night unless she was being held or in her bouncy chair and the hours from 3 am - 7am were the hardest. My friend, Michele, suggested a swing for that hard time and I knew it was a good idea but it was hard to find the energy to get to Babies R Us and actually pick one out. I did not use a swing with Emma or Nathan so I didn't have one.....(I knew a few people who overused their swing almost to the extend of it becoming a babysitter so I was never really keen on them.) A few days later Eric, her husband, showed up at the front door with a new swing. Nights at our house got ALOT easier and better real quick! Here are some photos of Ava at 3 1/2 months and a picture of her in the much-loved-by-all-of-us swing!

She still loves to be swaddled so here she is semi-swaddle in her swing.

Our little Thespian

Emma performed in her first musical theater production, "It's a Musical Mania!" with Show Stopper Productions, a children's musical theater group here in Utah at the historical Perry's Egyptian Theater. The children performed songs and dialogue from "Newsies," "Mama Mia," and "Annie." for their winter show. Em lit up the stage with infectious energy and we were very proud of her abilites and poise. She was so animated that we belly-laughed each time she came on stage. The cast photo and video should be in sometime the first week of January and we will be sure to share some highlights of it.

Here are some photos of our little thespian.

In her first of 5 costumes for the show!

Emma after her 1st show on December 7th

Some of Emma's audience
A big Thank You to the Mannions, Edwards',Belleson's , Lynch's, and Shnowskes for supporting our little thespian and coming to her show. She was thrilled to have you all in the audience!

The proud brother
Emma after her 2nd show on Dec. 14th

Emma hugging her friend Aiden

Emma and her cousin Declan