Christmas is coming....

The goose is getting fat!

I love making homemade ornaments!

Here's my poinsetta angel and singing girl: Emily's awesomely colorful reindeer:

Styrofoam ball snowman: Popsicle stick tree:

Some of Emily's creations laying out to dry:

Julian made a clown out of a silver ball.

MY kids always amaze me with their creativity. I usually have to buy a book, or go online for ideas. They come up with stuff on their own.

Emily looking through our materials...WE ended up finding all kinds of bric-a-brac around the house. Beads, fabric, ribbon, yarn, etc.

I saw Annie on the couch and almost busted a gut laughing. Our ward Christmas party pictures::::

We went on a Hay"less" ride...and sang carols all the way! Me and Josh got to hold our niece Alice. She is such a precious doll!!! Missionaries! These guys are sweet:

Emily was in the back of the truck in pink- see her????

My parents are so cute! Santa Claus is coming to town! He made an appearance at the party too.

Here's Randy & Carrie: Emily

Julian hammin' it up, LOL

Me & Joshua

The play!!!!!

It really was the best Christmas pageant ever!!!

Josh is the tallest man on the back row, front and center. He played the Dad.

I am 2nd to last on the back row, in the red sweater. Wow, I am really short. LOL

Emily is in the front row, pretty in pink and 7th from the left. She played Beverly, one of the Sunday school kids and a member of the angel choir.

Julian is 2nd to last in the front row...He played Claude Herdman- the Herdman's were the "bad kids" who had never been to church and never even heard about the story of Jesus' birth.

My sister-in-law Robyn was in the play too!

She's 2nd from left in the back row.

And my niece was in it- Ella is 3rd from left in the front row.

It's a really sweet story.

We had so much fun doing this play. It was a lot of work and took up a lot of time, but we had a blast and loved every minute of it.

I ended up getting a decent part because a few people dropped out of the show when they realized how much time it would take.

Josh had to take 3 vacation days from work for performances.

2 of our shows were cancelled because of the snow day. :(

But we still did 6 performances. I am hoping someone got some shots of us on stage.

No fire place?

When we came in from the snow, I found Julian warming himself by the fire. LOL
That DVD also plays Christmas music in the background!
It's perfect "tree decorating" music...
OH!
I need to take a picture of our tree!

Here's Annie looking out at the snow.

Guitar Hero

Julian was so happy about his birthday present!!!


He took a few breaks from playing in the snow to play the guitar.
We also braved the elements and went out to a Chinese Buffet.
That was his birthday request: Chinese food and Guitar Hero.
The snow was an unexpected bonus.



Of course Josh had to get in on that action.

It took like 5 tries to get this shot!


And what was Emily doing? PLaying on the computer.
Don't ya love that big bow?
I got it for 50 cents at a craft fair!

Snow in Louisiana

I have so much to blog about.
I guess I will start with the SNOW DAY!!!
Yes, it snowed here in Louisiana.
It was a historical day. We have NEVER seen this much snow down here!!! (at least not in my life time)



On December 11th Julian woke us up at about 6am, opened our blinds and said "It's snowing!"
What's really cool is that was his BIRTHDAY!
He said it was the best birthday EVER.



Julian made a snow angel!!!


The house with snow...and look! Our new carport. Yeah!

Down here, when it snows everything shuts down!
The schools were closed, a lot of businesses closed, on the news they told people to STAY HOME, don't try to drive....we aren't used to snow.

It was deep. Isn't Annie so pretty?


I have about a hundred pictures of the snow, by the way. LOL
Joshua and I had so much fun playing in the snow too. We felt like a couple of kids!




Snowman time!!!!


He had golf club arms and golf ball eyes. LOL

Thanksgiving was wonderful

Last Saturday we left for MS and stayed all week.
What a beautiful place.


It was the best Thanksgiving of my life so far!


The bunkhouse got a total renovation, thanks to my bro-in-law Randy. He did such an awesome job!!!! Going to the camp is a whole new experience now.


My parents are the best:

Sweethearts.

Hayden and Emily playing zoo:


My JuJuBee:

I love him so much.
While we were out at the camp, we had a day date together - just the 2 of us. He's a lot of fun to hang out with.
I can't believe he'll be turning 12 in less than 2 weeks. That's a very significant birthday!!! We are so proud of him.

Care Bear!!!

She's so precious.

There are TONS of thrift shops, flea markets, and salvage centers near the camp, so we love to shop when we go out there! Here's Robyn with a sign we found-it was so appropriate. LOL

PLUS: Carrie, Robyn, and I went to the city for a Girl's Day Out...We went to the Olive Garden for lunch and then saw the movie Twilight!!! I loved it. It was sweet.
Also, we hit the mall. I wish I had taken more pictures.

Speaking of the mall: I bought a hair straightener.

You know those people with the little kiosks (sp?) at the mall...(usually from Israel) who try to stop you and straighten your hair???
Yeah, they got me.
But I LOVE that thing!!!

Josh had to work M-W, but he came up Wednesday night and stayed the rest of the weekend. We went on a mini-date Saturday afternoon. It was so nice.


My sis-in-law Conneen and my big brother Kevin:

They are so cool!

We played lots of games. Whacky 6, Phase 10, Dominoes, Scene It (my favorite)

We also watched a lot of awesome movies. Cheesy LDS spoof-type movies: Church Ball, Suits on the Loose...I still want to see Sons of Provo. Can't wait.
We also watched a serious movie- the Emma Smith story. I cried all the way through.

The women of the family:

Conneen, Christy, Me, Mom, Keli, Carrie, and Robyn

Me and Keli


Cori and Christy


Annie loves the camp too!

She was able to run free all day. I had to give her a lot of baths though, so she could sleep in the bunk with me at night. LOL