Christmas Day!

We had a wonderful Christmas and feel so grateful for all of our many blessings. Our kids did great this year and didn't wake us up until 7:15. Jason came into our room and asked if we could open presents. We actually had to wake up Anne and Eliza but, they were soon ready to get going with Christmas. They each got what they wanted from Santa and then they got a couple of gifts from Mom and Dad. Part of our kids Christmas is we are going Disneyland in a couple of months so Santa left Mom and Dad money to go to Disneyland. We spent the day at home and my parents and Jill stopped by to see how our Christmas went. We then spent the afternoon and evening with the Schwitzer side. We opened presents with Mike's family and then had a very yummy Christmas dinner. It was fun to be with everyone again!

Jason's Christmas wish came true when Santa brought him a Wii. He has been playing with it all day!

Anne got the Loving Family doll house and she loves it. I wasn't sure if she would like it as much as she has. She sits and plays with it for hours!

Eliza got a new doll cradle and baby doll. Eliza enjoys playing with dolls and hugging them. She especially loves pushing them in the stroller.

We hope all of our friends and family had a great Christmas and we are so grateful to all of you and for your love and support to us! Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Eve!!

Christmas Eve was with the Young side of the family. We got together and had a great dinner and stuffed ourselves. In my family we have the tradition of playing bells on Christmas Eve. My Grandpa Davis made them and wrote a bunch of Christmas songs that we can play. I have been playing these Christmas bells every Christmas Eve since I was 5 years old. It's fun to watch my kids now enjoy playing them and each year my family gets better and better at them.

We welcomed a new member to the Young family on Dec 19th! My brother and his wife had a new baby boy named Parker. He is so handsome and Anne really enjoyed holding him on Christmas Eve.

We also did the nativity with all the cousins. Anne was Mary and Jason played Joseph. Allen was a wise man and Hayden was a Shepherd. Eliza was a sheep but, she wouldn't keep on her costume. We were lucky to have baby Parker play the part of baby Jesus and he truly played the part well being only 5 days old!

Our family Christmas Eve

On December 23rd Mike and I decided to have our family Christmas Eve. We love our extended family and want to be part of everything but, felt like our family wasn't forming our own Christmas traditions. So, on the 23rd we officially started some fun ones. We started out with a nice Christmas dinner with Ham and all. For dessert we had some Chocolate pudding and in one of the puddings there was an almond in the pudding. Whoever had the almond got to open the present that was set as our center piece in the middle of the table. Mike got the almond this year which meant he will have lots of luck this year and he got to open the present. ( This is a Swedish tradition and I thought because Mike and I both come from Swedish back grounds this would be fun.) Mike opened a Nutcracker which my kids were excited about. After we read our new Christmas book and the kids got to open their Christmas Pajamas. They then got to sleep out in front of the Christmas tree and watch a movie. We had such fun night and it was so much to be with our little family and hopefully start some traditions that will stay with our kids forever!

Christmas Pajamas!!

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house

The Saturday before Christmas both Grandparents had our kids over for some Christmas fun. My kids started out at Grandma and Grandpa Youngs where they made gingerbread houses. My kids look forward to doing this every year and they enjoy having one on one time with my parents. It's nice because we leave our kids and then Mike and I get an afternoon for a date. The pic above is of Eliza and my Mom with her stocking. My Mom has cross-stitched all of my kids stocking and she had just finished Eliza's this year. It is a beautiful stocking and I know it took my Mom hours. I think that it's something my kids will really cherish having their stockings made by their Grandma. Thank you Thank you Grandma Young for all your hard work!!

Jason with his gingerbread house!

Grandma and Grandpa Schwitzer have the Grand-kids over to make salt dough Christmas tree ornaments. My kids enjoy doing this also and like doing something with all their cousins. We also as a family did a humanitarian project by filling plastic bags with soap, toothpaste, shampoo and other essentials to give out to people that need it around the world. It was a fun day with both sets of Grandparents!

A white Christmas!

We have gotten so much snow the last couple of weeks. On Christmas we got another foot of snow and it is snowing again today. These pics of the kids were taken 2 weeks ago but, I thought they were cute of them playing in the snow. The snow is now as high as our back wall in the picture of Anne. We bought a snow blower this year and Mike is so happy that he isn't breaking his back shoveling! The pic above is Anne eating a snow cookie.

Eliza wasn't sure about the snow this year. She would just stand and watch the kids play. After a while, though, she started playing and enjoying the snow.

Jason built this snowman all by himself. It's not a 3D snowman it's just one flat on the ground. He was so proud of it!

Jason is the Shining Star

Jason was the shining Star at school this past week and he was so excited. On Monday, I went into his class and introduced Jason and told some neat things about him. After that every kid in the class can ask Jason a question. Here were some of the most memorable.

Question: Jason what do you like to do for fun.

Jason: Looks over at his teacher and says "Homework."
The kid already understands how to brown nose and what answers are good answers in front of certain people.

Question: What is your favorite animal?

Jason: Penguins.
What in the world? I thought that was pretty random.

On the drive home from school he said, "Mom I do not want to eat anymore bad foods like cookies and candy. I only want to good food like apples, chicken, and oranges." I said, "Well, bud it's okay to eat cookies and candy every once in a while. He said, " No Mom, My teacher said only good foods and my teacher knows everything." Great so, now his teacher trumps Mike and I!! So, once he got home and I had made some cookies he forgot all about eating good things. All he wanted where some cookies and I let him!! Ha Ha Ha

Young Cousin Party

On Sunday we had the Young Cousin party. We missed having Brad and Melanie there but, the party still went on. My Mom had us all over for a nice turkey dinner and then we just talked and we exchanged some gifts. I am grateful to have fun cousins and it's always fun to talk about old times. Merry Christmas to all my cousins! We love you tons!

Every girl needs a Sister!!

This past week my Sister Jill graduated and got her degree in Physical Therapy Assisting. I am so proud of her and I know that she worked very hard to accomplish this goal. I just wanted to take moment express my feelings about sisters. My Sister and I are seven years apart. I am blond,white, and have freckles and she has brown hair, dark skin, and no freckles. Some people do not believe that we are sisters. My Mom has always said that she got her blond girl and her dark girl so she was happy. Growing up I think I took on more of a mother figure to her but, now that we are older she is one of my greatest friends. She is someone I can talk to and know that she will not judge me or think badly about me. She helps me with my kids and loves them to pieces. In return my kids adore their Auntie Jill. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent me a sister because it was really lonely with all of those boys. She is a lot of fun and we can spend hours laughing about the dumbest stuff. I love her so much! She isn't dating anyone at the moment so anymore with cute brothers send them our way. She is a great catch. Anyways, I am just grateful for my sister.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend and are so grateful for our friends and family during this holiday season. We had Thanksgiving with the Schwitzer side this year and it was an outstanding Thanksgiving feast!! I will do a run down of our weekend through the pictures. The above picture is Jason in his Thanksgiving program at school. He had a speaking part in the program and he did a great job. He stood up to the microphone and said his part loud and clear. We were really proud of him.

On Wednesday our good friends the Partridges were in town from Indiana. We love this family and wished we all lived closer to hang out more. We were lucky to have them as friends when we lived out there. We went bowling and then had a little birthday party for there two kids after. Thanks Partridges for fitting us into your busy schedule!! We love to see you when you come in town. This was the first time Jason had been bowling and he had a blast. Anne didn't enjoy it at all. She was kind of in a bad mood so we will try again.

My kids love to push each other in the laundry basket and Jason used to push Anne around in it. Now it's Anne pushing Eliza and I love it!!

We had Thanksgiving with the Schwitzer's and we had such a good time. The food was very good and we had fun laughing and talking. Auntie Cathy had the kids make these fun pilgrim hat cookies. Again, Jason loved it and Anne was in a bad mood. Maybe next year for Anne!!

Here is Mike and his Dad and brothers. Mike loves being with brothers and it's fun to listen to them talk and joke around with each other. There is never a dull moment when all these guys get together!!

Here are all the girls! The day after Thanksgiving I went out shopping real early in the morning with these gals. Thanks for helping me out and helping me get through the out of control stores! Mike's sister are the best at finding deals and it's fun to go shopping with them to learn a thing or two. We started at 4a.m and after we were done we went out to breakfast. We found some good deals and it was worth waking up to join in the fun!!


Tonight I am going with my family to the Messiah sing-in with the Utah Symphony. This has been a tradition in our family for years and I really enjoy going every year. I love going and hearing and singing music about Christ. It starts off the Christmas season in the right way. There are so many times that I just sit and listen and chills run up and down my spine. Handel was truly inspired when he wrote the Messiah music.

We had a great weekend and can't wait to start the Christmas season!

Fall Zoo Trip

I have to say that going to the Zoo in the Fall is the best time to go! We went this past week with our cousins from the Young side and we had a great time. I wasn't sure about going in the middle of November but, I bundled up the kids and we were nice and warm the whole time. There was probably 4 families at the Zoo that day and we had access to everything. I have decided that I would rather go in the fall and layer some clothing than sweat to death in the middle of the Summer. I think we will make this a new family tradition!! In the picture above are most of the Young cousins minus Allen who was in school.

My kids loved being able to see all the animal up close. This Gorilla had a thing for Anne. It sat there and just looked at her! I don't blame him because she is just too cute with that Hello Kitty hat on!

Anne and Hayden having fun at the park in the Zoo!

Eliza had a great time at Zoo. It was her first trip and she would ooh and ahhh at all the animals. Her favorite part was playing at the park. In this picture I am playing hide and seek with her. She would hide behind that pole and then jump out and give me that huge smile!

Election and Prop 8

I just wanted to write my thoughts on this whole election. It was a privilege to vote this year and voice my opinion. I am so glad to be an American to have my freedom!! I will support our new president and I pray that he will be successful for our countries sake. I would have liked to see it go the other way but, It just wasn't meant to be this election year for the Republicans. Mike and I where pretty bummed on Tuesday night when we learned Obama won. Our only hope was the prop 8 vote.

We would like to thank our family and friends in California for their great efforts in support of Prop 8!! Your work paid off and hopefully this will be the end. Their has been a lot of protest from the No on 8 campaign directed on the church. There are many members of the church who oppose the churches support of Prop 8. I will never understand their thinking. I think the church did an outstanding job and good has prevailed over evil again!!!

Seven Years Strong!

On November 1st we celebrated our seven year anniversary!!! It was on a Saturday so it was nice to spent all day together. We dropped our kids off at my parents and went to the SLC Temple and had a great time being together in the temple. We don't get to go together all time as we try to juggle the kids and this was needed. After the temple we went out to a nice dinner and then we walked around down town and just talked. It was so nice not having the kids with us and to just be together for an evening.
Mike and I have known each other since the 2nd grade. We grew up together and have so much fun talking about growing up. He is my best friend and their is no one I would rather be with. He makes me laugh everyday and I love him for that. I am so glad we get to be on this journey in life together because it's the best with him!!

Halloween 2008

We have had a great Halloween season this year with lots of Parties and fun. On Halloween day we started off by going to see Jason at his school for their Halloween parade. We have so many kids in our school and it was crazy with so many people. We had the police department at the school directing the traffic into the school parking lot. ( It's out of control!) It was fun to see all the kids from our neighborhood and their creative costumes.
In the Afternoon we headed over to my brothers house and we had a fun afternoon of Halloween fun at their house. JanaLynn does such a great job with their home and it was such a fun and festive home to be at on Halloween.
We made it back home for the trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood. Jason and Anne had a blast running from house to house. It was such great weather here and the kids didn't need a coat this year! They filled their buckets to the top this year and it was a success. We had Mike's parents over and it was fun to be with them and to talk.
So, Jason and Anne have already moved to the next holiday which is Thanksgiving. This morning Anne ask, " How many more sleeps until Thanksgiving?" My kids love holidays!!!

Eliza went trick-or-treating in her stroller and enjoyed being outside. She even got some candy at a few houses!

The kids pumpkins this year. Jason and Anne carved their pumpkins all by themselves this year and I think they did a great job. L-R Anne's Jason's and then Eliza's pumpkin.

Pocatello

This weekend we went on a little road trip up to Idaho. My brother is going to school up at Idaho State and we went to visit them and celebrate my niece's first birthday. Staying in a Hotel room over night is like going to Disneyland for my kids. They were so excited and couldn't wait to get to the Hotel. The drive up was nice and thanks to DVD player in the car the kids are easily entertained. We got to the Hotel and the kids wanted to go swim in the pool immediately. The pool was an indoor pool and next to the pool was some conference room area. So, we go marching into the pool to realize that we have a crowd watching us play in the pool! There was some Christian church meeting going on and they all sat and watched us in the pool. It was kind of embarrassing but, I wasn't going to deny my kids their pool time.

That evening we met up with my brother and his family to go out to eat at an old fifties diner type place. After we left the diner Jason informed us that he didn't like that place. He said " That restaurant was too loud and the tables were a mess." My son has got his great- Grandma Young's gene. (My Grandma loved to be a critic of everything from restaurants, to weddings, to funerals.) Anyways, the rest of our trip was fun and we got to see our fun niece and cousin celebrate her birthday! Trips are so much fun but, I am always glad to get back home and into my own bed!

Schwitzer Halloween Party

We had a great time at the Party this year. Everyone came dressed up and ready to party. We walked in to Grandma and Grandpa Schwitzer's house to find that Grandpa Schwitzer turned into a clown! My kids didn't know what to think at first and I'm not sure if they recognized him. But, then he gave them a hug and they knew it was their Grandpa. We had a Halloween dinner of Bat wings, bones, grave yard jello, and other spooky treats. The kids played some Halloween games and the big hit was who could eat the donut hanging from the string the fastest. This has become a fun tradition for my kids and we look forward to it every year!

Grandma Schwitzer with Eliza. Eliza was not sure about everyone and their costumes.

Grandpa Schwitzer and Anne.

UEA weekend fun

This weekend the kids had a long weekend for UEA. It was such nice weather here in Utah so we took advantage of it. On Thursday we went to three different parks. The kids wanted to try out different parks in our area and they had so much fun. Jason is king of the monkey bars, Anne loves the slides, and Eliza loves to put rocks or dirt on the slides. We played outside for hours. On Friday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Young's for a Halloween party! My kids looks forward to this every year. My Mom makes a spider web out of yarn in her living room and the kids have to try to go through it. We had a great dinner and then our fun Aunt Jessica helped the kids make green gak. We then played ghost, ghost, goblin ( like duck,duck, goose.) and Jason led the family in the Hokey Spookey. It was a fun night and we made fun memories. The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back and we go back to school on Tuesday. This break Jason was ready to have a break from school. He let out a big cheer when I said he didn't have to go to school for 3 days!!! Busy making green gak

The Young grand-children minus our precious Sydney. Hayden-monkey, Anne-princess, Allen- Super Allen, Jason- Batman, and Eliza-duck

Jason and Anne making there way through the spider web.

Eliza wondering what in the world was going on! She wasn't to sure about the web at first but, by the end of the night she was crawling right through it!

Fall Pictures

My friend and neighbor is a photographer and she took pictures of our family and the kids the other night. My kids were not too happy about doing this but, we got some good pictures in the end. It was cold but, Cassey did such a great job and she caught some cute moments.

This is my sweet Anne and she would not smile. I was jumping up and down and making silly faces and she wouldn't give me her beautiful smile.

Cassey was following my kids while they were playing in the park and caught Anne smiling at Jason. I love this picture because she caught the perfect picture of my little girl. I always want to remember that sweet face and her big perfect smile!

Jason of course was Mr. perfect. He likes Cassey's little girl Bryton so he was trying to make a good impression on her Mom. Jason is the best boy and I couldn't ask for a better son. He is the perfect first child and we are so lucky to have him.

Here is Eliza and she wasn't too fond of the camera. She just wanted to walk around and play in the leaves. Cassey caught some cute pictures and this one moment where she actually looked at the camera

Taking pictures is always so stressful. You want everyone look good and to smile and be happy but, with kids that is impossible. One photo session down many more to go!!!!

Conference Weekend

Conference weekend is always so much fun. I love all the traditions that are involved with the weekend and I espicially look forward to hearing from our prophet and apostles. It was a great conference and we learned so much and learned ways to improve ourselves. Being around family we had a great weekend full of fun and tradition!!

On Priesthood night we went over to my parents and while the guys were at priesthood we made graham cracker haunted houses. My cute Sister-in-law came up with the idea and my kids had so much fun. (Thanks Erin!!) We made some pretty spooky houses!!

On Priesthood night my cousins came up from BYU and we had so much fun catching up and talking.

On the Schwitzer side they have a tradition of doing a Chuck Wagon Breakfast on the morning of Sunday conference. It is always the best breakfast of the year and we have fun listening to conference together. My kids had a blast hanging out with cousins and making fun memories.

Jason had fun playing dominos with all the boys! He loves his cousins!!!

Eliza's First Birthday

Happy Birthday Eliza! I can't believe my baby has turned one and she has taken her first steps! It seems just like yesterday I brought her home from the hospital. When Anne saw her for the first time she said "she has a precious face!" from then on she has been called precious face. We are so glad Eliza is part of our family and love the fun spirit she brings into our home. It has been so much fun to watch her grow and relate to Jason and Anne. She is my most strong willed child and I hope she uses it for good in her life. We love her so much!!! Here are some pics of her Birthday...

She got a new slide and she loves it. When she saw it for the first time she crawled right over to it and started climbing. Jason and Anne love it just as much as she does.

A Birthday picture with Dad and Mom.

Her birthday dress. I bought a fall/winter outfit but, on her birthday is was 85 degrees. It was a beautiful day and everyone enjoyed being outside.

Opening presents with Anne and cousin Kate. She was lucky to have some help because opening presents is a whole new thing!

Her is her lady bug cake. Jason told me he didn't like the eyes. It was a funny cake but, she loved it!

Getting ready to blow out her candle!

She dug right into her cake and got it all over herself. We got some great video of it!