Merry Christmas!

Christmas is such a great time a year and by far is my favorite holiday. When I was little it was because of the presents no doubt but, as I have gotten older I love the feelings of good will and cheer it brings to all people. It seems that everyone is a little more patient and happy around you and it's because everyone is feeling the light of Christ. I am grateful for another great Christmas season. The kids didn't wake us up until 7 a.m! We actually got some good sleep! Santa did come to our house and he was good to the kids. I love seeing their faces on Christmas morning.

Jason didn't get a D.S from Santa and we were a little worried about him. I asked him if he was sad that he didn't get a D.S from Santa and he said " No, this is the best Christmas Mom." He is such a sweet boy and he did get his Nintendo D.S but, he got it from Dad and Mom.

Anne got her Bity Baby and loves her. She named her doll Ella and she is the best Mom to that doll. Every morning she feeds the baby and changes her clothes. When we leave to run errands the baby is put in her cradle down for a nap. She reminds me of myself at her age so much. My dolls were so real to me and I loved playing with them.

Eliza loved this new princess chair. She sat and opened all of her presents in it. You can also see that she has Tinkerbell lip gloss smeared all over her face. She also got a baby doll that she loves and takes care of.

With Eliza hitting her stage of being a 2 year old there were some sad moments on Christmas morning. She wanted everything that Anne got. I knew this would happen and tried to get her just about everything like Anne's but, Anne got one thing she wanted.... a princess umbrella. It was so sad for Eliza to learn that it wasn't her umbrella. We now have another princess umbrella but are using it as a reward for being potty trained. Wish us Luck!

Christmas afternoon and evening was spent with the Youngs. We had a Christmas dinner and opened gifts to each other. It was good to be all together with Ryan and Erin in town and of course all the cousins had fun together.

So, another Christmas has come and gone. Sometimes it is kind of let down the day after. But, I am excited for 2010 and all the adventures it will bring. I love getting my house organized again after the holidays and enjoy making goals for the coming year. Merry Christmas to all the people I love!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve this year was with the Schwitzer side. We had the evening at our home which was actually a lot of fun. The nice part about being in a big family is we all help out with the food and so the family hosting isn't burdened with a lot. When the Schwitzers get together there are a lot of people so we had tables all over the house and it was a good time. The pic above is all the adults at one table.

In the family room was a table with Anne, Kate, Evelyn, Will, Andrew, and Jason. I can feel the Christmas crazies coming from that table!

Eliza and Claire sat at the baby table. These two are becoming better friends and it's fun to watch them.

On the living room table we had Emma, Jane, Grace, Alex, Zach, and Jacob. These are the older wiser cousins.

After dinner we did the Nativity. This was probably the most random Nativity yet. We had the traditional Mary, Joseph, Wise men, and shepherds but, then we had to throw in a couple of Disney princesses and a ninja. We pick our battles these days with so many kids.

After the Nativity we opened presents to each other, had dessert and called it a night. It was so fun to be together again and especially to see all the cousins and adults excitement for Christmas!

After all the cousins left we opened our Christmas Eve pajamas, put out cookies for Santa and the kids went to bed right on time. They did really good this year and fell asleep fast and Santa was able to make an early stop.

Who has the almond?

We had our traditional family Christmas Eve on the 23rd. We have a tradition of having chocolate pudding for dessert and in one of the desserts there is an almond. Whoever gets the almond gets to open the present in the middle of the table and they also should have a great year in 2010. Our kids get so excited for this and they just couldn't wait for dessert. We passed out the pudding and Jason was shoveling that pudding in his mouth so fast. He couldn't believe that he didn't get the almond. Anne, ladylike, ate her pudding and when she took the bite with the almond her eyes got big and she was so excited to get it.

Anne let Jason help her open the present which was a new Christmas book and the Wii game Mario Kart. Our family loves Mario Kart and we love to race each other. It was a fun night and it was fun to be with each other.

The days before Christmas

The days before Christmas were so exciting for the kids. Our kids are at such fun ages and Christmas is so magical for them. Every morning we went through how many more sleeps until Christmas. To pass the time the kids had fun parties at their schools and fun Christmas programs to attend. The kids are in the Christmas Church clothes the Sunday before Christmas.

This is the cutest Church winter coat and Eliza is crying because it is not pink. We convinced her it was a princess coat and she seemed to be fine with that answer.

Here, Anne is sitting on Santa's lap at her pre-school. She is letting him know that she wants a Bity Baby. They did the cutest Christmas program for the parents and Anne sang so well. We were proud of her.

A New Cousin!

The weekend before Christmas we were so excited to finally meet baby Brad. Ryan and Erin had a baby boy at the beginning of the month and they came to down for Christmas with a new baby. He is such a sweet baby and he looks a lot like Ryan. It was fun to have new baby around again.

Jason and Anne are getting so big and they loved holding Brad.

Welcome to the Young family Brad!

Enjoying the Christmas Season

To Start off the week Jason finally lost his other front tooth and it looks soooo much better. His dangling tooth was starting to gross everyone out and he was brave enough to pull it out. He looks so cute with both of his front teeth gone!

We have been enjoying the last week and the fun that the Christmas season brings. We finally got a big snow storm and the kids were exited to go out and play in it. We had a friend Mckinley over to play in the snow with the girls. With the snow on the ground it really feels like Christmas. Our new little dog Max isn't to fond of the snow but, is getting more use to it everyday.

During the season I love play Christmas music throughout the day. I think Christmas music is so pretty and fun. One day I had Handels Messiah on and Eliza loved the Hallelujah Chorus. After the song was over she would say "Again, Again!" She would sing "Hallelujah with everything she had. I caught her singing in the picture above and everyday we have to listen to "Hallelujah".

Every year around Christmas my Mom has the kids over to make cookies. We went over one evening and the kids have fun cutting out Christmas sugar cookies. They also helped my Mom make Christmas suckers which they love also. After making cookies we had to watch So You You Think You Can Dance since I was with my Mom and Jill! :)

Rawsthorne Cousin Christmas Party

Every Christmas season Mike's cousins on his Mom side get together for a party. Most of his cousins live in Canada but, a hand full of us live here in Utah. This year the theme was wear a ugly, tacky Christmas sweater. It was pretty funny to see all the random Christmas themed sweaters that have been made. The picture above is the Schwitzer men. Check out those Christmas turtle necks! Love Josh's nerd look and Mike and his Christmas cardigan was classic.

Here are the Schwitzer ladies minus Kari. It just wasn't the same without her. We have to thank Tom's Mom and Grandma for providing all these Christmas sweaters. We had quite the selection to choose from! We all voted for who had the best Christmas sweater and Melanie's husband Chris won. He had the Christmas turtleneck and the classic Christmas vest. It was funny!

There are mostly girl cousins on the Rawsthrone side but, Mike is lucky because there is one boy cousin that is his age. Matt and Mike grew up together and they have some pretty funny stories about their childhood.

It was a fun evening and Thank You Cathy for throwing the best Christmas party yet!

Christmas Salt Lake City Trip

Our kids loooove to stay in hotel rooms. So, we thought for a fun Christmas treat we would stay in a hotel room in downtown SLC and see the lights and have fun together. We started the night off by eating dinner at The Garden at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. They put us at a table by some windows and kids enjoyed looking at the temple and the city. We had a really good meal and enjoyed ourselves.

The Garden is seriously one the best places to eat in SLC in my opinion. There artichoke dip is to die for!

We started eating dinner at sunset and finished right before they turned on the lights on Temple Square. Here we are waiting for the all the lights to be turned on!

We headed out into the cold and saw all the beautiful lights. The church does such a fantastic job each year and we look forward to feeling the spirit as we walk the grounds. This year they have the famous red tree lit which is our personal favorite!

After we saw the lights we headed back to the hotel and the kids swam and then we headed to our room to watch a movie. The kids fell asleep pretty quick and the next morning we went out to breakfast and headed home. We took Max to a babysitter and the kids missed him like crazy. They were pretty excited to get Max back into their arms again! We had a fun night and hopefully made a fun Christmas memory for our kids.

A Kids Best Friend

The other day the kids had our neighbor and good friend Madison over to play. They soon found Max and stuck him in Jason's back pack. Max just stayed in his back pack and let them tote him around. If was so funny to watch and the kids were laughing and having so much fun with him.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday this year and had so much to be grateful for we had to celebrate. I made these turkey hats with the kids and they loved making them. They are really quite silly but, my kids are truly so simple and happy to please. This year we were with the Youngs for Thanksgiving and it was fun to be with my family again. We missed Ryan and Erin who didn't come into town due to her having a baby in any moment! We met at my parents and enjoyed talking with each other and hanging out. Thanksgiving dinner was sooooo good. Everyone made the best food and I have seriously gained like 5 lbs from all the yummy food.

If you ask Jason what he is thankful for he will say pumpkin pie. This kids loves this pie and here he is checking out the many pies. He loves just the pie with lots of whipped topping and leaves the crust. That crazy kid!

Here is part of the family enjoying the feast. We were so happy this year to have little Daisy pay a visit to our family on Thanksgiving. She has gotten so big and look so healthy. If it wasn't for Brad and JanaLynn that little girl would not be alive. It was fun to see her progress.

The day after Thanksgiving our good friends the Partridges were in town. We met them to celebrate Anna and Cole's birthdays. We went to Kangaroo Zoo and the kids had so much fun. Thanks Lori and Corbin for letting us see you for a while. We always get to see them at least once a year and it's fun to catch up.

Lori and I in front of some big teeth! All my dear friends in Indiana have such a special place in my heart. Lori, Sara, and Heidi helped me get through some pretty hard times in Indiana. I was so lucky to have met some of the greatest people there.

So, now the holidays have officially begun and my kids are already counting down the days until Christmas. This is the best time of the year!!!

So You Think You Can Dance

Last weekend My Mom, Jill, and I went to the So You Think You Can Dance show. It was so much fun to have a girl's night out again. My Mom and Jill got me hooked on the show last year and I have loved watching each new season since. This year Jeanine won! A girl finally won! The last couple of years it has always been a guy. There is always a couple of people from Utah on the show and Randi from Orem was with season 5. There are 3 people from Utah right now on the show. We are pretty talented people here in Utah!:) It was a fun show and they did all the really good dances from the show. One of my favorites is Addiction danced by Kapuno and Kayla. It was a fun night and Thanks Mom and Jill for joining me.

His front tooth is gone!

Jason has lost his front tooth! He wasn't too sure about it at first but, after getting some money from the tooth fairy he felt better about the whole situation. If he loses the other tooth in the next couple of weeks all he'll want for Christmas is his two front teeth!

The Sweetest Thing.....

is being married to this handsome guy!!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year and the kids had lots of parties and got too much candy. On Friday night we carved our pumpkins and the kids had fun making their spooky faces on their pumpkins that they picked out.

I love this picture of Jason and Anne. They were doing a Halloween crossword puzzle together and I love how Anne had her arm around him. Just a moment I had to catch.

On Halloween Brad and JanaLynn had a Halloween party at their home. JanaLynn loves Halloween and their house is so much fun to be at on Halloween. The kids made a spider craft, carved more pumpkins, and ate donuts. We left to get back to our house to go trick-or-treating but, they had a spooky dinner which I heard was really good. The picture above is a funny pic of the Young cousins but, at least we got them all together at once. We are missing Elsie who was asleep.

The Young ladies and Parker. Check out Jill and my Mom's cute feather mask. They turned out really cute.

The Young guys.

Jason was a skeleton for Halloween. I wanted him to paint his face but, he wanted nothing to do with it. He was afraid it would never come off! His costumes was crazy this year because I made it. After getting it done I realized it was to long on him so I had to get rid off half of his leg bone. A little frustrating for me but, he didn't seem to even care. I am still learning the whole sewing thing.

Anne was a witch this year. She wanted to be a good witch not a mean witch.

Eliza was a fairy and she really enjoyed Halloween this year. It was fun to watch her enjoy all the activities more.

Meet Max

So, for years I have said no dogs. Well, no dogs until our kids are older but, I have eaten my words. On Tuesday we brought home little Max. The week before Mike showed be a picture of him that a customer had emailed to him. She breeds these dogs and wanted to know if we wanted one. Mike showed me the picture and I had this feeling come over me that this was our dog. I surprised Mike when I said lets go meet him and see how the kids do with a dog. We went to the ladies house and met about 10 puppies but, we were drawn to Max the whole time. So, we bought him and brought him home a couple of days later.
Jason came up with the name Max. For a couple of months he has said, "When we get a dog I am going to name him Max." So, Max it is! The kids LOVE him and he is the sweetest dog. He lets the kids carry him all over the house and he loves to be with them. He loves to sleep on any lap and has really been the best puppy. So, now we have a dog and for some reason it feels like our family is a little more complete.

Jason loves Max and when he comes home from school he loves playing with him and taking care of him.

While Jason is at school Anne has become the mother hen to Max. She makes sure he gets his naps and loves him like a baby. Max loves it!