Christmas Day

It's finally here! Time to open all the presents. The kids got everything that they wanted and I had alot of fun watching their faces as they opened their gifts.Emma got a Disney Princess kitchen from Santa!Preston got the RipStick that he wanted.

Emma is opening her Baby Cinderella doll.

Jonah's new shoes!

Christmas Eve

Time for our annual Christmas Eve party with the entire family. This year is a little different. My mom just had more reconstructive surgery. I hope that my sister doesn't mind, but I copied her blog and added it here. She has a way with words and I wanted to share her thoughts with those that read my blog.

This is from my sister Dawnelle:

"As most of you know, my mom had breast cancer in 2004 and underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy. The surgeon she had at the time was trying to be sparing concerning the amount of tissue he took, and he left some of the cancer. What a favor, huh! About a year and a half or two years later, the cancer came back. She did not have to do any more chemo, but she did have to have more surgery and then undergo radiation. They got all the cancer, and she has been cancer-free since. However, radiation bakes the skin and makes it tight. Her skin continued to get tighter and tighter until finally she had had enough. She likened it to a piece of leather that got wet and tightens as it dries. She was uncomfortable all of the time and she decided it was time to redo her reconstruction. She went to see a specialist at Huntsman and he took skin from her stomach and moved it up to replace the tightened skin on her chest. She is doing well, and is in good spirits and I hope that she feels better after all is said and done. I have watched my mom endure so much and I am so proud of her. She is an amazing woman. Cancer is a monster, and once it shows its face it leaves life long effects. I hope that I can avoid going through all that she has been through, but should that be my fate, I have a hero to look to for hope and comfort."

My sister is a wonderful woman and has the biggest heart of anyone I know. I echo her sentiment and I am so proud of both her and my mother. I look up to them both and I hope they know how much I love them.

We had a great time together as a family and it's always fun to watch the little kids open their gifts.

Family Time

We got a Gingerbread House kit this year for the kids to put together. It was alot of fun and they had some great ideas!

SANTA!

Time to visit Santa! Emma did not like Santa at all!

Temple Square

It is such a beautiful sight to see Temple Square during Christmas. The lights are always perfect. Our trip to Temple Square this year was very eventful. We walked around looking at the lights and made our way to the Reflection Pool. The kids thought this was very cool. We stopped and looked for a while and decided to take the boys in the old Tabernacle. We walked thru the gate to the temple grounds and just as we passed the temple, I hear Randy ask, "Where's Jonah?" I said, "I thought he was with you." Well....we had left Jonah standing by himself at the Reflection pool. Randy, Alex and Connor ran back to Main Street and started looking. Preston, Emma and I waited in front of the temple. Soon Connor came back and said that they couldn't find him. Just when I thought I was going to passout, Preston and Connor screamed "JONAH!" There he was holding a lady's hand and crying. She had been walking him around looking for his mommy. She saw us and asked Jonah "Is that your mommy?" I started crying and she came over and gave me a hug. She was very kind and I am very grateful to her. It's very nice to know that there are still good people out there. We finally found our entire family and went on with our sight-seeing. Even though we had trauma, we still enjoyed ourselves.

Emma's Birthday

My little Emma just turned 2! She knew that it was her birthday. If you asked her what day it was she would say "birtday". It was too cute! I tried to take pictures, but my camera was out of batteries and my charger for my little camera is lost (children!), so I took pictures with my cell phone. Well....I just got a new cell phone and I can't figure out how to get the pictures from the phone to the computer! So, needless to say, I will post the pictures as soon I can figure the phone out!