Christmas Day

 I told the kids they could wake us up at 6:59. Jason and Ashley were up at 6:40.  They were happy to waite for the "big" kids to wake up.

 Here they are in the traditional waiting at the top of the stairs . We had to stagger because the "little" kids are getting big enough that they hide the "big" kids.

 Jason and Ashley got I pod touches from Santa.  They were pretty excited.

Maggie played and played in the wrapping and with her christmas toys and then she fell asleep half standing up.

Happy sweet 16 Allison

 Here is Allison's sweet 16 birthday present.  A brand new baby kitty all for her very own. Its all she asked for and she has not stopped smiling since we took her to pet-smart and let her pick it out from a litter of seven very sweet kittens.  It was a hard choice but this kitty won Allison's heart.  Now she just needs to give it a name.  Ashley can't wait until she is 16!!

Allison is a sweet, happy ,fun loving teenager.  She loves to sing, dance and laugh.  She loves animals and her family.  We love you Allison--Happy Birthday.

Thanksgiving 2012

James had to work from 9-5 on Thanksgiving so it seemed we had a lot of time to do all the baking and get the turkey in so we could eat by 6:00.  Jarin and Allison baked pies on Wednesday, Karen baked a few on Thursday.  Jarin wanted to stuff the turkey like grandma Townsend used to do so we did that and had the turkey in with plenty of time to get done.  James came home at 5: 30 and said there was no way the turkey was even close to being done.  To make a very long and funny story not so long and funny(we all promised to remember the fun and not the arguements and orneryness) we finally sat down to eat Thanksgiving dinner at 8:00 p.m.  Good thing we were not planning to do the early pre-black Friday sales.

Here are a few things we did as we waited to eat our yummy dinner.  Which it was very yummy by the way and the turkey was the best turkey we have had for a very long time.

Allison and Ashley did a minnie round of 3rd grade arm wrestling.

A little bit of Ashley

Ashley was a hippie girl for halloween. She is the only one who really dressed up.  It was kind of a quiet, mellow halloween.  Its weird when your kids start to grow up.

Ashley turned 10 on Wednesday November 14th.  She is such a sweet girl and so fun to have around the house.

 

She wanted a slushy magic for her birthday so she can make her own slushies and milkshakes.  Jarin brought her home some BYU creamery cookies and cream milk so she could make a milkshake.  It was yummy and fun.

The girls and I have been watching "Cupcake Wars" on TLC. Ashley wanted to go to a cupcake place by dance that won "Cupcake Wars". She got a snickerdoodle cupcake and a vanilla one.

This is the Vanilla one. She thought it was beautiful.  The cupcakes were very yummy.

Carve-a-Rama at the Chuck-a-Rama

James decided to do a ppumpkin carving party at his work for all the employees and their families.  So we went too.  It was nice making a mess and not having to clean up

 I guess the end products are first in this blog.  Ashley's pumpkin is sticking out its tongue.

 Jason enjoyed the eating a little too much.

 James made homemade root beer.

 Jarin had to consult Allison on how best to carve his pumpkin

Jason had about 20 donuts.  Everyone brought a treat.  James took our chocolate fountain and had fun things to dip in it.  Our favorite was the bite sized scones.  YUM

My sweet little 9 year old girl

 So Ashley went to her first little "late night" party with Addie and Heidi (two little girls I babysat since they were all babies).  They had pizza and played night games.  She came home so happy and excited about the fun she had that she just seemed to glow.  I was watching her and thinking how fast they grow up and how much you miss these moments.  I wanted to remember her and her cute personality.  It made me think about when I was 9 and how happy life was and how exciting these little memories are.  I love her messy hair worn in her favorite style--"flat down" and her cute knees, her favorite shoes that she just had to have and she loves so much. She is silly and happy and crazy and smart and sweet.  I love you Ashley!!!!

A Sunday afternoon activity

Jason and Ashley thought even the temple grass was better then any other grass!!!!

Temple pictures

 Our stake president asked us to do a family home evening lesson on the importance of temples before the Brigham City Temple dedication next week.  So we talked about temples and then we went to visit three temples near our home.  These are so out of order but it was fun.  This is the church by the Draper temple.  How pretty is this? 

 These are a few of Allison's choices for her future home--also up by the Draper temple.

 This is the view from the Draper temple of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. 

 This is the view from the Oquirrh Mountain Temple of the Draper Temple.  It is kind of hard to see. 

 Oquirrh Mountain temple pictures.

Again this is up by the Draper temple--Why can't I make them load in the proper order. I don't have any pictures of the Jordan River Temple because the grounds were closed.  I had a few of the views from the other temples but they were hard to see so I did not blog them.