Abigail - Princess Doll

Abigail was a princess doll with four other girls in the 2nd grade Christmas play. My friend Dawn Higley saved me a place on the front row and Abigail smiled at us the whole time. Isn't she a cutie?

 

 

Allison's Thanksgiving Play

Allie was in a Thanksgiving play recently at her preschool. She practiced her lines all morning but when it came time for the actually performance she clammed up. Baby steps......

Allison was a pilgrim here but wouldn't wear her bonnet.

Allison & Brytnee Cooley

 

What is it with the hands in the mouth that makes kids feel more secure?

 

 

Here is Allie and her best buddy McKenna Burk

Bad Mom

Today I totally feel like such a bad mom. The other day I got some cute little flossers for Abby and Allie to floss their teeth. After Abby's 4 cavities this fall, I have been quite diligent about making sure that I brush both Abby and Allie's teeth every night. They just don't get to the back teeth very well. I normally don't take my kids into the dentist until they are around 4-5 and I have never had any problems with all 5 of my older children until sweet, little Allie. So imagine my surprise when I was flossing Allie's teeth and I got on my knees to look up into her mouth and I discovered a very black molar in the back and 1/2 of it is missing. I just felt sick to my stomach when I saw it. I had her first visit scheduled in Jan. so I immediately called the dentist and got her in this week.
Well if you know anything about Allie - she is DEATHLY afraid of any kind of doctor, including the eye doctor. She gets weak in the knees, her face goes pale and she feels clamy. Well she was crying and I had to put her on my lap in the dentist chair. I had to hold the x-ray in her mouth only to be told after he looked at it that I should take her to a kid's dentist over in Twin Falls. The black molar will have to be removed and an appliance will have to be put into it's place so that all of her other teeth coming in the back do not crowd and she also has some other cavity issues that he saw. She will probably have to be sedated because she won't cooperate and will probably be tramatized for life. Yeah and then the dental hygenist says - "you know you should bring her in for regular cleanings and check-up's so that she gets used to the dentist." Really? Wow - that is a novel idea. I already feel pretty crappy, but thanks for that.
So learn from my mistake and take your children into the dentist office well before they turn 5. And - if your children complain about their teeth hurting - check it out. (She had complained about her teeth hurting but then it just went away). I am just sick about it and it brings me to tears just thinking about it. Dang.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

We decorated the Christmas tree Monday night for FHE. The kids love to help with this and can't wait to see their new ornament for the year. This is Zach's last ornament - he has 18 now and they all have a little history behind them. Allison picked out all of the ornaments this year for the girls and I know that you will find this hard to believe but - they were all princesses! Go figure! Great memories.
(BTW the tree fell over the first night we had it in the house. Luckily there wasn't anything on it but the 7-Up water mixture was all over the floor. We have since then shampooed the carpet and secured the tree. Hopefully won't have any more mishaps!)

 

Hannah got Tink this year. I don't know if it is her favorite princess but it is very cute complete with Pixie dust and all.

Rachel's favorite princess is Belle.

Allison's favorite princess is Sleeping Beauty but we had to settle for Cinderella since a Sleeping Beauty could not be found . She must have been sleeping somewhere! She has already broke off a wheel and the door. I don't think that she understands that it is a look but do not touch thing.

Melissa got her beloved Ariel.

Abigail got a mixture of Tink's fairy friends as her ornament this year. Her favorite princess is Jasmine but she must have been hanging out with Sleeping Beauty because she too couldn't be found.

Zach's favorite T.V. sitcom is "The Office" so he got an ornament around that. Isn't he so happy?!

Here they are - all six of them. Zach was getting mad at me for taking multiple pictures. Go figure. My little camera is fast and compact but you have to have a steady hand when shooting a picture.

A visit from good friends

It was so great to see some old college friends Mark & Elaine Hicken and their 5 children Sat. night. They are such a neat family and it was so much fun to eat and catch up with them. I was sad that Alan wasn't there to do that with us but I promised to come and see them soon. I just wished they didn't live so far away (Hurricane, Utah).
Elaine was a college roommate of mine for a couple of years in Logan, Utah  and then Alan and I lived next to Mark and Elaine in a house in River Heights. We had some great times together back in the day with the Pontius's. We got together about every weekend. I sure do miss them.

 

Thanksgiving Fun!

For our Thanksgiving feast we met up with Alan's family minus Mark's family at the office. We had such a great time and wonderful food! I did the yams and rolls this year. We had fun playing a present game and we laughed as Issac screamed and wouldn't pass the present. We played one game of sardines and that was enough for us! Laura Campbell introduced us to a dice game that was also a lot of fun and very competitive. It is great have Jane and Leon back home from Chile. We missed them.

 

True and Abigail drawing a picture on the dry erase board.

Uncle Glen brought his four-wheeler and pulled the kids around on a sled.

 Allison and Brighton had so much fun together!

 

Alan and Zach got in on a game of PIG outside.

 

The girls had fun sorting through Apples to Apples.

Melissa was hiding from Jonah and his Nerf gun.

 

 Eating pie and getting ready for games.

My best friend.

O Christmas Tree!!!

This year we went on the Wed. before Thanksgiving to cut down our Christmas tree in the South Hills. Zach and Alan were going to a BYU-Utah game on Saturday which traditionally is the day we go and get our tree so we decided to go early. It was so peaceful and we practically had the whole South Hills to ourselves!
We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day! It was so nice that you could wear a jacket if you wanted to. We tried to drive up to our spot that we have gone to the past couple of years to get our trees but 1/2 up the mountain we could go no more! The scary thing was that we were on a very narrow road with very few places to turn around. We managed to back the trailer up into a small clearing on the side of the road. We then unhooked the trailer and got the truck turned around, took the four-wheelers off the trailer (we had four with us) and then hooked the truck back up to the trailer and pulled it out so everything was heading in the same direction. We loaded the four-wheelers back up onto the trailer and proceeded to the Diamond Field Jack's parking lot. Last year we were able to drive all the way on to the top and the year before that is when we got hit by the kids in their grandpa's truck. Memories... Bryan even got to share them with us this year! He was a good sport about it all.
From the parking lot everyone loaded up on the four wheelers and rode on a trial for about 2 miles before we spotted this great clearing with all these wonderful trees. We cut one down for the Leavitt's, our house and Zach's grave. The day couldn't have been complete without some chili dogs and hot chocolate! Good times....

 

The girls tried out the sledding hill and because the trails were not blazed yet they didn't get too far.

Allison and Abigail rode in the trailer in search of the perfect tree.

Alan giving Bryan pointers about the four-wheeler.

Alan working hard at cutting down a tree.

 

The girls had fun playing in the snow. Abigail had glove issues on this trip.

This clearing was down in a little valley and going back up it was quite the work-out.

Rachel ready to head back.

Here we are loading up the trees. Allison had so much fun on this trip! She never complained once and walked the whole way!

Here is the finished product. The kids have to put ALL the ornaments that they get every year onto the tree.