A Cup of Christmas Tea....

When I was 15 my mom gave me this book and the first of my Christmas china. I have treasured this since the Christmas I opened my teapot and dishes. My mom started a tradition with me that year and it has been a joy in my life and in my children's life. For 5 years my mom every Christmas added to my Christmas china, and now I have a lovely set.
Here was our tea party this afternoon.....my boys love this as much as me and my daughter. Abe and Gwyn dressed up, Gil put on a costume then gave up. Tucker is too old an cool to dress up for tea parties anymore:(

I did an plate of just veggies for this boy!

Abe got PB&J instead of cucumber sandwiches. He was cracking us up during the party he would only speak in a somewhat of a British accent all party long. He was heard saying things like, "Right good tea party mother. I believe it will be a jolly Christmas after all." What?

"Hot Hot Hot Hot Chocolate"

Mr. Gilbear did pretty well....I think he only spilled 2 times.

Thank you allrecipes.com for these tasty little sandwiches.....

Let's try this again....

If you have ever wondered what a palm tree looks like with snow on it.....this is it.
If you have ever wondered what my kids and the neighbors would do with it.......make a fort of course.

Tucker BEGGED me to let him stay home and play in the snow.....I'm such a sucker. Abe on the other had wanted to attend school and his classroom day of The Polar Express. So Abe went to school (good little boy) and Tucker and half the neighborhood stayed home this morning to get some white stuff time. Tucker and Nick were building their snowman when Jen walked out to get some video of it. Nick (her son) yells at her "what are you, stupid?" I giggled real good at that.

My baby just wouldn't keep his stinkin' gloves on.....

For the record she is not "always done up"!

This was how my ingenious son and friends moved there snowman base from our backyard to our front yard. We have snow, but not enough that we don't have to use the front and backyard.

Gilbear had his own "baby snowman" he loved it. Thank goodness he got over the whole Santa Snowman thing.

Here was the end result! Pretty good snowman for Southern Utah! This snowman was VERY heavy and needed a dad to lift up the sections. Thanks Steve! When they were all finished we warmed them up. Fixed Geena's hair (hopefully). Put fresh clothes on and sent them to school. Tucker's note read "Please excuse Tucker from school this morning. He HAD to play in the snow before it melted. Thank you, his Mother"

Pathetic isn't it?

Here are Tucker, "big D" and Gil running to find some kind of sledding hill..... Notice that there isn't much snow, just the white stuff falling from the sky. Here in our town this is considered a LOT of snow. Why do we even own a sled? I think Nannie gave to them to use at HER house.

Abe decided to try to make a snowman instead.....here he is telling Kyrstin about Greta breaking her arm today while rolling his first ball.


All four of my kids in a mish mash of clothes saved through out the years....we did live in snow once upon a time. I do believe that Gilbear is wearing something of my cousins Jacob or Eli. Snow clothes aren't a necessity down here.

Here is the boy who has asked a million times today if he could make a snowman and Santa. I promised after his nap he could try. He finally gave up when his hands were bright red and he couldn't feel them anymore. Why he wouldn't keep gloves on I'll never understand. I hate to say it but his Santa never came to fruition.

Abee baby only lasted 30 minutes. He of all of my children likes the cold the least. I think he is a bit like uncle Tim. When he is done he is done.

Tucker rushed in the door from school, dressed in his snow clothes and we didn't see him until dinner was on the table at 6 o'clock. This boy woke up depressed on Sunday because there was no snow on the ground. Then when he woke up to falling snow today he begged me to stay home today or at least check him out so he could play in the snow all day. I mean.... I didn't.

Princess here, enjoyed every moment. her goal was to make a heart in the snow??? Okay.

She stayed out until all her friends went in and I have to say she couldn't help but have her tongue out the whole time trying to catch some snowflakes.

See?

Here is Tucker and his buddies just before leaving to the ball park to find a hill to snowboard/sled down. I guess they found one because he was soaking when he got home.

This is Abe's end result of his snowman. I don't know why he chose to use the neighbors muddy yard? Let's just call this a "southern Snowman". Well, I am off to bed to dream of another snowy day before Christmas. What a treat to have some of that white stuff today. Would it be to much to ask for a repeat of tomorrow? Would it also be to much to ask if it could be back in the 70's by Christmas day? I think Santa might be bringing some outdoor items.

Thank you.....

Thank you to all who fasted and prayed with our family for Greta. The support we have been given this week has been amazing. Thank you! We will know more later this week.

We NEED a MIRACLE!!!

Will you help Greta?
My amazing sister Kennan and brother-in-law Trevan have found a diagnosis for their perfect baby Greta. Yesterday the Neurologist informed them that he thinks Greta has Ataxia Telangiectasia. They are doing testing today to make sure that this is what it is. The doctor has told them not to give up hope, but to also be prepared because this is what all the test lead him to believe. After a day of crying through out our whole family we are ready to take action. We will be having a Fast on Sunday and ask everyone to join in, whether you are of our LDS faith or not, we need your prayers. We are circling the wagons...that's what you get when you are one of 6 siblings.
There has never been a better, sweeter, or more snugly baby than Greta. I am not just saying that. It is a known fact. We are really hoping for a MIRACLE. If not a miracle, then miraculous strength to carry on. They will find out later next week what the final word is, in the meantime they need all of the positive energy the universe has to send to them:)
We love you Kennan and Trev!

A confession......

I am often accused of Gwyn always being "done up". First of all, is that so bad? Second, I always explain to people that I have three boys and so my ONE girl has to be as girly as possible. I think that here and now things need to be cleared up.....The truth of the matter is that my little girl has so much spunk and attitude, or in other words can be so naughty that when she is so dolled up I feel less angry at her. That's right! The conversation in my head goes like this, "Is that permanent marker all over the wall behind her beautiful bed? Did she just sneak out of the house again to go play with Janessa, Gabe, Oli, Talon, Grace, Or Emee? Is she running outside in nothing but her underwear in this cold weather?" I curl up my fists and scream through my teeth "G-W-Y-N-E-T-H R-O-S-E" She pops her head around the door and smiles like she has done nothing wrong. I want to spank her bum and yell my lungs out and then I think, "well, she looks so cute...." I may still yell and we will have words and she will spend her 10 or so minutes in her room and then all is well for the next 20 minutes. That folks, is why my daughter is always dolled up.....so that she might live another day.

Thanksgiving whirlwind.....

This year for Thanksgiving we ate with my husband family....We always stay at my mom's but every year we trade off (like everyone else I suppose.) I helped my mom and sister Paige get dinner ready and the house looking fabulous for dinner. Meanwhile, the rest of my family was playing a rousing game of football with cousins, neighbors, and our friends from home (the Laytons). My man and kids came in to get ready to go to Grandy and Grandpa's house. It's not that I like Gwyn more but p-l-e-a-s-e she is so much more fun to get ready than my boys. I mean my boys would look totally weird wearing bracelets and bows...right? I am totally in love with her hair in ringlets.....maybe a little less than in love with how long it takes me to do it, but the end result just make me happy:)

This year we had the Minnesota crew here and so Grandy and Grandpa decided to rent a huge party tent and host us outside. I had my doubts as to how this would turn out....(so did a few other people who showed up just to check it out.) Like always my mother-in-law did a bang up job on it and everything looked beautiful and tasteful/tasty. Here is a picture I snapped of it.

Grandy always adds the best touches....yes that is a chandelier hanging from the tent. They also had a heater inside so that we didn't get cold.....in case you were wondering.

This is my plate of food! I am hungry just looking at it again...

That night after things settled down (kind of) my mom, sisters, and I headed out to see Australia.. It was sooooo good and we all loved it. We somehow forgot to call Kennan at her in-laws to tell her we were going and we hurt her feelings and we all felt bad. SORRY K-dig:( But in all fairness one of my sisters and her husband were arguing about her going, the dinner dishes were still everywhere, and our movie started earlier than we thought. So ten minutes before the show started we jumped in the car and went.

* My fantastic husband did the dishes for my mom and tidied up everything (even though we did not eat there!) He is just so great! He did have help from that other husband who was not to thrilled about his wife heading off to a 3 hour movie, so he totally redeemed himself.

The next day Brooke and I did a Photo Shoot for this very nice family.

These are the parents to all of those kids and grand kids and great grand kids. He is very ill and won't be around long. They were very sweet together.

While I was busy snapping pictures my man had all the kids at the mall for Santa pictures with all of their cousins...isn't he great! We love cousins. My boys would like to live next door to Amy's kids. Amy handles the chaos of a million kids running through her big beautiful home SO much better than I could. Really, I want to be Amy when I grow up.

*P.S. Notice my daughter snuggled up to Santa...she may have some serious man issues. Should I be worried?

After the mall and photo shoot Gil had a short nap and then on to Grandy's for a tea party for the girls.

Kate is my Amy's oldest and she helped Grandy set everything up. Yes, she is that beautiful inside and out.

I loved Grandy's Decor for the party.

My mother-in-law makes the BEST ginger-snaps EVER!

Here is cousin Ella from Minnesota. She is so dang cute and is Gwyn's same age. Gwyn was very smitten with her.

This is Millie, Amy's youngest daughter and she is a year older than Gwyn and Ella. She is also amazingly beautiful and she is full of it. These three girls together are so much fun together. They all worship Kate and would like her to play with them all the time.

One of the games Grandy played was pin the Fairy on the flower....how cute is that?
She is trying....

Saturday Uncle Jeff, Uncle Dillon, and my man took all of the big boys fishing. I headed to Park City with my mom, Paige, Gwyn and Gil. Gwyn threw-up in the car and Gil was not feeling himself. This is why I have this picture up for you to see. We headed home earlier than we had planned because my kids all looked like Gil in this picture with a runny nose...sick! A small price to pay for a great weekend with FAMILY. What a great weekend. I love Thanksgiving. I could go for a turkey sandwich right now...how about you?

Janessa's family.....