Sledding.....

The Smith Family.....They appear on my blog every few months. Ally is one of my best friends EVER and I think you could include Wes in that category too. My favorite thing about them is that they are always game for WHATEVER. So when Bob talked to Wes the night before we headed out sledding they were in. Don't mind that their baby is 6 months old. Ally is so kick back that of course she would bring miss Emiline.
Ahhh....isn't she beautiful!

We decided to go up AF Canyon to the Smiths usual spot. It was great except no one had been there since it had snowed 16 inches or more. We were really trekking to make it up the hill. My boys thought it was great. My littles, not so much.

Here are my boys.....

Here is Ally and Wes's oldest Ben. He is 4 going on 12. He was such a trooper, up and down those hills and then he would ride down crazy on his disc. He was making me tired just watching him. He was the last to come back to the car.

Here is my man....

My brother Brad and his adorable daughter Gabi came with us. I have to say that he is the reason the sledding adventure came to be. He left a message for us when we got to my mom's that he would be down first thing in the morning to go sledding with us. He really can be quite bossy. So we were ready to go sledding when he got to my mom's.

Here is Ally. We went to lunch with our friends from High School the day I left to go home.(somehow I forgot to bring my camera) I rode with Ally and Holly. As Holly Hunsaker walked up to the car I told her she looked just like she did in High School (it's been a couple years that we have been in town at the same time.) Ally turned to me and asked why I don't ever tell her that.......then we both started laughing. Ally liked to dress like a boy whilst in our teenage years.....it was the era of grunge after all. Look at her now! She is BEAUTIFUL! I love this picture of her.

Here is Wes....

Adam and Gil

My Abe....He and Tuck just have so much fun together. It was really hard to have them so close as babies, but it has turned out so amazing for the two of them.

This was the spot that Gwyn was in almost the whole time.....not so much into the snow thing. Hot Chocolate is always great though.

Tucker warming up after a major crash.

Gil just loving his orange.....if you ever want to kidnap Gil just show up with some oranges and he will come with out a fight. Okay, but don't really kidnap him, we love him to pieces.

Nothing like a winter picnic....

Christmas Festivities.....

Every Christmas Eve, as it starts to get dark, we leave the lights off and light candles. I fix a yummy dinner of Cornish Game Hens and other Christmas-ish things. We eat in candle light and then we also read and re-enact the Nativity scene. Here we have Gwyn as Mary and Abe as Joseph. Abe gave us a hard time about baby Jesus having pink bows....what can you do????


Gil was our sweet/but oh so grumpy Angel.....who fought having to wear this white tee shirt.

Tucker had a few roles....Three Wisemen, a Shepard and he also took it upon himself to be the star......that is what he is doing in this picture. The candles help keep things really mellow....

until Joseph and the star/Wiseman/Shepard start wrestling!

Christmas Morning was GREAT! The kids didn't get up until 7:30 am. We woke up to a white Christmas, I think that hasn't happened in St. George in 80 years. Thank heavens Santa brought Gil his wiggly car, because that was all the boy really wanted.

Gil knew what was going on this year. He loved every moment of the day. He is showing you his new ornament.....pretty exciting.

Gwyn was a little out of it all day. Bob decided she was in some sort of trance all day. Gwyn's Santa list went like this: A cell phone ?

A Computer ?

A wiggly car

REaLLy????

Abe also wanted a wiggly car, but the rest of his which list were boring video games...sniff...sniff

When did my boys get so big? It felt so weird not having Pokemon, star wars, tech decks, Tomagatchi's, or Lego's (okay we still had a few Lego's)make an appearance Christmas morning.

Tucker asked for a guitar and lessons from Santa. He was pretty excited. Wow, he is 9 years old. Can we go back a few years.

This year we decided (okay, I decided) our presents had to be homemade to each other. Of course I had already had this denim quilt in mind. You see the year we got married a lady in my mother in law's ward did a demonstration of how to make a denim quilt. Since then (10 years) my husband has been saving jeans in hope that someday I might make him one. Money being very tight this year, I decided that this was the year. Poor Bob kept saying "what am I going to make you." I thought that I was being very secretive and working on it during the day and sometimes at night if he was gone. One day my neighbor Jen was over talking to me as I sewed when in walked my husband who had a job over by our home. I started screaming to get out of the house, and I tried to hide my almost finished quilt....he walked in looking very afraid of me, and very apologetic.....he told me later that he had pretty much guessed that's what I was doing. So much for being sneaky. I will say this, Bob has loved his quilt and covers himself when ever lounging is going on.

After a few presents were opened in the morning my husband passed me over this present. When I opened and saw this wooden box I wondered if he had made me some sort of jewelry box....but when I opened it up my heart jumped out of my chest! I have wanted this lens for months! I rented it for a photo shoot that Brooke and I did over Thanksgiving, and I was in love. I started dreaming about this lens...seriously.....in quiet moments Bob would ask me "what are thinking about" and when I didn't answer he would say, "you're thinking about that lens again aren't you?" I would embarrassingly nod my head. When commercials would come on about jewelry I would think "I would much rather have that lens than jewelry." I really love this lens. All that being said though I NEVER thought he would get it for me for Christmas. First of all, I knew how much it cost, and knew our money should goes else where. I also really believed he was actually making me something for Christmas.

I would love to tell you Christmas morning I was cheery and so excited about this new lens, but I was kind of mad. We couldn't afford it right now. He kept telling me I was giving him the worst response ever. Apparently we have it on camera. After the kids opened all their presents and had a HUGE breakfast Bob told me how he had sold a kidney:) and I could relax. After our traditional "take the kids to a movie Christmas Day" outing I started to get really happy and excited about my new lens....hooray he is the best husband ever. A shout out to Adam who built the box that held my favorite present ever! Besides my children of course.

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.