Jacob singing with his class, "Me and My Teddy Bear", "A Silly Holiday Song", "Frosty the Snowman".

Emily singing with her class, "Red and Green", "Christmas Bells",
"A Turkey Followed Me Home".

Rocky Mountain Elementary School
Cowley, Wyoming.
(December 2008)







Jacob (Age 5, Kindergarten, Mrs. Clark's class)

Emily (Age 7, 2nd Grade, Mrs. Baumstarck's class)

Yesterday morning Ryan and I went to the dentist (the two little kids were with us). We drove separately so I could go shopping afterward and he could go back to work. We got everything done there and went our separate ways. I was a little pressed for time since I had to be back for the kid's Christmas concert that evening.
When I hurriedly came out of Walmart it was cold, windy, and there was snow in the parking lot from the storm a couple days before, making it very hard to push the cart! I was trying to keep the blanket over the baby to block her from the wind, she didn't want that at all! My cart is stacked high, I have stuff stacked low, my baby is crying and throwing her blanket off of herself, I'm trying to keep Jared close and head off into the parking lot. But, before I begin my journey, the man who was standing outside ringing the Salvation Army bell handed me a big teddy bear for my kids. Hard to tell what I looked like if he was the one giving me charity--it should have been the other way around! LOL! I head off into the snow filled parking lot now with a big bear, dragging my cart from the front, throwing the baby blanket on the crying baby, telling Jared to stay by me and to watch for cars, and pushing the things on the bottom of the cart back on over and over. Oh boy, what a chore! Luckily, two wonderful ladies asked if I needed help, if it wasn't apparent, and so I laughed, thanked them, and we made it to the van with a team effort.
That was the longest 5-10 minutes of my life!

This morning when we got up for church it was -11 degrees outside. Our little house is chilly, but at least we have a wood burning stove in the front room! We bundle up to keep warm. Ashley looks cute all bundled up on our way to church!:)

The boys are enjoying the warm fire. Yesterday the big storm came in and with it came the wind. Boy, did it blow hard!! It blew all afternoon and all night long. The wind chill was -44 degrees. VERY COLD!

Well, Ashley got her first tooth! Her two little teeth on the bottom poked through last week.

The other day I was getting packages ready to send in the mail. I put my tape down to go do something else. When I came back in the room I couldn't find it. Jared's back was to me and I asked him where my tape was. He wasn't answering me or turning around to look at me. I asked him again where the tape was. He then turned around with tape over his mouth. He didn't know if he was in trouble or not. I laughed and left it on his mouth. I thought, that works for me!!

Last night I went to another ornament exchange party. It was very fun! It's always fun to get out and be with friends. Good food and good company is always a plus!
Here are the ornaments we made. We all make enough ornaments for everyone, then we exchange and get one from everyone else. (Mine is the red and green present.) These are very creative and talented women! I'm glad they're my friends!:)

Bottom Row: Rachel Simmons, Me, Amy Hedges)

I sent my girls to bed tonight and a little while later I went back to check on them. When I got to their room I noticed the door was shut. Right then Emily opened the door and this is what I saw to my surprise. She has way too much fun with her little sister! Cute!

After I made sure the girls were in bed, for sure, I went in to say good night to my boys. Jacob asked me to lay with him, in his bed. As you can see it is not that big! I did lay down by him and then he invited Jared to lay with us, with me in the middle! We actually did it--though it was squishy:) Fun memories!

A few days ago I was doing some things around the house when I wondered where Jared was. He apparently was tired and fell asleep on the dog's bed (I'm glad it is clean). Akira didn't mind at all. What a good dog!

These pictures of the girls were taken at home before we left.

Jared and a little friend were over by the ward Christmas tree playing with the ornaments while all the primary kids were performing. During a quiet moment in the program the other little boy yelled, "he's taking that off the tree!" Of course everyone looks over and Jared turned around defensive and yelled, " I am not! I putting it on!" He turns in my direction and sees me with the camera and knew what to do! He gave this great grin and held up the ornament. It made everyone laugh!

The kids did a nice job singing for their program.


After they sang Emily came over to the table and leaned in and said, "Frank is going to be Santa Claus! Who's Frank?"
The next morning, on the way to school, she piped up in the back of the van and said, "Frank was Santa Claus. Frank gave us the candy cane. And Frank gave us a hug! Like, who is this Frank guy?" She said it so funny!
(We told her he is Santa's helper)

After the kids went to bed I decided to set up the Christmas tree so they could wake up to a surprise.

It was so fun to see how surprised they were when they saw it the next morning. They were so excited!

I did save a few ornaments for the kids to put on. I figured I'd decorate the majority of it so it looked good and then they could add a few where ever they wanted so they could participate.








The boys wanted me to take their picture. So sweet!

It was time to cut Ashley's hair! We started trimming her bangs when she was a few months old but nothing else, until now.
She was all business in front and had a party going on in the back.

My little Ashley was born with a lot of hair. As you can see it was quite long in the back. For the last little while though her hair seemed to be a little unruly.
It had to go!

It only took one snip of the scissors across the back and it's much better!

I watched Desi's boys today while she worked on her new house. The kids were playing well together and I was busy doing my own thing. I went in to check on them and they had gotten some pillows and blankets and set up a cozy little spot on the floor. It was so cute and funny to see all of them laying on the floor together. It cracks me up that they got Ashley to lay down too. Good job boys! It's always fun having them.

Tonight I went with some friends to an ornament exchange party. Ryan babysat. It was so quiet when I came home. He had two kids asleep and he and the other two were watching "Polar Express". Nice job Dad! (He always does a great job! Thank you Ryan!)

We still have the baby swing in our living room and it sits low to the ground. Ryan said Ashley crawled into it, he gave her a bottle, and she fell asleep. So sweet and peaceful!

This is the ornament I got tonight. It is very neat! It is filled with bird seed but has little items mixed in with it that you can try and find. There is a list with all the items inside the bulb attached to the bow. I love this picture of Daddy and daughter!

These are the treats I made for the party.
"Pretzel Kisses"- Place a layer of mini pretzels on a cookie sheet. Put one Hershey kiss on top of each pretzel. Bake at 250 degrees for 3-5 minutes. When you pull the pretzels out of the oven push one M&M on top of each one. The chocolate should be soft enough to push the M&M to the bottom. (Candy cane Hershey kisses and Christmas M&M's were used in the above picture. Use any kind of Hershey kiss that is desired.)
This is a fast, yummy and easy treat the kids can help with.

"Candy Cane Crispies" - Make rice crispy treats as normal. Sprinkle and press the crushed candy canes on top of the rice crispy treats. Very simple and good!

**Notice the better quality of pictures! (I've been taking pictures with my phone camera for the last month and they just don't compare.) Well, my WONDERFUL husband bought me a very nice camera as an early Christmas present. I'm snapping pictures right and left just so I can use it:)