Our Christmas 2009

Our Christmas morning started WAY too early - but we had fun.

Before opening presents we read all the notes in the "Jesus' stocking".
We had a FHE at the beginning of December and talked about Christ's birth and I asked the girls if we gave a "gift" to the Savior for Christmas what they thought he would want and we all agreed that He would want us to be grateful and give thanks for all of our blessings and then serve others. So, throughout the month of December individually we have been writing down service we given (or service that was done for us) and also things we are thankful for. We put the notes into the special stocking. The stocking was STUFFED and it was so fun to read all of the things that were written. It was a great way to start the day and a new Christmas tradition for our family (we did something similar before but this worked better).



Santa spoiled us again this year...

We spent the remainder of the day:

Davis played with boxes/ garbage. Hallie read one of the 50 new books she got.

Campbell ate lots and lots of sugar (btw the buzz light year pez dispenser was his very favorite gift). The girls tried on their new clothes.

Campbell watched movies on his new Teddy Bear's tummy.

Megan and Hallie played littlest pet shop and horses and Polly Pockets and dolls and everything they could think of for hours and hours. They did not fight ONCE! It was a Christmas Miracle. ;)

Trevor installed the replacement DVD player in our truck and realized he can't see out of the rear view mirror now.

We had such a nice Christmas this year. It went by way too fast and we really missed our fam - it was fun last year to visit, but we feel so blessed to have each other and great friends around us and we especially feel blessed to know that our Savior lives and loves us.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas 2009

What we did on the Eve of Christmas

Piggy-back rides and dancing to Christmas music.

Back massage for Hallie and watching Christmas movies.

Megan's turn.

Davis and Campbell's turn.

We had some dear friends over for treats, a game of Hilarium (hilarious as always... hence the name), and a nativity with the kids. Davis was a wise man.

Liam as Joseph

Hallie as Mary

Issac as the baby Jesus

The kids had so much fun and did a great job.

Campbell refused to participate... he's two you know.

Ellie made a great wise man er...wo-man too.

Afterwards all the kids gave Issac the ride of his life pushing him around the house in the manger/ laundry basket.

Another shot of our little wise man.

Heavenly Angels- Megan, Eden, and Kelsey

And that's what we did on the Eve of Christmas... it was great!!

Our Journey to Bethlehem

Last night we took our long journey to Bethlehem... Kentucky (about 30miles away). We sang Christmas songs and looked at all the Christmas lights on our way to see this live nativity.

It was cold and we were all bundled up in lots of layers.

The live nativity was so neat. The people in the tiny town of Bethlehem, Kentucky do this every year and take turns in the nativity scene (they must have been FREEZING!). The stable even had real animals in it including a donkey, a cow, and two sheep that the kids enjoyed feeding.

I loved that we were able to go as a family and do something fun but also focus on the true meaning of Christmas. As we drove away I felt such gratitude for this little town who do this great service to all who make the journey to Bethlehem.

Again thanks to our dear friends (practically family) Kristine and Brett for leading the way.

Caroling at the Nursing home

When I told the girls we were going caroling at the nursing home they were thrilled (not MY response when I was a kid). Hallie said, "That is my favorite part about Christmas because it makes them so happy and they just smile at us when we sing."
We decided to make some Christmas cards for the residents. Hallie and Megan wrote a special message and drew a picture in each of the 50 cards! They did such a great job and the people loved them.


We sang and sang and sang our little hearts out. One lady kept asking for "one more". She said, "I'm one hundred years old and I may not make it much longer!" I think we sang her 10 songs!

Thanks to Kristine and Brett for setting this up every year. It is a highlight of our Christmas.

Campbell Says

" Megan's gunna be a grandfawder and I'm gunna be a mommy." Megan tried to explain to him that that was not possible but he was very insistent.

In the back seat- "We're going SUPERfast! Are we winning mommy? Are we winning the race?"

Standing on the back of the couch (big no no) with one arm reaching up the sky, "To the Rescue!"

What I love about Our Kentucky Home

It occurred to me the other day that many of my Utah friends probably think that Louisville is a little town in rolling hills Kentucky full of white fences, fields, farms, and horses everywhere.

That's what we thought before we came here.

So, I thought it would be fun to tell you a few things about Louisville... our home.

Louisville has a population of 1,244,696 in the metropolitan area. To give you an idea of how big that is Salt Lake City has a population of almost 200,000 so just times SLC by 6... it is a really big city. Louisville lies on the banks of the Ohio River and the skyline is absolutely beautiful at night as the city lights reflect over the river and huge bridges. It takes my breath away every time we drive over the bridge into downtown at night.

Of course Louisville is famous for The Kentucky Derby and Derby is a big deal around here. The whole city really comes alive during the Derby.

And if you go to Derby you MUST wear a great hat. Here is Megan's Derby hat.

We live about 15 miles from downtown in a beautiful area.

We do have a lot of horses in Kentucky but one thing Trev and I think is cool is in Louisville the horse fences are usually painted black not white.

We have grown to love the black horse fenced fields.

The beautiful Louisville Temple is only 3 miles from our home.
It is not uncommon to run into this guy at Costco or the elementary school or of course at church. He has a son out here.

Fall in Louisville is absolutely GORGEOUS. You don't have to drive up to the mountains to get spectacular views. Kentucky is thick with trees and I took the above photo when I was just running some errands one day. That is a typical road out here (very skinny with trees up to the edge of the road).

The freeways (especially I71) are so pretty. That's right, I said the FREEWAY is pretty. There are rock walls with water trickling down them and moss growing on them. There are huge trees lining the sides of the freeway and green grass (don't need sprinkling systems out here because of the humidity) that grows up to the roads and covers everything.

When we came here from Utah it was the first thing I noticed.

This is our house (before we added the new room above the garage).

We just love living here. It is home.

First Snow

Louisville got its first snow last week. It lasted about an hour. ;)

Gingerbread

We've had lots of fun with gingerbread this Christmas season.
We went to one friends home and made this fun gingerbread house.

And then we got some gingerbread men to decorate as a family from another great friend.

Thanks friends!