Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas, in spite of our travel plans failing due to heavy snowfall! We wanted to go to Chico to visit my parents, and had been planning the trip for months. At least we were safe and cozy at home instead of stranded on the side of the road in Nevada somewhere.

Will and his cousin, Andrew, chillin' at the Oldroyd family Christmas party at Uncle Taylor's.

Elizabeth and her cousin, Quincy--partners in crime (er, I mean "curiosity")

Kids at our family Christmas dinner--we tried salmon this year instead of turkey or ham and it was an amazing success.

Will and David taking a long winter's nap

Lining up before going out to the tree on Christmas morning. David was not happy to be awakened before daylight!

I wonder where he is going to hang this up!

David loves the animal noises this toy makes

Two fancy princesses--Miss Sarah and Miss Elizabeth

Sarah and her new doll, "Susie"

Preparing to go sledding at Rock Canyon Park--what a ride!

Ta-dah!

Here is Elizabeth's new look:

Oops

Is something missing?

Knowing Elizabeth, I have sensed this was coming--I just didn't know exactly when it would be. Yes, she is grounded from using scissors for a very, very long time. Luckily we took pictures last month! Anybody know a really good child's hairstylist? I can try, but I admit this is a bit beyond my expertise of trims and buzz cuts.

SNOW!

We have had some beautiful snowfall the last few days. Of course the kids headed over to the Marriott Center (at BYU) and it's great hill for some fun sledding. Paul pulling Elizabeth up the hill

Happy Birthday, Will!

It's official--Will is now 16! He celebrated by NOT taking the ACT test (since he took the SAT last weekend), sleeping in, eating French toast for breakfast, enjoying a snowstorm (driving in it, that is), and going on his first date--to a school dance. Actually, the date was a group of ten couples. The boys made a spaghetti dinner for the girls, everyone played games, they went to the dance, then played more games. I think he had a fun day.

Getting Ready for Christmas

I was trying to get a nice picture of Sarah, Elizabeth, and David after church last week. Here are the results! (Don't laugh)

When you have lots of young kids, you really don't have to plan much in the way of Christmas activities--they sort of plan themselves. When I take the time to sit back and watch, I find my children creating their own fun. Of course I have things I want to do with them, but I used to try to get them to stop what they were doing to do "my things." It turned out to not be as enjoyable as it could have because it was rather forced, or at very best it was stressful fun. This year I am trying to let my kids be kids and just enjoy watching them together.

This year for our Christmas tree, we cut down a blue spruce that was growing in our garden right under the power lines. It couldn't have lasted there many more years, and this year it was the perfect size for our living room. The best part is that is has very sharp spines. This may not sound good, but it is an excellent deterrent to one-year-old fingers hoping to undecorate the tree.

We let the kids hang all the ornaments. They had a blast.

Thanksgiving Feast

We had a great Thanksgiving Feast this year. There was so much food that we had to borrow Jared's parents' house to hold it all! Turkey & stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans, fruit salad, sweet potatoes, ham, cider, egg nog, cranberry juice . . .
Then came the PIE! Banana cream, oreo cream, egg nog cream, cheesecake, pumpkin, apple, lemon meringue, and triple berry. Plus, we had great company! My parents, my grandma, my aunt and uncle and two cousins, my brother, and our family.