Merry Christmas!

It was a great Christmas day that ended a fun Christmas season! I wanted to put a few of my favorite pictures from the last week on here. There's nothing better than seeing big boys sitting on Santa's lap.

On Christmas Eve, we continued our tradition of going out to dinner. This year we went to Mountain Mikes and pigged out at the pizza buffet. We usually go to a movie as well but this year there wasn't anything we really wanted to see. So we went to the dollar store and let the kids pick out their own candy. Then we went home and watched Home Alone together. We also had a great time decorating our gingerbread houses. We did it in teams this year. Kierra, Katie and I were on a team together and failed miserably. Our house collapsed! Jadon, Kyson and Jake were a team and Daddy and Jaxon were a team. They all did really well but the final vote was Daddy and Jaxon as the winners! (The house on the left)

We had church at 9:00 a.m. today so we decided not to do any of our Christmas until after church. We put wrapping paper across the opening into the front room so the kids couldn't see what Santa brought. They were so excited to come home and bust through the paper to see what Santa brought them. We had a fun Christmas morning and everyone was excited with what they got. Katie was especially cute. She LOVED everything she got and sat and played with everything all day. We had a wonderful day. The kids got along all day. I am so thankful for my family and all the many blessings that we have!

Adventures downtown

We have had a few fun adventures downtown in the last couple of days. On Sunday morning Jadon, Kierra, Jaxon and I were lucky enough to go to the conference center to watch the Christmas concert. We only had 4 tickets and Dale was nice enough to volunteer to stay home with the little kids. I really wish he could have come because it was amazing! The music was wonderful and very powerful! I was glad that my kids had a chance to see it and I hope we can again next year!

Last night we went down to temple square for Family Night to see the lights. We had a good time, even though it was very cold. We haven't done this since Katie was born and I have missed it. I can't believe Christmas is only a few days away. I am always sad when the Christmas season is over. I'm sure we'll enjoy being together with all the Christmas activities the rest of the week.

Birthday shopping trip

Kyson got some money for his birthday so I took him to Walmart to pick out what he wanted. He was so funny. We got a cart and I let him put all the things that he liked in it. When he was done going down all the aisles, we set all the stuff out so he could start eliminating things. I told him to take away the thing he wanted the least.

We kept doing that until he was down to the things he wanted the most. He had it narrowed down to 6 things and was having a really hard time deciding what to get.

He finally picked his 3 favorite things and was pretty excited about it. We had a great time shopping together. The best part about it was that I got a whole bunch of ideas for Christmas.

Officially potty trained!

I started potty training Katie exactly two weeks ago. It really has been super easy! I guess that's what you get when you wait until they are 3 to start. She has only had 3 accidents the whole time!

She gets to pick out a sticker to put on her sticker chart every time she goes potty.

And...she gets a gumball! That is what did the trick. She loves gumballs so she wanted to try and go potty all the time just to get the gum.

She is now going potty without telling me and has gone 4 straight days with dry underwear. She has woken up from her nap dry from day one and the last 3 mornings her diaper has been dry.

I would say she is officially potty trained! Yay!!! I can't believe I don't ever have to do this again! Now we have to work on getting rid of binkies at nap time so she can get a big girl bed!

Tired????

Yesterday when Jadon came home from school I was mopping the floor. He came in and plopped down on the couch. Not even 2 minutes later, I turned around and he was asleep. I guess his busy life has caught up with him.

Kyson's 7th Birthday

Kyson's birthday was last week but I wanted to wait until he had his birthday party before I posted his pictures. This was Kyson's first birthday party and he has been excited about it for a long time. He was very set on going to nickelmania for his birthday. He had a hard time deciding what friends to invite because he has so many. He ended up inviting 14 kids. I was pretty hesitant about keeping track of that many kids in an arcade so I made Dale and Jadon come with me to help. Dale was so good to keep track of them. When we all went into the building from the parking lot, Dale made them stand in a single file line and follow him the whole way.

The kids had a great time playing games and getting their tickets. Luckily we were the only people there so we had the place to ourselves.

Kyson got way too much stuff for his birthday but he was really excited to open it all. Kyson is a great kid! He is nice to everyone! (I guess that's why he has so many friends) He is very tenderhearted and concerned about a lot of things. He is such a good brother to Jake. Even though Kyson is younger, he watches out for Jake and always makes sure he's doing the right thing. He's doing great in school and is becoming a good little reader. Most of the time, he has a smile on his face and wants to do the right thing. I am so thankful he is in our family! I love you Kyson!