Christmas Eve Fun

I guess we've created a tradition to host a dinner at our house every year for Christmas Eve. Last year kind of got out of control when we did the Nativity. There were rumors of a mutiny (by a 9 year old) if I made him be in it this year. However, he was saved because it was a little too hectic with our other activities. We had fun even so. Our festivities included Mexican Food for dinner and a graham cracker house contest with PRIZES! Woo!








Look at all the beer (root) drinking! :)


How do you get 16 kids to all make a graham cracker house at one time? Very carefully!

Combining all the years of experience of having groups make them, we came up with a plan:
1. Separate all the candy into individual bags
2. Make the house shells ahead of time (saves tears and frustration for little hands)
3. Put icing in condiment bottles ($1 at Walmart) or empty glue bottles **This was great! we didn't have to mess with leaking icing bags that little hands can never hold right!**
4. Have a contest where everyone gets a prize for a great house!

True Confessions

I've heard my sister say this a couple of times so I will steal it from her and say it for myself: I'm blogging for myself and that's all that matters.

I say this because I am rather slow in posting the happenings in our life. For example, I didn't get any of Big Z's wrestling matches posted last year. I also never blogged about our San Diego trip in April. I did Facebook about it so maybe that counts. So I will attempt to get a few posts up about some of the recent past happenings.

Stay tuned...

More Snow!

On the way to St George, we stopped. Actually we stopped quite a bit. Ah, the memories...

Anyway! One stop for gas was in Flagstaff and we let the girls out for some snow time.

Nice Shoes, Boo!

Daddy? Can you come pick me up?
This will soon become a signature picture for Boo. Kind of like Flat Stanley who travels all over the country/world. "Where is Boo now?"

Here's the same pose in the Hoh Rain Forest in March.

Look Mom! Snow!

Being the Desert Rats that we are, my kids don't get the pleasure of waking up to snow on their front lawn EVER! So imagine their surprise when we were in St George for my Uncle Dennis' funeral and they awoke to snow. It was almost better than Christmas! Too bad I couldn't convince them that Santa wasn't necessary this year because of their early gift.
Krispy's snow angel (do you see the orb? some say it's celestial spirit caught on film. hmm..)

Cross Country

Annie has taken up Cross Country. Why anyone would want to run for fun is beyond me. However, she's a force to be reckoned with. Though only in 6th grade and competing for the first time and competing with 7th and 8th graders, she had consistently been in the top 13 from the very first meet. Her first meet she took 13th. Her second meet she was 9th. Her third meet she was 9th, and the latest meet she was 10th (due to slacking over the holidays, ;}). Next week is championships where she will medal if she places in the top 10. She will also medal if she is in the top 3 in her grade. She would have qualified for both medals in all the meets (minus the first one) if they gave out medal in those races! GO Annie!Run! Don't Talk!

We accused her of being too nice and letting her teammate go ahead of her. "Next time, push her down and take the lead!!" I have such nice kids. I know they get it from me!
9th Place (video is messed up. I will repost and fix it soon.)

Here are some pics of yesterday's meet:

The starting line

Halfway done

10th place (the video runs too fast. I am trying to fix the problem and will repost it.)