...snow days...

We finally took the kids sledding this week....the park is about a 30 second drive from our house....so I'm feeling a little bit lame for waiting so long to go. The kids were thrilled, especially Miss Laityn. She is still talking about the "train" they made out of sleds.

Sweet big sister.

Lady's face is awesome! She could have done this all day long!

Tim thought it would be a good idea to send Jace down the hill alone....wow, he was so wrong. This is the face he was sporting once the sled stopped. Poor boy!

Carter crashed and burned on the jump....at least there were no injuries.

I take that back....Tim's back is still giving him grief (more than normal) thanks to this little run!

Maddy stayed clear of all jumps....she hasn't forgotten last year's landing after soaring off one of the jumps.

Helpin' dad get movin' down the hill...everyone wanted in on that. Such a fun day! We finished it off with hot chocolate and lots of marshmallows. I'm thinking since we got our sledding action done, I wouldn't mind one bit if it all just melted away!

...I wonder what would happen if....

Ever wonder what it looks like when your sixth grader falls down the stairs?

Kenzie is sporting a nice bruise on her backside after this little incident. I still haven't figured out how she ended up backwards and through the wall....Pretty sure this will take more than a little spackle and paint. And just when I thought I was going to attempt to catch up my scrapbooks...We decided instead of patching the wall, we're going to put up bead board around the bottom half of the room. Not exactly what we had planned for January....typical, typical, typical.

...celebrate the times....

We celebrated New Year's with the Jorgensen family. Tim and John have been friends since they were in high school. Kenzie and Zach were born a week apart, and now we have 9 kids between us all. We introduced them to Rock Band....pretty much spent all night rockin' with the kids. Zach is a born drummer....I think his parents know what to get him for his birthday....

Carter is concentrating so hard in this one....Lady is in the background, running circles like a crazy person!

Oh so many streamers...all on Carter's head....

Kenzie...losing the war of the streamers...

Such girls...both of them!

It was a fun night with way too much food. We had enough to feed 4 or 5 families....we'll be eating leftovers for the next week. 2008 has been a good year for us. And we have loved getting hooked up on blogs and facebook. It so fun to keep up on what everyone is doing, and see everyone's families growing up. Hope next year is at least as good as the last one!

...remembering grandma....

Yesterday would have been grandma's 94th birthday. Grandma was reunited with grampa in 1999, after a long fight with Alzheimers. It was a blessing for her journey here to end, but it was still hard to say goodbye. Grandma and grampa Murphy lived on a farm down in Bridgeland (near Duchesne). Their farm was the biggest adventure. The pile of lumber leftover from a torn down canal bridge became our fort. We turned the old couch springs into trampolines, and Lexie and I hid away all the rocks were collected from the lake under some loose boards. I can remember grandma smashing spiders with her fingers..."They won't hurt ya!" and clipping her nails with the paper scissors. There were always homemade pancakes and syrup for breakfast, and we drank milk from old tin cups. When grandma moved to Provo, we came to visit and swim in the condo's pool. Grandma's dresser mirror was always bordered with pictures of the grandkids and cards we had made for her. She loved the temple, and was there every day. Sweet grandma later served an 18 month proselyting mission in Ohio. I still have the letters she wrote to me.

This picture was taken the day Kenzie came home from the hospital. Grandma was never happier than when she was with her family. We didn't see grandma as much as her Alzheimer's worsened, but I remember mom bringing her home for lunch one day. We were eating soup from Yogurt Parlor. Grandma looked right at mom and said "This is so good. I'll have to tell Hazel about this place. She would love it!" Mom just smiled and said "You're right, I'm sure she would." Then mom and I had a good chuckle. Even in her forgetfulness, she was still thinking about her family. Aren't we all so blessed to have had such wonderful grandparents?

christmas eve love

So......this is going to be a fairly lengthy post. If I'm too wordy, you can just skim through the pictures..they're the best part anyway! Christmas Eve is my most favorite part of Christmas... all the good stuff is still a few hours away, and the kids can hardly stand the waiting! I always take a picture of each of the kids on Christmas Eve..this year Tim and I even jumped in for a couple.

After all those serious shots, we needed a few silly ones in the mix. I think these are my favorites!

We all went over to Grandma and Papa's around 6:00. Dad made his famous lasagne (thanks for the request Damon). While we were getting dinner together, grandma took pictures of each family in front of her tree (decorated by Dad!).

With dinner done, we got down to business. The Argyle Christmas Program... we've been doing it every year since...well, always! Each of the grandkids does something...sing, tell a story, play a song... Someone usually tapes the show and it makes for great entertainment in coming years. We recently watched the video of the Christmas story from 1998. Kenzie wouldn't give her gift to the baby Jesus. Kelly (dressed as Joseph) tried to negociate a trade... give Morgan (playing Mary) the gift and Kenzie could hold the baby. The baby ended up being thrown to the ground, Mary was pouting in the corner, and Kenzie was throwing a tantrum on the floor. It was a lovely program!

Carter played "Silent Night" with me. He just started lessons this past summer, and was oh so proud of his performance.

Lady sang "He's too Fat for the Chimney"...complete with the actions she learned at school.

Maddy played "Christmas Chopsticks"....and happily made it through with no mistakes.

Jace sang "Jingle Bells" and rang the bells so loud, we could barely hear his singing. He told me later "I was awesome mom!"

Kenzie played "Sleigh Ride"... if only she would practice her regular songs as much as she practiced this one!

This year's Christmas story used scriptures and prophecies from the Book of Mormon. Kenzie was in charge (power!!!). She assigned parts, helped get them in costume, and told them when to come out. Morgan was the narrator...she is a little old to dress up like a shepherd.

After the program, we all piled into the basement for a slideshow of the family. I put together almost 200 pictures of everyone from the past year. Not to brag...but it was awesome!! Everyone opened up their new pj's and squished onto the couch for the "jammie pics!" We have never had a picture yet with all the grandkids looking at the camera...maybe next year...but I doubt it. Grandma and Papa handed out presents to everyone..yippee! Tim Dunkley surprised my Dad with a "Quest for Perfection" t-shirt (in red of course)...but we all had that coming after putting the big play (...4th and 18, Collie's by himself down the field.. Max Hall throws and it is caught by Collie!!!!) from last year's Utah/BYU game into the slideshow last Christmas Eve. All in all, it was a wonderful night that went way too fast.

christmas morning magic

Christmas morning dawned a little late for our house this year. After a surprise wakeup at 2:30 a.m. from Maddy (she was so out of it, she didn't even notice Santa was there and mom & dad were still up and going) and another wakeup from Carter at 4:30 a.m., we were shocked that they all slept until 7:00. They all think Santa is awesome...he brought all the right stuff!
Jace preparing to fire his Power Ranger Motorcyle-shooter thing...almost lost an eye..hee!hee!

Laityn's new fairy wings and barbie were the stuff dreams are made of. She sported the wings all morning, and every day since.

Carter's shocked face is perfect! He kept saying "I can't believe Kenzie gave me her ipod!" We always have the kids give gifts from home. Some they make, and many are old toys that they save all year to give to eachother. Kenzie was getting a new ipod, so she reloaded the old shuffle with songs just for Carter...such a sister!

Maddy's face...also priceless...and due to a new pokeman card. Carter knew Maddy wanted this specific card, so he traded several of his favorites to a friend to get this card. He hid it away until about a week before Christmas, when he wrapped it up for Mads. And yes, Maddy is sporting new fairy wings too!

Kenzie thinks she knows all...but she was so wrong! Thanks to some table sanding and painting for Nicole, I scored this guitar for Kenz. She was awed! And she has hardly put that thing down. I can't believe her fingers are functioning at all...she plays constantly. We bought a teach yourself book with a CD is she is truly amazing...much to her disappointment, I am still making her continue piano lessons with me!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Snow much Fun!

Well...if you live in Utah...you already know we have more than our fair share of snow. Downside: driving.

Upside: hours of entertainment for the kids

This was the storm last week...we have about triple that amount of snow, and more on the way. Tim is going to have to break out the garbage cans and make a real snow fort...those rubbermaid cans make a great snow mold. Last year's fort was complete with a lights and a plywood roof. 2 days to go! Wahoo!