Christmas Day

As usual, Santa didn't disappoint. Daisy got the guitar she wanted. She was so excited. Now we just need to learn how to play it.

Lindsay got the My Little Pony playset she wanted.

All Cooper wanted was a train. He opened up the first one and was done. So the girls pretty much opened his presents for him.

Christmas Day is actually kind of chaotic. I really wish we could just stay home all day. But the kids like to go and see their cousins too. After we had our Christmas we headed to the Halls for more presents. All the grandkids draw names so that is fun for them. Then at lunch time we headed to the Days for more presents and food. They got Guitar Hero World Tour so that was pretty much the excitement for the day. We then went back over to the Halls to show Becky our new puppy. By the time we got home it was dark and we had a messy house. But it was a good day.

Funny story: The dog whined all night Christmas Eve so Daisy was determined to sleep downstairs with him on Christmas night and take care of him. We told her that dogs whine the first couple of nights and that he would be ok. But she insisted so we let her. At 1am she came to my room and said she hadn't even slept yet cause she was taking care of the dog and she needed to sleep. She said when he would whine she would get him out to hold him, thinking he would go to sleep but he just wanted to play so she got frustrated. She decided taking care of a dog is hard work and it would be ok if he whined.

Christmas Parties

We spend Christmas Eve with my family and the 23rd with the Hall's. Lots of good food and company. Daisy played Away in a Manger for us and did a great job. Lindsay sang Picture A Christmas and Jeff played for her.The annual Day nativity. If you're not married you have to be in it. Nice incentive to get married Randy, haha.

Good thing Devin & Kristin's baby will be baby Jesus next year. Avery wasn't too happy.

Of course Christmas Eve was fun for us all. We all got a present!

We love getting to see Great Grandpa Ben at the Hall parties.

Daisy & Lindsay were angels for the Hall nativity.

Daisy practiced hard to play this song. She played both hands and did a great job. I think Grandma Jan (her piano teacher) was impressed.
We enjoy the holidays and are happy we get to spend it with family. We have alot to be grateful for as we reflect on this past year. I am so thankful for my family, friends, gospel, and our health just to name a few. We are a lucky family.

Meet the newest member of the family

Yep we caved. I'm still wondering why. You know all the responsibility is on me no matter how much the girls and Jeff say they will do it. But he sure is a cutie. He is a 6 wk old Chorkie and he fits in the palm of our hands. His name is Chalupa. Just look at that face. He's won us all over.

Merry Christmas!

I absolutely love every picture that Liz took. It was so hard for me to decide which ones to print for my house. So here are just a few of my favorites. Have a Merry Christmas!

Christmas with a 2 yr old

Never a dull moment. I was trying to finish all my wrapping before the girls are home from school and Cooper decided that wrapping paper makes a good bat. He kept saying baseball.But it turned out to be more like golf. But that's a big golf ball and I finally had to take it away after I got smacked in the head.

This is the silliest nativity set. I found it a few years ago at the dollar store. It is for the kids to play with. So last night Cooper was sitting there playing with them and I was telling him about baby Jesus.

He starts walking them like this and I asked him what he was doing and he said "Park". I'm sure baby Jesus loved to go to the park. I was laughing so hard.

Mommy giving the baby a kiss. So sweet.

Santa

Daisy is almost 9 and she has been the one begging to go see Santa. So we went on Monday night for FHE. My mom, Jamee, & Toree came and we saw the line was long so they took the kids to the playground and Jeff window shopped and I stood in line for an hour! At least I didn't have to wrestle the kids. Thanks Mom. The girls of course were so excited but Cooper liked Santa from a distance but as soon as he saw him he said, Mom, no Santa. But then we told Cooper to tell Santa he wanted a train for Christmas so that made him happy. So Santa talked to him and said to be a good boy and he could get a train for Christmas.

And this is what happened when we were leaving. Cooper kept saying, Train. You see Santa said he could have a train but we were leaving and he didn't get his train. So sad. So we had to explain that he didn't have it right there and that Santa would leave it under the tree. I have some presents wrapped under the tree and Cooper keeps bringing them to me and saying Ho, Ho. So now I have to explain that Santa hasn't come yet and those aren't from Santa. Poor Cooper. I don't think he thinks Christmas is that great.

Temple Lights

Ok why are my images uploading backwards? I loaded this one last and now it's first.Anyways, it started off good and then just got worse. He is throwing a tantrum because we wouldn't let him get in the "pool". I means his hands and arms were soaking wet and it was chilly but he didn't care. We went in to the visitor's center and saw the Christs statue. Cooper loved looking at it and I was telling him about the holes in his hands and feet. He stared at it through that whole presentation. Then we went to see Luke 2. That's where it all went downhill. Needless to say Jeff got to stay out with him.

At least my girls are nice. Well, most of the time. But hey, they don't lay on the ground and scream.

He was nice. Of course this was the parking lot when we just got there. Little did we know....

Seriously, can the terrible two's be any worse? I guess he is just making up for the girls because they did not do this kind of stuff. Good thing he's cute.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

My pictures are uploading backwards for some reason. Anyways we had fun decorating the tree the week of Thanksgiving. Cooper didn't understand it at first. He just wanted to play with the ornaments and got mad when we put them on the tree. But since they've been on the tree he hasn't touched them. I even wrapped all my presents and put them under the tree and he hasn't been curious about them at all. He is obsessed with the lights though. As soon as we come home from somewhere and sees they are off, he says lights on! lights on! So this is him pouting on the stairs cause we were trying to take a pic of all the kids by the tree. And he ran away from me cause well he hates pictures.

Daisy and Lindsay posed for me. They were quite the decorators for me. Of course when they were done I had to move ornaments around but they had a great time getting all the stuff out. I just hope they are that excited when it is time to put them away:)

Northwest Lineman College

So this was the reason for our trip. (see post below) We haven't told too many people this yet, but we are officially moving! We have been trying to figure out a career change for us for awhile now and I feel truly blessed that we have been led in this direction. Jeff will attend the Northwest Lineman College in May. It is in Meridian, ID. It is a 4 month program and then we will look for a job with a power company where Jeff can be a lineman. We went and took a tour of the school and talked to some people. Jeff got accepted to the program a couple of months ago, but we didn't tell too many people just in case it didn't turn out to be what we wanted, But after visiting the school, I am so excited for Jeff and I know he is going to do great! After his school is done in August, we have no clue where we will go. Wherever Jeff gets a job is where we will go. It is a little scary not knowing the future, but I can tell you that when we were in Idaho, I knew we were doing the right thing and if we have faith the Lord will lead us in the right direction.

See all those poles? Yep my husband is going to be climbing those. They spend 2 hours a day in the classroom and the other 8 hours is out in the field learning hands on. That is going to be Jeff's favorite part. I can tell he is so excited to do this. A little nervous but that is expected. I know he will do great!

What we do know: Our house is for sale! So spread the word. We would like to be able to join Jeff in Idaho when school is out. We will just rent an apartment for the summer. When his program is done, if we don't have a job right away, we will start the kids in school there and find a job. Jeff has to do a 4 year apprentice program first. So this means we could be far far away. But once he is a journeyman, he can pretty much go anywhere. If we feel like we need to come back home to AZ then we will. But Jeff and I absolutely loved Boise! If we had a chance to move back there after 4 years, we would do it in a heart beat! We love our friends and family. That by far is going to be the worst part of this whole thing. But we need to do what we can for our own little family. We are super excited and thankful to our friends and family that have supported us in this adventure! We'll keep you updated!

Our Weekend

Jeff and I flew to Boise this weekend. It was glorious. I have fallen in love with that place. Granted it was winter and there were no leaves on the trees, but it was beautiful! I had such a fun time hanging out with my husband. It was sad to have it end. The kids had fun like always at Grandma Shellee's. I know they will always get love and attention when they are there. Jeff enjoyed flooring it in the Altima. He said it was fun to drive.

This is in town. There are houses and then just fields and fields of farm land. I love it. It gives it a small town feel. I want to live here forever!

On the way to the airport we saw the Boise temple so took a little detour to go see it. The temple grounds are definitely smaller than the Mesa Temple.