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Cut your own hair 101

Christmas up north

12/16-12/20

We decided that for Christmas this year we weren't going to spend it up north with family.  We were going to spend it down south with just our little family.  My feeling is, the kids are getting older and it's getting harder with Santa and everything, so we just decided it might be easier this way.  So, from Friday to Tuesday the week before Christmas we headed up to the cold air of Northern Utah to see our families.

Jaxon had a basketball game on Friday in North Sevier.  We didn't ever make it up to see one of his football games and he's a senior so we thought we should probably see a basketball game.  After getting lost for a bit (thinking it was South Sevier...not North) we finally found it and were only a little late.  Luckily they won, or Jaxon wouldn't have heard the end of it.  :)

After the game we drove up to my parents.

Saturday was busy!  We had the Booth party that night, that my parents were in charge of this year and we were trying to do Christmas that day too.  Xander did find some time to play in the tiny amount of snow left in their backyard from a storm probably a week or so before.  But he enjoyed it.  He mostly walked like a bear and then raked it.  But I was able to have him make a snow angel for me.

We had our Christmas with my family that afternoon.  We were all spoiled!

Xander recently decided that he likes legos.  So it's a good thing Grandma and Grandpa got him some.  He spent the rest of the trip playing with them.

Then we had the annual Booth Family Christmas Party.  It's a tradition every year that after we eat all the grand kids (well, it's mostly turned into great-grand kids) get up and sing or dance or play an instrument.  Pretty much just do something Christmasy.  We've done it ever since I can remember.  Now the family is so big that we can't gather at Grandma and Grandpa's anymore, so all the kids (my uncles and aunts) are taking turns hosting at their church.  This year we got the stress.  :)

I got the prettiest picture I could find of Jace.  haha

And don't mind my chubbiness...still pregnant, remember?

My kids went back and forth about which song to sing, wait, they're not singing, o wait, they want to sing.  It was terrible.  Finally on that day we decided they were going to sing a Primary song: "Picture a Christmas" because they knew the first verse.  They were awesome...and Natalie accompanied them...she was awesome too.  Tabitha was just there for moral support.

The party was a success with LOTS of leftovers which is unheard of for a Booth party.  Usually there isn't enough because people only bring enough for their family and don't think of the 50 other people who need to  eat.  Some of the cousins got to catch up, but I just feel like the once a year that we get together isn't enough for some of us.  (I'm a little bit of a social bug, so I like to talk.  What can I say?)

The next day was Sunday.  It's so weird going to the ward you grew up in when you're all huge and pregnant and have 3 other kids.  But it is what it is I guess.

We headed up to Jace's house after that to have Christmas with the Vernon's.  Jeanette had a YUMMY dinner waiting for us and all his brothers and sisters were there.  It was great.  We even got a picture of all the kids together.

We visited his grandparents and Jace's parents actually took all the grand kids to a movie one night.  Very ambitious on their part, but it all went ok.  :)

 I was able to get away Monday and go to my Grandma's house.  My mom and her brothers have been clearing it out for about a year of all the stuff so my mom wanted me to come down and see if there was anything I wanted.  It was so strange being there without her.  She's been gone since Sept of 2010 and this is the first time I'd been to her house since.  It just...sucks.  But we made it through, and I actually did better than I thought I would with all the emotions.

So, we stayed at Jace's parents until Tuesday when we came home.  Then all we had to do was wait for the real Christmas.  But it felt like it was already over.  Weird.  Who knows if we'll try to do our own Christmas next year.  I'm not sure if we really liked having it all to ourselves.  It was strange.  We'll see.

Merry Christmas!!!

Classic Christmas Jammies.  (it took us a few shots...as usual)

I snuck out before the kids woke up to see if Santa came...he did!

Taya's pile

Xander's pile

Aliyah's pile

Jace and Anne's stockings

I'll fill in the Christmas morning details later.  But let's just say that Santa had a rough time this year.  Just yesterday Aliyah came into our bathroom where I was getting ready and asked me why there was a Barbie Dream Townhouse in the guestroom under a blanket.  (Are you kidding me!?!)  After that the kids went wild looking everywhere for presents.  Jace had left some for Taya in the car and Xander came running in the house..."Aliyah!!!  I found some presents in the car!"  Santa just can't trust us with keeping the presents safe I guess.  Next year he'll just have to keep them in the North Pole.

And as you can see from the pile, Xander ended up getting off the naughty list.  Lucky for him.  He was close to not making it.  But due to his sister's kind heart, mom and dad agreed to give him an extra 5 chances or so and he did make it to Christmas.  Phew.

O - and do you like the stockings?  Just finished them yesterday.  :)  They look weird when they're filled, but very cute empty.

Anyway...Merry Christmas to all!!!

funny things they say

The other day I was dropping Xander off at a friends house.  As he got out of the car he said:

X: Mom, why don't you surprise me while I'm gone and clean up the house?
M: Why don't you clean up the house?  It's your mess?
X: Cuz I want you to surprise me.

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I had spent the morning cleaning and trying to get the house to look halfway decent.  Aliyah had moved her coloring book from the table to the counter where she was busy coloring.

M: Aliyah, I asked you to clean up your coloring book, not move it.  Can you put it away?
A: But Mom, it will be better for my life if I keep coloring right now.

Yah, I'll tell you what will be better for your life...

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bowling

12/12/2011

Took the kids bowling for family night.  They LOVE it on the Wii so I thought we'd indulge them.  They actually did pretty good.  Aliyah would get a running start and just chuck it down as fast as she could.  Usually it would barely make it to the pins.  Xander got bored because he wasn't getting all the strikes like he does on the Wii, so Taya finished his game.  She absolutely LOVED it!  She would hold the ball in her hands (mostly I was holding it) and then we'd throw it down the lane.  She giggled the whole time the ball was rolling.

The game ended like this:

Aliyah: 72
Xander: 91 (Jace helped him out a little too)
Anne & Jace TIED: 119

We all pretty much sucked.  But we had fun doing it!

since when did they get this big?

I took the kids in the backyard to snap some photos for grandparents.  I started to look at them...and my kids are all grown up.  What the crap!?!

Seriously...what happened to my K.I.D.S.?

Run, Run, as fast as you can...

12/14/2011

At preschool today Xander got to catch the Ginger Bread Man.  Then they built a house.

Yep...he still falls asleep in weird places

12/4/2011

This is Taya's closet.  He was throwing a fit after church and put himself in the closet and cried himself to sleep.