Happy New Year!

I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am for the new year!!!  2013 was a rough year for me.  I struggled in every area of my life and I am so glad it is over and so excited for a fresh start.  I love resolutions and setting goals, so this is definitely my cup of tea.   This year I set some resolutions and had my kids fill out a little questionnaire about themselves.

This Year:
A bad habit I'm going to break:  Um, swearing 
A new skill I'd like to learn: Crocheting or playing the piano
A person I hope to be more like: My mom in law, Debbie.  She is so patient and kind
A good deed I'm going to do: Hopefully lots~service for my family and my young women 
A place I'd like to visit:  Lava Hot Springs
A book I'd like to read:  Prince of Wolves Series
A letter I'm going to write: A letter to my kids teachers letting them know how much I appreciate them. 
A new food I'd like to try:  Freezer Meals
I'm going to do better at:  Spending less time on line and more time with my kids.  
A goal I'd like to accomplish:  Finish my personal progress for the 2nd time (the first time I was in high school) and read the old testament (I just finished the Book of Mormon and am working on Doctrine & Covenants).  I'd also like to do the 52 Week Money Challenge I found on Pinterest and update our 72 hour kits.  

Kadee took first in Tramp and floor
at their in house gymnastics meet. 

Kadee made me breakfast in bed
on New Year's Day :)

Curtis family great grandkids

Grandpa & grandma with their kids

Connor:

My favorite food: Deer Steak

I love to play: Basketball, baseball, and football

My favorite song: That's My Kind of Night

A place I'd like to visit: Portland

My favorite book: Spiderwick

My favorite treat: Butterfinger

My best friend: Chance & Chet

I love the color: Blue

A goal I'd like to accomplish: Run 50 miles

Kadee:

My favorite food: Chicken

I love to play: Preschool

My favorite song: Royal

A place I'd like to visit: Florida

My favorite book: Nobody listens to Andrew

My favorite treat: Caramel Popcorn

My best friend: Jordan

I love the color: Pink

A goal I'd like to accomplish: Learn to play softball

Kinlee:

My favorite food: Chicken nuggets

I love to play: Doctor

My favorite song: Trouble

A place I'd like to visit: To grandma Bet's and the zoo

My favorite book: Pete the Cat

My favorite treat: Gum

My best friend: Kaydree

I love the color: Pink

A goal I'd like to accomplish: To be potty trained at night ;)

Matthew:

My favorite food: Cereal

I love to play: Trucks

My favorite song: Cruise

My favorite book: That's not my Dolly

I love the color: blue

A goal I'd like to accomplish: to be potty trained

Christmas 2013

We had such a wonderful Christmas, but we always do. Christmas Eve we went to Derk & Debbie's for our annual Prime Rib dinner and to watch the kids act out the Manger scene and open presents.  The kids were up bright and early Christmas morning to open all their gifts and see what Santa brought them.  They were so excited to see all their gifts and to show their cousins all the stuff they got.  The definitely made a hauling.  I always go overboard, but I also try to teach them the real reason for the season.  After Christmas we were able to go to Salt Lake and visit with Grandpa Wally, Great grandpa & grandma Bet, visit the Zoo and see the Zoo lights, and go to Cassi's mission farewell.  After the farewell we went to my Uncle DR's house for a yummy Italian meal.  Rory swears my aunt Janene's Alfredo sauce tastes just like the Olive Garden.  I can't believe 2013 is almost over, but I'm relived and excited for 2014.  I've already been making resolutions and love the promise of a new year. 

Christmas fun

We have had such a fun couple of days.

The kids were able to make some fun crafts at school and they all had some fun parties in their classes.  Thursday they got to ride the bus to the district office and watch Santa fly in on a helicopter.  The whole school got to go as a reward for doing all their reading. Then they were out early Friday to begin their Christmas vacation.

We had an ugly sweater contest at the Branch family Christmas party as well as a visit from Santa.  We had so much fun visiting with old Saint Nick (aka Rory Bradley) and decorating our ugly sweaters.  Rory actually won the Ugly Sweater contest and his took about 30 seconds to make and wasn't even an actual sweater (see picture).  The day before the party Debbie, Nicole, and I took the kids down to the church to bake.  The boys played ball in the gym while the girls helped us bake in the kitchen.  We made a variety of goodies and they all turned out so yummy.  That night I went to a girls night to Britt's and watched the Time Out for Women broadcast.  While there I was able to make Christmas gifts for my Young Women.  I found this awesome saying on Pinterest, so I printed it out and put it in a frame and tied a cute ribbon around it.  I think they turned out so cute and I was so excited to give the Young Women a gift from our presidency that I felt was very meaningful.

 The elf on the shelf has continued to visit us and play silly tricks on us.  Just recently he hung Christmas lights around the bathroom mirror and wrote a note to the kids.

We have had such a wonderful holiday season and I can't believe Christmas will be here in 2 days.

December is always busy, busy, busy, and this one has been no exception.  Max Powers has been playing tricks on us, we've had several Christmas parties, and have made some fun treats for school and parties.  Since pictures speak louder than words, I decided to show you all what we've been up to...

Max Powers left us a treat, um gross?!

My mom and Gary had their annual breakfast and we opened presents.
We usually do this on Christmas day, but they will be in Mexico,
so we celebrated early.

We got a new dog, her name is Bella and the kids love her!

Kinlee & Matthew touched Max Powers (Matthew loves
to get a rise out of the other kids, so he touches him
frequently).  Santa left a note and bandaged up our poor
little elf, Kinlee decided to read him a book to help him
recover faster.  

Kadee wasn't feeling well so Bella decided to keep her company.

We have had fun making neighbor/
teacher gifts.  This particular one was
for Kinlee's preschool teacher.

I made these at enrichment and thought they were too cute not to share (:

Connor made a Gingerbread house at school.
His teacher sent me this picture and laughed
because she said he got more frosting on his
pants than the house. 

Kinlee & I made these cute reindeer for her preschool snack. 

All About Kadee...

This post is all about my sweet little Kadee.  She has been busy lately with all sorts of fun activities.  She started Achievement days, a couple months before her 8th birthday, but they invited her to start coming a little early.  Last week she had her Christmas Choir Concert and her first Gymnastics meet.  She did so fabulous at both.  Her Christmas Concert was at Carbon High School and it was grades K-2nd.  Each group learned different Christmas songs and performed them.  It was the best Christmas concert yet.  They sounded amazing and the 2nd grade did so great.  My favorite song they sang was, "Santa's Job is a Snap!" The motions they did with it were awesome and they all knew their parts so well.

Saturday she had her first Gymnastics Meet in Huntington.  She took 1st on the Double Mini, 3rd on the Tramp, and 5th on the Floor.  She was super nervous but did fabulous.  Her double mini was absolutely flawless and I'm so glad she has found a sport she loves.

Saturday night we had the Bradley family Christmas Party and after we took Kadee and Connor to Frozen for a date night.  It was the best Disney movie I've seen in a long time and Kadee loved it.  She snuggled mom and dad, enjoyed popcorn and candy, and loved spending some time with us without the little ones.  It was such a perfect week, I wish all the weeks were as great as this one was.  

Christmas Traditions

I thought it would be fun to post some of our favorite family Christmas traditions, so here it goes:

Elf on the Shelf~   He came to visit us for the first time last year and we have loved it.  It is simply magical to see how excited the kids get in the morning to see where he has moved, plus whenever the kids are naughty I tell them Max Powers is watching and they start behaving immediately.  This year I have a little elf named Connor that helps Max Powers (our Elf's name) find new places to land.  It has been really fun to share this excitement with my kids.

Christmas movie~Every year I buy a new Christmas movie and one day a week we watch a Christmas movie as a family, doesn't sound like much, but the kids love it.

Christmas Eve~ We love to go to Derk & Debbie's for Christmas Eve.  Debbie always makes us a delicious Prime Rib dinner, the kids react the birth of Jesus and then we all open our presents from Grandma and Grandpa.

Scriptures~ Starting Dec.1 we begin reading scriptures about Christmas every night before bed.  We have a tree we color as we go so we make sure we read them all. I hope this helps my kids to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Chocolate Countdown Calendar~ This is the best.  The kids love eating their chocolates.  In fact, Matthew loves it so much he ate all his chocolates the first day and now cries every time the kids eat their chocolate and he doesn't have one.

Breakfast with Nana & Papa~  Nana and papa make us breakfast Christmas morning.  We go to their house and have eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, hashbrowns, the works.  Then we open our presents.  The kids each get a stocking full of goodies and a new ornament too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last Saturday Kinlee had her first ever dance performance at the Helper Craft Fair.  She looked adorable, but wouldn't dance AT ALL.  She stood on stage and watched all the other girls dance and didn't move a muscle.  She loves to do the dance at home, but isn't a fan of dancing on stage.

This Thanksgiving was one of my favorites yet.  A couple days before Thanksgiving Connor's class and Kinlee's preschool class had their Thanksgiving feasts.  Connor's feast had everything from mashed potatoes to pumpkin pie.  Kinlee's feast consisted of finger foods like Carmel Apple cookies (the treat she brought) to pie as well.  I got to help with both feasts and had such a great time visiting with the kids and teachers and helping in any way that I could.  The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we showed the movie Planes to the entire elementary school.  The kids brought pillows and blankets and the PTA provided popcorn.  It was a fun way to kick off the Thanksgiving holiday and to give the teachers a little break.  I also got to visit Kadee's classroom and see all the cute things they had been working on for Thanksgiving.  I loved the turkey in disguise she made and also the water color turkeys they hung on the wall.  On Thursday we went with Rory's family and had a delicious dinner at the old institute building in Price.  Rory and his mom killed one of the Turkey's we had been raising and cooked it especially for the dinner.  It weighed over 36 lbs. and turned out delicious.  I didn't like helping kill it, I thought it was sad, but Rory did it in the most humane way possible and didn't let it suffer.  This is the 2nd year we have killed and eaten our own home grown turkey.    

Matthew painted his belly while doing a craft

Saturday Kadee and I went to her best friend Jordan Shorts' baptism.  It was such a great day and so special for Kadee to see her friend make such a great decision.  Kadee is so excited for her own baptism and has even started going to achievement days. 

Kadee's Turkey Hair

Kinlee's Turkey Hair

Kadee's class water color turkeys

Connor at his feast

Connor's Class Feast