Partying it up!

We have been having SUCH a fun time having the kids home from school the last few weeks. When I heard that Christmas vacation was 2 1/2 weeks I admittedly had a lot of anxiety. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE having my kids around. I tend to get a bit tired of having so very many other kids around though. I decided at the beginning of the break that when I needed a break I would just send extra kids home. I was fairly successful! We have had MANY Christmas parties and little did I know that the parties weren't going to stop! We attended a music soiree on Wed. night that included me having to sit through a 40 MINUTE song! I enjoy classical music but 6 hours of it could put anyone over the edge. For New Year's Eve. Mat and I attended our yearly New Year's competition. We had a blast and came away with some great prizes.

We dressed up as softball players and looked pretty hot I must say. :)
Practicing our victory pose.

The following morning our friends called and said they wanted to continue the competition form the night before so we headed over to their house that night till 1:00 am when the kids called and begged us to come home.

The boys reward for being good while mom and dad partied it up was an annual ice-fishing trip in Pine Valley. Caleb refused to hold his fish the way Easton was and Easton thought he was so brave since his older brother was being such a wimp. Pretty cute.

Since Bailey had watched the kids all THREE nights we told her we would take her and her friend Jane to the new ice-skating rink.
We had a boy from Bailey's class that kept following us around the rink telling the girls they were too slow. I can't imagine why he just didn't skate somewhere other than directly behind them the entire time can you?

Oh my goodness he is SOOOO CUTE!!! Okay they really weren't into him but I got a chuckle every time he skated in front of us obviously trying to show off his mad skills and fell every time!

Brrrr!!!!!

Cute girls! We've lived in our house 4 years now and Bailey has yet to have a friend in the neighborhood that was her age and she got along with well. We are so happy to have Jane around!

The ice-skating rink was overall pretty fun. I haven't been in years and don't remember the ice hurting so bad when you fall. I took home a few souvenirs on my body to remember the experience. One in the shape of one of the girls blades. They insisted we hold hands most of the time in case they fell. Of course if I wasn't able to stop their fall they took me down with them!

That night the Green's invited us up for another night of fun games. It was a good thing our church didn't start till 1:00 on Sunday otherwise we wouldn't have made it. Four nights of staying up late can start to wear you down. So worth it though!

A Wonderful Christmas!

We truly have had a great Christmas this year. We've had many holiday parties with still more to come and can't get enough! These photos are quite out of sequence for our Christmas happenings but still just as fun. :) I got some fun items for my camera for Christmas one of which was a remote. Now I can join in some of the pictures I take with the kiddos and Mat. Yea!
Mat got a rototiller and although he was less than enthused about it, he was out the next day tilling up the garden. I can smell the tomatoes already. Easton was such a great helper with the project.

I hope our house isn't the only one that looks like this all through the day On Christmas. This is the straightened up version. The kids have put away most of their things at this point but still such a mess!

Awesome shot of us first thing out of bed. You'd think since my kids don't wake up until 8:30 every year I would be all showered and dressed. This year was the latest I think we've ever stayed up the night before. I'm still recovering.

This is one of my favorite things about having Santa stop by. I love the memories I have of sneaking into the living room to see my presents in the middle of the night and having the tree still lit. There is something so very magical about it to me. The kids each choose their spots and put a roll of wrapping paper there. That way Santa knows where to put their things and wraps them for us. What a great guy!

I always need a photo of the kids on the hearth before bed on Christmas Eve. Sheesh they are growing up fast!

Mr. and Mrs. Claus

LOVE those kiddos!!!

Christmas cookies are a must at the Holt's.

And a mess!

Sleeping beauties on their "beds" they made as we were setting up for one of the Christmas parties we hosted.

I always wish the season would last a little longer. I love the spirit of Christmas and spending time with family. Most of all I love the spirit that it brings into my home and heart. Merry Christmas to all!

It's almost here!!!

I was looking at pictures of the kiddos today and cannot believe how much they have changed since we have built our house. It seems like last Christmas that we were renting a home in Sunbrook and building our house. I realized this will be our fourth Christmas in our house. Easton was two in these pictures. For some reason I can't upload all of the ones I would like. There were some of the little guy sitting on the four-wheeler we got the kids that year. At first I thought I couldn't remember a time that Easton wasn't big enough to drive it. After all he was still in diapers. Then I saw a pic of him taking off by himself! What were we thinking???
Caleb had cut his own hair right around this time and we had to have it shaved completely to fix it. Easton just seems so innocent...

Bailey in first grade! Just starting to loose teeth and all!

We never fully moved into our rental. We knew we would thankfully only be there a short time so we never hung any pictures up and used one of my nightstands for a t.v. base. I'm a fanatic about my trees but this year the kids did all the decorating. It was such a fun year. I'm getting way too excited for Christmas. Good thing I enjoy all the fun stuff leading up to it!

Christmas Happenings :)

Low and behold we got some snow to help bring the Christmas cheer! I love it when it snows in So. Utah. It's just plain pretty to have the white stuff dusted all over the red sandstone. It's fun for the kids too. They where VERY excited to wake up Saturday morning to a very white yard. While I stayed in bed :) Mat helped the kids build a snowman. They used all of the snow from the front and backyard but felt very proud over their tall snowman. Until they went in the house to warm up and someone must've knocked him over. :( They were totally jealous.
So pretty. :)

We hosted a Christmas party for Bailey and her friends from school and cheer. While only 2/3's showed up we ended up with 20 girls! They had a contest to bring the most creative treat to share. Wow, is all I can say. So very MANY treats and so creative! Glad they weren't made in my kitchen.

Mat and I after our FHE attempts to make gingerbread houses from scratch. I am now a huge advocate of buying the premade kits. My house may never be rid of the sugar and who needs the extra drama of the houses falling apart because mom and dad can't bake? Be glad I can at least cook kiddos.

Awww.... We're so CUTE!!!

Bailey with her masterpiece!

Caleb's didn't quite make it. :(

Easton plans on sleeping in his tonight he said. Hopefully the walls don't cave in on him!

Happy Holtdays...

So I tried doing a thankful post but my computer did some crazy things mid-post and ended up spending the day in for repairs. Mat and I decided this year for Thanksgiving that we were going to attend only one dinner and spend the day with our own cute little family. Originally we were planning on just having a little dinner at home but ended up at my parents house instead. Before we headed over to the Nelson house Mat took the boys quail hunting and since Bailey had slept at her friends the night before I was able to take Peyton on a six mile brisk walk before getting ready. This turned out to be fantastic since I lost a few ounces instead of gaining a few pounds of turkey. After dinner we headed down to the park and played a great game of kickball. It's kinda fun having the kids a bit older since we're a pretty competitive family we don't have to take it easy on them anymore. :) I realize sooner than later they'll be taking it easy on us but for now I'll just enjoy. We decided to take the kids to an earlier showing of Christmas Carol in 3-d. Great idea since the lines were HUGE as we were leaving. Great show and it put us in the Christmas spirit. We usually decorate the house the day after Thanksgiving with lights, the tree, and the whole bit. This year Mat had thought ahead (with some encouragement from me) and put the lights up last week. We also had the tree decorated still from last year so we ended up decorating on Thanksgiving night. The house looks great and I really think it was a great way to start the holiday season off for the Holt's. (BTW if you change the "i" in holidays to a "t" you get Holtdays. Just a bit of info if you want a change in any of your decor. :)

We used about twice as many strings of lights this year as our plants and trees just keep getting bigger. The house looks great. I love it!
Mat doesn't care for my wreath hanging from the chandelier much but it's one of my favorite decorations. I'm excited for the advent tree in the background also. I've been coveting it for a couple of years but we allow ourselves a certain budget for decorations each year and this year I could finally work it in. It has large pockets so that each day before Christmas the kids get to take a note or treat out to enjoy.

I was going to have pics done of me laying on a bear skin rug for Mat but how can I compete with this???

Three of the cutest kids around. We don't seem to have anymore room for more stocking on the mantle. I suppose no more kids for us. :)

We started last year letting the kids decorate a tree in the den themselves. Mommy does the family room tree and no one's allowed to touch it but they can go to town with whatever they want on this one. See...every one's happy. :)

Halloween 2009

Halloween has come and gone and what a great year! I LOVED it landing on a Saturday! Friday the kids had their parties and parade at school. Later that evening we had our ward party. I admit the ward party ended up stressing me out more than it should have. The biggest stress was the cold front that whipped through at the beginning of the week. I wanted it to be nice weather badly. Luckily, the weather was beautiful! Halloween was even nicer. We woke up, cleaned the house, went to the boys soccer games, and came home a snuck a nap in! The kids didn't even wear jackets as they trick-or-treated. Easton hung out with me while Bailey and Caleb decided they were too old for that and went with their friends. The pair ended up at the Orton's house and from the sounds of it had a great time! Easton dominated however, with twice as much candy as the "older" kids.

I love this part! The kids gather all their candy and sort it. Easton's stash is in the middle.

Three out of the four costumes were homemade this year. Bailey borrowed hers from a "friend" who happens to be a boy. She swears he's not even cute! Haha!

I love this shot. My parents house is the first house the kids trick-or-treat to every year. Easton fits the old man look to a "T". (He's just picking his seat for later.)

Reflections 2009

Caleb has wanted to enter reflections every year. He loves drawing and painting. He can sit for hours on end concentrating on one thing. (He certainly doesn't get this from me.) This year Bailey informed us that 5th graders were required to enter. Of course we kept meaning to take a night out to work on their projects but alas, found ourselves the night before they were due staying up late to finish them. Bailey and Caleb both worked very hard on their paintings. Caleb was especially excited to show his amazingly talented, Grandma Wilson his painting. Easton tried to make a boat out of bamboo with Mat that didn't quite work out. At 10:30 at night Mat took Easton outside to snap some photos so that Easton would have an entry also. We were a bit surprised on Monday night when we got a call saying that of all 3 kids, Easton won 1st place for his photo of a lizard he'd caught. Of course our hearts were heavy knowing we'd have to break the news to Caleb and Bailey. This is Caleb's bird. He draws it over and over. He wanted to paint a tarantula and web but Mat encouraged him to paint his signature bird. When he found out he didn't win there were MANY tears and he was quite angry that we hadn't let him paint the tarantula. Hopefully he will still enter again. He really is talented.
This is Easton's winning photo. The comments left on the judging sheet were very nice and all mentioned the contrast between the red and the lizard. Who knew a lizard in a bucket could look good? :)

This is Easton accepting his award. He didn't know he had won until his name was called out. He was BEAMING! We're so happy for him!