Happy Mardi Gras!

We started a tradition a couple of years ago.  To celebrate Mardi Gras, we make a New Orleans style dinner, beignets for dessert, and Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" for entertainment.  This year, I made "dirty rice" with chicken, black beans and quinoa (with the secret ingredient... Creole Seasoning).  It was really yummy!

The beignets turned out really good too!  Our home teachers from church came by that evening, so we shared our Mardi Gras dessert with them too!

It is really fun, and something I hope to do every year!

Smart girls!

Dave and I are very proud of our girls.  Most of the time they do so well in school, and this grading period was no exception.  Ciera and Chloe both got all A's and B's on their report cards.  Autumn got "grade-level" or "above grade level" on hers, and Brooke got straight A's... with a 95% or above in all subjects.  That earned her "Principal's Club", which she got recognized for at their school assembly.

We have such smart, awesome girls!

We're HUNGRY!

Apparently, I starve my children.  That is how they make it seem anyway.  After eating dinner AND dessert, Autumn asked me for more food.  I told her no, because she had eaten enough for the time being.  She got huffy and sassy and a few minutes later began playing with the magnets on the fridge.  When she was done I found this:

I guess I am MEAN (and don't feed my children)!

Welcome to 2013!

To start off the new year, we had a visit from Brody and Cleah.  Mike and the kids came to Texas to visit with their other grandma during the winter break, so we got to see them for a little bit.  We took them to The Heard museum in McKinney.  It was a little cold, but sunny and nice.  We hiked a few trails and had a good visit!  The kids had a lot of fun!

Most of the rest of winter break was spent just relaxing.  Brooke lost a tooth, which she pulled herself, earning her a visit from the tooth fairy (and a little extra money for her bravery!).

We had a bunch of sickness to start the year... that was the only downside.  We had colds, flu, strep, pink eye, and pneumonia.  It was bad!  Texas has not been very kind to our immune systems.  It seems like we are sick all the time.  Here's to hoping that the rest of 2013 is healthy and happy!

To close the year...

As I have thought about the year 2012, I feel really blessed in my life.  I have four beautiful, healthy girls, a wonderful husband, and the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.  Ciera hit her 12th year this year, and started in the Young Women class at church, and started Junior High School.  Autumn hit a milestone as well... Kindergarten!  Chloe started at Intermediate School, and Brooke began second grade.  Dave has found success at work... always inspiring a new set of students each semester.  He became the second counselor to the bishop of our ward in November and loves serving the people in our ward in that capacity.  I got a job in October working for a business owned by a family in our ward.  It is really great and allows me to be home when my girls are home, and only at work when they are all at school.  It has been a huge blessing to us.  We sold our home in Logan in February, which was a huge relief, but also made our move away seem more permanent, which is kind of sad.  We are starting to like Texas a bit more... we try to focus on the positive things and count our blessings instead of dwelling on the things we want to change.  Our attitude change has made a big difference.  We had a wonderful year in 2012.  There were a lot of happy things, and some not-so-happy things, but we come out of the year a stronger, happier family and look forward to a great 2013!

A White Christmas in Texas

Christmas morning began really early at our house this year.  Ciera woke up about 3:45, and the rest all followed (with help, I'm sure) about 4:00.  They came in to wake us up several times, and we finally got out of bed at around 5:50 to begin opening gifts.  Family and Santa were very good to us this year, and there were lots of things to open.

After lunchtime, rain turned to snow, and we got a good 4-6 inches of snow on Christmas Day.  It was really fun... except that we have no proper snow-gear anymore.  The day after Christmas, the girls sledded down our backyard hill in our laundry baskets... (We fit right in in Texas now, huh?!?)

I hope all our friends and family had as great a Christmas as we did...
Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve Program

Every Christmas Eve, we do a program where everyone reads, sings, plays, acts out, or whatever-else-they-can-come-up-with something Christmas-y.  This year, was no exception.  Autumn started it out with reading "The Donkey's Christmas Song"... she only needed a little bit of help.  It was so cute!

Brooke, who is an excellent reader, read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".  She used wonderful feeling and expression while she read... it was awesome!

Chloe loves to sing with her whole heart.  She sang all three verses of "Deck the Halls" with gusto!  It brought a light, fun mood to the evening.

Ciera did two musical numbers.  First, she did "Joy to the World" on the piano. She did a great job!  After that, she did "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" on her french horn.  She really did a wonderful job.  She has improved so much on her horn over this last year.

When she was finished, I read a story called "The Red Sweater" and Dave read "The Night Before Christmas" and Grandpa Tanner's story for this year.
 

It was a wonderful Christmas Eve! (We also continued the tradition of Clam Chowder... and added Oyster Stew this year too.  Autumn was the only one to eat any stew with Dave.  He said it turned out good, and wants me to make it every year.  We'll see...)