Christmas Eve Program

Every Christmas Eve we have a program in which everyone participates in a manner of their choosing. Some read stories, some sing songs or play instruments... but EVERYONE does something. This year, Chloe started us off with a dramatic reading of "The Night Before Christmas" (which she asked us questions or commented on every other page), then Ciera sang "Away in a Manger" (Primary version, with the "asleeps"). Next, Autumn sang her version of "Jingle Bells" (complete with the jingling bells), and Brooke sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (with the echos and added in parts...). Dave and I both participated with reading a story, and Dave also read the account of the Savior's birth from Luke 2 in the scriptures.

We drew the nativity as a family, all of the girls helped. Santa came early and delivered each of the girls a present, and then we tucked them in so they could dream of sugarplums until Christmas morning. It was a great night!

Ciera's Christmas Piano Recital

On December 18th, Ciera had her piano recital. She had been practicing these songs for months, and was ready, but very nervous. She had a few mess-ups, but did a fabulous job overall. We are so proud of her and her dedication and willingness to work hard. (Sorry the videos are a little shaky- I had help.)

Here Comes Santa Claus...

Our ward Christmas Party had a visitor. It was Santa! (I know, this was before we went to Clovis... I have been a little busy, okay?) Each of the girls got to sit on his lap and tell them what they wanted. Autumn even had fun... this year she wasn't scared! It was so fun getting in the holiday spirit this year, because all of our girls understood what was going on, and all of them were so excited for Santa to come to our house!

Christmas Pictures

We had our Christmas program at church yesterday, and the girls were all dressed in their Christmas clothes... so I took the opportunity to take pictures of them! (Like we really need an excuse, right?)






I think I have the most adorable girls in the entire universe! Wouldn't you agree? Happy Holidays!

Well, I said I would write a post about our trip to Clovis... here it is. We went to Clovis. The end.

Just kidding! We went to Clovis on the first weekend of December. Dave had a meeting the following Monday in Sacramento, so we decided to go as a family to visit everyone since Dave had to be there anyway. We drove through the night on Friday (which I would NOT recommend!) and stayed until Wednesday. We drove home (ALL day) Wednesday and got back just a little bit past bedtime for the girls. So, being mean parents, we made Ciera and Chloe go to school on Thursday.

While we were there, we visited with our families and had a great time. My mom, who was diagnosed with Stage 2 Breast Cancer in August had started her chemo therapy, and so we spent time with her, which was nice. The girls thought it was pretty neat that she had no hair, and they couldn't help but feel her bald head. It was nice to know that the chemo isn't too horrible, and that she is still up and around, and able to do most things!

We are glad we were able to go visit, because we are not going to be going anywhere during the holiday break. We got to see everyone (the girls didn't see Uncle John and Aunt Janice, which they were sad about...) and hope to see them all again for spring break (and Chloe's baptism!) in April. Sorry... I was a horrible photographer while I was there, so there are not pictures in this post.

Autumn is Three!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AUTUMN!
I can hardly believe that it was three years ago that I had our little Autumn Susan.
I had a pretty normal, uneventful birth with her, which was nice. She was tiny, and perfect. She was born in the morning, and then Ciera, Chloe, Brooke and Dave came to visit us in the afternoon. It was such a happy day!She has grown up so fast. She is such an amazing little girl, and we are so blessed to have her in our family! We got home from Clovis late last night (which will follow in a future post...) so I didn't have a chance to make her cake until today. She opened her presents this morning, and then I took her out to buy something with her birthday money. She got a stuffed pig, and so she told me she wanted a pig on her cake. I was very relieved, because a pig is a lot easier to draw than Strawberry Shortcake, which is what she wanted before.We are going to have pasta for dinner, at her request. And 7-up. That is what she wanted with her birthday dinner. I love her so much, and I hope she has a very happy birthday!

A Tale of Two Trees

As you probably saw in my previous post, our Christmas tree was enormous. In order to make it fit into our house nicely, we had to cut a large portion off the top... about 5 feet. SO, instead of throwing that 5 foot tree portion away, we made it into another Christmas tree. We now have two Christmas trees!
It worked out really well, because the girls got to decorate the family tree with all the ornaments they wanted, and I got to decorate the small tree with only the ornaments I wanted. We spent time last night decorating the trees, and having fun together. The girls are very excited about Christmas, and it seems a bit closer now that we have everything decorated.