***
"So Frequently we mistakenly believe that our children need more things, when in reality their silent pleadings are simply for more of our time."
***President Thomas S. Monson (Ensign May 1994)
We got about 12 inches of snow Sunday/Monday.
We've had worse storms here, but the wind was
crazy!!!
We have some drifts several feet deep and some areas are barely covered---that's not so typical of snowstorms here.
The kids are
LOVING the snow! They were even out during the blizzard.
Glad I didn't lose any of them! ha ha
We had fun decorating cookies this year.
There was lots of laughter and giggling and lots of singing
----Myshel's new favorite Christmas song ---Baby It's Cold Outside by Dinah Shore and Buddy Clark----It's a classic!
Vance--working hard.
McKaylie trying not to smile . . .
Myshel's hanging with her peeps . . . .
Noah--decorating a cookie while eating another cookie
The evil side of Vance
She looks sweet . . . but it's debatable!
Every year we decorate cookie for Christmas. The kids save some for santa and others are usually given to friends.
I'm not sure if I should be concerned at some of the cookies that were made this year, though and I'm really sure that they wouldn't be appropriate "Christmas" cookies for friends.
I'm blaming their dad----that definitely must have come from
his side of the gene pool!!!
It snowed Sunday night and Monday. We only got about an inch maybe 2 but Vanilla was in heaven. She kept wanting to go out and play and then come in and then go out again. I got tired of her tracking in the snow and making my floor wet. I decided that if she wanted out that bad that I'd just leave her out, but then she cried to come in. So, I stopped letting her out all the time and this is where she spent a good part of the day.
For Family Home Evening last night we made a little gingerbread village.
It was actually a kit that I bought at the store.
There were suppose to be 5 little houses, but apparently we weren't smart enough to figure out exactly which pieces went to each house and so, it didn't quite work out for the fifth house.
Myshel and Vance took parts of it and added on to theirs, though. We had a good time and they all turned out cute. It was a fun night.
I've never put up our Christmas tree this early before. I think I'm just wanting to get the holidays over with. They're no fun during deployments!
McKaylie had the holiday spirit, though.
And Noah, too. He even put a shirt on for the pictures!
Myshel was sort of in the mood. She did decorate . . . what she could reach from her "seat"
Vance was very helpful, but his excitement fizzled out early. Image that from a 15 year old boy!
My camera wasn't taking great pictures, which was very disappointing.
We used our artificial tree this year. I didn't want to have to worry about getting a real tree. ----the tree looks small, though----but then we don't have a whole lot of extra room for it either. Maybe it will help get rid of my "bah-humbugs", anyway! Hope so!
Vance made some awesome chili the other night! He also made a not so awesome mess! He gets that from his father!
Monday the nurse told Vance that he is 5 ' 10 1/2". That makes him officially half an inch taller than his dad.
When Vance is in the another room and he's talking to someone, I sometimes do a double take. He sounds so much like Chad now.
Last year for Christmas we made
Santa Bread. Noah had the idea to make Turkey Bread for Thanksgiving. So, Myshel took on the task and I think she did a great job!
These are the last pictures taken on my phone.......Shows just how random I really am, I think!
Here's Myshel, showing the cute little apple we got from the high school students after we helped with their fundraiser. (which reminds me ........ where did the kids put the rest of those apples????)
Vance, working away on his school laptop, truth be told, he's probably more likely playing a game on it than doing work!
A quick shot on my daily walk.
Another quick shot from my walk.
Noah's handiwork---boy is mom's phone fun! I look deep in thought, though, don't I. I was probably watching TV.
Vanilla--There's more pictures on my phone than there probably should be of her, but she's so darn cute!
We've had worse storms here, but the wind was crazy!!! 
We have some drifts several feet deep and some areas are barely covered---that's not so typical of snowstorms here. 
The kids are LOVING the snow! They were even out during the blizzard. 
Glad I didn't lose any of them! ha ha
