Present Spoiler

It's always hard to get presents for Jimmy. It seems like he just gets what he wants when he wants it & doesn't wait for a birthday or holiday. So he lacks the need for things. This year, I thought I would finally get something that he hadn't gotten for himself first. So I had heard good things about Tom Shoes. Jimmy has mentioned before that he wants some casual shoes to wear with jeans. So I went to Nordstrom's website and got some Tom's. A few days later Jimmy and I were on a date and we stopped at the mall to get a few things for Christmas. While we were there he said he wanted to stop in Journey and see if they had some casual shoes he'd been wanting. Dang! So he found a pair he wanted (some Croc canvas slip on shoes, that he said are so comfy) and ordered them in his size. That is how we work with Christmas, we shop together and get what we want and then give it to each other. So usually this would be fine but this time I wanted to get him some shoes. So I told him I had ordered him some and said we'd just take them back if this is what he wanted. When mine came in the mail, he decided he liked them and wanted them too. ( I was just going to return them) He got light colored ones and I ordered dark so I figured he could get them for his birthday in January.

While we were at the mall, we looked in a jewelry store. He has lost his wedding ring (3 times). After his first gold one was lost. I got a titanium one off Ebay, and then he lost that one and he got one at Walmart. So needless to say, with his track record of loosing rings, I wasn't about ready to buy him one for $300+. We ended up looking at ones for me. It was fun trying them on and seeing my finger sparkle with big diamonds but at the end of the day, I can't justify spending money on something like that when we could put that money towards a family vacation or something. A ring you can't take with you after this life, but memories and building relationships are priceless. So I left there with an idea of what style Jimmy liked and they told us that Tugstan rings were nicer than the Titanium we probably would have bought. So I went home and found a Tugstan ring and ordered it off Ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/320799657811?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_1985wt_1165

It was only $12.48 with free shipping! So I was excited about giving Jimmy this gift and surprising him on Christmas morning. This made up for the shoe thing.

That very day Jimmy came home from grabbing some stuff for me at Walmart and he had on a Tugstan ring from Walmart (for $50). It looked almost just like the one I had picked out for him but mine was better. So I told him he needed to take it back that I had ordered one already!

So Jimmy had no surprises this Christmas! But he got a nice ring and he'll be getting a pair of shoes he likes in a couple weeks! I guess great mind just think alike, right?

Christmas Day

After staying up with the older kids until 11:30 we told them we needed to sleep in until 8 am. At about 7:50 Sophie came into our room and a few minutes after that Conner and Kali came in. They had both slept on the guest bed so that we would all be on the top floor in the morning. I guess Conner woke up at 7:30 and then woke up Kali because he was so excited.

We came down and they waited on the stairs while I went to see if Santa had come. I took my camera and took pictures of each child's pile. When I got to my pile to take the picture, I realized that when Jimmy had went downstairs to "grab his phone" right before bed, he was actually setting out a crock pot and a cozy blanket for me. That was a nice surprise.

(our family pile of gifts from Santa)

(Scotty's pile)

(Sophie's piles)

(Kali's pile)

(Conner's pile)

(my pile)

(Jimmy's pile)

I had put up a gate on the stairs the night before because I was afraid Sophie would wake up in the morning and instead of coming and getting us she would go downstairs to see if Santa had come. One of my favorite parts on Christmas morning is seeing the kids faces as they see what Santa brought them. The gate worked great- no one saw before they were supposed to.

Jimmy was in charge of recording with his phone and I took pictures. Scotty slept about an hour after the rest of the kids woke up. It was fun for them all to see what Scotty got and how he reacted to his cars track.

(this is a Messi Barcelona jersey Conner really wanted and Santa brought one for all the boys with matching shorts, so cute)

This year Santa didn't set out as many gifts and Jimmy and I wrapped some from us. I also set up a little store for the kids to come and each pick out gifts for each other earlier in the week. They were things that I had gotten from either garage sales or DI so they weren't expensive gifts but things I knew each person would like. They did chores for me or actually paid me money for the stuff so it was really from them. Kali made a shirt for Jimmy to wear and Scotty to play on. It was another idea I found on Pinterest. <http://thebluebasket.blogspot.com/2011/09/tutorial-car-shirt.html#more> She drew a town with fabric Sharpies and then gave Scotty some cars to drive around on it. Jimmy gets a little back scratch/rub (which he is always asking me and the kids for) and Scotty gets to play cars. She did a great job on it!

So they each had a few gifts from Jimmy and I and 3 gifts from their siblings. Each hour or two we would let them choose a gift to open. It was so fun because it made the gift giving and getting part of Christmas last all day long.

I couldn't find a couple shirts I got for Kali while we were in St. George and a shake and go fire truck I got for Scotty there too. I bet they are somewhere together but I still need to find them- it's bugging me. Another thing that bugged me about Christmas was no snow- it just doesn't seem right. It was so nice yesterday that we opened the sliding door and the kitchen window and let the cool air in. I am not too big of a fan of cold weather and snow but there is just something about the clean white blanket of snow that makes the season feel so cozy and beautiful. Next year maybe we'll take a two week cruise during Christmas break to Hawaii and purposely get out of the snow but this year, I missed the snow.

We decided we'd just have the kids snack on some pop tarts and goldfish crackers they got in their stockings before church and then cook a big breakfast after. We had church at 11 and they had a great program filled with Christmas music and one speaker. I got released as the primary 2nd counselor and then recalled as the 1st. I've really been doing the 1st counselor responsibilities all along but since we were getting a new member of the presidency we decided to make the switch so it would be easier with the Stake presidency to know who was doing what.

We came home to make the breakfast and Jimmy told everyone it was mandatory to get back in their jammies. It was going to be a jammie day. Kali put on her new velor sweat pants and Sophie ended up in her dress the rest of the day (mainly because I never helped her change) but the rest of us went and got our comfy stuff back on.

When we went to make the traditional spam and eggs we realized we only had 4 eggs. That would just not do! Jimmy's dad always would make Bisquick muffins, spam and eggs and hash browns for Christmas morning. I still remember turning up my nose at the spam part of the eggs and picking out just the eggs to eat. But now since I've tried it, I've decided I like it. (kind of like the book Green Eggs and Ham but for this it would be called Scrambled Eggs and Spam) We brown the spam and so it is just a bit crispy and Jimmy puts in cheese with the scrambled eggs. I know, I know, not the most healthy but once a year we spurge! So since we didn't have the eggs, we decided to make Bisquick pancakes (another favorite for the kids since I usually make whole wheat blender pancakes and they never have just white flour ones) We had 6 pieces of bacon in the fridge from the salad I made for Jon & Luci's so we cooked that up and then I made the pancakes look like reindeer. I saw that idea on Pinterest. <http://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com/2011/12/rudolph-pancake-breakfast.html> We also had hash browns. It was a hit!

(those are plates my parents gave me a couple years ago that we used as a family the whole time growing up. Makes me think of my childhood when I see that pattern)

(this morning (26th) Jimmy went out and got some eggs and we did the spam & eggs this morning instead)

After we cleaned up, Jimmy and I went and took a nap. I used my new blanket Jimmy gave me. The kids did well without us and let us sleep! Scotty was taking a nap too.

After our naps, Jason and Kassie came over with a ham to cook, some rolls, mashed potatoes, and green salad. We also had some of the leftover stuffing casserole and frog eyed salad. It was a great meal. We played Ticket to Ride and watched a basketball game while dinner was cooking.

After they left we played Qwirkle some more and let Scotty watch some of his Cars 2 movie.

It was a great Christmas! It is so fun watching our kids get gifts that they are so excited about. I'm sad the day is over but know it will come so fast again next year and we'll make more fun memories. And next year, I'll take more pictures at our family get togethers!

Atkin Christmas Party, Pajama Party and Christmas Eve

On the 21st, we got together at Jon & Luci's house for our Atkin Christmas party. Jimmy's parents were there & Jason, Kassie and Arianna came too. Luci had made pulled pork that we ate on rolls, baked beans, funeral potatoes, and we brought a green salad. Everything tasted great. McKenzie sat between Scotty and Sophie in the kitchen & we ate in the dining room in peace. It was great!

We had a white elephant gift exchange in the basement. (we took some pictures of this one) Jimmy got some safety goggles and the pink basket that Jon is holding Kali stole from him. Sophie is holding a ipod speaker bag with towel that got stolen from her but she ended up with a purse/wallet that she really likes and she got to keep the lotion that was in the other gift. I got some Bath and Body works lemon soap that I am loving in our kitchen.

On Christmas Eve Eve (23rd) we got together with Ken, Gina, Brigham & Emma, Steph & Bryant, Andrea (my cousin) & Andy and his parents. Everyone wore their jammies and we had breakfast for dinner. We had breakfast casserole, fresh fruit with dip, sweet rolls and juice. We haven't been good at taking pictures at our family get togethers so no pictures of this event either. Bums me out. Pictures are so fun!

On Christmas Eve, we invited Jason, Kassie & Ari over (we were in jammies again for this too). The other kids had already opened theirs at Steph's house so Jimmy and I opened ours. Mine are the comfiest jammies I've ever owned. We got them at Costco the brand is Aria. Typing about them now makes me want to go slip into them. I'll be right back. :) OK, much better and I got some grey slippers to match.

We had a chicken, veggie, stuffing casserole, fresh baked bread, frog eye salad (Jimmy's favorite that we never make) and they brought a green salad. After we cleaned up dinner we did the nativity. We were short some people. We only had one wise man, Kali, one Shepherd, Conner, two angels, Sophie and Ari, Scotty was baby Jesus, Kassie was Mary (perfect since she is 8 months pregnant) and Jason was Joseph. Jimmy was the narrator and I was the producer. Then we watched a you tube video Breath of Heaven. Very pretty music with the nativity story. (I took some pictures with Kassie's camera so someday hopefully I'll get them on here)

After that we opened a family game, Quirkle. It's a fun game that we've played several times since. We stayed up until 11:30 on Christmas Eve with Conner and Kali playing and then Jimmy and I were up until 2 am! Crazy us for letting the kids stay up so late!

Ugly Sweater Party, Grand America & PJ's

On the 17th (Dec) we got together at Ken & Gina's house for our annual Ugly Sweater party and also to celebrate Blake's birthday. I already wrote about what we did for Blake's part of it in an earlier post. We had it at Ken and Gina's house and had stroganoff and potatoes. The last couple years we have had it closer to Christmas but this year my parents were going South for Christmas and we wanted to do it when they were here. My mom had a stomach bug though and after we went to the cemetery they went back to my house and missed the rest of the get together. We were all sad they weren't there.

I am kicking myself that we didn't take any pictures. No one did! Ryan had rigged together a sweater with a stuffed animal and it played music, Ken had a big Santa face on his sweater. (I had given it to him for his birthday) Emma wore the sweater I had gotten for Brandon for his birthday (he had to work) and she had strings of beads draped all around it. Steph had cute out Snowmen from a previous sweater and pinned them on a plain black sweater. Ashley had a plastic pair of ski's in a clear pocket on her sweatshirt. I wore a pioneer looking apron that went to the ground. It was yellow and red. Jimmy, Conner and Aaron wore ugly cardigans. Kali wore a cute red sweater but then we uglied it up with a stocking that clashed. Sophie wore her dog sweater but it looks cute even though on an adult it would of be ugly. Camile borrowed a sweater from someone in her ward- she gets double points for that.

Steph's best friend, Michelle, came with her little boy, Hudson. It was fun to see her.

We had prizes courtesy of my mom and I think everybody got something. Except me, I was the prize giver (with Steph's help) and at the end, there wasn't anything I wanted.

Then we had our white elephant gift exchange. Some of the highlights were the colt and horse picture (that keeps getting exchanged for the last couple years) I added a oval wooden (cut from a tree) picture of a horse. So now it's a set. The little ping pong table showed up again too but it came with a big bucket of nuts and chocolate. Aaron stole the toilet paper and soap from Kali which she was grateful for. We had a great time. Since mom and dad weren't there, they ended up with the two last gifts.

The next night, Sunday, we went and dropped the gloves off down town at the homeless shelter and then we went to the Grand America for the window display. Everybody gets a card and you try and find the star in each of the displays. At the end, we turned in our cards for sugar cookies. There was a life size ginger bread house that was neat and pretty trees all decorated through out. It was a fun adventure.

Next we went and looked at the lights at Temple square but the drivers got in a traffic jam so they let us out and then we walked around (Scotty stayed with Jimmy) and then we caught Trax back and met them in the parking lot where we started across from the Grand America.

Then we went to Steph's house and had chili and baked potatoes. The kids opened their jammies from Nany Nette and Grandpa. Sophie was so excited to have the same nightgowns as Carlie and Ellie. Kali and Emma got the same jammies and Conner and Brigham got long johns to go under their clothes when they go sledding or snowboarding. The girls all put theirs on.

Scotty's new thing when he gets a picture taken is he smiles real cute when you tell him your taking a picture and then he says, "I wanna see it" when you finish. He loves to see how he looks. So cute!!

We also gave mom & dad their 2012 Calendar. They loved it!

M is for Movie Maker & Artist, Kali

So for our family Christmas card/letter this year, we are keeping it short and sweet. For those who want more details and pictures, I suggested they check out our blog. But since I just barely started blogging this last month, I have some major catching up to do. To help me stay on track and focused, I am going to use the layout of our Christmas card and expand on the tidbits of info and do a post for each.

M is for Movie maker & Artist, Kali. Kali has the creative bug. She can always be found writing stories or scripts, taking pictures, drawing, recording herself singing, or sitting with me at the computer looking through Pinterest. (an online pin board with tons of craft and home decorating ideas)

When I need advice about where to hang something or if a color looks good with a project I’m doing, I ask Kali for advice. She has a good eye for that kind of stuff.

She has a blog too that she updates every so often.

She keeps busy with jump team two days a week at school and is often found practicing on the driveway with her friend, Madi. Jump Team is a jump roping after school activity that she does with 45 other 6^th graders. They get to travel to other schools and do assemblies. At the end of the school year, they have a performance for their families.

Her favorite colors are blue and green and you won't ever catch her wearing pink. (except for at Jocelyn's wedding I got her in a matching dress with her cousin, Jenna) She likes to be comfy and wears her soccer warm ups to school all the time. During warmer weather it's her soccer shorts and basketball shorts. Her other favorite thing to wear is skinny jeans- a criteria for Kali when she puts something on is it has to be comfy. She likes to play soccer during recess and during the holiday break she's been practicing jump roping in the garage so she'll be picked to be on the traveling team.

She loves noodles. She doesn't like meat very much. She likes veggies but not much fruit. Her favorite thing to drink is water and hot chocolate. She doesn't like juice but she'll have soda sometimes.

Kali enjoys being social and has lots of friends. If we were the same age I bet we'd be best friends. She likes to giggle and be silly but is also very responsible and a great babysitter. I enjoy doing projects with her- it's fun being her mom and watch her grow.

E is for Energetic Scotty Loves Cars

Scotty is our little ball of energy. He seems to always be running somewhere. We left him with some good friends, The Lowes, when we went on our family cruise in April. While he was there he discovered CARS! I feel bad that we didn’t figure that out sooner. He was always surrounded by My Little Ponies and Littliest Pet Shops at our house. Now he puts his cars in the Pony houses like a garage and puts the Littliest Pet shop animals in the back of his trucks and makes lots of car noises as he plays. Vroom, vroom!

He likes to play tackle with Conner. He backs up until he bumps into something and then runs full speed at Conner & then Conner topples over with Scotty.

He also loves to sing! He knows lots of songs and loves to sing/yell to whoever will listen. He enjoys going to nursery at church and we recently started a playgroup with 4 other boys that live in the houses right by ours. He's learned all of Sophie's Let's Play Music songs and so I'm hoping he'll want to do piano too in a couple years.

He likes electronics. He enjoys borrowing Conner’s Ipod &our IPad and playing Traffic Rush and Angry Birds.

He loves playing outside. He would be out there all day if there was someone to always watch him. We got him a deal on a used mini electric 4 wheeler and he loves to ride that around with two of his little buddies who also have them.

He wants to be big like the other kids. He won’t sit in his highchair anymore and we got a crib net for his crib to keep him in . Before we got that, he would get out of his crib and play at 2 in the morning. I am thankful for that crib net!

He loves chocolate, reading books and he’s a really good talker!

R is for Rosie our new Black Kitty

Our neighbors had a litter of kittens in the spring. Sophie was over their every day holding them. She kept telling us they were for sale for free. We decided we weren’t going to get one until my neighbor sent me a picture of Sophie holding one of the little black kitties. Melted my heart.

So we let her buy it for free.

Kali and Conner were kind of bugged. They wanted a dog. But now Rosie is very well loved and adored. Kali has her sleep in her loft bed with her almost every night. Sophie carries her around like a baby. (and so does Jimmy) Scotty picks her up and then drops her back down.

She was the inspiration for Sophie wanting to have a kitty party this year.

When we go out of town we let her be an outside Kitty with our neighbors cats. (her mom and sister are still there) It's been great having that option. Since the weather has gotten colder, she has been not wanting to go outside though.

I had a kitty, Paws, when I was younger and I loved how she would burrow down in my covers at night and sleep by my feet. I would try and dress her up in doll clothes and feed her bottles. (that didn't work too well) She got hurt one night and her tail was broke when she came home so we had it amputated. She had just a short stub left- she looked like a bob cat. So I guess that's part of the reason I had a soft spot in my heart when Sophie wanted this kitty so much.

We're all glad she's part of our family now!

R is for Riding and Playing in our boat

We got a boat this year! Jimmy found a used one in California that he liked. It is an inboard boat and so this year we learned how to surf. Jimmy and Conner got good enough to drop the rope. I was able to get up and hold on but that’s it. Kali learned to wake board this summer but knee boarding is still her favorite. Conner learned to jump the wake and get some good air while wake boarding.

Kali had her 11th birthday party on the boat. We swapped the girls around tubing. It was a huge hit! We borrowed LuAnn's tube which can hold 4 girls at a time.

Scotty loves to go boating. Whenever he says prayers, he prays to go boating. Several times him and Sophie got on the 4 person tube (with the older kids) and loved it. Whenever we wanted them to get off Jimmy would go a little faster and then they would say they were finished. The bigger kids always wanted to go faster! Especially our niece, Emma, she is a wild woman when it comes to tubing!

We’ve made fun family memories boating!

Y is for Year Flew By

We had our oldest niece, Jocelyn, get married this August in the Portland OR temple. (Jimmy’s oldest sister, Julie’s, daughter) I can’t believe how time has flown since I first met her. She was only 9. It was a wonderful wedding and a great weekend seeing the family!

Jimmy’s parents sold their house in Oregon and bought a home in St. George. Jimmy went to Oregon with his siblings to help them pack and then also went to their new home with Conner to help unpack. We went there to visit once during the hot summer. What I am really looking forward to is visiting during our long, cold winter.

Each year for the last 7 years or so, I have made a family calendar for my parents and grandparents. It is fun to look back over the year and see what we've done and how the kids have changed. It's always crazy to me when I write in the birthday's. Like my niece, Carly, will be turning 8 this August. Kali will be 12 and Conner turning 14! It seems so far away and then before I know it, that month is here. Here are the pages I designed for the calendar. I thought it summed up the year pretty well. My parents and grandparents love getting it each year. Here are the pages below- not it order.

I also have made one for Jimmy's parents and grandma the last couple years. Here is a link to theirs. <share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8Aas2TZw5btGNC> They opened it last night at our Christmas party at Jon and Luci's and they loved it.