I swear Christmas will be my next post

This is what I get for being so behind on blogging. I don't know how to download pictures from our new camera so I always have to wait for Adam to download them (and we all know how that goes...) so here is what you get until I get my Christmas photos downloaded. And mostly because if I don't blog this, I'll never get around to it. But just for a sneak peek, my next two blogs are Christmas and Madelynn's birthday (she's 2! Holy cow!). We also had our 9 year anniversary on December 28, but I didn't take any pictures. We celebrated by buying a new lens for our camera (a telephoto one so I don't have to be so dang close to everything when I want to take a picture). I am super excited to use it! Adam came home with purple and white roses for me and then we went to dinner at BJ's Brewhouse in Tacoma. It is so yummy there!
Anyway, my mother asked me to take a picture of all the grandkids for her Christmas card. I obviously didn't know what I was getting myself into when I said yes. I have a hard time getting my three kids to sit still and smile for a camera. Why did I think I could do it with nine? Well, folks. It's called lowering my expectations. I just figured if the majority of the kids were looking at me and smiling, it would be a victory. And, for the record, I did not like the setting. The stairs idea is really cute when there are lots of kids, but the walls were really white and the teddy bears bugged me, but I just do what I'm told.

I think this is the one my mom liked the most. I ended up cropping it for her, but you don't get that edit :) I don't remember where I saved it on my computer.

Five weird smiles and only four kids looking at me. Sigh... this was just the beginning too.

Rix looks like he's on a roller coaster, Olivia isn't looking at me, Hayden is showing me all of his teeth, Jack is mid-talking, Roman isn't looking and is half-hidden, Bryce is looking at me (!) and smiling (!!), Madelynn is just about done with saying "cheese" and is using her finger as her binky, Cole is giving me a you-better-be-done-soon smile, and Aubrey isn't smiling (maybe it's because she isn't wearing socks? or shoes?). Whew.

We found out this is what happens when you discipline someone at the top of the stairs.

We finally found a way to make them smile... but not while looking at me. With the exception of Bryce and Roman who actually, with Olivia, were the easiest ones to deal with.

And we're done, folks. Madelynn, at least, is done. The others just stopped smiling or started acting goofy or got distracted by the dog or something else.

My dad was appointed the president of the Pierce County Master Builder's Association for 2011. There was a really nice dinner and program for us, and then they had a "Dessert Dash" and whichever table donates the most money gets to run to the dessert table first and pick out a cake or cheesecake, etc. that is up there. You have to literally run because the next table is called right after yours. We got first, so one of the guys at our table ran up and got the coveted orange creamsicle cake. It was so yummy! And my dad being preseident is  only for a year, which is nice since he will have a lot more meetings to go to. But it's something he loves so we were proud of him.

Getting sworn in (he's on the left). The theme of the night was "Black Tie, Blue Jeans" so we all wore nice shirts and jeans. The out-going president was wearing blue jeans shorts. It was a little weird.

My dad gave a little speech afterwards. Go Dad!

Afterwards I was a little bummed because I had wanted a cupcake from the Hello Cupake in Tacoma, but I was vetoed in favor of the creamsicle cake, so Adam went up to the table that got the cupcakes and asked if he could have one for me. They were more than happy to give him one and he got me a red velvet cupcake. It was really good. Thanks Adam for contributing to my massive calorie intake that night!

Getting ready for Christmas!

My kids are so excited for Christmas this year. Both Jack and Olivia are old enough to really understand what is going on, they can't wait for Christmas day to come and I can't wait to see the happiness on their faces. We've been busy getting ready for the big day and I can safely say I am done Christmas shopping (minus some last minute stocking stuffers) and now I can just relax. Oh wait, I still have all the baking and cooking to do for my treat plates and family party. There is no relaxing going on here!

A couple weeks ago we made s'mores at my parents house. It was really cold outside but we used their fire pit and the kids loved it. I kind of think the adults loved it too.

Rix, Roman, Bryan and Bryce

My dad, on the far left, with the kids (and Bryan)

Adam tried to get the marshmallows a golden brown, but instead became a master at burning them. In his defense, all of the marshmallows ended up being burned. I like them that way anyway.

Doesn't this cute little thing show you how yummy they were?

Later that week my ward had a Christmas party, complete with dinner and Santa. The kids stood in line as patiently as they could and finally got their turn on Santa's lap. The ward did a great job setting up the room and a wonderful job on the dinner. It was a great night. We invited Kelli's family to come along, although Jeremiah and Aubrey stayed home since Aubrey was sick (and the Pearsons were in Utah or we would have loved to have them come!).

Olivia, Hayden, Roman and Jack waiting in line.

Kelli got Madelynn to smile for me.

The Santa pictures were taken by a professional who gave us free downloads of our pictures online. She did a great job! Jack was so excited. He asked for Batman things.

Olivia asked for the Tangled Wii game and Tangled tower. Can you see her latest obsession?

Madelynn just stared at Santa. She only smiled when he gave her a bag of treats. That's my girl :)

My mom asked me to get a picture of all the grandkids for her Christmas card. Wrangling nine kids all 6 and under is hard. I have a hard time wrangling just my three kids! This is one of the better ones where most of the kids are smiling. Back: Rix Olivia, Hayden. Middle: Jack, Roman, Bryce. Front: Madelynn, Cole, Aubrey. It's safe to say that any time we get together as a family there is complete chaos! Fun, but a tiny bit stressful.

Festival of Trees 2010

Yes, we went to the Festival of Trees again this year. Honestly, I wouldn't actually go to the Festival of Trees on my own and pay for admission. We really go because the kids like seeing all the trees and lights and we always get free tickets from my dad. But this year was different. My dad's company, Phase II, had a tree in the Festival of Trees this year so we were extra excited to go see the exhibit. Well, mostly his tree. And I may have coveted a few trees for my own too. 

One of the first trees we saw was the Spongebob Tree. Jack was in awe. It came with a Spongebob bunkbed in the back and all the other stuff you see. It was crazy!

Roman, Olivia, Hayden and Jack, with Aubrey in the back. Can you see Jack's face? I don't think he even blinked as he stared at the tree of his dreams.

A "rocket" tree.

I loved this tree. It was girly and had flowers and feathers (feathers at the tops of the trees were definitely the trend this year. Some had a little and some had a whole bunch up there).... but I really liked it because...

it came with all this jewelry. It was amazing, the amount of jewelry that came with it.  

My dad's tree centered around the doll house he made for it. It's the same doll house he made for Olivia last year, so it's bigger than she is, like maybe 5 feet? This year he added lighting to the top floor and in the glass walls separating the first and second floors. He worked super hard on this exhibit.

It's really pink, including the lighting which was frustrating, but it's girly and Olivia loved it. So did the other little girls that walked by and said "I want that tree!" See all the dolls and clothes they get? And all the furniture that they can play with?

The doll house. You can see the lighting in the walls and on the top floor. I want to say it's LED lighting but I could very well be wrong.

A very proud Olivia.

The Barbie on top of the tree. I like how it says MBA to the left, since that's the association my dad worked with to do the tree.

That's my dad's company- Phase II.

But of alllll the trees in the room, this was my ultimate favorite. A CUPCAKE tree! It came with a sickening amount of baking supplies and the tree itself was so adorable! I highly doubt Adam would ever let me have a cupcake tree in our house but we'll see!

Did I mention it came with lots of candy too?

My blah-g

I have not been in the mood to blog. I don't know why, usually I like to blog and brag about myself and my cute family :) I've been in a bummer mood lately, plus I think I'm just stressed with the holidays coming and all the stuff that I have to do within the next week or so for the Relief Society dinner and program I'm in charge of (well, kind of "in charge" since technically that's my calling, but I am way underqualified to take the reins on this kind of thing). And I'm a little disappointed in my picture-taking skills. Maybe I'm okay (not great) at taking pictures when that's my primary focus like my previous post, but not when it's the day to day stuff. I see these pictures and I literally wince and grimace on the inside. I definitely need to take some classes to teach me what the heck I'm doing.

So anyway, Olivia has been really into making books lately. And I mean really. She has made at least 7 or 8 of them, which are just computer paper folded in half and then stapled. She has made them about Super Mario Bros., Tangled, what she wants to be when she grows up, her friend from school, and some other things. Some of them are based on something (like a movie or story) and some are completely random (like the one about how she lost something at school and then found it at the end of the day). It's the first thing she does when she wakes up and the thing she does most for the rest of the day after school.

This year we had Thanksgiving at my parents house. We had 10 adults and 11 children all 6 and under. We had my family, Celeste and her family, Kelli and her family, my parents and some family friends and their kids. It was pretty crazy, but I wouldn't say it was chaotic. The kids handled themselves really well, considering that they outnumbered us adults. We kept them busy with the Wii and some movies and tons of toys. I love Thanksgiving, mostly (well, completely) for the food. I understand that maybe I should love the holiday since it gives me a chance to be thankful and grateful, blah blah blah, but seriously, it's just a hectic holiday for me. But I loved the turkey and ham, mashed potatoes, funeral potatoes, yams with marshmallows (seriously, I can eat an entire cookie sheet of those!), green beans and stuffing and on and on. Plus dessert. Mmm... It's good that it's only once a year!

Olivia at the kids table. She is growing up so much (do you love her new haircut? She begged me for it and I finally caved).

Jack in the midst of eating all the marshmallows off the yams. Mmm... yams :)

Maddie would only let me take a picture of her if she wasn't aware that I was taking a picture of her. I can see a slight stubborn streak in her...

Nana and Papa sat at the kids table. Call them crazy. Hayden and Olivia on the left, Nana and Papa, and then Roman.

Tessa, Corey, Celeste and Bryan. I seriously can never get a normal picture of Bryan, who, by the way, is celebrating "Movember" which apparently means you grow a mustache to support prostate cancer awareness or something like that. He went for the "handebar" look.

Speaking of normal pictures... Jeremiah isn't very good at them either. Here is Kelli and Jeremiah. They moved back to Lakewood in November and it has been super fun having them here.

Adam and I. Can I just publicly thank Adam for taking a normal picture?

Jack cozied up to Nana while the kids were playing Wii. He was really tired by the end of the night!

Hayden, Bryce, Rix and Olivia playing Super Smash Bros... I think we thought that if they beat each other up on the Wii that they wouldn't do it in real life. Or something like that. I'm not sure how that worked out.

After Thanksgiving, Celeste, Kelli, Jeremiah and I headed out to Toys R Us at 10pm, only to find the line wrapped twice around the huge store. They were only letting a few in at a time, it was freezing out, and we calculated that we would get in about... never. So we turned right back around and went to Walmart where they had better deals anyway, put the stuff in our cart and waited until midnight to buy it all. We got some really good deals and I was in bed by 12:30. Sweet! I even got to sleep in the next day, go to some more stores (including Toys R Us without a line) and I still got everything I wanted on my list. It was a much more relaxing Black Friday than those in the past. No more 3am wake up calls for me!