Christmas time fun

I've been a slacker in the blogger world. Even though it's a little late I want to show some pictures of some of the holiday festivities that I actually took pictures of.  First of all we got to help Grandma decorate her Christmas tree. Everyone enjoyed that.

We especially enjoyed Grandma's homemade eggnog. It's just not Christmas time until we've had some eggnog.

Then, about a week later we got to decorate our own tree. Again the kids all had a great time. We brought in a step stool so that not all the ornaments were at the bottom of the tree. We wanted to kids to be able to reach a little higher. As a result, we had lots of ornaments at the top of the tree and we had to finally take the stool away so they would put ornaments on the bottom of the tree. I  guess the idea of climbing high was just way to much fun.





We had our friends, the Reeves and the Beers, over for family night. The Reeves brought their chocolate fountain to enjoy. They kids really enjoyed it. They made a huge mess. But it was fun seeing them have so much fun. However, I think we will put the chocolate fountain away until the kids are a little older. Old enough to clean up their own messes.


After we cleaned up the mess of the chocolate fountain, we decided to make a new mess as we decorated gingerbread houses. We each did one house as a family. Sadie joined the Reeves family. I guess she figured they didn't have enough help. 





The boys decided our house needed more candy, so they just started dumping the candy on.
This is the final creation, before the house collapsed because it was too heavy.
Oh what fun holiday memories!

Playing quietly

                                                                                                

I was sitting downstairs, enjoying my Sunday afternoon as the kids played quietly upstairs. Then Kamryn comes down and says "Come see what Sadie's doing, and bring your camera so you can take her picture". I guess my first clue that she was into something that she wasn't suppose to be in, was the fact that she was playing quietly. Well as I went up to her room I found a white baby. She had covered herself in Desitin, diaper rash ointment. It was pretty funny, until I had to clean her up. That stuff is meant to stay on, and doesn't wash off very easily. I had to really scrub. Looking on the bright side, she should be rash free for a little while.

School Stuff

In honor of Grandparents Day, Derek's kindergarten class put on a program for their grandparents. They recited a few poems, sang some songs, and each child got to tell why they loved their grandparents. It was a very cute program. After they were finished with their program, they took their grandparents to their classroom and showed them some of the things they have done in school. Derek thought it was pretty great to have his Grandpa Wynn there. He loved showing him his school work. Wyatt and I just watched and let Derek and Grandpa have some one-on-one time. Grandparents are so important, and I'm so glad that my kids have wonderful grandparents. They really look up to them.

Kamryn's class went on a field trip to the Dinosaur museum, and the museum at the Western Park. I was able to go with them (thanks to Melanie for watching my other kids). I think it is the first field trip I have been on with any of my kids. It was a lot of fun. I even learned some things. When they gave them a little bit of free time to explore the hands on part of the museum, Kamryn and Austin started playing with the toy dinosaurs. When I first went to take their picture, Austin hid. I guess he didn't want anyone to see him playing with toys. He must have decided it wasn't so bad, because I did get this picture.  All the kids were really good, and I am glad that I was able to go with the fourth graders on their field trip.

Brynli loves pre-school and has done some fun things for the holi-days. They had a Thanks-giving feast and got to dress up as either a pilgrim or an indian. Brynli wanted to be an indian and was so excited about it. I think she makes a pretty cute little indian. They also got to decorate gingerbread houses. Brynli was pretty proud of her gingerbread house that she decorated all by herself.

Thanksgiving

Well, it's about time that I blog about Thanksgiving. We went out to Lehi to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year. It was the first holiday with mom and dad since they've been home from their mission. It was great to be all together as a family. We were only missing my oldest brother Bryce and his family. They live a little too far away to make it for all the family get togethers. We even had my Grandpa Davenport with us. I got a little carried away with pictures. Someone told me  once that on Thanksgiving it is better to take an individual picture of each person there, than to try and get everyone at the table. Well, it's a great idea, unless you have 25 people for dinner. That makes for a lot of pictures. We had lots of yummy food as usual. Wyatt had a little too much fun helping with the mashed potatoes.

After dinner we spent the day visiting, playing games, and of course looking through the adds to see what kind of shopping we wanted to do on Friday. Sadie even got in on the adds. She was showing Melanie everything that she wanted.
It was great being together with family. We have so many things to be thankful for, and I'm glad that we take a day to spend time with family and reflect of all of the blessings we have. We were extra thankful this year, because we got to have two Thanksgiving dinners. Wyatt's family had Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, because his mom had to work on Thanksgiving day. We made sure to make it back to Vernal in time for dinner. All of Wyatt's family was there and we had a great time with them too. I had taken so many pictures on Thursday, that I kind of forgot to take pictures on Sunday. I guess I'll have to wait until next year to get pictures of all of  the Mansfields.  Here is a picture of all the Koltermann family (minus Bryce, Brandi, and kids). I think it turned out pretty good. 
Since this is a Thanksgiving post, I think I should probably give thanks for at least a few things. I have so many blessings I can't begin to list them all, but I will list a few. 

 I am thankful for:  My wonderful husband, he really is the best match for me ever. My terrific kids, Kamryn, Derek, Brynli, and Sadie. They are the best. All my extended family, (my parents, Wyatt's parents, all of our siblings and their spouses, nieces, nephews, grandparents). Wyatt and I both have great families. We get along so well with everyone, I don't know how we got so lucky. I am thankful for good neighbors and friends. I am thankful for a living prophet who gives us guidance and direction. For the temple, that brings so much peace and perspective into my life. I am thankful for the gospel and especially for my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Husband Tag

My sister tagged me, so I guess everyone gets to learn a few things about my husband.

1. Where did you meet your husband? At Utah State University. We lived in the same apartment complex, in fact his apartment was directly below mine. Very convenient. 

2.How long did you date before you got married? 9 1/2 months

3. How long have you been married? a little over 12 years 

4. What does he do that surprises you? He never gets mad at me. Even if I try to pick a fight. We really have never had a fight in our 12 years of marriage, a few disagreements, but never a fight.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? His beautiful blue eyes.

6. What is his best quality? He is always so much fun and can make me laugh, but he also is very responsible about important things like family, work, and the gospel. Also, he is so likeable. Kids like him, adults like him, teenagers like him. He is a great husband and father. He is just a great guy.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Not really

8. What is his favortie food? Anything, he's easy to please.

9. What is his favorite sport? Motocross

10. When and where did you first kiss? At my apartment in Logan. It was about a week after our first date. I actually had been out with someone else. When my date dropped me off Wyatt came up to my apartment. We were just talking and hanging out and then he kissed me. (I didn't complain). I guess he felt that he needed to hurry and make his move to win me over. I guess it worked, but really the other guy was no competition.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? I don't know if we have one favorite thing, we like to do many things together. We love to go boating and biking. We also love to watch The Office or play the Wii together after our kids have gone to bed. 

12. Do you have any children? Yes, four

13. Does he have any hidden talents? I'm sure he does, but he is so good at hiding them, I don't even know what they are. (at least I can't think of any at the moment).

14. How old is he? 34

15. Who said I love you first? He did, of course!!!

16. What is his favorite music? I don't really know, I'm not much of a music person.

17. What do you admire most about him?  He has so much faith and doesn't worry about anything.  

18. What is his favorite color? Red

19. Will he read this? Probably, but I better add a picture. He doesn't like to read blogs, just look at the pictures.

20. Who will I tag next? Tari, Jamie, Peggy.

Boys Trip to Hanksville

Wyatt and Kamryn went on their annual trip to Hanksville the end of October. (I know I've been a slacker updating my blog, I tried to get Wyatt to post about it, but that didn't happen, so here goes nothing). They went with the Reeves, the Hulets, and the Woodwards. Kamryn said it was the best trip he ever went on. Two days of riding motorcycles with your friends, what more could a nine year old boy ask for? I think the big boys had a good time too. Doc Woodward brought his R.V.  Kamryn and his buddies had just as much fun riding to and from Hanksville in the R.V. as they did actually riding their motorcycles. Kamryn's getting to be a pretty good little rider. Wyatt said that the little boys would make a track out of anything. I'm glad that they all had a good time. There was no phone reception in Hanksville, so I didn't talk to Wyatt until they were on their way home. As I was talking to him about their trip, I asked Wyatt if all the bikes ran good and if anyone got hurt. He responded with "everything ran great, and everyone was o.k.  I might have been unconscious for a little while".  I guess he had a pretty bad wreck were he was knocked unconscious for a little bit. I think he may have bruised his ribs because he was pretty sore for over a week, but other than that he was just fine. He didn't even have any scrapes and scratches. His wreck happened on Friday, and Saturday he just took some Motrin and rode all day. He wasn't going to let a silly wreck keep him from having a great weekend. I'm just glad that I wasn't there, and that they both came back in one piece. I guess Kamryn had a little bit of a wreck too. It wasn't his fault, but I guess one of the guys jumped a hill and clipped the back of Kamryn's tire as he landed. It could have been ugly, but again I'm just so grateful he was o.k. and I didn't see it happen. I'm glad they have a good group of friends that they can go and have fun with, but I think it's a good idea for them to take Doctor Woodward with them every year.

Halloween 2008

Doesn't my Sadie bug make a cute little ladybug!

Hand-me-down costumes are always a winner.

Brynli went to a Hannah Montana themed birthday party about a month ago, and has known what she wanted to be for Halloween ever since. I think she is much cuter than the real Hannah Montana.

Derek wanted to be Darth Vader this year. He didn't really love the mask, so most of the time he had the mask off. I think he just wanted a new lightsaber. 

Kamryn's costume was all his own idea. I tried to talk him out of it, but he really wanted to wear his wig from last year and be a cheerleader. I tried to tell him that boys don't dress like girls, but he remembered seeing a pictures of his dad many years ago (see previous post). I guess he won. He sure was a hit at the ward party. He talked with a girly voice and even got up on the stage and did a cheer for everyone. What a nut!

Here is a couple of pictures of the whole gang. Everyone had a great Halloween. We went to our ward party, where we ate soup, played a few games, and then did the trunk-or-treat. Kamryn then thought he needed to go with his friends, and the rest of us went to Wyatt's parents house and his grandma's house. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it was a full night.

On Saturday, Sadie decided that she needed to dress up in Brynli's Hannah Montana costume, wig and all. She thought she was pretty cute. I couldn't resist taking pictures of this little rock star.

Halloween Memories

Thirteen years ago today was my first date with Wyatt. I'm usually not very good at remembering specific dates, but Halloween is pretty easy to remember. He had asked me to the Halloween Howl, a big dance at USU. Then before the dance he asked if I wanted to go to dinner with him. Of course I was delighted. His best buddy Chase was proposing to his girlfriend Annette. He had led her all around town on a scavenger hunt, and then they ended up at a nice restaurant in Logan canyon. Chase wanted the waiter to bring Annette a red rose about every 5-10 minutes. Then the last rose was a white one, with her engagement ring. Anyway, Chase didn't trust some waiter with the engagement ring so Wyatt and I were going to eat on the other side of the restaurant (so we couldn't be seen by Annette) and give the waiter the ring when needed. Well the restaurant was really small and nobody else was there that night. There was no place for us to sit so that we wouldn't be seen. We ended up standing in the kitchen of the restaurant just talking to each other, the waiter and other employees. We did get to spy on the engagement, which was quite romantic, but we didn't even get anything to eat. We had so much fun though. That could have been such an awkward first date with a lot of guys, but Wyatt and I just hit it off from the beginning. We could totally just talk and have fun together.  After the  restaurant we  went back to my apartment and got our costumes for the Halloween Howl. My roommates helped both Wyatt and Chase with their costumes, makeup, and hair. Then we went to the pumpkin walk in Logan before going to the dance. We had a great time the whole night. It was a little strange to dance with someone dressed like a girl, but we still had a great time. I don't think we ever ate dinner that night. I guess I didn't care too much, because obviously I went out with him again. In fact we just were kind of together after that. Not always formal dates, but just together all the time. Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but 1995 was definitely my favorite Halloween.