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.