It's Christmas Time in Richfield

We always spend a weekend in Richfield before Christmas. One of the reasons we go down is to go to Grandma and Grandpa Kyhl's Christmas party. This has been a tradition for as long and any of us can remember. We have Santa and Mrs. Clause come and they always deliver such fun gift bags to everyone there! The kids love to see Santa and to tell him what they want him to bring them on Christmas day. Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for always being to generous and carrying on the tradition that we love so much!

 We also get to just relax, enjoy the holiday and spend time together as a family. 

Grady loves to be in the tub and splash as much as he possibly can.

Apparently a little too much splashing!!!

This was Grady's first Christmas and his first meeting with Santa  and

Mrs.Clause...He did very well and just wanted to play with Santa's beard!

This is the best picture that I could get with all three kids

sitting on Santa and Mrs. Clause's lap.

I can't complain because for once nobody is crying in the picture!

Here is Halie dressing up in her Grandma Jackie's antique

Santa suite. Halie thought this was so funny.

Notice that the pants were just a little too big!

Here is Gavin, Jaren, & Halie making "ball chocolate cookies" as Gav would call them,

with their Aunt Nat. Thanks aunt Nat for the good cookies and for spending time with us!

Polar Express Party

For Halie's school Christmas Party they had a Polar Express Day. They made trains out of candy. They also walked through the halls of the school visiting other classes as they made a train. Halie's favorite part was when they put all of their chairs together and made a train and watched their program video and drank Hot Chocolate!

Christmas Programs Part 2

Gavin had a Christmas program as well this year. He was so cute! I thought there is no way that he is going to get up there and sing and do the actions with his teacher while all of these parents watched. Boy was I wrong, he was so cute while he sang and tried to do the actions with his teacher and class. They sang at least twelve songs and he was done after about six or so songs. I just loved watching Gavin grow up and become a little man, although at the same time I was sad to see that my baby boy be so big and not need me to hold his hand. I love you Gavin so much and it was so much fun to watch you enjoy singing with your class!

This would be Gavin getting tired of singing 

and wondering when this is going to be over!

Apparently these kids were overly bored because they found something

 else to do instead of sing! This picture cracks me up!

After the program Gavin got to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Gavin told Santa that he wanted a truck! We will have to wait and see if Santa pulls through.

Christmas Programs Part 1

Halie was  was so brave and she did an awesome job. Halie and her little friend Tatum wanted to do a duet of some sort together. So instead of having them try to learn a song and then risk them getting nervous and forgetting the words and causing some serious embarrassment we decided to have them dance to Jingle Bells. They were awesome and Halie got up there without getting scared or stage fright. (For those of you that don't know Halie was in a dance group and loved it! When it came time for the recital all was well until they opened the curtain and everyone was cheering and yelling and she couldn't see anyone in the audience it scared her and she ran off to the side. We watched her class do the dance from the side of the stage in the curtains! This scared her so bad that she didn't want to go back to dance again!) 

Good job Halie! We loved watching you perform!

Halie in her snowman nose for their Once There was a Snowman song!

Tatum and Halie doing their dance to Jingle Bells. 

(Sorry for the blurry picture, they were moving a little too much.)

Tatum and Halie after the program! 

They had such a fun time together!

Desperate times call for desperate measures!

So in all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays and all of the running around I had to do my sweet little baby was ready to get out of the car, of course before I was done with all of the errands. So I went for the sucker, and he loved it! Gotta love the suckers in the car. I was able to finish all of my running around without an upset baby! I have decided from now on that I will have an emergency bag of suckers in my car at all times, just in case!

Grady as happy as he can be!

Decorating the Tree!

OK so this year we had one of the prettiest trees that we have ever had! It was at least twelve feet tall! Who needs NYC to have a large Christmas tree? Jed is so great to go out every year with his dad and brothers to get us a tree. This year they went out by Fish Lake. We love having this tradition of having a "Real" tree. The kids love to put up all of the ornaments onto the tree and then stand back to look and see what they have accomplished!

Disclaimer: No, I don't usually let my children climb up twelve feet on a ladder! Just once a year when we get to  decorate our enormous Christmas tree!

My new Nephew!

 On December 4, 2008 my brother Matthew and his wife Brooke and their little boy Jayden welcomed Kaysen Terry Bishop to their family. Kaysen is so cute and had a ton of hair, (at least compaired to my kids.) Kaysen, we are so greatful that you are hear and

 Brooke and baby are doing well! 

Congratulations! 

Little Kaysen and his cute little head of hair!

The new little family!

Matt and our Mom!

Just a cute picture!

Just a cute picture! 

Annual Girls Shopping Trip!

OK so those of you that know me know that I live for this trip all year long. I get so excited to go out with my mom, my grandmother, and my aunts who are all like my sisters. It is a blast. The objective of the trip is to help out my grandma get all of her shopping done so that she doesn't have that stress all season long. I also try to have a plan and get most of my shopping done as well. We left on black Friday at about 2pm. So we went shopping then to dinner, then shopped some more and then went to our hotel for the night. The next morning we had breakfast then the shopping resumed, then lunch, then shopping, then dinner, then some more shopping, ( did I mention that I love this trip?) then when we have blisters and cannot walk or stand to go into another store we head home.  It was so much fun and I can't wait to do it again next year!

Me. My Mom. Aunt Kathy. Aunt Sarah.

Aunt Cherie. Aunt Thelma. Grandma. Me.

My mom and I

My sister-in-law Brooke. My Mom. Me.

Me. Aunt Kathy.

Aunt Stacie. My Grandma. Aunt Thelma.

 Aunt Cherie. Aunt Sarah. Aunt Jean.  Aunt Stacie.

Turkey Day!

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Richfield with Jed's family. 

We really enjoyed being away from home and the regular busy schedule of school and work.

 We just relaxed and ate, and ate, and then we decided to eat some more!

 This was Grady's first Thanksgiving and also Jed's first Thanksgiving to carve the turkey! 

Thank you to Gordon and Jackie for the great time and great food!

Thanksgiving Feast!

Gavin was so cute at his Thanksgiving Feast at school. 

They had so many fun treats and snacks that they didn't know where to start.

 He was so excited to have Thanksgiving with his friends at school!

Inspired

Ok so I am trying really hard to get organized. So I was inspired by Abbey's post about how she uses bins for everything. So... I gave my computer desk a make over because it was out of control and I needed to do something and fast. 

So here is my before picture...

And after

WOW! I can't tell you how much better I feel being organized. At least at my desk, the rest of the house is another story. I am going to work my way through the house, it will take some time but I highly recommend the bins they are fabulous! Thanks Abbey!