Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve at our house always ends with Christmas pjs and Daddy reading the story of the birth of our saviour in Luke 2. We put out some cookies for Santa too before we tuck the little ones into bed for the night.

After a long winter's night, William woke us all up to see what was left under the tree. Our children were spoiled beyond rotten after they saw what they had each gotten. (Sorry a little corny I know!)

We started a new tradition this year with the children each drawing names and then working all December to earn money for the gifts they would exchange. It was pretty fun to see their enthusiasm in giving this year! Much better than all the focus on getting.

We headed over to my parents home for breakfast and more gift exchanges. The kids were loaded with treats and fun toys. Brooklyn was overwhelmed with everything going on around her! It was a very fun Christmas;even though most of us were battling the flu and sugar comas too!

We are so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who sent His son to be an example for us, to sacrifice and die for us. We can truly feel the Christmas spirit this year. The Lord lives and loves us. We can see our blessings beyond measure. This year has helped us grow and learn as a family. We are truly blessed with these wonderful children, good jobs, a nice home, reliable transportation, money enough for our needs and a little extra here and there, friends and family and each other! What a wonderful celebration of the Lord's birth to finish off the year.  

Christmas Dinner

The Bonewell Family Chrismas dinner is put on by Stephanie each year. She does a great job and always has activities for the kids with lots of festivities all around. This year we had a candy hunt followed by a special visit from Santa Clause. The kids loved it. We kept with the spirit of Christmas and all ate yummy food!

 

 

Family Christmas Pictures 2012

Stephanie took some great shots of our family for Christmas! The kids were in good moods and everyone seemed to be genuinely happy about the pictures!

Cub scouting

 

Taylor earned his bear in cub scouts. I have just been called/asked to be the new cub master. It is a bit overwhelming but should be lots of fun and adventurous! I am so thankful for the cub scout program. It is wonderful for these little boys and helps them accomplish such noteworthy goals!

Snow in Southern Utah

 

We really don't get very cold here so snow is a rarity. This year the kids woke up to snow. I let them spend a little time playing in all the snow before school. By the time they were home again, the snow was all melted!

Gingerbread Houses

Family home evening was time for Gingerbread houses. We made a big mess and had lots of fun. The kids loved making them. Next year we might have to go with the kits since they kept falling over!

Brunettes have all the fun

 

Happy Birthday to me! Stephanie spoiled me with a little bit of color at the Salon. She's currently a student at Taylor Andrew's Hair School. She did a great job!

Onions anyone?!?

My mom used to tell me stories about when I was really young and I would go out in my Grandpa's back porch to eat their sweet onions. Brooklyn seems to be rather fond of the onions as well. Everytime the kids open the fridge door she'll grab an onion and take a nibble. Like Mother like daughter, I guess!

Brace Face 2

Look who's a metal mouth?

Thanksgiving Day weekend in Salt Lake and surrounding areas

We headed up north to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Zack's family. Thanksgiving day was at Grandma Benson's home. She had quite the houseful. Uncles, aunts, cousins and Grandma Benson too! It was very fun and the food was wonderful.

We were pleased to be able to see so much family! Zack's cousins who are attending BYU-Idaho came down for Thanksgiving too. It was lots of fun.

David, Zack, Stephen, Danielle, Rachel, Jordan, Daniel and Samuel

On Friday Zack was sick and we didn't get much playtime. Erica and Alisha did a little black Friday shopping after the crowds had dispersed! Charles took us all over to the Air Force Museum while the babies slept. The kids thought it was awesome but really didn't get enough time to see everything there was. It was pretty cool!

Saturday we headed back down to Salt Lake and visited with Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Karla. It was nice to visit with them and check on Grandpa after all of his knee surgeries. He's a trooper! Grandma Karla fed us some yummy leftovers. She is doing so much to keep Grandpa going!

We headed over to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights! It was beautiful as ever except the nativity wasn't working. That was a bummer. Taylor says he wants to live in a city since there was so much going on there.

We played lots with the Charles and Erica while we were in town. They were kind enough to let us stay at their home for the whole weekend. Adding 8 people to your household for 4 days can be quite crazy! Poor Reed was sick the whole time and had a hard time sleeping but they were troopers. Charles was good to let the boys play wii with him and rake up piles of leaves to let the kids jump in. Erica made sure we always had plenty to eat and activities to do. Thanks for making are stay so nice.

Piggy-tails

Finally piggy-tails! She is probably the cutest little girl ever but I am rather partial!

Indian Diorama

 

Taylor has been learning about the Ute indian tribes. He was assigned to make a diorama including anything about them like what they ate, where they lived, how they got their food, etc. It turned out great!

Just being kids!

My kids have so much fun just playing! They are a breath of fresh air when the stress of life gets me down! 

Visitors

Charles, Erica and baby Reed came to visit us over Veteran's Day weekend. The kids all love the extra attention and wii time they seem to get when their aunt and uncle come to visit. Brooklyn loved having someone just her size to play with.

We even got sometime over at the park since the weather is so warm here. We enjoyed a little football and volleyball time. Everyone was well worn out after a fun weekend! Thanks for visiting guys!

Crazy Hair Day

 

School had a crazy hair day and the boys went wild with it!

Happy Halloween 2012

We had a great Halloween full of lots of activities, candy and running around! The kids have more candy than they could ever want and had a blast dressing up in their costumes!

Zack as Clark Kent aka Superman

(nerdy glasses and all)

 

Katelyn as Captain Jack Sparrow

(a girly version of course)



Taylor as the invincible Batman

(he's a stud, what more can I say?!?)

William as the Black Ninja

(don't mess with this kid, he's a ninja)

Joshua in disguise as the Red Power Ranger 

(sorry a little attitude mixed in there too!)

 

Matthew as the Gold Power Ranger

(tough kid!)



Brooklyn as little miss ballerina

(her brothers were holding her back so I could actually get a picture)

Halloween is always a fun way to bring in the holidays! The kids love all the candy and disguises! It's just for fun! Purely a kid holiday but grown-ups are just big kids too!

Brooklyn is 12 months old

We hit the big 1 year milestone way too quickly! Our sweet baby girl is now a toddler! She has grown up so much this past month let alone this past year. Brooklyn is walking and talking, playing and growling. She is a huge ball of energy and into about everything. She loves to talk and coo. She jabbers pretty constantly and kisses everyone who gets close enough. Brooklyn has her great-grandma Belt wrapped around her little finger and loves to go visiting. She is quite the blessing to us all. We are so thankful for her sweet spirit that fills our home. She keeps us on our toes and fills our hearts all in a days work!

General Conference

As usual general conference was such an inspiring and uplifting time for me. The messages of charity and compassion for our neighbors. Second chances. Becoming true disciples to Jesus Christ. The announcement of the change in age of our full time missionaries girls from 21 years old down to 19 years old and boys from 19 years down to 18 years old with high school completion or equivalent. I felt goosebumps all over! This is so inspiring. The work of the Lord will go forth! I am so grateful for our living prophet. I am so thankful that the Lord has given us a so many inspired leaders to help us know what to do, how to live and the security there is in knowing that our Heavenly Father is aware of each one of us. He loves us and will bless us as we strive to live our lives in accordance with His teachings.

Brooklyn's 1st Birthday

Our sweet baby girl turned 1 year old! She was so happy with all the attention she was showered in. I made her an adorable tutu and hair clip to wear. She was quite the diva! Brooklyn showed off all day walking to each person that came to see her and giving kisses!

 

We are so grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed us with this sweet baby girl!

School Pictures by Lifetouch

Katelyn - 6th Grade

Taylor - 4th Grade

William - 1st Grade

Joshua - Kindergarten

I was so thrilled by the kids' school pictures this year. They are really well done!

Raptor Romp

Taylor, William and Joshua performed in our annual raptor romp this year! They were all pretty excited even if Joshua looked too nervous to smile for the camera. Joshua performed "Do the Monkey" by the Wiggles. He even wore a lion mask during part of the dance. He has been working really hard and was super excited to be involved again! William made sure to bring his sunglasses as he danced to Life is a Highway by Rascal Flats. He is all about the performances. He loves to sing and dance plus all the attention! He was loving it! Taylor did a square dance and actually had to dance with a girl. Oh no! They paired him up with the perfect girl, she tried just as hard as he did to whip around and spin and all that he was doing. It looked more like a competition on who could stay on their feet the longest between those two! All the kids did great and had lots of fun plus pizza and a treat!

Brotherly Love

These two little guys have grown very attached to each other since school started in the middle of August. They spend every morning just playing to their hearts content. Joshua is great at making sure to play with Matthew; they really get along very well! It is such a blessing when my kids get along together.

Cubscout Day Camp

 

Taylor absolutely loved day camp this year! He is a bear this year so he was able to participate in the archery and other events that he couldn't do last year. He came back to tell us about his bulls-eye in archery and lots of other fun activities. They went to Staheli Farm and kept busy all afternoon! He absolutely loves scouts and works hard at it! I am so thankful for the scouting program!