Snowing in Southern Utah

It snowed last night! The little boys were so excited to play in it, Katie and Taylor were much more hesitant since it was literally freezing outside. It was lots of fun outside!

Bedtime Fun!

These little guys are spoiled by a very loving Daddy every night! He likes to carry them on his feet to bed, read them stories and tuck them in with a goodnight kiss. Man are they spoiled!

Christmas Day 2010

Christmas morning started early than last year but not too bad! Katelyn had set her alarm for 6 am but was swiftly put back to bed until 7:30. I am pretty sure Taylor and William had a peak when the house was all quiet, hoping that Santa had stopped by during the night to leave them some gifts. They weren't disappointed! They were all spoiled with treasures galore!

Matthew was not really into getting up early as everyone else so we opened a few presents before he joined the rest of us! Joshua got a little frustrated that he wouldn't open his presents but they all waited and watched when he finally did rouse!

Everyone was delighted by their gifts and us parents loved watching their reactions! Our grandparents sent us money for Christmas which we used to buy the kids a wii. It was hidden behind all the other presents so it wouldn't overshadow all the other fun things.

We headed over to my parents' house to join in the festivities there. We were all spoiled rotten as usual. The kids had drawn names with their cousins who live here in Saint George and enjoyed watching them open their presents.

After visiting for a little bit we went over to Grandpa and Grandma Belt's home to give them presents and have some lunch. The kids were a bit restless as they had toys and games waiting for them at home!

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas with lots of fun times had by all. Everyone was showered with gifts and the Christmas spirit. I am thankful that "God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son."

Christmas Eve 2010

Our Christmas Eve was wonderful! We had all the gifts bought and our Christmas dinner was at Stephanie's house so cleaning up wasn't really my responsibility. Thanks Steph!

Jennifer and Stephanie hosted Christmas dinner this year complete with a full table spread including name tags. It was a regular Christmas feast with ham, funeral potatoes, raspberry pretzel salad, rolls and hot apple cider. We ended with the kids doing a white elephant gift exchange so they all ended with a present before the night finished off.

We started heading back home and went to the temple to watch the nativity and lights. Matthew was pretty tired and didn't last long. It seemed a little strange being Christmas and all but we weren't even in jackets. We got home to make cookies for Santa, read the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2 and let the kids open some pjs before heading to bed. They were so excited for Santa to come!

A visit from the man in red!

The big man from the North Pole made a special appearance at our house! The kids weren't quite so scared of him since it looked so much like Grandpa. Unfortunately their lists for Santa seem to keep changing. Hopefully he'll bring them just what they like! He's pretty good about that at our house! Santa asked each of them what they would like, posed for a picture and then handed them a candy cane. They all enjoyed their time with Santa. Matthew even went up to Santa right before he left and gave him a great big hug. My sweet baby boy!

The best moment of the whole thing was right after Santa left, Joshua says "that wasn't Santa that was Grandma!" We all laughed at that one!

Playdough

I am in charge of sharing time for Primary the whole month of December. I had the kids do an activity using playdough and ended up with way too much so the boys have been very busy creating with playdough. William said he created a sculpture of me and so I needed to take their pictures. Here is the results. They're pretty cute if I do say so!

Katelyn's Christmas Piano Recital

Katelyn performed very well at her Christmas piano recital this year! Miss Amy, her piano teacher, had taught Katelyn a lot this past year and half. Katelyn works her butt off too! It has been a wonderful opportunity to have her take piano lessons. She is very determined! This year she played the Little Drummer Boy and Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Christmas Programs

Taylor's class performed several Christmas songs for two local care centers here in town. We were able to watch the first show and see Taylor singing and dancing! He did a great job!

The fourth grade performed several musical numbers in the gym later that same day. She played her flutophone, sang and played the xylophone. It was a nice performance!

Rough Morning

Matthew has been rather sick lately with a fever and sores in his mouth. I took him over to the doctors to find out that he has a herpes virus! The doctor told me to feed him cold things, like pudding. I think Matthew would rather wear his food than eat it but he's happy and that's what counts!

Gingerbread Houses 2010

We decided to let the kids do gingerbread houses but to let them make their own instead of just using the kit like in years past. We used graham crackers and a great frosting recipe to get things started.

They loaded up their houses with candies and each had a very unique house that showed a little more personality! Joshua's house is voted as the craftiest house and most heavy! William is voted most livable and colorful, as it is a very solid structure even though he kept squeezing the frosting into his mouth instead of the house. He was able to add the most candy to his roof, at one point we almost had a cave in with all the candy being put up on the roof.

Taylor's has the most snow as he poured the remainder of his frosting onto the paper plate and then sprinkles galore, he has the best looking roof! Katelyn's is voted as the most sturdy as she took it apart a few times to make sure it was secure with additional frosting. She added frosted windows and copied Taylor's roof with a little of her own flair!


They all had fun even Dad and Mom, we all ate way too much sugar and laughed most the time! I would say it was a great night! Too bad Matthew slept through the whole thing or maybe that was a good thing?!?

Meet with Santa at the mall

Friday afternoon while Zack was at a conference in Las Vegas, we took the kids over to the mall to meet up with Santa. Jennifer, Stephanie and their kids met us there. First, Jennifer's kids bravely went up and told Santa what they wanted for Christmas things like an ipad, a laptop and a four wheeler, Jaerick sat up on Santa's lap for a picture but when it came to my kids...they wouldn't go. Matthew didn't have a problem with the jolly old elf but the other ones only went when they went together for a quick picture.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We spent Thanksgiving with my family here in St George. Zack got up early and played a turkey bowl with the guys in our ward. I woke up to the leaves pouring off the tree, literally the all fell off within two hours. Pretty much all the trees in the neighborhood were coming off just like that. We raked a huge pile of leaves under the tree in our front yard and let the kids jump in them. They loved it! We then headed over to my parents house for a Thanksgiving feast. There was lots of good food and family to visit with. We spent all weekend enjoying being together and playing around!

This year we have been very blessed. We have good jobs, a comfortable home, a healthy family and good kids. God has been very mindful of us and blessed us abundantly.

Our little wrestler

William is wrestling this year at PVHS on their junior wrestling team. He is definitely still in the learning phase of things but enjoyed his first tournament this weekend. He won his second match and would have won his third if he didn't keep rolling himself on his back. He thought the whole thing was great and was such a fighter. Once he figures out how it all works, he has a lot of potential and is built for the sport.

Most Embarrassing Moment

See this kid? He looks cute and innocent right? Well, on Sunday morning we went to church and sat with Charles and Erica who were visiting. The kids were being just normal kids and behaving for the most part. Matthew pulled out all the charms for this young couple that were sitting behind us, he was grinning and chattering at them for most of the meeting. Zack was sitting up on the stand as usual with the rest of the bishopric. We were sitting about midway from the front of the chapel.

Nothing was out of the ordinary until the last speaker got up and started giving his talk. I was on the end of the row, Matthew was in front of my legs playing with cars on a hymn book. I leaned over to ask Joshua to quit ripping the paper off all of the crayons, when Matthew escaped up to the stand were his dad was. I don't let my kids go wandering around during sacrament meeting! This is a big no no for us! Matthew wouldn't sit still on Zack's lap so Zack told him to go back and sit with Mommy. Matthew got down from Zack's lap and walks off the stand about 3 feet from the stairs. I ask him to come back and sit with me, where he says "no" and turns around to head back up the stairs...

His little pants start to fall down his little waste as he gets back up the stairs. He gets to the top of the stairs with his little bum facing everyone in the congregation. He bends over and pulls his pants down to his ankles. Basically mooning everyone with his diaper still on of course! The speaker laughs, as well as the rest of the congregation, and tells Zack he's got a little problem over here. Zack gets up and brings Matthew to me. We were both very embarrassed, I was at least as red as a tomato. I went out in the foyer with Matthew for the rest of the meeting! We had several people come up to us after the meeting thanking us for a good laugh!

Halloween Fun!

Our Halloween was very busy this year! Charles and Erica came to visit and join in the festivities. The kids had a Halloween parade at school and class parties on Friday. Our ward and another who meet in our building had a trunk or treat in the church parking lot with chili and cornbread for everyone! The kids also went trick or treating on Saturday night in my grandparents' neighborhood. We got lots of loot, way too much candy to be a good thing! They all had fun dressing up and eating candy.


Zack was dressed as a pirate. Alisha is wearing a shirt with tattoo sleeves and funky hair. Katelyn was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and loved her ruby slippers. Erica put makeup on her so she was feeling pretty fancy! Taylor was complete with the whole Harry Potter get up! He is so excited for the next Harry Potter movie to come out. We read all the books this past summer. William was a valiant knight! Joshua was the thing from the Fantastic 4 (he calls it "the Rockman") and little Matthew was Elmo including the Elmo slippers!

We had a great Halloween how about you?

School Pictures 2010-2011

The kids finally got all their school pictures back!

Katelyn 4th Grade

Taylor 2nd Grade

William Kindergarten

My kids have grown up so much this past year. All the school kids are loving school and their teachers!

Raptor Romp

The kids participated in a school fundraiser where they wore their school shirts and each grade level participated in a dance. William was thrilled to be doing the Dinosaur dance this year as a kindergartner. Taylor did a dance using a hula hoop and was rather impressive, he didn't miss a beat. Katelyn's dance was a square dance. She was even partnered with a boy! They all did great! I had surgery early that morning but didn't want to disappoint the kids so I went and sat with all the parents watching my kids and loved their beaming faces!

Labor Day Weekend/Parker's Baby Blessing

We traveled up to Provo for little Parker Benson Alvey's baby blessing this weekend. Zack's parents and siblings all got together for the special occasion. We stayed at Zack's grandpa Chuck's and Grandma Karla's home. They were very gracious hosts! We went to Temple Square, the splash pad at the Gateway Mall, Liberty Park and then finally got to meet the little guy down in Provo. Katelyn loved holding little Parker.

Sunday was a very busy day with the blessing, visiting and then a luncheon later in the afternoon. We also traveled back up to Grandpa Chuck and Grandma Karla's home where we continued visiting!


We continued visiting with family on Monday morning. Krystal, Kathy, Katelyn and I went shopping over at the Quilted Bear where we enjoyed browsing all over the store. Soon we had to head back to Grandma Benson's home. She fed us some lunch and then we were on our way back to St George. It was a fun visit. We'll have to see what we can do to get everyone to get together and let the little cousins get better acquainted!

William's riding a two wheeler!

Our little man, William is riding a two wheeler! He wanted his training wheels fixed since one was bent up pretty badly but I told him we would just teach him to ride without them! He was pretty excited and couldn't sit still enough to eat his lunch because of it. I took him outside, removed the wheels and that was the end of him riding with training wheels. He just took off! William told me later that he had already tried it on Hailey's bike and figured it out! The little sneak! Next we'll teach him how to tie his own shoes but he may already have figured that out too. Who knows with this little man!?!

Our little nursery guy!

This little man is now 18 months and being such is ready for nursery! There is a little problem though, he's scared too death! He clings on mommy and daddy every time we go to the door of the nursery. He cries without even being put on the floor to play in the nursery. The two sisters in the nursery are very nice. He's been babysat more than any of my other children by this age but still refuses going to nursery! We did bring him back in for snack time and let him eat a couple crackers but he was still hanging on me. I hope he gets use to the idea soon but we'll see. It took Taylor a couple months when he was a baby but the others were all for it. Any advice?

Swimming at Grandma's house

My mom went in for surgery on her tailbone on Friday afternoon. It was a in and out kind of surgery but her recovery is around 6 months. When the doctor got in there he was surprised to see she was missing part and the tail bone was split in two going opposite directions! This should make her much more able as she has been dealing with it for a few years now. We went over to their house Saturday afternoon to see how she's coming along and then swim. She's on her way to a slow recovery but it should make her much more able later on. The kids loved swimming! Matthew is a little fishy, he loves the water!

Going to the Fair!

We took the kids over to the county fair on Friday night to see what it was about. They had a family farm exhibit with all kinds of farm animals plus pony rides, cow milking and a little petting zoo area. The kids had a blast playing with all the animals. Taylor struggled a little after riding the pony as his allergies got the best of him but he was still a good sport!

We saw all the carnival rides and thought the kids were old enough to enjoy a few. They loved it! It sure is expensive to ride those rides but they were loving it!

First Day of School 2010

I cannot believe we have started another year of school! Miss Katelyn is starting 4th grade, Taylor is in 2nd and William is thrilled to be starting kindergarten. We took a little tour of the school yesterday to meet teachers and find out where their classes are. They were so excited this morning! No need for alarm clocks on the first day, they complained that we weren't leaving at 7:30 this morning! William hasn't truly began school, it was just meeting his teacher and filling out forms today and tomorrow he'll go in for an assessment. It should be fun! He will officially start on the 18th, I don't think his nerves can handle the anticipation!

This should be a fun year!

Cousin Sleepover

We invited our little cousins to spend the night before school starts. The kids had a blast and really made it a fun night! As you can see they played games, ran around outside, played dress up and watched a movie. I hope we are creating some lasting memories for them!

Our Kitchen is Complete

Well, it's a long time in the making but we finally finished our kitchen up. I really like it! Maybe we could stay in this house for a long time after all. Zack and I have worked our butts off for the past two years making this home ours. There is still plenty of things on the honey do list but it is definitely improving!

March 2008

August 2010

Pioneer Day Weekend

We headed up to Duck Creek for Pioneer Day weekend to go camping with my family. We stopped off at Wendy's on our way up to go camping. They had some pretty fun comedian masks that the kids got! It was funny to see each of them trying on the glasses.

The weather was great the whole weekend! The kids had fun playing in the trees, dirt and running a muck! My parents brought their four wheelers which the kids loved! We ate, played, got very dirty and kept going until we were exhausted. By night time we crashed hard!

Matthew was very into the dirt. He ate it, spread it in his hair, played with it and just plain loved it! He was a mess the whole time. I washed him about 10-15 times a day.

We also played on the four wheelers a lot! The adults and kids all got plenty of turns playing in the dirt. They had lots of fun trails to ride.

After we were done camping we headed over to Bryce Canyon to have a look around. It is immense!

Fenders visit

My Aunt Donna Sue, Uncle Bob and some of their grandchildren came down to visit. We love getting to visit with family! Katelyn was excited to get to meet some girl cousins around her same age. My cousin Jason's daughter, Brandy (11 years old), my cousin Paul's two daughters, Elli (12 years old) and Katie (10 years old) came with their grandparents. We spent most our visit over at my parents' house playing in the pool and visiting with family.

My mom is best friends with her sister, Donna Sue. It is very fun to see them be together!

My grandparents celebrated their 60th Anniversary while my aunt and uncle were down! They are still very much in love with each other and very dedicated. I've learned a great deal from them through the years and am grateful to have them so close!