Santa came and I have proof!!

This year was our very first Christmas in our own home and we absolutely loved it. We did Christmas Eve with my family this year and the kids participated in acting out the Christmas story and we played games, ate lots of food and had a great time.





We went home and got ready for Santa. The kids saw Santa's sleigh the whole way home and Rudolph's nose. We were in a race to beat them to our house. The kids frantically got carrots for the reindeer and 3 cookies for Santa and we couldn't forget milk. Alina had to count the carrots to make sure nobody was sneaking them before we went to bed.

They opened their Christmas Eve pj's and Alina was ecstatic with her new pj's, Austin and Greta were hoping for something else.

As we were getting ready we had a knock on our door and the kids ran to get it and on our doorstep was this.....

Our friends Jamie and Trent think they are pretty funny. Inside the box of the potato heads was a Christmas towel they won as a white elephant gift. They left the towel on our car after they left the party and we returned it to their doorstep. Now that we have it back we'll have to think of a clever way to return it to them. The war is on! Our kids love the potato heads, Alina carries hers around with her everywhere and Cam's even comes complete with a pocket protector.

After the excitement Austin told us he didn't care about the presents we had to wrap for them, he just wanted us to go to sleep so Santa could come. There was so much excitment in our house, it was so fun! The kids layed out their stockings and name tags we had made earlier in the week and they were off to bed. Cam went to check on them and they were looking out Greta's window to see if Santa was on Braden's roof (friends behind us) yet. Then they aksed if they thought Santa could leave a picture of himself. I told them we could write a letter and ask, Austin wanted to leave the video camera on all night to catch him. Here they are pretending to sleep.







Austin was the first one to wake up at 6:30 and we had to get the girls up and they were not happy. Then they remembered it was Christmas and ran down quickly. In my family we had a tradition of getting your favorite treat, food or whatever edible item to eat on the table. Alina requested gummi bears and Austin and Greta got their own donuts. Cam got a ginormous can of hot chocolate and I got fancy syrup for our french toast that morning.

Before we opened presents we had a prayer and laid baby Jesus in his manger and reminded the kids what Christmas is all about. The kids did a lot of service this past month and the bed was very soft. Next year they want to do even more.

Unfortunately we didn't take a single picture of Christmas morning, we only video taped it. But Santa did leave a picture of himself at our house along with a letter to the kids. They were so excited, it was the hit of the day.





Santa brought Austin and Greta the digital camera they wanted and Alina got her bike. He also brought them a personalized book. It's a story about them and their friends. The kids were happy and enjoyed all their new gifts. Cam surprised me with an Ipod and a sewing machine. I got him a golf caddy, and a gift certificate to get the book The Jospeph Smith Papers when they have more in stock, and 2 booster decks to Killer Bunnies.

I made art kits for the kids and put them inside boxes from Costco. Alina's was in a box of stuffing, when she opened it she said "yeah I get my own stuffing!!" That's how excited she was the whole day, she hugged us every time she opened something and was happy with everything. All 3 of them were, it was a great Christmas and the kids are already counting down for next year.

Christmas Happenings

We've had a very fun busy week. It started with the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. We actually got tickets to the conference center and took all our kids. It was neat to be there and see the prophet and feel of his spirit. The kids even thought it was great. A lady sitting in front of us told us our kids were so good and asked us if we had drugged them with Benadryl before we left. She must not have noticed Alina upside down in her chair, on the floor, or kicking the seat in front of her. They did alright though.

After the devotional we walked temple square with about 20,000 other people. It was a bit crazy, but beautiful.

Then I learned how to make my own stockings and I think they turned out great! I love them. They have the colors of Christmas along with my regular decorating colors. Who would've thought I could tie it all together, thanks to Shelley for letting me realize how to put colors together.

Then we made gingerbread houses with the Coe's. Cameron and Trent put on the frosting and were in constant competition on who's house looked better. Boys.

Peggy Cannon in our ward taught me how to make these cute candy lights. I went over to her house and she had everything ready for me. I love these lights and have decided I'm going to make some for my kids rooms for next year.



Then on Saturday we had our ward Christmas breakfast put on by our fabulous Activities Committee. We had an awesome pancake breakfast with scrambled eggs, sausage, and juice. Then Santa came to visit the kids. Some of the kids recognized that Santa was none other than Condon Hansen. Even Alina saw Condon after Santa was gone and told her dad that he was Santa. Kids are too smart.



Even Greta sat on Santa's lap.

Alina pretending to be shy.

Then they had a pajama contest. Cam went up and modeled his pj's with a pink boa. He won the guys award for best pj's.



Then after the party Eagle Mountain City had Santa and Mrs. Claus drive around the neighborhood in a fire truck. It was a great week and now we have another week of fun activities planned. My sister will be here from New York on Thursday and she gets to stay until January 31st so we will have lots of things to do. We can't wait!!

Yesterday the kids did their primary program. They did a great job. Austin told me after that he loves doing the program because it makes his testimony stronger and not so afraid to share it. Even Greta sang and said her part. I love watching my kids learn and gain a testimony, what a great week!!

I help out in Austin's class every Monday. Yesterday Miss Reid had me take some kids out in the hall to do spelling tests. Here is a conversation with Austin's friend Isaiah when I asked him to spell "up"

Holly: Spell up
Isaiah laughing. He said, "do you know that when you spell up you say you pee?"
Holly: "Did you hear that from Austin?"
Isaiah: "Yeah, he told everyone that joke, oh can you spell I cup?"

Then another kid came out and I got to the word "we." He spelled it Wii. I said no not that Wii, we like we are going to the store. And he said, "oh that we, that's easy WE." Kids.

Service at Christmas

Christmas is one of our favorite times of year for our family. It seems that nowdays kids are given so much throughout the year that they don't appreciate the gifts given to them at Christmas. Cameron and I really want our kids to feel the true meaning of Christmas, to understand it and want to to good not only at Christmas but always.

My friend last year gave us this manger. It's a service manger for my kids. What they have to do is serve someone, anyone and they get to put a piece of straw in the manger each time they serve. On Christmas morning we put a doll that acts as baby Jesus in the manger and the kids get to see how soft they made his bed with all their service. When we pulled this out of our Christmas decorations the kids remembered and were excited. They instantly started making my bed and each others beds. They always try to be secret about who and how they serve and they work together on serving. I think they are getting the true meaning of Christmas and I love this new tradition in our home.

Yesterday Austin wanted to buy his own Christmas tree with his own money he has earned. It's a little 4.5ft tree and he invited his friends over to help make ornaments. I went upstairs to do some laundry and came down to all 3 of my kids and their friends singing Christmas songs while making ornaments. I grabbed the video camera and taped them without them knowing. It was so cute. Kids feel the spirit this time of year, it's just important that we point out to them that what they are feeling is the Spirit. They'll want to feel it more when they realize what it is they're feeling.

On a side note when Austin and his friends were putting up Austin's tree they were all commenting on how small it is. I told them that if they didn't stop being so negative we wouldn't put it up anymore. Austin's friend Braden looked at me and said, "Oh my gosh this tree is huge, look at how big it is." And then they all had a great attitude about the size of the tree and had fun putting the ornaments on. Kids are so cool!


Merry Christmas!

Crazy Busy

We've had a fun, crazy, busy weekend. It started Friday with a birthday party for Austin in Riverton. Then we hung out with my parents and I tried out a recipe I got from April that you cook inside a pumpkin, it was gooood.

On Saturday in preparation for the game we decided to put up some BYU signs in Brad and April's yard. They are die hard Ute fans so we thought they needed some help. The kids had so much fun making sign and sneaking them into their yard.

Then my brother Matthew came over with his kids and helped Cameron put up our Christmas lights. They did such a good job, they look fantastic! We even had time to play a game.

Then Cam went to watch the BYU game and I went to Lyndee's with Jamie to learn how to make earrings. They turned out great, although I was a little frusterated at first. I also learned how to make bracelets this weekend.

Then after BYU stunk it up we went over to Denise's home for girls night. We played Pictionary and ate waaaaay too many sticky buns.




Sunday we went to my parents to celebrate Greta's, Tessa's, and Melinda's B-day. Tessa got to pick the dinner this time and she picked Hawaiian haystacks known to our family as chinese sunday. Cam hates this dinner but ended up having 2 plates. I think he's making up his hatred for it.

Then today to remind us of BYU losing April had to bring us over these cookies. I've decided that if I get cookies we can be rivals on everything. After all I am a very hungry pregnant woman!

Princess Party

Greta had her very first friend birthday party today. The day started out perfect because her Aunt Shan's birthday package to Greta came today. It was filled with Littlest Petshops. She was soooooo happy.

We had 10 girls there, 12 with Greta and Alina. Greta has never had so many friends in her life, she's so happy to finally have so many great friends. All the girls looked so cute in their princess outfits.

We did makeovers and finger painting. Austin even got to help paint fingernails, he was a good sport through the whole thing. All the girls wanted to be with Austin and flirted with him as well as 5 year olds can.

We have a great CD with old dance songs on it and the girls had fun doing the limbo and chicken dance.

Greta got lots of great presents. Alina is very upset that she didn't get any. Greta isn't ready to share yet and Alina has just been sobbing about it. I reminded her that she didn't want to share her new toys when it was her birthday either. She looked at me with big elephant tears and said, "oh mommy I promise I'll share every day." Greta isn't buying it.

She wanted a Hello Kitty cake thank goodness! It was an easy one to make and turned out really cute. Greta gets to have another party on Saturday with her Utah family and another one on her birthday with her Idaho family, she can hardly wait!

Boys

This is what I woke up to.

Austin: Dad can you spell CUP?
Dad: C U P (see you pee)
Austin and Dad laughing hysterically
Dad: Can you spell I cup ( I see you pee)
More hysterical laughing.
Austin: Hey dad why were you under there?
Dad: Under Where? (underwear)
The laughing doesn't stop this time.
Boys.

SuperCam

My sweet husband is the best ever! My calling in church is Enrichment Leader and he knows how much I want the women in our ward to come to our Enrichment activities. Sometimes some men have work conflicts so they can't be home to watch their kids, or like last night there was a stake meeting at the same time as Enrichment. So last night like many other nights Cameron had ELEVEN kids and three of them were under 2. He watched them so me and the girls could go to Enrichment for a night of pampering with a pie making demonstration, eating pies and making our hands nice and smelly with paraffin wax. It was a great night and had it not been for my sweet husband not everyone could attend. I didn't get home in time to get the pictures of all the kids that were there. But you get the idea. Thanks Babe!

New Family Photos

My great friend Lyndee took our family pictures on Saturday and I loooove them. They turned out beautiful! Take a look. She has the best rates ever check her out at celticdreamsphotography.blogspot.com.

My Little Time Traveler

Alina woke me up this morning and she came in with her sock filled with rocks. A little background for you is that she is constantly losing her shoes, she can't go outside until she finds them. It's been a big challenge for her. Here is our conversations about her sock filled with rocks.

Alina: Hi mom.
Mom: Hi Alina, are those rocks in your sock?
Alina: Ya
Mom: When did you put rocks in your socks.
Alina: (pauses) ummm I went tomorrow, but not yesterday.
Mom (a look of confusion)
Alina: Don't worry I had my shoes on.

My daughter must be a time traveler, at least she had her shoes on. I'm pretty sure though that she got the rocks this morning, without her shoes.

House

Alina: Let's play house mom.
Mom: Okay
Alina: You be the baby and I'll be the mom. Now let's go to the store.
Mom: But mom I pooped, you need to change my diaper.
Alina: (cackles and says) I'm not the mommy anymore poopy.

Halloween Weekend!

We had a very busy week. Here are my cute preschool kids. We did a Halloween party and told stories and frosted sugar cookies.

Friday I had to help out in Austin's class party. I got to dress up like a witch and have the kids help me make a monster. And then since my friend Kim mentioned "The Green Hand" story in a comment I decided to tell them that as well. It's a story my dad told us everytime we had a birthday sleepover. We had kids crying and wanting to go home, it was great fun. Part of the story says that if the green hand touches you he'll leave a green mark on you. One kid was so into it and asked me if he thought that meant the green hand could turn him into the Hulk. Good stuff.

After the party we rushed home to get ready for Cameron's parents to arrive and the kids COULD NOT wait for them to get here. Austin stood pacing on the porch, then he decided he'd ride his bike to see if he could find them. Greta kept herself busy by cleaning, boy were they glad when they finally got here.

We had a beautiful fairy princess, a scary pirate that likes to say, "Arrrgh Matey" and the perfect Harry Potter. The kids had a great time trick or treating. Austin went with Braden and Carter and to some homes they went three times. Greta went out once with me and once with her dad and Papa. Alina only made it out once, she was too busy eating her candy when we got back. She told me later that night she had a tummy ache....hmmmmm....I wonder why




On Saturday we went to a historical site called Camp Floyd not far from our home and went on a tour and looked at some trees that were 150 years old. I got some great pictures of the kids in the fall foliage that I'll post later. Later that day we went to our ward party and I forgot my camera and then to a 50th wedding anniversary for Grandma Casperson's sister. We had a great weekend and we are so happy you came to see us Nana and Papa. We are on the countdown for Thanksgiving.

Happy Birthday Austin!

Austin is officially 7 years old and we can hardly believe it. He had his birthday party today with 8 of his friends. From left to right: Bridger, Sean, Braden, Carter, Jeremy, Austin, Logan, Spencer and Kenny on the floor.





Austin had a hard time deciding what to have served for his party because he doesn't like cake, cookies, or brownies. Last year we tried pudding, whipped cream and oreos crushed on top with gummy worms and he didn't like that either. He finally decided he only wanted strawberry cupcakes and floating hand punch so that's what we did. As you can tell the boys were a little crazy decorating their cupcakes.



I took the kids to the basement to tell them my secret.....I'm a witch who brings monsters back to life. Some of them weren't sure if I was telling the truth or not. I told them I had some body parts from some animals and corpses and that we would mix them in my cauldron and see if we could get a monster to come alive. We had fingers from a mummy (baby carrots), dried up ears from a corpse (tortilla chips), brains from a chicken (cooked sphagetti), eyeballs from a cow (peeled grapes), and a heart that was warm from a monster that just died (a balloon filled up with warm water). All the boys had to feel each item, I thought Braden was going to throw up every time his hand went in the cauldron. Some didn't even dare touch. Once the heart was in the cauldron the table started shaking and strange sounds came from the stairs and all of a sudden a hairy monster came screaming into the room (Bella Lillie). The boys were freaked out, although if you ask them they weren't scared at all. It was great fun. Happy Birthday Austin!

Tagged - Holly

Where did you meet?

At Holly's apartment at Utah State University. I was on a date with her roommate, and the date included dinner at her apartment. Apparently Holly wasn't told of this, and while I was sitting in the living room she walked in with a beautiful green mask on and curlers. It was love at first site.


How long did you date before you were married?

It sorta depends on what you mean by "date". Our first date was Valentines Day 1997. But we weren't technically "dating" just yet. So I guess I'll just copy Holly's answer and say 4 months, plus 2 years on a mission, plus 11 months after I got home.

How long have you been married?

8 years


What is your favorite feature of hers?

She's hot.


Does she have a nickname for you?

Babe, Cam, Master, stuff like that.


What is your favorite quality of hers?

When I left the mission field I was given a packet of a bunch of stuff to read. Some of the stuff in the packet was concerned with marriage, and one talk in particular that stayed with me was from Elder Packer. He said to marry someone who makes you want to be better than you are. That's my favorite quality of hers.


What is her favorite color?

Blue


What is her favorite food?

Lasagna


What is her favorite sport?

BYU Football


When and where was your first kiss?

1997, in Holly's apartment, chastely sitting on the floor.


What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?

Play. She's really fun to play with, and sometimes I let her win.


Do you have any children?

Yes.


Does she have a hidden talent?

She's hot.

And she plays the piano, can sing opera, and runs really fast.


How old is she?

30 1/2


Who said I love you first?

I totally did.


What is her favorite type of music?

Hair band. I had never even heard of Tesla until I met her.


What do you admire most about her?

Her honesty and obedience. And she's hot.


I tag Lyle, Jaysen, Gavin, Jeremy, Trent, Doug,

Cameron and Tomatoes

My husband HATES tomatoes. He served a mission in Uruguay where they served plates of tomatoes in the summertime. He never grew to like them. Every summer I try to get him to try a homegrown tomato and he still never likes them.

This year was our first garden and we prayed really hard that we would have success and we did. I found a way to freeze my tomatoes instead of can them and got tired of doing it. Cam said he would do the rest because we were so blessed with tomatoes that we couldn't just let them go to waste.

Here is my cute husband blanching, and peeling the things he hates the most. When I told him he also had to squeeze out the guts and get the seeds out his face turned pale and he said, "ya, I don't think I'll be able to do that." So I helped him and we got it done quick.

Later that night he was sniffing his hands and said, "gross they still smell like tomatoes!"

Thanks for doing a batch for me babe.