Merry Christmas!

We hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! We are sure getting excited for next week! The kids are sure hoping that they have been good enough this year to have Santa stop by. All three of them are being very easy, I am enjoying why I can the simple fact that my kids don't realize that they can ask for a lot of things or big things. I am sure that won't last too much longer so we will enjoy it while we can! Here is the kids Christmas list this year:

Santa Christmas List 2008....

Marcus: Webkinz

Alec: A Spray Candy because all he really wants is a Flying Backpack for his birthday! Yes, we know his birthday isn't until June, but that is what he wants. And yes he really does think this flying backpack is going to pick him up and fly him around where ever he wants to go!

Olivia: A Treat and she added tonight she wants a Barney!

As we are getting closer to Christmas Day Carson and I are doing our best to making sure the kids do know what the true meaning of Christmas is and what a blessing it was having Jesus born. And even though the true meaning of Christmas does not include Santa there is just something to the magic of this holiday that I just love. It makes you realize how magical life can be by believing in something. I know it is completely impossible to keep my children little forever so they can always have that true glow in their eyes when they see they magic of believing in Santa and seeing everything that he brought to them last forever, so I think I will hold extra tight to these memories of my kids being little "Believing in Magic".

I am so grateful for Carson and my kids. I am so grateful for this Gospel so I can have the knowledge of Forever Families and understand the importance of Jesus' birth. So as we come close to ending another year I am going to make sure and slow down a little bit so that I am able to enjoy my blessings that I have been given.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Kids Christmas Pictures

A few weeks ago we had Nicole take the kids pictures for Christmas. They got to wear their new Christmas Church Clothes. I know that I am the mother of these three children, but I do have to say they are pretty dang cute! Thanks again Nicole...

December Catch Up....

{December 2, 2008}

Ward Party....

We had a wonderful ward party, long, but wonderful! We even had the Grinch come to the party. It was so funny, he looked so real. Olivia was scared out of her mind and still is every time you bring the Grinch up and Marcus wasn't to sure about him either. He would walk around the gym just like he does in the movie and every once in awhile Marcus would climb under the table and say, "he is freaking me out!" The boys enjoyed sitting on Santa's lap and Olivia enjoyed watching the boys sit on his lap, but did not want to take any part of sitting on his lap!

{December 5, 2008}

Saying Goodbye is Never Easy......

One of neighbor families moved away, which just happens to be one of Marcus' bestest friends ever. It is never easy saying goodbye to friends! The only thing that made this goodbye a little easier is they will be back in a few months for a few months. We will sure miss you guys! Can't wait for the end of March....

Marcus, Josh, Alec, Olivia, and Kendra

We will miss you "Ken"!

{December 9, 2008}

Build A Bear

On the day that we went and picked up Molly at the airport me and the kids went to Build a Bear to make a Christmas Moose. That place sure never gets old, my kids love going there so much. We now have 3 moose Elf, Rudolph, and Noel to add to our Christmas Decorations. The kids were so good, I was a little nervous to take on that big task by myself, but it worked out great.

The kids got to add stuffing to the machine, that is the first time they got to do that. They thought that was great fun!

We have been have a very fun and crazy month, we can hardly believe that Christmas is a week away! Carson and I are really trying to do lots of things with the kids to make traditions that we do every year. We finally feel like our kids are getting to the age were they remember certain things from the holidays, so we thought it is a perfect year to set traditions this year that we can do for many more years to come. We hope you guys are all finding lots of joy and happiness during your holiday season as well!

One of those days....

Last night our family had such a family night activity. We watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and then decorated a Gingerbread house, so today when I woke up I was feeling like it was a good day, we just had a great night last night with the family and right first thing in the morning things were going well, I was actually feeling pretty good about my mom skills. I got one child off to school, I was taking another child to the Doctor so they will feel better, while the other child tagged along. You know it is one of those days when you think oh yea this is way I am a mom! Well towards the end of the day we needed to go do our grocery shopping so I have the Princess in the cart while the boys are walking. I got the things I needed off one isle turned to go to the other one just thinking the boys were following, so I turned around got a quick glimpse of Marcus running around the corner and then immediately Alec screaming, "Mommy"! So I ran to get him and asked what happened, when Marcus very proudly told me that Alec was walking in the wrong direction and he hurried and ran towards me to catch up towards me and to hide from Alec so he could get lost! At that moment I felt like a completely looser of a mom because me oldest is trying to figure out how to ditch his brother, were did I go wrong in the whole parenting section?!!!!

Happy 7 Years!

Happy Anniversary Big Daddy!

Last night I had to work for a little bit, then I came home and Carson and I got the kids to bed extra early. After they were in bed we got out our take out dinner out of the van and had a nice steak dinner. Yes it was later then we usually eat, but we had a good time. It was fun to talk about past anniversary celebrations, the good times, and the hard times. Also goals that we want to set in the coming year. We have declared one of the best parts about being married is on a daily occurrence being able to look at each other when our kids are doing something cute, funny, or amazing. No words are said, but we both know at that moment life couldn't get any better. Thank goodness for those moments daily so we are reminded during the hard times what we are all about! Happy 7 years! Can't wait for many, many more anniversaries! (I just wish we could celebrate like we did seven years ago tomorrow, that would mean we would be on a plane to Hawaii!)

Happy Birthday Olly!!!

Happy Brithday Molly! We hope you have a wonderful day. We are so happy you are back in town to play with us....

{December 9, 2008}

This past Tuesday Molly came home after being gone for a couple of months. Everyone in my family except for Carson was able to get off work and go down to the airport to see Molly and then go eat afterwards. It was tons of fun seeing her. Marcus had been saying for a couple of weeks that when he saw her he was going to take her down, "I am taking Molly down! I am taking her down to the ground!!!" After a couple of mintues to let the shock settle in all four little boys took her down! Welcome home Miss-a-Lou!

More Family Photos...

Here are some more of the photos. I think they turned out really good! And lets all take a moment to enjoy Alec's smile in ALL of his pictures, I guess it just is a memory of what his smile was at the age of 4!

Family Photos 2008....

{I give up! I have been trying to upload pictures for the last three days and it isn't working very well. I will have to try another day to finish!}

So I mentioned back in October that while my family was on our annual trip to Park City that Nicole came up and did our Family Photos well I finally have my hand on the cd's with the pictures on them so I thought I would share some. Nicole was a real trooper with all of the ran and such, not to mention Jen and Lindsey doing their best at getting some smiles. Poor Lindsey was being pet as if she was a dog, but it worked! Last time the Carlson side of the family got our pictures taken was for ever ago, oh our hair styles and clothes were AWFUL! So it is nice to finally have some updated photos of all of us. Thanks Nicole they turned out GREAT!!!!