This year we weren't sure what to do on Christmas Eve day.......we thought about a movie, but Brooks and Branson aren't big fans of movies, so we decided to go bowling! We invited Jess and Mike and we all had a lot of fun. We all knew that this year would be different because mom and dad decided to surprise Randi and her family in Denver since it was everyone's year with their in-laws. But usually we still see my parents even on the off years. Jess's doctor told her that she couldn't travel to Idaho, so Donna said that they could spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with us!

Chantry was a little nervous about bowling and Sairee and Meah were very excited. Once they all got the hang of it, they of course wanted to play another game!

Wow look at that nice form.........haha

Jess didn't bowl, but cheered us all on!

These names above are the adults....Brooks was "Dave".. Branson was "B-Dawg"..I was "R-Dawg" and Mike was "Buck"......as you can see I came in 2nd place! woo woo! Well.....this was our 2nd game and I got killed in the first round:)

The girls did great and had a lot of fun throwing the ball and then we would hear a big "BAM" right on the ground......but it always made it to the pins! haha. Meah's ball would sometimes take awhile to get to the pins, but it was so funny to watch her because she would stand there with her arms folded saying..."come on, come on"until the ball knocked something over and then she would say...."YES!" and she was so excited. We had a lot of fun and ended up seeing 3 other families from our ward there......Looks like we all had the same idea!

THE NUTCRACKER......

Oh my..... it was so nice to FINALLY see all of the girls hard work pay off this year! The girls tried out for nutcracker in August when I was in Denver.......so my awesome husband and friend Amanda made sure my girls were ok and she helped get their hair all done. Kristi was also out of town so I was so glad that Amanda was there to help. We found out that Chantry made BLUE SOLDIER.....and Sairee wasn't quite tall enough for mother hubbard, so she was a BABY MOUSE again.....and loved every minute of it!

The soldiers get to have pretty cute make-up so Chantry was excited. The reason I have no pictures in costumes is because you aren't allowed to take camera's backstage! Sairee is hoping to grow because she gets pretty bummed that the baby mice don't wear make-up! I helped backstage everynight and for the matinee. It is so much fun to get to do this every year with my girls. Every year I always say that we aren't doing it again, but watching them perform always brings a tear to my eye and I get excited for the next year. All of these girls that are involved in the production work so hard and spend TONS of time.......but it always pays off!! I love to watch my girls dance and feel so blessed to share this experience with them!!

Love You Girls:)

IT'S SNOWING!!!

When the kids woke up on December 12th........IT WAS SNOWING!! They were all so excited, but Meah is the only one that got to go and play in the snow. Branson had been getting over being sick and he had a 3v3 soccer tournament that weekend so I didn't need him sick again. The other 2 girls had 3 performances to go in The Nutcracker and I couldn't have them getting sick either, so Meah enjoyed it for all of them. She couldn't wait and she ran outside in her pj's! I atleast threw a hat and coat on her.......and do you think we could find any of out gloves???...NOPE.....so she wore socks on her hands!! We just aren't very prepared for this kind of weather! It snowed last year when we had nutcracker too.....it is kind of fun to see this in St. George!!

Last year of Flag Football........

Well I was just going through my pictures and forgot that I took these pictures at Branson's last footaball game. We had a lot of the kids that are on his soccer team sign up together so they could all play football and soccer and Brooks could make sure that the practices didn't conflict. Well they never lost a game and they are SO READY TO BE DONE WITH FLAG FOOTBALL!

It makes me sad because my little boy is growing up so fast! There are a lot of kids that start playing tackle football in the 3rd grade!......well Brooks thinks that it is CRAZY! We have gone as long as we can and we have avoided many hits to the head! But after this season, we all decided that it is time for tackle next year......our team just killed everyone and Branson started getting bored. I am excited to watch Branson grow in to a young man.....watching him play any sport is one of my favorite things to do!! Love ya Buddy!!!

don't you just love the gloves and socks......haha!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!

This post is also really late but now I am almost caught up!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY AWESOME PARENTS!!! It was on November 25th and they are the best parents and grandparents that anyone could ask for!!

Thanks for all that you do for me and my family....WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TAYA!!

Taya turned 5 on November 24th and it was fun to get to celebrate it with her!! I am so late getting this post.... just trying to caught up! Randi made the cutest little barbie cake and I think that Taya loved celebrating with everyone!!

Taya also had her first SLEEPOVER while she was here! Branson slept at my mom's so it was just all of the girls! They stayed up pretty late and my girls actually fell asleep before Taya.....and she is use to going to bed at 7:30!! It was fun to have her come......can't wait to see them again!

Thanksgiving Tournament........

The Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, Branson's soccer team was in a tournament here. They did a great job and it was a good experience! I don't know why but everytime there is a tournament, they end up having to combine the brackets so we always have to play the older kids and we have a pretty young team! But they held their own and did a great job against the older kids! One of my favorite things to do is watch Branson play soccer!!

Good job boys!

Thanksgiving Feast and Fun!!

I AM FINALLY POSTING THANKSGIVING PICS!!

Doesn't the table look BEAUTIFUL!

Here we all are getting ready to stuff our faces at the "adult table"

Kids are stuffing their faces at the "kids table"

Crazy people!!

These girls love the camera!....The picture at the bottom with Elle and Justin is so cute! Justin was trying to reason with Elle.....wonder who won?? haha

HAVING FUN IN THE LEAVES!!

More Leaves.......

The adults had to get in on the action too!!

Our neighbors purchased this bus and we always joke about how it is "the ward bus" Brooks called to see if he could borrow it and take the family out to look at christmas lights in it!!

We had a fun time singing christmas carols while we drove around!

Jamie and Kit were not here for this adventure and I don't know why I don't have any pics of dad on the bus!!??

"The bus driver" drove us the KRAVE!!

Meah and Sairee love going to Krave.....

more fun pics.........

YUMMY!!!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving and hope you did as well!!

CHRISTMAS TREES..........

Christmas tree hunting!! Something Brooks looks forward to every year. We started years ago when we would go with my Grandma and Grandpa Evans and my aunts and uncles.We went with Brett and Kristi a few times also. But the past couple of years, Branson has been in a soccer tournament the day after Thanksgiving and that is when they all go. So Brooks and Justin started going on Thanksgiving day at 5:30am! The brother-in-laws decided that it would be fun, so they all went.

Justin and Brooks learned from their last years experience that it would be smart to take a 4-wheeler!.......Justin and Brooks' backs were so sore for a long time last year from hauling our tree all the way back to the truck!! I don't know what it is about boys and chainsaws, but they get really excited and can't wait to use it:)

I think that they were all a little tired seeing how 2 of them in this picture were up all night playing x-box because they got a little crazy with the camera!! haha.......Aaron was there with them but didn't bring very good shoes for the snow, so I thought that he was taking these pictures............BUT when I found out that they set the camera on the 4-wheeler and set the timer, I about peed my pants laughing so hard!!!! They had alot of fun and plan to go again next year!!!!!

I will post pics of the 15.5 tree that stands very tall in my house!!! To bad I can't say the same for Justin and Kasse's tree.......they got it all decorated and walked away for a minute.........came back and the tree had fallen over!!! They ended up going with a fake tree this year!!