Christmas Eve

I have come to the realization that my children get restless in a house all day especially on Christmas Eve with a mother who is trying to get everything done. We were going out that evening and Ben was keeping the girls busy while I got Daphne and myself ready. I was told I was in the room when Ben took these pictures but I didn't discover them until I was check the camera for pictures to blog. He claims he was just trying out the sports mode.

In Ajo every year they have Christmas Eve in the Plaza and since we decided to stay home this holiday (our very first without any extended family) we had to experience this town tradition. Also Daphne our cheerleader was marching with her squad in front of Santa's sleigh. So at dusk these fireworks go off (scared Kate and Lily too death) and Santa apears in the bell tower of this old school. Then he comes out and rides in his sleigh to the Plaza where the kids can sit on his lap.

Lily decided that she didn't want to wait in line for a goodie bag, so of course mom gets to hold her. It's fun struggling with a kid and your husbands first thought is to take a picture.

Christmas Lights

We took a femily trip to town this past weekend to shop for Christmas. We decided it would be fun to see the lights around the temple while we were there. It wasn't Temple Square, but it was still beautiful. I especially like the palm tree lights. Of course we had our coats on because it was in the 50's. I think Kate was running around so much she took off her coat. It was a wonderful time.

We also stopped at a Bass Pro shop and the girls made reindeercandy canes. They lasted til the car and the girls ate them.

Lily's Party

Lily went to her first party by herself. It was her friend Jillian's 3rd birthday. She loved decorating her cookies except icing them. Her icing job was not meeting her level of excellence so I was told to do it. After that she painstakingly places each flavor of chip on top then proceeded to dump skittles and sprinkles over the rest. Every child there seemed to be sampling the various icing by sucking on the same knives, but luckily we avoided any major sickness. After returning home she ate half the sprinkles, picked off random chocolate chips then kindly shared the remains with her sisters. If Ben had seen all this I think he might have been sick. I found it all funny and glad I could witness all of it.

I'm Bored

It's December and I really don't have much to blog for a while so I am posting this collage my sister made from the pictures she took at Ben's sister's wedding. The wedding photographers are so busy taking pictures of the bride and groom they forget all the really cute nieces and nephew.

We are all enlisted til the conflict is over

As most of you are aware I live in Az, but originate from Ca. I still have a lot of family there and was kept up to speed with Prop 8. Arizona decided to pass their own amendment before the judges overturned the existing law. Sadly we haven't received the same backlash that Ca has. My sister lives just a stones throw from the LA Temple. She went down to where they were protesting and took these pictures.

Ben as been telling me about the the bad things that are being said about the church and while it is sad to see one group that makes up a very small percentage of the voters being singled out and picked on. It also is a testimony builder to see that Satan is out there and contorting everything pure and sacred so that it no long is to main stream. Well that is it for me. Just felt like blogging about it. It just reminds me to do those simple but important things everyday to keep myself and my family safe.

Happy Birthday Lily

So I learned that you should add your pictures in the opposite order that you want them to display. My baby is 3! She had a fun birthday and got lots of toys that her sisters immediately took. Kate's reasoning for taking her mermaid was because she never got one for her birthday. She loves this ballerina outfit and the new dress up shoes. When she opened them she exclaimed "Oh my gosh!". Instead of a cake we did cupcakes and put a Dora candle on one. It think she liked the frosting off of three of them. Thanks to Halloween and a birthday next to each other we are extremely over sugared here.

Too much frosting!

She wants dad to stop taking her picture.

Halloween

So this year I decided I wasn't paying 15 dollars per outfit and that wew were just going to make due with what we have. I did buy a 5 dollar Hanna Montana wig for Daphne, but unfortunetly she took off early to do makeup and nails with friends and I didn't get a picture of her. By the time she got home she looked like Hanna strung out on drugs. So I convinced Kate and Lily that ballerinas were great and I had the stuff. It also helped that Kate's friend Lauren was also going to be a ballerina. I just told Daphne to talk it up so they wouldn't change their minds.

This is our scary monster LILIZILLA. Kate gave her a cupcake with black frosting. I think she resembles her grandpa Harden a bit. I love this picture.