Christmas in a Really Long "Nutshell"

What a fun December Kenzie was in the play "A Christmas Carol." She played the chimes during one of the songs and sang as a background singer. She a had a great time and she even thinks next year she will try out for a speaking part. She was so proud of herself and she did a great job. She also got to play the bells in sacrament for the program. Go Kenzie, our little musician!

The Backup Singers

Kenzie & Aleigh

Kenzie playing the chimes!

All the singers on Kenzie's side.

Kenzie & Bronwin(the Ghost of Christmas Past)

(From Btm right to left)Kenzie, Maggie R, Shenyce, Max, Alex, Jaslyn, Brooklyn, Hunter, Olivia, Gabby, Maggie S.

Rhiannon & Kenzie F (carolers)& Kenz and "Fab Gab"

Olivia, Gab & Kenzie


We also had our Ward Christmas Party and Christmas Breakfast the weekend before we moved. At the Ward Party we had dinner and a live band that the kids had a blast dancing to the Christmas music. The Santa Primary Breakfast was a blast! The kids ate pancakes with whip cream, watch a shortened version of the Christmas Carol done with marrionette puppets, sat on Santa's lap and made the cutest reindeer letter to Santa. They had a great time and practiced for the primary program, too. Fun! Fun! Fun!

The Christmas Carol puppet show



Santa makes an appearance!



Making letters to Santa





Sitting with Santa and not even crying! Yeah Chloe!



















I think one of the kids favorite "traditions" as they call it, is going to Annie's to make cookies! They always have a blast and they love to tell their friends that they are going to BYU. Annie we are really going to miss you. Don't you need a few more years at BYU? Well Judy get ready, Corbyn's already informed me that your house is we they are going next year. We love you guys!

Baking with Annie at BYU!











The kids had a great time at their school Christmas parties. There was music, cookie decorating, reindeer candy canes, food and lots of hot chocolate! They are really loving their classes. Kenzie's class even read the Cajun Christmas Story, if you haven't heard check it out, it was great!






Best part of the holidays was moving in to our new home! We closed on Friday, the 19th but due to a blizzard we moved in on Saturday! What fun! We had lots and lots of snow and my kids couldn't be more excited. It took us many days to move, but thanks to our Elders Quorem we got all the furniture in on Saturday. We didn't get a tree and couldn't even find our stocking hangers, but we found the Santa plate and cup and our stockings by Christmas Eve. The kids were great sports and love their new rooms!


Our New House...Finally, Yeah!

My Favorite part of the new house...Double Ovens!


Yes, Chloe's stocking is twice her size!





Calvin teaching Chloe to take steps.


Christmas Eve: The stocking were laid on the mantel with care and cookies and milk set out in hopes that Santa would soon be here! One present was opened as tradition it was and then off to their beds to sleep as they must.


Kenzie and Corb enjoying some of the leftover cookies!

Calvin pouring the milk for Santa.

Corbyn carefully arranging the cookies.

Calvin opening his Christmas Eve present.

Calvin's CTR ring, it's a spinner.

Calvin's BYU Basketball Jersey!

Daddy opening Corbyn's present to him,"All the snuggles you want." Daddy's Favorite gift.

Mommy getting her favorite TV show on DVD, Season 1.


Corbyn's present: A Nerf Gun w/ glow in the dark bullets. Yes she asked for this along w/ a bb gun and a bow and arrow. (no, she didn't get the last two.)

Kenzie excited to see what's inside.

Kenzie's collection of books she really wanted.




Christmas Day was lots of fun! We opened presents, had omelets for breakfast, my kids favorite, made Gingerbread houses and ate turkey. We even played in the snow! What a great Christmas season!

Chloe's present from Santa

Kenzie realizing she is getting her guitar!

Our little "earth-loving musician"

Corbyn's favorite present, Boxcar Children.

"Christmas? What's that?"


Making and decorating gingerbread houses!

Kenzie concentrating on making her wreath.

Nice shingles Calv!

Corbyn's, Calvin's, & Kenzie's Gingerbread Houses!

Christmas time is here!

It is so fun to have family close by and enjoy the holiday cheer. Annie got us all free tickets to her Christmas concert on Saturday night. A big thanks to Brad and Ashley for watching Chloe, so we could all have a wonderful, music-filled night. It was at BYU, so my kids were in just because of that and then to know they could see Annie play her flute was icing on the cake. There were many choirs that preformed and in between preformances they had the audience sing a song. It was so fun! Corbyn fell asleep right before the intermission, but it did start at 7:30pm. We woke her up to hear Annie play and she was glad we did. Annie played after the intermission and her solo was amazing! I have heard her play on cd but never in concert. We love you Annie and you are amazing! The kids, especially Kenzie, could hardly sit still when they played "sleigh ride." They had bells and chimes and Kenzie was just beside herself. (She played the bells in Primary last Sunday and is playing chimes in her school play, Scrooge). All and all a very fun night! We even were able to enjoy hot chocolate at the Wilk and beautiful Christmas lights on the way to the Art Hall. Yeah, BYU!

Yep, Chloe's 5 months old!

You want me to do what? Smile? Maybe later.

This what I think of smiling.

You want me to do what with my arms?

Is this better Mom? Pose, pose!

Now I've got it, both arms up! Opps, I forgot about not chewing on my tongue, one out of two ain't bad!

Well she was actually 5 months on the 2nd of December, but things have been a little crazy to post. She rolled over from her back to her stomach yesterday and she also is starting to scoot on her tummy. I told her she can not crawl before she can sit by herself, but she has a mind of her own. We bought her a Bumbo, but she mostly likes to eat it. I can't beleive she is already 5 months old. If she was sleeping through the night I would want to freeze her in this stage, but I really could use some sleep! Little Chloey-bo we love you and are so glad you are here with us! Oh, and if you can't tell by the pictures her favorite trick is chewing on her tongue, much to her Mom's dismay and her Dad's genetics.

Thanksgiving - A lot to be thankful for

We had a great time at Thanksgiving, unfortunately I didn't get any pictures taken due to the whirlwind of activities! We were so thankful to have G'ma, Papa John, Uncle Aaron, Grammie and of course our special arrival...Auntie T. We are so glad she made it for Thanksgiving! We also got to see all our relatives at Robby's wedding and had a blast with all our cousins. We had a great big turkey, and I don't mean Ryan May (even though he was here), we watched movies, went to the movies, play at the gym in Provo with all our cousins, ate some more turkey, had Will, Nicole and Baby Ryan stay over, played a couple games of pounce, got the flu, got a sinus infection, woke up with Chloe at 4:00am (g'pa we love you and miss your babysitting, especially at 4:00am), we read a chapter book (g'ma is so good to us!), went Christmas shopping and got to open them early, spent time in the temple (long awaited blessing), spend time with Grammie, surprised kids with Luke and Meg overnighter, experienced Hires Big Hamburgers and lots and lots of fun. What more could one family be thankful for? Well maybe a house, but hopefully Santa will bring that!

The King and I

Kenzie, Corb and Hannah, as the "head wife"


The good baby who was awake for the entire preformance and didn't make a peep!

Andrew, Darian, and Calvin "the trio"

Calvin in his dancing part, he does actually dance but of course I couldn't get it on film.

Calv's friend Andrew, stage crew


Some of the cast: The king was excellent!


What a sailor! Great acting and singing, Calv!

At Calvin's school the whole 6th grade preformed the musical "The King and I," right before Thanksgiving break. I could not believe the level they preformed at. It was amazing! The kids painted the backdrops and made some of the props. They all remebered their lines very well and I still can't beleive that an Elementry school could preform a musical and do such an outstanding job. The play was an hour and 20 minutes long and calvin had various parts in it. For a little background info: Calvin came home a few months ago and said they were doing a play and they had to submit or apply for the non speaking parts. He definately did not want a speaking part so he requested stage crew. A couple weeks later, they got their parts and to Calvin's dismay, he got a part as a sailor. He was finally coming to accept his part when his teacher announced the sailors would also be singing! You can imagine Calvin's excitement, singing in front of all his friends! He also was a non speaking, "action actor." Well I went to see the play during school the first time expecting to see Calvin, as a sailor, in the first scene and not much during the rest of the play. Well, to my surprise he was in about 3/4 of the play as an action actor, and because of his size, usually in the front. He also did a dance number. He was embarrassed at the first but he did very well. They preformed the play 4 times and had it recorded the last night. Fun times in 6th grade!