Sledding @ Mt. Lemon

Sledding in Arizona?  Mt. Lemon is about an hour and a half drive from us-it even has a small ski resort.  Santa brought the kids a sled for Christmas this year so we decided to try it out.  We went up with the Cherringtons for a day of sledding.


Audrey made her annual snow baby.  We had snowball fights and ended with some hot chocolate and soup.  Then headed back down the mountain to our 70 degree weather.

CHRISTMAS 2009

What's Christmas Eve without a Nativity?  Paul and Trisha came over for dinner.  Raegan was the most perfect little angel and Chase was the biggest baby Jesus I've ever seen.  After reading the Christmas Story and singing songs, we made cookies for Santa.  The kids opened their jamies early this year to go to the Polar Express so we let them open one present before it was off to bed.

Waiting in anticipation at the top of the stairs Christmas morning!  

All Jackson wanted was a RED race car with a track- 

he must of played with it for 4 hours straight that day.

Audrey wanted a colorful guitar...

and stuffies!  She named them Nugget, Googles, Ellie and Booger Jr. 

Oh, don't forget little hammy that was in her mini stocking.

There was a mysterious present under the tree that said:  To: Blake  From:  John

It was a Dolphins shirt and visor signed by John Beck himself.  Blake thought that was so cool and still doesn't know how it got under our tree.

Grandma gave Jackson a Teddy Ruxpin and we all sat and listened to his story.  Ahh, the

 magic of Christmas!!

Christmas Activities

December is always filled with the Hustle and Bustle of Christmas Activities.  Here were some of ours:

Getting ready to go see Santa.  We couldn't wait to tell him what we wanted

The ward Christmas party was a blast!  We got to go on the Polar Express (again)!

Blake and Audrey had their annual Christmas piano recital.

Our favorite part about the Live Nativity is the sheep. We met up with some friends and Paul and Trisha.

Mom got to bring Chase and Jackson to Blake's school and help make gingerbread houses.

Audrey's dance group was in the Oro Valley Christmas Parade!

You "ROCK" Audrey!

We had a Christmas party with Jackson's Joy School friends!  We also visited a rest home to perform the nativity and sing.

Making Sugar Cookies is a must in December!!

POLAR EXPRESS

Some friends of ours live in Flagstaff and invited us up to the Polar Express.  A bunch of us headed up including Paul and Trisha.  We stayed at the Little America.  (Thanks so much Reeses, we had a blast and it was so fun to see everyone!)

So, you're supposed to wear your pajamas and after convincing Matt that it wasn't about him and his manliness but about the kids, he put them on.

It was fun to be cold as we boarded the big train to head to the North Pole.

After going through a magic tunnel we got hot chocolate and cookies and then... we saw the North Pole.  Santa himself came aboard and handed each child a bell.  One dropped from his bag and Audrey picked it up.  When Santa went to hand her a bell, she told him she already had one.  He was so proud of her for telling the truth that he still gave her another bell and said she could have two.

The look on Jackson's face when Santa came was pure magic.  He was so excited, jumping up and down.  The ride back was full of singing and lots and lots of bell ringing.  Nothing puts you in the Christmas spirit like being on a train full of kids that just had cookies, saw Santa and are equipped with a brand new bell!

Blake's Choir Bribe

I wanted Blake to join the school choir this year and he did so reluctantly until I was able to talk his best friend, Joseph, in to joining too.  They had choir on Thurs. after school then they would walk home together, do their homework and then head off to football practice.  

The night of the performance came so we all bundled up for "The Night of Lights" at the School.  Chase looked like Randy on the Christmas Story- He couldn't put his arms down. ( It wasn't even that cold, but I had that coat and I was determined to use it!)

There's only a handful of boys and then about 30 girls in the choir.  Needless to say, Blake was not too thrilled about having to sing and dance with all those girls.  SoI fell guilty of doing the infamous BRIBE.  Blake was in the market for some extra Christmas money so I told Blake that I'd be watching carefully and if he did all the actions and sang the words the best he could I would pay him up to 5 $ depending on how well he did.  4$ for good, 3$ for okay and on down.  So as I'm watching the performance, Blake's doing great... and surprisingly so is his buddy Joseph. They're both smiling, singing their hearts out and really trying to get every action on cue. I thought to myself, "maybe I shouldn't have bribed him... look at how good Joseph's doing all on his own- he didn't need a bribe to do his best!"  Well, after the performance Blake came running up to me,  "How did I do Mom?  Did I earn the 5 bucks?"  I told him he did great and I was very proud of him.  "YES!"  he exclaimed, and then turned to Joseph and said WE did it!  I asked what he meant and Blake proceeded to tell me that before the program He had gone to Joseph with a proposal.  Blake told Joseph that if he would do all the actions and sing real loud with him that he would pay him 1$.  Blake got 4$, Joseph got 1$, and Mom got her boy to sing with a smile- Everyone went home happy!!

Andrew's Blessing

We ended our trip with little Andrew Robert High's Blessing.  

Erica is a SUPER- Mom and boy does she have her hands full.  Her saving grace is the sling she whipped up for Andrew.  Erica totes him around in it 24-7 which allows her to multi-task.  She can cut apples for Benson (20 months), bake cookies for the family and sew up a quilt all while simultaneously putting Andrew to sleep.

We love our new little 'REW'.  

We had soup, Erica's homemade wheat bread (which she made with Andrew in her sling), and lots of cookies after the blessing then it was time to head back to Arizona.  Matt drove the entire way home only stopping ONE time while the kids slept.  We really packed a lot in and it was a wonderful trip!

THANKSGIVING

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast at my parents house this year.  Then we ended up with Matt's family that night.  Our family has so much to be thankful for and we feel incredibly blessed.  Our children bring us so much joy and we're surrounded by family and friends that love and support us.  The gospel gives us peace during times of economic and political chaos and helps us remember what is most important in life.

Grandma's High Chair

This is the High Chair that I used when I was a little girl and now every one of my children have also used it.  You know it's got to be sturdy to hold up to all the eating we do.  The funny thing about it is that it doesn't have straps to hold the babies in.  There have been countless times that we've found one of our kids holding on for dear life just about to slip all the way through.  Chase figured out how to stay put by putting his little toes up on the tray.  "Eat up Chase, you're looking a little thin!"

Bowling B-day Celebration!

So there are 6 birthdays in the month of November so while we were in Utah we had one big November B-day Celebration!  Grandma and Grandpa Jones took the whole Jones clan bowling, then back home for pizza, cake and a few presents!

Jackson used his big strong muscles and did it all by himself.  The kids had a blast bowling on their lane.

Audrey picked out a ball that matched her outfit

Chase and Austin hung out together observing everyone's form and placing bets on who would win while sampling each other's snacks.

All the Birthday Boys... and Angie!

(Also that week the girls went to see TWILIGHT and some of us pulled an all nighter shopping in Park City for black Friday- Ferfie got school and work off the whole week so we went shopping got a pedicure and worked out at the gym together.  We were pretty much BFF all week long:)

Adeline's Blessing in Utah

We headed up to Utah for little Kaylor Adeline Cannon's blessing.

Audrey loved holding a little girl baby- Adie was so cute and happy the entire day!

The whole gang was there and we hung around Sam and Jessie's house for the rest of the day-thanks guys.  

The cousins loved playing together

Grandma and Grandpa Cannon soaked in all the chaos of grandkids EVERYWHERE!

Uncle Paul challenged Blake in an arm wrestle and "barely beat him"- maybe if Blake wasn't laughing so hard he would of had a chance.

It was also our 12 Year Anniversary!  I love Matt 12X's as much!  Wow, a dozen years together and still going strong!

Blake's Birthday-ONE DECADE OLD!

When we asked Blake what he wanted to do for his Birthday this year he asked if we could go camping.  Veteren's Day was on the 11th and the kids got school off so we headed to a campground about 5 min. from our house- Catalina State Park.  The Winfield family came and brought Blake's best friend Joseph and Blake invited Soma as well.

The boys of course, played football and whittled sticks.

We had tinfoil dinners and played games in the tent.

The boys slept in their own tent and Matt and Steph got the cots.  Chase ended up in Steph's sleeping bag halfway through the night- it was pretty chilly!  The next day we went on a little hike and looked at some questionable Indian ruins.  The kids found a really cool tree to climb.

Blake, Joseph, and Soma= THE THREE AMIGOS!

We weren't brave enough to let Chase crawl around in the dirt so he was our little caged pet.

On the 13th, we made Blake a Batman cake and Jackson ran to get his Robin costume on (Audrey didn't want to miss out on the fun so she was the princess in distress that needed to be saved)

Paul & Trisha brought BATMAN and BATGIRL for a guest appearance.  Their fee was very reasonable and they're quite entertaining!!

Blake was really excited when he got LEGO BATMAN !!