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!!