Motab Concert!

What a week we had last week. As part of the Bells on Temple Square, we get to perform with the Motab Choir at their annual Christmas Concert. It started off with Bells practice Tues & Wed, then the concert with the MOTAB on Thurs, Fri, and Sat. (With a recording Sat afternoon). The the broadcast on Sunday. I loved every minute of it!!!! Natalie Cole was the guest artist this year for the concert. It was great. The bells got to preform with the choir on three songs. It was so fun to be there with my mom during all of this. On Saturday night, my little brother Chris was a flower presenter, so we all got to hang out long enough for a picture backstage at the conference center.

Saturday after the recording session, we all headed over to the Church Office building for a yummy turkey dinner. It was a great meal to keep our energy up for the rest of the day!
After dinner we headed back to the conference center to get prepped for the concert that night. My mom and I had a great time taking some fun pictures while we waited....

Again, I can't tell you how much fun it was to perform with the Bells on Temple Square and to be there with my mom and share an experience like that with her. I now know why members of the choir are so willing to serve in the choir and sacrifice so much to be a part of the choir....this experience has been so amazing and overwhelming!!! I really admire my mom for all the time and effort she has put in the past 16 1/2 years!!!! She used to always say how fun it would be to be in the choir together....and even though I am not in the choir, this is pretty close, and she was right, it is fun!!!

Here is a group shot of the Bells on Temple Square. They are great people, and it has been so fun getting to know all of them!!!

What a way to get into the Holiday Spirit!!!!!

'Tis the Season....

Kaylee has become fascinated with the Cocoa Cups in our house....she loves them. BUT, she can't seem to keep her hands out of them, so she usually ends up with a sippy cup and a lid when she can't listen to me telling her to keep her hands out of her drink! But today we had fun using them for our cocoa and marshmallows....yum!
I watched the Yospe boys the other day, and they all sat on the couch quietly for a period of time watching "George Christmas" (which is a 1 hour special Curious George about Christmas). I can tell we have ALL seen it one to many times when they all are trying to sing along to the music, and I find myself singing with them! :)

We finally got out the tree the other night and got it put up! :) The kids had a blast, but enjoyed the box most of all!

The finished product....

I am so excited about this!!!! We have a great neighbor who is so thoughtful and kind. She had gotten an olyptical a year ago, and one of the pedals was rubbing on the side when she used it, so the manufacturer gave her a brand new one, and the old when they let her keep. So after it sat in her garage for a year, she wanted to get rid of it and decided to offer it to us at no cost! She said she knew I liked to exercise and that Nick is a pretty handy guy and could probably fix what was wrong on it. So sure enough, after just a little bit of tinkering, Nick made it run perfectly!! It even has tetris games on it, and ifit access card, and Mp3 port. It is amazing! It will be so fun to have a new thing to add to my workouts now! Especially with it being winter! Thanks again so much Fiona....you seriously are the best!!!!!!

Today we had quite a snow storm....so of course, by 9 or 10 the kids were itchin' to get out and play. SO we put on the gear and headed out. I took a few pictures before we got to work shoveling and building a snow hill to sled on! We had fun, but now my back and neck hurt a little from shoveling.....I should have just waited for Brother Croft to come around with his awesome snow blower! :)

Pizza Time!!!!

So as we were making our menu this week, I had some mozzarella cheese that needed to be used up, so Nick had a great idea to make pizza! So tonight we did just that! We made our own homemade pizza, and it was GOOD! Like, really good!!!! I made the dough from scratch, got some yummy toppings, and let the kids make their own pizza. It was a hit!

Again....Kaylee cheesin' with the cheese!

Carson took this picture of me putting in the big pizza....he did a good job!

Most homemade pizza is good, but this was way better than good, I thought it was WAY YUMMY! Maybe it was all the cheese we put on it.....but on the good hand, we did use turkey pepperoni, but it probably didn't help make up the difference of all the cheese we put on it! But it was still really good. I think we will have to do this more often! Yum!!!!

My kiddos and the silly things they do....

Kaylee is such a girl!!! She loves getting all prettied up, getting her hair done, and carrying purses! I found her toting my purse around the other day so I just had to take a picture of how cute she was!


We never had this problem with Carson....toys getting stuck in his hair!! Maybe due to the fact that his hair is short!!! But poor Kaylee....I guess she learned that she cannot stick toys on her head, they might get stuck! Especially in the bath tub!

But no worries, with a little bit of help from Dad, we got it untangled before it did any damage! We just laughed at her! We thought it was funny! When I took her picture I told her to smile, and she tried her hardest to smile even though she was crying! It was so cute! Carson is getting so big and so smart. He loves to play games on PBSKids.org. He does really well with the Curious George games. I just love that he is old enough to understand how to use a mouse and computer. He just amazes me everyday!

Sometimes I wonder how I will survive being a mom, but then I have these moments which make it all worth it! And they happen more often than the hard moments! So that helps!

Library Christmas Program

On Monday, for FHE, we attended the Bountiful Library's Christmas Program. It is their way of kicking off the Holiday Season. We got there early enough for the kids to get a spot on the front row! (There is Kaylee again with her cheese!!!)
They sang a fun version of Jingle Bells that went with stories about Christmas traditions around the world.

They handed out fun stuffed animals for one story, and Carson got a neat butterfly puppet for his.

Kaylee did okay for the first 20 minutes, but got a bit restless by the time it was over!

I was taking pictures of the kids and Nick and a lady offered to take our picture together. So it is the ONLY picture with all of us in it. So don't mind that Carson and Kaylee look half asleep! :)

We finished the program with 7up and donuts. They even passed out little bags of Christmas candy for the kids. I love the library! There are so many FREE activities to do their. Next week we are going to a Puppet Show "Princess and the Pea!" Carson keeps asking when it is, I think he is just a little bit excited!

My first Broadcast with BOTS...

On Sunday, the 29th, I had the opportunity to play with the Bells for my first official Broadcast as a Bell Ringer. It was SOOOOO amazing!! Besides the broadcast itself, I had a neat experience while the choir was rehearsing one of their songs. It was the song "For Unto us a Child is Born" from the Messiah. We didn't play on that song, so I turned around to watch them sing, and the power and music that was coming from the choir was indescribable! I was so amazed at the spirit it brought and the feeling that was inside me while listening to them sing! I knew at that moment how special it was to be there! To be a part of such an amazing organization. I am also very grateful that I get to share this experience with my mom, who sing in the choir. It was fun to walk into the Tabernacle that morning and run right into my mom! I even used her space in the dressing room to hang up my clothes and change. It was pretty fun! I had to be there at 7:25 AM ready to go! So it made for an early morning, so it made me even more amazed by my mom who wakes up super early to drive 1 hour 15 min each way from Tremonton at least 2 times a week! And she has been doing it for over 17 years! I can only hope this experience can last that long! (But without all the driving...we live like 10 minutes from Temple Square!) They emailed some great pictures from the broadcast that I just wanted to share! I thought I had done a good job at smiling and looking pleasant while ringing, but after watching it back on tv and seeing the pictures, I think there is a lot of room for improvement for that! I guess it will become easier the more I get used to ringing! Or at least I hope so!

I will have a pretty busy December! The Motab's Christmas Concert is next weekend, which means a ton of extra rehearsal for the BOTS. Then, we are also involved in the broadcast on the 20th. I know it will be a lot of time away, but I am so lucky and blessed to get to be a part of it! So I am going to cherish every moment! I am also grateful to my wonderful husband, who is 100% supportive and is so willing to take care of our kids while I am gone. He even took them to church all by himself on Sunday. He did a great job combing their hair and getting them dressed. (I did pick out the clothes the night before to make it easier...). I was able to make it back in time for RS, which was nice since it was combined that week. All in all, it was a wonderful day!!!!

Thanksgiving Feasts....

This year was our turn to spend Thanksgiving with Nick's side of the family. We made it to Holden Wednesday evening, just in time for some ice cream with the cousins. All the little kids had a blast sitting at the little picnic table all together!
It is a lot of fun having so many kids all around the same age. For the most part they all get along pretty well!

Of course, after the ice cream, they wore off some energy by playing and wrestling with Uncle Ryan.

The next morning, after Kaylee got up, I was getting ready when she saw her swimming suit that I had packed in my bag. She insisted on putting it on, but I told her no and she ran out of the room with it in her hand. So it was really funny to walk up the stairs and see her like this....

Papa Bear helped her put it on so she would stop whining about putting it on! We finally convinced her to put on her normal clothes and get ready for Thanksgiving dinner in Delta at Grandma & Grandpa Paces house.

We got to Delta around 11:30 and had a chance to visit with the family.

Nick's grandparents have a big garage that is insulated and heated. They roll out some carpet, and it makes a perfect place to accommodate a large family gathering. Carson loved the idea of eating dinner in the garage!

If you notice, most pictures of Kaylee include her smiling her CHEESE smile...it is so cute. Everytime I took a picture she gave me that smile. Everyone got such a kick out of how photogenic she was!

After we got home from Delta, the boys headed up to the field and played. When Carson got home he showed me all the turkey feathers he collected. We planned on bringing them home with us so he could share them with his class for Show n' Tell, but half way home we realized we had left them in Holden, so we will have to get them the next time we are down.Carson and his cousin Austyn are so cute together. They are only 3 months apart! It is so fun to see them play with one another!

Later on Thursday we all got around the table to play BINGO! This is a common game they play at the Bennett's. It is really fun, since there are prizes for the winners!!!!

This was the prize stash!!! The kids loved it!!!!!

After a short time, Kaylee & Savannah got tired of playing Bingo, and were more interested in helping Grandma call out the numbers!

While we were playing, Karen forgot that she had put in a Lemon Mirang Pie....and once we realized it, this is how it looked.....just a little bit more brown on top than normal! :) We had a good laugh about it!

Since Jerid had to work on Thursday, it gave us another chance for a Thanksgiving Dinner on Friday so that we could eat with Jerid's family. Kelly made a yummy roast, I made the rolls, and there was a TON of food to go with it! Here is Kelly and I pretending to be helpful in the kitchen...or at least I was pretending! It's all about the apron!

On Saturday Morning, we had pie for breakfast and anything else we could find to eat. I thought it was funny that Carson insisted that Nick come and sit by them while they ate. I just had to get a picture!

We headed home that afternoon so that I could be home for Sunday. I got to play with the Bells on Temple Square for the Music and the Spoken Word Broadcast. It was a great experience!!! It was a GREAT weekend, and I just can't believe that it is December!!! We are hoping to get carpet Thursday, so we can get the tree up soon after! I think that is when it will really hit me that Christmas is coming soon!!