Hyrum's 1st Grade Christmas Program

Hyrum and the other 1st Graders put on a Christmas program for their parents. Hyrum's in the second row from the top in the middle of the row.

After the program Santa was a special guest. After seeing Santa at the ward christmas party, Lydia had a little more courage. She still didn't want to sit on his lap (notice the hesitancy in this picture) but Santa picked her up and she was okay with it.

When Santa asked Lydia what she wanted she responded with, "a cookie." She had seen him handing out cookies to the kids in line before her. She's sad now that she never got to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas. Both the kids have written a couple letters to him so I'm sure he knows :)

First Snow Fall

Oh, how I love snow around Christmas time! Snow has the ability to turn a dreary world into a winter wonderland. Love it!

Life thru the eyes of Lydia

I believe we have an amateur photographer on our hands. It's not uncommon for Lydia to take 50 shots within a few minutes, thank goodness for digital cameras! I've decided to add some of her photography to our blog/family journal. Maybe someday she'll be a world renowned photographer?!

I was informed by Lydia herself how to smile in this one. She even tries to pose her subjects!

What adorable little toes!!

Jon and Hyrum have taken similar photos of themselves... must run in the family

Lydia's friend, Claire.

The fabric on our computer chair.

Ward Christmas party

Tonight was our ward Christmas party. Lydia was so excited to see Santa, but chickened out at the last minute and lost her courage to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. Hyrum on the other hand, didn't hesitate to ramble off his long list of expensive gifts like a Wii, Xbox 360, and a Ninetendo DS. There were a few other less expensive ones like a puppy. He's a silly little boy! Hyrum's friend, Trevor, joined us for the party.

I really liked the saying on this plaque. "Children need a stable background." Amen to that!

This is Lydia's most common pose for the camera lately. She encourages me to do the same when she wants to take pictures of me. Too bad I never look as cute as she does.

Lydia Jane

We went out to Weiser Saturday night for a very nice Christmas play at the High School there. I was trying to snap a photo of Lydia smiling and instead these are what I got.

It was dark in there so I couldn't really see her face when I was taking the pictures. She knew she was being silly and quite enjoyed it. She was extremely excited to see Santa after the play but, unfortunately, I missed the memo that he was coming before the play. We missed him and she was so sad :(

Lydia really enjoys taking photos with the camera right now. Typically, I just delete them afterward but I kept this one to show what our tree looks like this year. We picked it up at the local tree lot instead of the mountains. It's a little full for my likes, but it's a tree and I love having it!

Naughty or Nice

Hyrum made this nice Christmas countdown chain at school and proudly hung it on his wall. Of course, Lydia wants to do everything Hyrum does so she wanted to take part in ripping off links. Hyrum didn't care to share so the picture below is his solution to the problem.

Naughty for not wanting to share? I think, nice, for making his sister her very own Christmas countdown chain that now hangs over her bed. Way to problem solve in a positive way, Hyrum!

My little Artist

Hyrum really enjoys "painting" on the computer. These are a few of his creations from the last few months. I think we may have a future artist on our hands!

A man out fishing

This last picture shows Hyrum's true nature. He's a sweet loving little boy and we are so grateful to have him in our family!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Yerington with the Lindsey clan this year. David and Linda moved several months ago and this was our 1st venture to their new home. I have to admit it was one of the most bland drives. Barren land most of the way. We planned to stop and get some dinner a few hours into the trip and found out that was a bad plan. There's really no where to eat in the middle of nowhere. By the time we arrived in Winnemuca we were close to famished and quite tired. We decided to get some food and check into a motel and drive the last 2 1/2 hours Thanksgiving morning.

Athena, Elise and Lydia by the Indian tee pee.

Brooke, Elise, Whitney, and Isabella quite appropriately dressed for the Holiday.

The dessert portion of Thanksgiving dinner. Linda loves to make dessert and always has lots for us. The kids love it!

Joey and Lydia

Bronson, Davey and Hyrum in the "boys room." They had a great time playing together.

Joey and Bronson

Saturday Linda held a carnival for the kids. She's always so good to plan fun activities for the grand kids. Early in the weekend the children earned carnival tickets by helping with chores. There were several different games at the carnival like a fishing pond, bean bag toss, penny toss, face painting, candy guessing jars, cake walk, and one sort of like a pie throwing contest only they threw a stuffed animal. Even the house was decorated for the occasion and we ate carnival food for lunch. So festive and fun!

Jon helping Bella with the fishing pond.

My handsome husband :)

Aunt Elise did an excellent job with the face paintings. Most of the girls had butterflies and the boys had BYU logos in honor of the game later that day. Hyrum chose to have BSU, who had played the night before.

Jon trying to beat the record, which Hyrum held, in the penny toss.

Party favors from the carnival

Pretty princess (butterfly) Lydia

Before we left our home, Hyrum was begging to throw his sled in the trunk. Jon and I told him no explaining that there would not be any snow in Yerington. I had checked the weather before we left and it claimed 0% chance of precipitation each day we were there. Plus, it is an extreme desert there. Once again, Hyrum knows best. Turns out we should have listened to him! It snow quiet a bit Thanksgiving night and stay the rest of the weekend.

All together there were 22 grandchildren and 12 adults there. Absolute chaos, but handled amazingly well. The Lindsey's never cease to amaze me. I love seeing how different they are from my family. It's adds a whole new and interesting view to life. I truly enjoy it.

The following pictures are ones I stole from Elise's blog. Thanks Elise!