Sunday best

I try and get the kids a new outfit for Christmas every year. This year they looked especially cute.

primary sharing time

Maya's sunbeam class was in charge of sharing time today. Sister Whiting had them all dress up as the nativity and talk about the true meaning of Christmas. Maya was the cutest Mary we had ever seen. I don't know if it was exactly "legal" but I happen to have my camera with me and so I, of course took some pics!

on the 7th day of Christmas....

Anthony's Captain invited all of the families to the fire house for a yummy roast Christmas dinner. The kids had a blast hanging out with all the other kids and dadda's friends and, of course, their dad.

on the 5th day of Christmas....

we went to visit Santa. Maya and Kai did so much better than I was anticipating. I thought they would both freak out but Maya just kind a sat there and Kai was totally hamming it up. When Santa asked them what they wanted Maya said she wanted a pink guitar and a princess castle. Kai said, "just A,B,C's". Santa said that was a first!

On the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th day of Christmas

Maya absolutely loves "I spy" books and so for the second day we had a lesson about looking for Jesus in the busy holiday season and then the kids opened a big "I spy" type book that we got at Costco. So much fun!
For the third and fourth day we made and decorated cookies and then delivered them to Maya's primary teacher and Kai's nursery leaders to say thank you, and Merry Christmas. Who knows if they will actually eat them because I let Maya do most the work without really worrying about presentation. she was just way too excited and having way too much fun. And, I guess that is the point so I spent most the time bitting my tounge and trying to hold back.

Kai was being so well behaved the entire time, I was so proud until I realized he kept cracking up laughing for, what I thought, was no reason, Then I realized he was hooking Roxy up with sugar cookies under the counter. That little stinker!.....and Yikes, i don't know what is up with the green eyes. Maybe it is a sign of puppy sugar high!

1st day of Christmas

We have made it a tradition to do the 12 days of Christmas to a family each year. Since our kids are so young and Anthony works 48 hour shifts at the fire house, I am usually the one who ends up trucking up to the door, knocking and making a dash for the car....well, I am almost 9 months pregnant now and the thought of me running (or more like waddling) in a mad dash from a neighbors front door is way more than I can handle right now. SO, this year I have decied to do the 12 days for our own family and have each "gift" bring our family closer or focus on the true meaning of Christmas.
So on the first day of Christmas, our family recieved a bright red sled. We all had a blast sledding down the hills and being pulled around by daddy.





Okay so maybe Kai didn't like the sled as much as I had hoped. Anthony tried to just pull the kids around on the snow and he went ballistic. Needless to say, as soon as he got off, there was no way of getting back on. At least Maya had a blast,

Amazing kids

Our kids are so amazing. Kai is obseesed with the alphabet, or as he calls them, "A,B,C's" Anyting and everything with the alphabet on it, Kai enjoys thouroughly. He has known all the letters of the alphabet since he was just a little over 2. He is now obsessed with them. He has a box of magnetic abc's that he takes with him everywhere and plays with them all day long. He even uses them as action figures. He will have me play the X, for example, and he will be the H and we will play with them as if they were animals or dolls. it is truely amazing. Anywhere we go he will point out letters of the alphabet on signs and billboard. His favorite thing to do is spot the y on the mountain when we head into provo. SO CUTE!



maya wanted to make sure to pick out her own birthday present for her aunt Jodi and so she picked out this ornament kit. I was a bit worried because it required some stictching. But she sewed every last thread and it turned out beautiful. Now she wants to sew all of the time.

we decorated a gingerbread house for family night tonight. Maya was so excited she was making plans and drawing ideas all day long of how it would look. Here is the before shot.

Kai was a bit anxious to try out his yummy ginger bread man and so he just ended up eating the whole thing dry and then picking at the candy while he watched the rest of us decorate. That's our boy
Maya was so proud of her ginger man covered in about an inch of frosting and gumballs. That's our girl!


Anthony and Maya's masterpieces!

First snowman of the year

We had a huge snow storm on Saturday and Maya was so excited to get all of her snow gear on and go make a snowman. Kai, however, was not. He is not a big fan of the snow. We got started a bit late so I will have to go take another picture of the finished guy in day light. The kids had a blast and lots of hot cocoa afterwards.

Oh Christmas Tree!

One of our favorite family traditions started by accident when Anthony and I were in a hurry to buy our first Christmas tree together 5 years ago and there were no more trees left that were unwrapped so we ended up just grabbing on of the ones that had just gotten off the truck still wrapped. When we took it home it was just like opening a present not knowing what kind of tree we were going to get. It ended up being beautiful and has been every year since. We have had great luck and fun unwrapping our tree every year.


Maya got to put the star on the top with just a little bit of help from her dadda

After we sat down as a family and read the Christmas story, Maya also had the honor of lighting the tree. what a pretty girl (and tree)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Carlson family and Nana and Papa came to our home this year for Thanksgiving. We had such a blast. Of course, the cousins all had a bit too much fun! So many memories were made. We sure miss having the Carlson's living down the street from us but at least we all get to visit every few months. Maya and Kai love all their cousins SOOOOO much!

Maya and Kate


Drake and Kai boy

Goofball Maya...always making us laugh!

Thanksgiving Dinner!!!!


Wow....Just the men in the kitchen. I had to get a picture of this!.....(oh, and notice the new granite counter tops we had just got just days before. The backsplash is in progress now. It looks so great!

The kiddios table

Happy Halloween!!!

The kids and Anthony woke up to a scary candle lit breakfast of pumpkin pancakes and oarnge eggs and juice. Maya and Kai got such a kick out of the pancakes.



We went trick or treating up and down mains street. It sure beat having to walk miles from house to house like I used to have to do as a kid.



Ride 'em Cowgirl! Maya was the cutest cowgirl I have ever seen this Halloween. And Kai was her faithful horse!

Fun Fall Leaves

There is nothing like spending all day raking leaves then seeing the pure joy coming from your kids as they play and play for hours in the piles. And when you have an acre of land with huge trees....there are A LOT of leaves! The Maya, Kai, Drake, Sadie and the Sabin kids had a blast!! We had to tear them away at the end of the day. It is ALWAYS the free things that kids have the most fun with.