Christmas vacation, so far...

This past weekend we went to Phoenix to see my sister Kelly and her family who drove from Idaho to spend Christmas in Arizona. The kids and I were so excited to see everyone.
On the way to the valley, Harly and Daycee were playing with my camera in the car.

This is just a few pictures of the many they took in a five hour period.silly girls!

MacKenzie helping Clayton and I put together the Christmas puzzle my mom had out on the table.

Sunday night we went to Amaron & Satya's for the Merrill's family home evening. The kids acted out the Nativity and Carson was a shepard and Clayton was a wiseman. The other kids opted out on participating.

Clayton looks like a deer!

On Monday before I left to go back up North, we went to the park to play with some old friends from Waddell Ward. We went to Waddell ward on Sunday and it was good to see everyone again. Kelly and her family were also there. It felt like old times.

cousin Deanna and Adam

Gunner and Kenzie on the teeter toter

Deanna and Daycee

There were seven moms there with all our kids. From left to right: Sabrina and her daughter (3 kids), Jenny with her daughter, Angie (5 kids), Andrea (3 kids), Kelly (4 kids), Kim (7 kids), and Lilyan (6 kids).

Between the seven of us, these were all the kids at the park. What a great time we had visiting with one another and the kids playing together.

It had been snowing at our house since Tuesday afternoon. The whole town is covered in snow. We are so excited to have a white Chirstmas this year. I'm just glad I didn't have to drive kids to school in the snow. Our friends driveway is a little hill and they were tubing down it, so when we picked up Harly some of our kids had to try it out.

This is Pam pushing Aarron down the hill. She didn't push him as hard as it looks she slipped and fell just as I took the picture. What a good sport she is.

Daycee having a turn...

...and Clayton having a turn.

Congratulations Clayton!

After a long hard week of tryouts, Clayton and his cousin Ryan made the 7th grade basketball team.
GO ELKS!

One Last Christmas Concert

Harly and her friend Katie got ready together for their 4th grade Christmas concert.

Here is Harly giving her first speaking part.

And here she is giving her second speaking part.

Harly singing with the 4th grade and her friend Cami is on the left.

This is a video of Harly performing with the Bells.

Lawlor Christmas Party

Daycee, Halee & Sage singing Jingle Bells while Harly played the flute.

Cindy and I doing the "hokey poky"

Adam dancing

Aarron's got the best moves

Halee, Harly, Sage & Grandma doing the "hokey poky"

Aunt Christine, Uncle Sean & Tatum doing the "bunny hop"

MacKenzie, Mom and Daycee dancing

Kalicia getting a leg ride from Glenn and Capri following behind

Krew with the boys' basketball

Charlotte dancing

Daycee dancing

Kashlynn and Aunt Rachelle

December 3, 2009

Aarron turned 4 this year!

He was so excited and couldn't wait to open his presents.

His brother Clayton made him a gun and binoculars out of toilet paper rolls.

His sister Harly bought him some spiderman stickers and a pack of gum.

Adam trying out the binoculars.

He was so proud to have his own pack of "double stuff".

Aarron invited some of his cousins to have birthday cake and ice cream.
They included: Kate, Ryan, Jagger, Jersy, Christie and her boyfriend Buddy.

Happy Birthday Aarron! Mom and Dad love you very much and are so grateful you are a part of our family. You are a very special boy and are a good example to your brothers and sisters.

New Christmas Tradition

Every Christmas our family decorated an artificial tree. Last year I threw away our pre-lit tree because most of the lights went out. So this year we decided to cut down our very own tree. We drove about 10 minutes up the road towards Big Lake and started our hunt. After making three stops we finally decided on a tree. It was freezing cold and was starting to snow. The mountain already had a ground cover of snow on it which made it "funner" to find a tree. After a few kids tripping and crying we knew that this was definitely our new family tradition! We had such a good time, at least I did. Adam didn't want to leave the snow and the boys wanted to find something to shoot. The girls just wanted to get back in the car and go home.

The tree on the right is the one we quickly chose

Daycee, Harly and Adam making their way up the path to find our tree

Carson and Clayton trying to find something to shoot while looking for a tree

Everyone got a turn at chopping down our tree, except for Harly she just wanted to get out of there.

Clayton's turn

Carson's turn

Daycee's turn

MacKenzie's turn

and Aarron's turn

Great memories, I can't wait to do it again next year!