Snow on the Mountain

We were so excited that Mount Graham was covered with snow during our trip to Thatcher, and we loved trying out our new snow gear. Snow pants are amazing!! How am I just discovering this?!?



Phil and Brayden



Jace and Brendon

Brendon and Alyssa

Uncle Phil helping Suzanna and Lelia sled.

I am so glad we got to enjoy the snow with all the Allreds. Such a fun time for the older kids, but sadly the younger ones weren't such fans. They waited it out in the truck drinking the hot chocolate that Aunt Lisa was brilliant enough to bring.

Christmas?

So I know Christmas happened, but somehow the only pictures I have are the kids with their traditional gift pictures. They all got about the same thing though...so I'll only post one.

I spent countless hours making a quilt for each kid. Why would I think it is a good idea to try and make four quilts the month before Christmas when I've never quilted before in my life? I have no idea. But despite all the obvious reasons that this was a bad idea, I went ahead with it anyway, and somehow, miraculously, they all turned out great. Of course I had tons of help from my amazing friends :)

We also got the kids each an ipod The younger boys loved theirs for a few days...and then they've sat there unused ever since. Suzanna has already dropped hers and shattered her screen. But Brendon loves and uses constantly the stereo/docking system we got him (he already had an ipod).

We celebrated Christmas Eve with a dinner at friends, then loved enjoying Christmas day with just our small family.

Then we took off for Thatcher the next day to see all our family!!

Jonathan's Eighth

Amid the absolute crazy rush of the week before Christmas, we invited Jonathan's friends over for some improvised ice cream cake and a dart war.

The boys had a great time and loved posing for pictures and playing with the dart guns. I found a billion darts in the Christmas tree when I took it down after Christmas :)

Christmas Piano Recital

All twelve of my students did so great!! It was fun to have more than doubled in size since last year, and actually felt like a "real" recital. It would probably feel even more real if I had somewhere more exciting to hold the recital than the Relief Society Room...but it was better than my living room!!

Santa Goes Green...

Rudolph and Mrs. Clause, a.k.a. Raquel and Suzanna :)

Suzanna got to play Mrs. Claus in the school play "Santa Goes Green" last December. She loved that we brought her flowers after the performance.


the whole cast

Santa and Mrs. Clause performing one of their many songs.

Brendon, Jonathan, and Tyler were a little disappointed that the play was a musical :). We all had the songs practically memorized since Anna had been singing them around the house over the past few months, but it was fun to see the whole play finally. I love that she had such a great time practicing and performing, and she did a great job!!

Soccer Championship

The whole team

Suzanna holding up her medal

So on the VERY COLDEST day of all winter here in Kingman, Suzanna's team played TWO games and won the U-12 Championship.

They did it right: dyed their hair green, played hard, celebrated at Pizza Hut between games, and wore lots and lots of layers to fight the freezing wind. This team worked hard all year, and kept it going to the end. It was fun to watch them win their first game that went to a kickoff--I loved seeing the kids on her team give it everything they had and succeed!! The second team they played wasn't as tough, but the weather was way worse.

Somehow I survived the freezing cold and even managed to take pictures :)

Kindergarten Thanksgiving

Tyler and his friends Alex and Isaac in their super awesome Pilgrim hats

The kindergartners sang some cute songs for the millions of parents and grandparents who showed up to watch. This is my fourth kid, and I'm still always surprised at how many people show up to support their kindergartner. The support dwindles as they get older :)

I love that the decorations for the Christmas play were already up on the stage area...giving it a very mixed holiday feeling!!