Christmas Eve

This was the 3rd time we have done Christmas Eve at home with just our little family.  It's funny because I have always wanted to have our own little family Christmas Eve traditions, but at the same time we have always joined in other families Christmas Eve traditions so I haven't ever had to really think of what traditions I would want to have for us.  So each year I try to remember what we did the year before.  It's like trial and error!  If it went off good, then we do it again!  If it was a flop, we ditch it!

So far this is what we have come up with...

 

We eat a candle lit Christmas Eve ham dinner.

We open our Christmas pajamas.

We open our sibling gift exchange gift.

We watch a Christmas movie together as a family.

We sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, 

blow out the candles and eat Birthday cake.

And last but not least, we read Luke 2, 

we have family prayer and then we go to bed!

TALAN

 REAGAN

CARSTEN

BRADON

ETHAN

STEPHANIE

DAVID

Ethan gave to Talan.

Talan couldn't be more into superhero's this year.

He wanted every superhero mask under the sun!

 Carsten gave to Reagan.

When she opened her present she was so overjoyed!

 I think Carsten was pretty excited too!

He knew that she was going to love her new slippers!

Bradon gave to Carsten.

Carsten loves Oregon!  

Well really he just likes Nike,

 and Oregon's sweet jerseys and apparel and stuff!

Talan gave to Bradon.

 Bradon loves summer sausage and mustard. 

This was not the present Bradon was expecting, but very appropriate!

Reagan gave to Ethan.

 Ethan can be tough to buy for.  

He doesn't ask for very much!

Well, let me take that back.  

He asks for stuff, 

just very large expensive stuff! 

 Stuff that Reagan couldn't go out and buy for him. 

 But Ethan has been lifting weights for football 

and so she thought a pair of lifting gloves would be perfect!

I love to see when my kids are sweet with each other! 

 I love to see them think about each other and 

try to figure out what the other one would want!  

I love to see the sweet look of joy on the givers face 

as the receiver open's their gift!  

I love to see the love they have for one another!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

Salt Lake City Temple

 We went to Salt Lake City to see the temple lights.

We rode on the Frontrunner train.  Unfortunately we weren't the only ones that had such a fabulous idea!  The train was packed and it was standing room only!  

 It wasn't until I took this picture that I realized that

we were a family representing Under Armor!

 The lights were beautiful!

 We stopped to watch the nativity.

 It's always nice to remember why we celebrate Christmas!  Christmas sometimes seems to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the season.  But CHRIST is the reason for the season!

 Cute pictures of the kids!

 And my big boys! 

It's not very often that I get a snapshot of Bradon.

 I love this picture of the temple!

After seeing the lights, browsing around at the City Creek mall and having a bite to eat, we headed back to the train and headed home.  It was a good family night!

Ornament Exchange Party

  We had our 7th annual 

Haws Girls Ornament Exchange Christmas Party!

It's always fun to get together with everyone!

We had a nice dinner and then did our traditional ornament exchange.  I love that the little girls are all getting older now and really seem to enjoy it!  They get so excited about the ornaments!  Well to be honest, I get pretty excited myself!

Christmas Sing 2012

 Reagan 

 As cute as can be in her elf hat! 

Carsten

 Carsten secretly likes to perform!

But shhh!  Don't tell anyone that I told you that!

For my dad!

Okay so I'm going to make an attempt to blog like a crazy woman until I get caught up!  This past year has been insanely busy and blogging has definitely gone by the wayside! However, I know how much my dad likes reading my blog, so dad, this is for you!

Idaho Potato Bowl take 2!

 Last year David and I went to the Idaho Potato Bowl just the two of us.  This year we decided to take the whole family!  Well sorta!  We took the whole family on the trip, but didn't exactly buy tickets to the game for Reagan and Talan.  Luckily I have a cousin, Stephanie Bradbeer that lives in Nampa who could watch them for us all day!  And it was a good thing, because the game was COLD!

We got to the game early to party with all the Aggie fans!  

Notice our shirts all have Eric's number on them.  

#66!

 We all ate baked potatoes, Aggie ice cream, 

and then bundled up for the game!

 

 It's always a party when you can hang out 

with the Schultz family!

 Nancy and Wade

 At the game we sat on the 2nd row.  

We were really close to this guy!

 And really close to some pretty sweet touchdowns!

 We sat by potato hats in all varieties!

Mashed, fried, chips, tots, and hashed!

 We held up our homemade poster and cheered our hearts out!

 We got to see Mr. Idaho Potato!

 But mostly, WE FROZE!

 Eric played great!

We scored lots of touchdowns!

 And we won the game!

 When the game was over we all rushed the field.

 We took pictures with the winner winner!

 

And then we all went out and ate a chicken dinner!

Well Actually we went to Fudruckers, 

and I don't think that any of us actually ate chicken!

But it was a good time!  

Signature

Tonight David and I were at ANOTHER football meeting.  During the meeting I got a phone call from Reagan.  She was all upset!  Everyone was being mean to her... INCLUDING GRANDMA!  Grandma said that she couldn't watch T.V. until all her homework was done!  Are you kidding me?  No T.V.?  Oh my gosh, that is SO MEAN!!!  So, very unsympathetic like I told her that if she wanted to watch T.V. then she had better do her homework.  To which she said, "But mom!  I can't do my homework without you or dad!"  To which I asked, "Reagan, why can't you do your homework without your mom or dad?"  Well you see, part of her homework assignment is that she has to read this story to somebody, answer some questions and then have them sign it showing that she actually read it to them.  So I told her to read it to Grandma.  "But I can't read it to Grandma! I have to read it to you or dad!"  "Reagan, you can read it to Grandma!"  "NO I CAN'T!"  "Why can't you?"  "Because Grandma doesn't have a signature!"  I almost laughed out loud!  And then I noticed that she was dead serious!  I said, "Reagan, Grandma has a signature!"  "No she doesn't!"  "Reagan, Grandma has been signing her name her whole life!  If you don't believe me then go ask her!"  And then she says, "Do you think she could do it?"  "Yes Reagan, read it to Grandma and then she can sign it." "Okay mom, Bye."

Christmas band concert!

 This year we got to listen to two of our kids play in the Christmas band concert.  Ethan is once again in the Symphonic band (which is the highest level of band at the Jr. High).  And Bradon is in the Beginning band.  

Bradon along with all the trombone players had a special trombone piece.  They came to the front of the stage and we got to watch them play.  It was fun watching Bradon play.  Usually when we go to a band concert we literally just listen!  Our kids sit toward the back of the stage and it's nearly impossible to see them!

 

After the concert was over I had the boys let me take a picture of them.  It's hard to believe that they are getting so big!  7th and 9th grade!  Where has the time gone?

Pirate's chest!

I love nothing more than listening to some of the things Talan says.  He wants to be grown up like his older siblings, but if you're going to be grown up, then you need to sound grown up.  He listens closely to everything everyone says and then tries to repeat them at the appropriate times.  Sometimes he comes off like a brilliant 5 year old, very wise for his age!  And then sometimes he just gets it all wrong!

Today I was throwing a football back and forth with Talan.  He dropped the ball and his
Grandma Adair said, "Fumble!"  He looked at her and argued, "That wasn't a fumble!  That was wet hands!"  Shortly after that the ball hit the floor and bounced up and hit him in his privates.  He grabbed himself and said, "Oh that hit my PIRATE'S CHEST!"  Your pirate's chest?  What's your pirate's chest?  "You know, right here!" as he grabbed himself again.  Talan who told you that that was your pirate's chest?  "You did!"  I did?  "Yeah, you said that this was my pirate's chest (pointing to his pee pee), and this was my pirate's chest (pointing to his bum)."  Talan I said it was your PRIVATE PARTS!  "Oh my private chest!"  NO, your private PARTS!  "Oh my private parts!"  I couldn't help but to laugh!  I seriously thought that someone must have told him that that was his pirate's chest where all his gems were kept!

Simple mistake!  Nobody ever said that the English language was easy!