Christmas Day 2008

A little bit of this....and a lot of that.....



This year we had a quiet and simple family centered Christmas.
First, The kids let us sleep in until just a little bit after 8am! What a wonderful gift!

Once everyone was a wake, then all headed down stairs to see what Santa had left. First off, Little Girl noticed that Santa didn't eat all of his cookies, she just had to finish them off! Such a funny girl! Santa leaves items in their stockings, one present each, and one present to share.

We then enjoyed our traditional family breakfast casserole - I grew up having this and now I make it for my family :)

Then it was off to open the presents that were under the tree. This year for J it was a "I'm growing up Christmas" which include a Nerf dart gun set and Geo-tracks. For our little K it included a whole lot of Baby Dolls and Dora

The rest of the day we spent playing with all of their fun toys and playing games and of course eating cinnamon rolls! The best part was we spent the whole day together as a family! What could be better then that?!

Our Christmas Card 2008

This is this years Christmas card- Enjoy :)

Merry Christmas Nana

Hey Nana,

Sorry you couldn't be with us this Christmas. Here is a little song for you.

The Nativity and Jam-Jams

This past sunday, the sunbeams acted out the Nativity-they did awesome!
Christmas eve we spent with friends eating yummy food, watching Luke 2, reading "I believe in Santa Clause and the kids acted ou the Nativity. J loves being a wiseman!
Showing off our Christmas Eve 'Jam-jams'

Eight Years Ago

To celebrate our eighth anniversary I thought I would post "Our Stories". We wrote these for our ward Valentine's Day party. Every thought we had the coolest story, that is until they heard Mike and Vanessa Stanfill's story. (Think - Shop Around the Corner - with a twist.)

Anyway, here they are, hope you enjoy.

Tom and Renee's Wedding Story

Renee's Version:

In 1995 Tom and I met at EFY. We spent the week hanging out together and wrote several letters back and forth for many months thereafter. Time passed and we fell back into the routine of our individual lives: school, sports and dating lots of people. Years past, out of the blue I got a letter from Tom telling me he was leaving on his mission. Harmless enough, I wrote him back, after all, what's the worst that could happen? We sent several letters back and forth, no pictures, no flirting, just happenings. Two years past and he showed up on my doorstep. It wasn't love at first sight, more like syncrosity – yeah, I just made that word up – let'say it is where two individual rhythms meet, instantly resonate and find harmony. We were instantly greater together then the sum of our parts. I can't say that there was anything specific about him; I was just drawn in. He wasn't the perfect man but he made me laugh everyday. I found peace in his company; to be myself without reservations, excuses or games. It must have looked very foolish and ill-conceived. To marry a Lasagna Factory Security Guard with no gun and less then a year of college under his belt. Something in his passion made me realize that together our greatest dreams would be accomplished. There was no hesitation accepting his proposal.

Tom's Version:

I met this really nice little girl at EFY one year, she was only 14. We wrote a bunch of letters, but fell out of practice after a few. Then when I left on my mission, on a tip from my brother, I wrote letters to every girl I could think of. It was a fun diversion. I got updates from a bunch of old friends, including Renee. Although there was never anything romantic between us, but it seemed that I was looking forward to her letters more then the others. It's odd, I hadn't seen her for years – not even a picture – but I felt drawn to her. I'd been home three days; I was near her house and thought I would pay her a visit. A virtuous-lovely-of-good-report-and-praiseworthy girl answered the door. One look and that was it, she became my future. She became a permanent part of my thought. In an effort to clear my mind I took a lot of trips, around Utah, back to my mission, out to California and such. But, in a familiar way, I felt myself drawn back. I would return to her and with Renee find myself home.

Christmas Traditions I

Dear Santa Letter

The annual Christmas work party


Telling Santa what he wants, another digger

Putting up the Christmas tree (most of it occurred while little girl was down for a nap)

Singing at the Creche (Nativity) Exhibit that occurs every year at our church

No more Pappy

We have reached a milestone this week, our little K no longer has a pacifer aka pappy as she has called it for the past 6 months.  (she has been a very slow teether and thought she could still need it - she still only has 10 teeth!) 

Wednesday for her nap was the last time she has seen it or used it! We have been slowly not have it available for her to use.  We have been down to 3 times when she could use it for quite awhile (bed, car, and during sacrement meeting at church)  We first took away the car, then sacrement meeting and then on wednesday she couldn't find her pappy but of course I knew where it was but thought maybe I could use this for my benfit(wasn't planned but hey whatever happens, happens, right!)  and it worked. 

I did the normal bed time routine (jammies, books, songs, pray)  and put her to bed in which she was still asking for pappy.  I told her if I found it I would bring it to her.  (In which gave me a little buffer if she sceamed forever for it)  Then I said goodnight and closed the door.  5 minutes of crying occured - I went back in her room rubbed her back said good night again and walked back out - another 5 to 8 minutes of crying occured but by 10 minutes nothing and she slept all night.  It has gotten better and better each night.  However, for naps she has been crying, and it takes her a good 20 to 30 minutes to calm down and fall asleep but when she finally does go to sleep, its a good 1.5 hour nap.  Hopefully this continues and we don't lose naps all together.  The whole family needs that nap time still :) 

My goal was to have that pappy gone by the time she was 2 and we have done it :)  YEAH! 

Some Christmas Videos

Where is Santa?  I don't know...

Where is Grandma?  Japan.  Thank goodness for long distance grandchild spoiling.  Thank you Grandma!!! 

From Thanksgiving to countdown

We spent the Thanksgiving Holiday with some friends from our ward. Had a wonderful time playing games, watching a little football and of course stuffing our bellies! As you can see, she loves pie almost as much as she loves whip cream!
 Let the countdown begin, One of two christmas paper chains  you will find in our house! Our son told me he wanted to put it right here by the front door so Santa could see it (guess he hasn't heard the legend that Santa comes down the fireplace)

Mini Vacation to Indianapolis

This past week, Tom had a couple of days off of work, which resulted in a mini vacation to Indianapolis!


First stop was to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. When we arrived we discovered 2 things: 1. This place has it own 4 level covered free parking garage! Who knew a children's museum needed their own parking garage! 2. During most of month of November adults are the same price as kids and of course under 2 was free! We haven't even entered the museum and we already love it

Once inside the museum, we weren't disappointed in the least. The museum has 4 levels of fun hands-on exhibits for all ages. Their is so much to see and do including but not limited to: a train exhibit, space exhibit, dinosaur exhibit, a play-space designed for children 5 and under, a mirror maze, 2 water tables, a super hero exhibit and don't forget they have their own food court. I sound like a comical for this children's museum - sorry but it was just that amazing!

After the museum we swam in the hotel's pool to get some of the energy out and then watched Peter Pan!


The next morning we went to the The Indianapolis Museum of Art (which was free!) We were told this Art Museum has a collection of over 50,000 works of art. We believed it, their was American Art, African Art, Asian Art, Contemporary Art, their was even an exhibit about chairs. We were excited to see the oil painting Landscape at Saint-Rémy (Enclosed Field with Peasant) by Vincent Van Gogh.

After a brief stop at McDonald's (its a family rule we only go there on vacations if the kids are good!) We headed to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the Indy 500 takes place! In the Museum their are quite a few cars displayed - Our son kept looking for #95 Lightening Mcqueen-of course it wasn't there but he had fun looking! We also were able to take a bus tour around the actually race track where we saw the famous brick start and finish line!

The whole way home we talked about how much fun we had and how well behaved our two kids were!

His First Hole in One

Oh yeah, he planned that shot.

A little bit of talking

I thought you'd like to see our little angel performing a bit.

Pajama Party

So we got to spend most of the week in our PJ's. Yeah, I know, we live a pretty plush lifestyle. And if it weren't for all the vomiting and diarrhea, we would have really had a good time. Either way, almost everyone is feeling better today.

One Year Later

One year later, she is still our pumpkin.

Trick or Treating

We had the enjoyment of trick or treating this year with some friends from the ward.

We had a good time. Our little Superman did wonderfully, he would get extra treats for his sister and he would say, "Which one doesn't have peanuts." Of course a few peanut butter treats did make it into his bag, oh well, more for mom and dad.

Carving Pumpkins

Here we are carving out our pumpkins, the kids did a good job they dove right in there to scoop out the guts. Tom used his power tools to carve his, it took him like 3 minutes and he was done, and 10 minutes to clean up the mess. (Sorry, no pictures of that.)

Halloween Witch Fingers

A gross Halloween party treat!

I dare you not to smile

Happy Halloween Everyone.

Sure the picture is from last year, but it is just such a good picture.

Six Posts about of Road Trip: Starting with Liberty Jail

Here we are at the Historic Liberty Jail.

The Shoal Creek Sub-Division is not far from Liberty Jail and is in a newer, nice part of town. It is said to be the sight of the new Kansas City Temple.

Church of Christ - AKA: RLDS Spire

Here is the Community of Christ aka RLDS Temple. "Dedicated to Peace." The temple doctrine of the CofC church is very different then that of the LDS Church. Still, it is a very beautiful building.

Sacred Places Along the Way

We stopped at Far West and some of the surounding places along the way.

Nauvoo

Honestly, is there a more beautiful and peaceful place east of the Mississippi River? I havn't found one. We spend several days taking in the history and spirit of this location. What a wonderful time.