The adults opening their white elephants with our dice game. There were a few gifts that were the hit and everyone was stealing them when it was their turn! The 2 lamps, the game controllers, the label maker, the frames; it was hilarious!!! (my finger was in the way of the camera!)

Notice how Julie was hiding her gift so no one would take it!!! But, Joni let her end up with it, so she went home happy!!

This is a tradition we need to keep up every year! It is so funny! Next year the pressure will be on to bring the gift to die for!!

The Grandkids exchange gifts on Christmas! They have such fun opening their gift from the cousin that drew their name!

What a wild living room, not an inch to spare!!!

Can't believe all these grandkids fit in our small living room! What fun they had!

December birthday party on Christmas: Derek, Cooper, James, Sterling

Christmas dinner with all the family! Wow, we need a bigger kitchen!

Another Christmas tradition; Dan always cooks breakfast!

It's a tradition that Karen and I sit in the hottub on Christmas morning! So fun in the snow!

Dan on Christmas morning!

Karen just opened her new clock from Santa!

Shari's kids on Christmas Eve with their new pajamas!

Shari had us over for a fondue dinner on Christmas Eve! Shari had everything so nice, china, chrystal and everything; wow what a nice dinner! And, it was so fun!!!

What a fun way to spend our Christmas Eve. Thank you Shari for such a wonderful evening!!

Santa Party

Thumbs up for Santa and Dakota!

Jordan and Daniel with Santa

Santa leaving after we all held hands and sang "Silent Night" Boy, that really brought tears to my eyes; you could literally feel the Christmas Spirit in that room! Santa talked about how the greatest gift of all is LOVE and I could really feel lots of love being shared!! I'm so thankful that we have such a close family!!!

Santa Party

Clark wasn't too sure of this Santa stuff; he was trying to look cool and not look at him!

Sterling beeing kissed by Santa!

Haley snuggling up to Santa!

Santa Party

Santa and Channy

Santa and Karen

Grandpa Dan and Santa

Cooper's 1st. Birthday

Kambree helping Cooper open his presents!

Cooper taking a bite out of his Cookie Monster cake that Grandma Myers made!

Look at that cute face!!!!!

McKay's wedding

Gary, Shelley, McKay and Jennifer

Trying to feed cake to each other!

Just after coming out of the temple. I think they had practiced that!!!

McKay's wedding

Grandparents with McKay and Jennifer

Mr. and Mrs. McKay Owens!

Just as they came out of the Temple

THE OLDER I GET THE MORE I LOVE CHRISTMAS

I received a Christmas card from my Aunt Lucy (the only aunt I have left) and this poem was in it. I totally related to it~!

The Older I Get.....

the simpler my holiday preparations become...
the closer I feel to old friends as I write my Christmas cards...
the more I cherish the oldest ornaments...
the more fondly I remember Christmases past...
the longer I hold on to a holiday hug...
the more I realize Christmas is a matter of the heart...
the tighter my throad gets when I sing "Silent Night"...
the more I enjoy giving than receiving...
the more I try to see Christmas through the eyes of a child...
the longer I sit at night in the glow of the Christmas tree...
the more wondrously beautiful the Christmas story is...
the deeper my awe at God's infinte love...
the More I Love Christmas!

The older I get....
the more I enjoy sharing Christmas greetings with wonderful people with you!

This is our singing reindeer! He wiggles his nose when he sings; Clark isn't quite sure what to think of it! He finally sat on him after he stopped moving and singing. He even kissed his nose! Kids are so much fun at Christmastime!

This is a Christmas scene up on the hill in Lindon; the house is like a castle; he is a customer of Dan's. I don't know if any of you saw the Tabernacle Choir this morning; they had a Christmas program. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen them do. There was singing and dancing and beautiful decorations with huge bells! A guy told a story (he is a movie star, can't remember his name) about how the song "I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day" came to be written. It was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It was about how he and his family loved Christmastime and they would go for a ride in the sleigh on Christmas and see the sparkling snow and hear the bells. The kids would giggle and have such fun. But, one night their house caught on fire and his wife died in the fire and he was seriously burned trying to rescue her. So, their Christmases were never the same. Then his son went to war (Civil War) and was missing and sick for a long time. But, he finally came to realize that they still needed to celebrate Christmas like old times and he felt so good about it. He sat down and wrote the song; when we were at church today, I looked up the song and read it. It brought tears to my eyes reading it and now whenever I sing or hear that song, I will think about how it came to be written.

Getting our drinks for the morning shopping!

These ladies in from of us in line at Kohl's had this hugs list of what they were looking for! They even had a plan for when they got in the store. Go down this isle and turn right, etc.!

The line at Kohl's at 3:30 a.m. The doors opened at 4:00 and people just started running like mad down the isles grabbing stuff! It was hilarious; we had more fun watching people than doing our shopping. A lady at Walmart had a lady grab something out of her hand and scratch her face. Ladies were yelling at each other and customers were arguing with checkers!

Black Friday! Standing in line at Kohls at 3:30 a.m.!

Gary and Angie in the sun room for Thanksgiving. We had tables set up in 5 different rooms! There were 36 people!!

Joni, Shelley and Karen eating Thansgiving dinner. I cooked 3 turkeys and 16 pumpkin pies. I always send a pie home with each family. We had such a wonderful, fun day!!

Sons and son-in-laws!

Daughters and daugher-in-laws!

Our five daughers (at MiRanchitos)

Our four sons

Our nine children, from oldest to youngest. We all had such a great time at MiRanchitos; our son Alan was here visiting from Mesa for Thanksgiving. This was a rare event, having all of our childlrlen together.

Gratitude 20 and 21

Today I'm thankful that I was able to have daughters! There's not a better friend in all the world than a daughter and daughter-in-law. My mother-in-law always talks about how she feels she really missed a lot by not having a daughter. And, I totally agree. I think of how different my life would be right now without them!! All the laughter, fun times, close times, sharing times, scrapbooking, blogging, trips!!!
And, I'm thankful for my wonderful sons! They are always there if I need anything and I enjoy them coming by and visiting with me. I love all of my children so very much and keep them close to my heart everyday.!

Mothers and daughters become closer when daughters become mothers. 10-Mar-06

Daughters

Daughters are little girls that grow up to be your best friend."

Joni's surprise 40th. Birthday Party. Her black cake made by her MOM

Black rose for the big 40!!!

She actually blew out all 40 candles!!

So many candles; the cake was almost on fire!! Love you Joni!!!