Picture Session

 
 
 
 

I had fun taking pictures of the girls. I of course bribed them with candy afterwards... Madeline and Rachel did good when I took their pictures but Aliza wasn't really cooperating and Amaya was sleeping. It's fun having matching shirts for everyone. I'm sure they won't do it when they're older, but for now I like it.

Curlers

 

We just started going to church at 9:00 a.m. Yikes! That's early to get 4 kids ready and out the door, but we've had 2 successful weeks so far... sucessful meaning we got there before it started :) The first week I put curlers in the girls hair. I was going to take a picture with it all done, and actually almost did on Sunday morning because they all looked so cute eating breakfast with their backs turned to me...but my camera's batteries were dead... bummer. So I'll remember the image forever in my head... 3 cute girls with curly hair in pretty red plaid Christmas dresses. So precious.
I love curler pictures and they all cooperated so nicely! Maybe we'll have curly hair all year:)

Grandpa and Grandma Spencer's house

    
I forgot some pictures from Christmas... we went up to my grandparents house the Sunday after Christmas for a Chinese New Years party. It was alot of fun and good to see everyone. I was pretty excited on the way up to Heber because I spotted a bald eagle. It might be the first bald eagle I've ever spotted (usually Jared has to point them out to me). We pulled over and watched it for a second and then saw it fly off. We stopped again a little way down the road to watch it again. I love driving down Provo Canyon.

Christmas with the Pratts

 

 

 

We went to the Pratt's on Christmas Day and had a fun time playing games and hanging out. On the 30th we celebrated New Years Eve because it's the day that worked for everyone. We went sledding in the afternoon with the Parkers and the Provo Pratts. It was the perfect day for sledding. We dropped Amaya off at my parents house and Rachel fell asleep in the car, so we just had Madeline and Aliza. They both loved it, especially Aliza. We had a lot of fun. Rachel woke up towards the end and slid town twice and that was good for her :) Rachel really doesn't like the cold. For the night before New Years Eve we went to Michael and Mary's house for the celebration. It was so fun playing games and eating yummy food. Lisa made really cute dolls for all the little girls and now I want to make some too! Thanks for the fun times!

Christmas with the Smiths

 

 

 

 

We had a great Christmas with both families. On Christmas Eve we went to my sister Melissa's house and played bingo, ate yummy food, acted out the Nativity, exchanged presents, and just had fun. We spent half of Christmas day with the Smith's. My parents gave the girls dress-up clothes, which they LOVE. They wear them every day, all day if I let them. It was fun being able to be with family for Christmas. Thanks for all the great presents too.

Christmas Vacation- Day 1

   

We went to Utah for Christmas break. My best friend from highschool, Alissa (Randall) Haines was visiting her in-laws so we were able to drop in and see her and her family. It was so fun being able to see Alissa again. It's been way too long. That night we decided to visit and stay at my Grandpa and Grandma Smith's house. The girls loved playing with all of their toys. My grandparents said some of the toys were toys my dad played with!
I'm so glad we were able to visit The Haines and my Grandparents. It was a great start to our trip.

Santa Came Early...

 

Santa didn't want to take the Christmas presents to Utah so instead he came to our house two days early. The girls were really excited, and it was really nice having our own Christmas morning for the girls to enjoy. We opened presents in the morning, let the girls play with their new toys and then left for Utah.
The first present they each opened was a set of books. I was pretty excited because they didn't even care to open their other presents, they just wanted to read. When they did open their toy present the books went to the side and were forgotten for a while :) Madeline got a camera and used it for 2 hours straight in the car until the batteries died. Maybe she'll be a photographer one day. Aliza opened up a baby before Rachel opened up her baby and Rachel got really sad. She said, "I didn't get a baby either" with a big pouty face. I quickly showed her the present she hadn't opened and she was so happy as she was openining it and seeing baby pictures. Good thing Santa got her a baby too :)
We had a very nice Christmas. I'm thankful for the Savior Jesus Christ and that we can celebrate his birth. The Christmas season was a good opportunity for us to teach our children more about the Savior and His love for each of us.

Apples Anyone?

A while back I bought a box of apples for 25 cents/lb. Great deal! The apples weren't a variety I like to eat fresh so I decided the other day to turn them into something useful. (They were starting to go bad) I made apple butter. The girls had a lot of fun helping me get the apples ready. I still had more apples left so I made this recipe for apple muffins They were delicious. I added 3 cups of apples and 1 tsp cinnamon to the batter. I was disappointed the next day because my parents dog ate the rest of the bread. Bummer.