Merry Christmas!

Let the Baking Begin

The kids are playing in the freshly falling snow, Josh Groban is serenading me with wonderful Christmas songs, my house smells like Cinnamon pine cones...let the baking begin! I LOVE these days!!!!

The Best Gift Yet!

Last week, Dan surprised/ completely shocked me with this Little People Nativity Set. I consider myself somewhat of a collector and this little set has to be my favorite. I literally started crying when he gave it to me. Halle and Millie play with it nonstop. Thanks Dan!

Gingerbread Houses

Tradition! Thanks to my Mom for baking the gingerbread, making the icing, and hosting our annual gingerbread making party!

The Lights on Temple Square

It wouldn't be Christmas without a visit to see the lights on Temple Square!

Robison Girl's Weekend

My Mom, sisters, aunts and cousins had our annual girl's weekend in Utah. We stayed at my Mom's cousin Linda's in Bountiful. We ate, laughed, cried, and had a fantastic time. I am so grateful for a wonderful family!

The Catch

An impromptu football game in Utah this weekend.

A visit with Santa

This wonderful Santa visits Dan's bank every year. The kids were super excited to sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. I hope he will pull through for them!

Gunslingers

Over Thanksgiving, Wyatt planned our first Sutton Family Shoot-out. To read a hilarious little ditty about our experience, visit Suzy's blog.

12 Days of Christmas

My friend Jenni shared a great book with me entitled "The Twelve Days of Christmas" by Betty Van Orden from Deseret Book. I was sold on the idea from the beginning. I made this cute tin to house our 12 day of Christmas activities. We will be drawing out an activity/ gift for each day. Here is the list of things we will be doing for our 12 days.

• Christmas pillowcases.
• New mugs for a hot chocolate night.
• Read Christmas stories.
• A new Christmas CD.
• $5 to do service for someone else.
• Making reindeer food.
• Making salt dough ornaments.
• Making Christmas cookies.
• Making neighbor gifts.
• Making a Christmas chain.
• Family Christmas Movie night.
• A visit to the nursing home.

I am so excited - I can't wait to start. I am hoping to make Christmas very meaningful and fun this year. Wish me luck!

Yeah, I'm Pretty Proud of Myself...

I am all about a few homemade touches for Christmas this year. With the help of my SIL Heather, I have made a paper bag brag book for each of my kids. I have no shame in telling you that I am pretty proud of them. I realize it may not be socially acceptable to brag about a brag book. What do you think?

Great New Blog

My creative, sophisticated, smart and funny friend Emily (and her sisters) have started a new blog. Check out The Bossy Blog, you will love it. Thebossyblog.blogspot.com.

Random Pics

Here are a few cute pics- So you don't have to look at dead elk anymore. Enjoy!

Aunt Rachel cut mine and Halle's hair - Thanks Aunt Rach!

The three cutest kids in the entire world. BORED...In my defense, they were waiting for cookies to get out of the oven.I could have a whole album of Halle asleep in dress-up clothes.

Success and a whole lot of Meat

This great group of hunters shot 3 elk this weekend. Dan has been looking forward to his annual hunting trip all year. He was thrilled to get an elk and prove that he is a real hunter. In a short while we will have 300 pounds of elk meat in our freezer (the freezer we have to purchase). I hope I like elk! I know I like the hunter.

Fall

Quickpage compliments of juliescraps.blogspot.com.

Halloween

Any Advice for Kyler?

During primary on Sunday, Kyler told me his arms were itching. I helped him undo his shirt sleeve buttons and was shocked to see his arms covered in hives. They seemed to come from nowhere. I quickly tracked down a nurse in our ward and she recommended Benadryl and a bath. Benadryl takes them away instantly, but in 4 hours like clockwork, they come back with a vengeance. We have not changed any soap, shampoo, or laundry detergent. I can't track down anything different that he is eating. I am stumped. The doc said there is nothing they can do and just try to figure out what he may be allergic to. The poor boy has been covered with hives for the last 4 days. This happened to him once when we were living in San Fran two years ago. We never found the cause. If any of you have advice on getting rid of hives, let me know. Kyler will appreciate it.

Rise and Shout the Cougars are Out

Last weekend we took a getaway with Dan's family to see a BYU game. We stayed in a luxurious vacation home in Lehi and had tickets to Saturday's game. The plan was to have Dan's sweet cousin watch our kids while all of the couples went to the game. Well, that was the plan until 5 AM when Halle woke me up and told me her tummy hurt, followed immediately by profusely throwing up. Oh blast. However, lucky for Kyler, he got to take my ticket. He had the time of his life. Kyler's new definition of the perfect day is a BYU football game with his Dad. I was glad I had packed his BYU paraphernalia. As soon as he got home he called my Dad and gave him the play-by-play. I overheard him say, "You have got to tell Grandma and Rhett and Lincoln this because it is so awesome!" He has been telling me details from the game and singing snippets from the fight song all week. In hindsight - I am happy how things worked out. I think Kyler appreciated every moment more than I would have. I have actually enjoyed hearing about the plays from Ky more than I would have seeing them in person. Go Cougs!

It's a Miracle!

I am ecstatic to report that our stolen laptop has been found!!! The police in Rexburg apprehended a 13 year-old boy and recovered a cache of electronic items he had stolen out of cars. My sister-in-law Lyndi called to say that she saw it on the news and gave us a number to call. As soon as I told them my name - they said "I think we have your computer here." I couldn't believe it! It will be a while before we get it back because it has to be used as evidence in his court case. We do not yet know if any of our files are still on the computer. The police said that the computer is now password protected with the boys password - so I will be pleasantly surprised if all of my photos have not been scrubbed from the hard drive. The police said we do not have to worry about identity theft of any kind - since the boy was only 13 and didn't seem to know anything about identity theft.

That is my fantastic news of the week. I can't believe the thief is only 13. I would like to sit him down and have a little talking-to. I can't wait to use this story in a church talk.

Girls Weekend

Millie and I spent the weekend at my friend Saundra's home for our annual "Girl's Weekend." I get together every year with my 3 best friends from high school - Ellen, Jenny, and Saundra. This year we were lucky enough to have Saun's sister Laura join us as well. Saundra was a gracious hostess. She has a beautiful new home and put us up in style. We ate every minute we were there. I am going through chocolate withdrawals even as we speak. We did a little shopping, went to Cafe Rio, and to the movie "The Secret Life of Bees." The best part was catching up, talking, and laughing together. Every year we exchange our "Favorite Things" and it feels like Christmas. It is such a great weekend to recharge my batteries and it gives me a new appreciation for my husband and kids. Thank you ladies for a fantastic time. I am already looking forward to next year.

Cinderella Sleeps

The ball tuckered her right out.

Primary

Last week we had all of the primary kids from our ward meet in front of our new Temple. I took pictures of them all and put these cute words on them. We are going to give them to the kids after the primary program next week as a little Thank You. Gotta love having a Temple 3 miles from our house.

The Office Party

Heather hosted an "Office" party to watch the Season Premier. I went dressed up as Angela. For you non-Office fans, I am scowling on purpose.

Millie

As you can imagine, the saddest part of having our computer stolen was losing my pictures. I had backed everything up in May...So that just means I lost pictures of the whole summer. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal to loose a few months of documentation from Kyler and Halle's lives, but it was over a 1/3 of Millie's. To compensate, I have taken 100 pictures of her in the last few days - and backed them all up. She is 8 months old today and a joy to have in our home.

Not Fun

I will be back into the blogging world in the near future. Last week was rough. Millie and Halle both got hand, foot and mouth disease (high fevers, rash, and mouth sores). It was miserable. To top the week off, our computer got stolen out of our van. Devastating. Pictures, work stuff, documents, scrapbook pages....all gone. It is a big blow - I am still trying to recover. Luckily, the kids are all better and we now have a new computer. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is a better week.

Three

A fairy skirt, bruised legs, a dirty face, a big smile...That is what it means to be three.

We Both Survived.

Kyler did FANTASTIC on his first day of Kindergarten. He was excited to go and had a great time. I shed some tears - but was all smiles by the time I picked him up a few hours later.

Today was Halle's first day of preschool. She is a true girl as she tried on every piece of clothing in her closet trying find her first day of school outfit. She was so excited to go and had a fantastic time!

Ready or Not...

It is official....Tonight is the first school night of my adult life. Tomorrow morning at 8:35 AM, Kyler will be an official Kindergartener. I can't believe it. He has new school clothes, a new backpack, he can write his first and last name. I just sharpened 24 number 2 pencils, and Dad gave him a school blessing tonight. In all respects, he is ready for Kindergarten. The only problem is, I don't know if I am. I realize every Mom in the civilized world has at one time or another, sent her first child to school. My question is, why didn't anyone tell me it would be so hard? I have really struggled with this big milestone we are on the brink of reaching. I have been waxing more sentimental than usual (ie. getting teary when I bought milk and realized it expired after Kyler started school, you know...the usual). To tell you the truth, I can't even put my finger on what it is that is making me struggle. I think it is a combination of many things: He's growing up too quickly, I have to drop him off at a big school all by himself, what if he needs my help on the monkey bars? What if he gets lost? What if someone is mean to him? For the past several weeks, I have just wanted to put the brakes on. If I could freeze time right now with my kids the exact ages they are, I would. This having your kids grow up stuff is hard. I love having my kids at home with me all day. We can do what we want when we want. I don't have to worry about what anyone else teaches them or says to them, because I am always right there. Well, starting tomorrow at 8:35 AM, that is all going to change. Ready or not...