Santa Claus came to town!

Christmas this year was so fun! Santa made special arrangements for us and came Christmas eve since Brendan had to work on Christmas. The kids thought that they were going home to go to bed cause Santa was coming, but what a surprise for us to see that he already came. The kids got lots of fun stuff. Braxton and Kyra were already pros at unwrapping presents and it didn't take long for Brenna to get the hang of it. Here's some pics of the kids with some of their loot.

Braxton is showing off his new Dallas Cowboys hat that he just got. He thinks he is pretty cool.

Christmas day we went over to my parents house. My brother Ty called that morning and it was so good to talk to him. He is in Cody, Wy right now and he is doing such a good job. I am so proud of my BIG little brother. After we all talked to Ty we all got bundled up and went sledding.

I think Kyra preferred making snow angels. The bad part was she would make them right in the pathway of the sleds.

Brenna loved it! She would go down the hill by herself and then she would hike back up the hill by herself. There was no way I could of packed her chunky buns up that hill so I would just follow behind her so if she slipped I would just pick her back up. She was so tired afterwards that she fell asleep as soon as we got in the truck and slept for 3 hours.

My cute little snow bunnies!

Proud of my Big Boy

Ok, so I am going to brag a little about my big boy, and what a great kid he is. Yesterday after school he started to tell me a little about what happened that day and he told me how he stuck up for one boy that was getting picked on. There is a boy in Braxton's class who is a whole year older than everyone else and he has some problems. Well this boy wanted to wear his scout shirt to school and one kid was picking on him and making fun of him. Braxton said he got in the middle of them and stuck up for him and told this bully that he could wear his scout shirt if he wanted to, and to leave him alone. He told me that he is sick of people making fun of this boy. After he told me this it made me so proud to be his mom. I can't express enough what a great kid he his. When we went to parent-teacher conference his teacher told us that he is friends with everyone and that he is such a good example to all of the other kids and that they look up to him. He is such a BIG help to his parents and such a good big brother. He is always trying to do the right thing. He is so smart and is at the top of his class in school. I know this has nothing to do with our parenting because from day one he has been such a good and easy kid. I want to make something clear I am not saying he is perfect because he definitely has his moments. But thats normal, right? We are so blessed to have him in our family in so many ways. I love you buddy!

Live Nativity part 2

Monday Night was the night of the Nativity. It turned out so good. Emily and Brian did such a good job. I was getting a little worried that we wouldn't get a good turnout because the weather decided to turn stormy and cold that day, but there were so many people that came. Kyra loved seeing baby Jesus. The next day on our way to work Kyra asked me if baby Jesus was still at the meat barn? (she calls the whole farm the meat barn. My mom is the grandma that lives at the meat barn) It turned out to be such a great night and what a great way to start off the christmas season. I am so thankful for having Emily in our family and for bringing this new tradition into our family, and it was so awesome that I can't wait until next year. So for those of you that couldn't make it this year there is always next. Also can you believe that I don't have any pictures of the nativity. Since I was in it I left that job up to Brendan. He was going to take pictures at the very end, but he got tied up helping someone and he didn't know that we were done:( So I am really hoping some pictures will show up cause I know I seen some flashes going on when I was singing.

Fun in the Hay

These pictures are of Thanksgiving. I know I am a little late and backwards since I posted about Christmas before Thanksgiving. I wasn't going to post about Thanksgiving until I seen these pictures I just had to post them. We had Thanksgiving at my parents place. We always have a big Thanksgiving with the Ashton's. We have Thanksgiving in the barn cause there is usually 100+ people that come. It is always a lot of fun and a lot of food. These pictures were taken in a hay fort that my dad made. The kids had a lot of fun climbing on the bales and doing belly flops in the hay pile.

It's Christmas Time

It is officially Christmas at our house. Our house is all decked out in the Christmas decorations. Our tree this year is a really pretty one. It's is probably one of the best ones yet. Our tradition for getting our Christmas tree is a little different than others I think. Ours does not involve the whole family going and picking the perfect tree. Our tradition is Brendan going out with just his dog and hiking who knows where and finding the perfect tree. This year I made a suggestion that since we now have a truck that the whole family could fit in, why don't we all go together and get a tree this year. He said, "And break tradition?" The more I thought about it I like it this way a lot better, that it not my thing, hiking around the mountains to find a tree. Brendan loves being in the mountains so he doesn't mind. Brendan did wait til Brax got home from school so he went with him and they had a good time. I think our tradition will now involve Braxton. We put our tree up yesterday and we finally decorated it today. (not until after I had my Sunday nap though). I wish I could say that I love it, but I really don't. I don't like the mess that it brings, and I do not like stringing the lights. Brendan leaves that job to me since he gets the tree he says I have to string the lights. I usually have to redo it a couple of times. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have a fake tree just cause the lights are already on it and ready to go, but that is the only reason.

The kids had fun helping decorate this year. Since we brought the tree in I think Braxton asked me a hundred times when we were going to decorate.

Brenna even helped. Her job was the hand the ornaments to us. At first we wouldn't let her help and kept telling her no, and she was so sad. Finally we let her help and we didn't have any broken bulbs. We tried to put most of the ornaments up high because I know that it is going to be to tempting for her to not touch them. The picture that I took of Kyra didn't turn out, but she helped too.

Live Nativity

She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger
This one, this Christ child who to us should be no stranger
As He was born on that sacred night
Showing that place the star shone so bright
As shephards followed the star with their flock over hills they did trod
The angel sang praise to his name and glory to God
The Wisemen did travel far to see the newborn King
It was for the Christ child their gift they did bring
Sometimes we get caught up with the hustle and bustle of this time of the year
but the message, the meaning of this night is clear
The true meaning of Christmas the season we want you to remember
Please come and share with us our gift to you on the 8th of December
From 6pm-9pm a journey back in time of old
You'll walk and you'll talk with those long ago
Dress warm come ready to seek the Christ child
Who lay in that manger so meek and so mild


Please consider this your invite. My Sister-in-law is putting on a live nativity at my parents place. She has done this with her mom up in AF for the last four years and it has been a real hit. This year they had 1,200 people come through. If anyone is going to be in the area please stop by anytime between 6pm-9pm. It should be really awesome, plus you get to see me be an angel and you get hot chocolate:) Just let me know if you have any questions and don't forget to DRESS WARM.

Bad Hair Day!!!

I don't know what Kyra does when she sleeps, but she almost always wakes up with the craziest hairdo. It doesn't matter if she goes to bed with dry or wet hair it almost always comes out wild. This one morning it was just a little too much I just had to take a picture. I love it!