Christmas Cheer 2017

Here are the kids sharing some Christmas cheer!

Click on each of the underlined links and it will take you to YouTube. (The files are too big to put directly on the blog.) These are songs they prepared for recitals or concerts, so we thought we'd share them with you. Merry Christmas!

Nina playing Carol of the Bells

Satchel playing Jingle Bells

Jude singing I'm the Happiest Christmas Tree

Nina on cello #1

Nina on cello #2

Jude rides a bike!

For the past few weeks Jude has refused to ride his bike because we have not taken the training wheels off. So finally, on the 5th of July, Matt took them off and without hesitation Jude was riding his bike. So happy and proud. He was ready and he knew it! :)

Nina's Wish List

Nina brought home a red paper stocking from school. At the top it said "Wish list" and she filled the stocking with a handwritten list. She said her teacher said it wasn't supposed to be a wish list for toys, but wishes for things for other people, things that would make us happy. Here's Nina's list:

I wish people can get homes that are in the Philippines.
I wish that my ukelele's neck can be fixed.
I wish that Camie could be alive.
I wish that Ethan can feel OK about his sister.
I wish that everyone can have a happy Christmas.
I wish that we can help people feel welcome.
I wish that friends won't argue.
I wish that the poor can have food and water.
I wish that we can all learn and be good students.
I wish that we don't get coal in our stockings.
By Nina

Easter Fun

What would Easter be without dyeing hard-boiled eggs and having an Easter egg hunt? Since Matt was in Italy this year, we headed over to Stansbury for some Easter festivities. We went to the community egg hunt, which was super short. (Lindy's family got there two minutes late and it was looooong over.)

Then we headed to Lindy's house to color eggs and have our own egg hunt. The kids had so much fun. Emily and her honyocks showed up, so it was quite a group.

Satchel loves babies and has proclaimed Vaha his favorite. :)

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was fun! For the first time ever, we got creative with our Halloween dinner. It's usually chili, or something semi-nutritious, but this year, we just had fun. We made mummy dogs and owl cupcakes. Everyone was happy with the awesome dinner. :)

Then we got into costumes and waited for Dad. He got to come home early so he could go trick-or-treating with us. We had an Indian, a kangaroo and a bumblebee. Couldn't have been cuter. The kids brought home more candy than they've ever had in their lives. They even got a stuffed animal from one house (Nina's favorite) and a can of soda from another house (Satchel's favorite--it was Diet Vernor's, and he thought it was delicious).

Precious Jude

I have always called Jude a "precious little nugget." If I say something else, like "sweet boy," he says, "I not a sweet boy. I a precious nugget!"

He also regularly sings this little song:

Nina's Baptism

On November 3, little Nina was baptized. She was soooo excited. There are 11 children in her Primary class, and she has gone with me to all the baptisms during the year. She is number 9 to be baptized, and she was thrilled that it was finally her turn.

She was baptized at the Bountiful Tabernacle (our stake center). We had to go early to get the white clothes and some instructions. I snapped this picture during that time, and you can see how excited she is.

She looked so pretty in her white dress, and she was so cute and confident as she stood up and was introduced. She positively beamed.