Snow!

We woke up to snow this morning! This is the first time we've ever lived somewhere where it snows, so this is pretty big news for us, even though there wasn't a lot of snow. The kids couldn't wait to get out and play in it...everyone except Jonathan, anyway. He was not interested in going out into the cold. I only went out long enough to take out the garbage and snap this quick picture, but the others had fun making a couple of snow angels and lots of snowballs to throw at each other.

Christmas

My parents came for Christmas, and brought the kids their traditional new pajamas on Christmas Eve. After opening them & putting them on, we went out to look at Christmas lights. Then back at the house we watched Joy to the World. It was really late then, so the kids didn't even want to stay up for hot chocolate and cookies (it had been a long, good day--we'd been invited to a fun lunch and program at some friends earlier that day), but the adults stayed up and continued the tradition.

Christmas morning, all the kids had big smiles on their faces when they found their Santa gifts.

We opened the rest of the presents, relaxed, played games and ate way too much food for the rest of Christmas. It was especially fun to set up our new trampoline mat and the kids enjoyed jumping again. We really loved having my parents here and just being together all day.

Garage camping

Brendon had a scout camp out in the freezing rain the weekend before Christmas. They had to pack up during the downpour, so when he got home he needed to set up his tent and clean it out. It was raining here, too, so he had to leave the tent set up in the garage to dry out...and so of course they needed to sleep in the tent when it dried out, right?

Only Suzanna and Brendon lasted all night in the tent. Jonathan and Ty didn't stay out long, and I don't blame them. With all the wind here, there's a lot of creepy noises in the garage!

Piano Recital and Jonathan's Birthday

So I may have forgotten my camera at Brendon's band concert, Suzanna's chime choir concert, and Suzanna's Christmas play/choir thing this last month, but I did at least have it for my piano recital. Course the piano recital was at my house...but I at least I remembered to get it out!!

We had Suzanna's friend Morgan (my piano student from Phx) who was visiting, Suzanna, Brendon, my new student Bridger, and Jonathan playing this year. They each played their own song and then a duet with me, which turned out great!

We finished off the night with some ice cream cake for Jonathan's 7th birthday!! Just what a kid always wants for his birthday--a piano recital, huh? In my defense, we did celebrate all day before the torturous recital began =) Actually, Jonathan is really loving piano lessons and was excited to perform that night. Hopefully his enthusiasm with piano will continue.

Santa Sighting

We had a fabulous ward Christmas party complete with a talent show and a visit from Santa. Only my two youngest wanted to get in line to see Santa, though Anna might have come too if she hadn't been pouting because I hadn't entered her into the talent show. Brendon is "way too old" I've been told. It's their loss, though, cause this Santa was pretty authentic!!

Gingerbread Craziness

At the beginning of December I helped Jonathan's class create a gingerbread house for a competition held at the high school. It was a much BIGGER project than I thought, but it turned out so great!! Another mom and I made the house pieces the night before (plus a gingerbread man for each kid to decorate and eat) and then brought the house to school the next day. Each kid got to come up individually and do a part of the house (with some friendly direction from the moms there to help!), and then I took the house to the high school. Walking around the high school at lunch time with a gingerbread house is a pretty funny experience!

That night we went to see all the houses entered into the competition and there were some pretty amazing creations. We won for our category!! We may have been the only entry in our category...but we still won! And our house looked great and got lots of good comments =) It was fun to do, and hopefully something we can do again...next year...cause I don't think I can look at gingerbread for at least that long!!

Anna's Christmas Program

I laughed so hard when my friend sent me this picture of Suzanna looking for us a her Christmas program at the beginning of December. We were sitting way, way way in the back. This school has a lot of parental support =)

I wish I had more pictures, because she was having the time of her life that night. She loves to sing and had been practicing the songs almost nonstop. I pretty much new every word myself!! More than one of our friends commented on how much she was into this performance--her pure joy was written all over her face. She also loved performing at her chime choir concert later in the month. I love how much she loves music!!

Grandma Allred's Funeral

Phil's Grandma Allred passed away last September, and we had the opportunity to travel to Thatcher for the funeral and family gatherings. We so enjoyed being with family, and celebrating this amazing woman. The above picture is of Phil's parents, siblings and their families. I didn't get a shot of all that came, but every single one of Phil's cousins made it to the funeral. I was completely impressed by that, since the family is so spread out, and I know that it was a tribute to how much Grandma Ellen loved her family, and how much they wanted to honor her.


Cheryl, Wendy, Lisa, Diane,Bob, Evan, Bradley and Phil



Our little family (Jonathan and Ty didn't go to the funeral--they stayed and played with Grandpa Flake, but they joined us for the fun gathering afterwards).

The girl cousins minus Alyssa, who is way too grown up to get down on the floor and play anymore =)

Brendon and Grant. These two used to play together everyday when we lived in the apartment above Phil's cousin and family. Neither one remembers any of it. Sad, sad, sad.

Phil and his cousin Todd. Todd and Shawnee also lived by us back in our early married days. I think we counted at least 5 Allred cousins who lived in that apartment complex by ASU at or around the same time as us.

We are so grateful for Grandma Ellen and the life she lived and gave to her family. It was great to be together and learn more about her!!

Joy School

I started looking for preschools way too late, and all of those here in Kingman were already full. But I was lucky enough to find a joy school group to join, even if the name "joy school" seems a bit lame to me =) I prefer to call it a preschool co-op.

I love being a little more involved with Ty's preschool experience, and there's enough moms in our group that I don't have to teach very often (which I love even more!). But when it came time for my first turn to teach, Tyler was sick. So he hung out watching a movie in the bedroom while his friends were here, and then we did our own preschool when they left. Another advantage to being the teacher =)

Thanksgiving

Sooo....I have absolutely no pictures from Thanksgiving. Not even one. We had so much fun, though!! We stopped at a hotel in Mesa on our way, went swimming in the heated pool and enjoyed the warmer weather there. Then we drove to Thatcher early Thanksgiving morning and had a delicious dinner at Lisa & Phil's house. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time playing together, while the adults visited. On Friday, after getting up for the Black Friday sales and only getting a couple of things I wanted, we all got ready for a Flake family picture. That even went pretty good =) We enjoyed the rest of our time visiting with both our families and then headed for home Saturday afternoon. We finished off our great trip by stopping by the Cluff's in Phoenix to visit for a few minutes and to break up our trip a little. Six hours gets pretty long with all these kids we have!!

Halloween

Sooo....since it's almost Christmas, I think it's about time to post about our Halloween.

I snapped a quick picture in the back of the truck before they all headed out for trunk-or-treating at the church.

Jonathan as Anakin Skywalker

Tyler as Iron man

I let him pick out his costume with absolutely no help from me, and of course he chose the same costume as nearly every other boy his age!

Suzanna was happy to pose in her Spider Countess outfit. She was totally offended that the rest of the world didn't know what a Spider Countess was. Neither did she until she got this costume. But how dare they!! =) She was also pretty excited to wear makeup for the night!!

And Brendon was too cool for an individual pic, or to pick out a costume before a half an hour before the trunk-or-treating. He is so turning into a teenager. Grrrr.....

Our pumpkins...we need to buy a new pattern book so that we don't keep having repeat designs!! Luckily we've moved, so no one knows =) Maybe I don't need a new book after all....

Soccer

Way back in September I was asked to be a coach for Jonathan's soccer team. Apparently they were short on coaches this year, and got desperate enough to call a novice like me. So it was either coach, or Jonathan didn't get to play, so I said yes. One of the best perks of being the coach was getting a free pic of Jonathan and me =)

What an adventure! Luckily one of the dad's of the kids on my team volunteered to be an assistant coach--he was great at teaching the kids the skills they needed, and our team really learned a lot.

With both Brendon and Jonathan playing soccer, and coaching Jonathan's team, soccer pretty much consumed my entire fall, and as much as I loved it, I'm thankful the soccer season is over. But we're looking forward to next year!!

Angle Orchard Apples

While in Thatcher for Phil's Grandmother Allred's funeral, we were able to take Tyler up Mount Graham and pick some delicious apples. Ty had fun eating the apples, but didn't appreciate the gnats that accompanied the visit to the orchard. Phil and I were excited to get some great apples to take home, and it was fun to have just Ty with us while the others played at their cousins' home.

More Thatcher Fun

While in Thatcher we made a late night trip to Ice King for some snow cones. The kids had a great time deciding from the million flavors, and soon everyone's mouths were blue!

Suzanna had fun playing with her cousin Elizabeth. She is the happiest little girl I've ever seen, and we had so much fun getting to know her more.

The weather was beautiful while we were there, and the kids played outside so much. Ty was proud to show me the fun he and Ashlynn were having. I'm not so sure Grandma Allred will be so pleased to see their imaginative use of her clothesline!!

They boys spent most of their time playing soccer in the front yard--they especially liked it when Uncle Robert joined in!!

School begins!!

We celebrated the first day of school by taking a really bad picture, with no time for retakes. School starts about 45 minutes earlier here than our old school, and it has taken a lot of adjustment for me. I can no longer roll out of bed at 7 and get the kids there on time. So so sad for me.

So other than having to wake up at the crack of dawn, we're really liking Hualapai Elementary (pronounced Wall- a- pie) and White Cliffs Middle School. The kids like their teachers, have made friends and are doing well.

Suzanna Turns 9!

Last July Suzanna celebrated her 9th birthday!! Sadly, I can't remember much from the day except letting her pick out her cake and decorate it.

And that I made her a cute card =)

Girl Food?

Over the summer Suzanna found a book called "Great Girl Food" or something like that at the Library. It's been six months...the title may have altered in my mind a little =) So on days we were really bored, she would convince me to try out something new. Nothing turned out that great. So either we are terrible cooks (a definite option!) or this book was terrible. I'm going to go with the book--why place any responsibility on me, right?? Anyway, this picture is an attempt at a parfait where you made your own jello and put some sort of gummy something in it. Mmmm...bet you all want to go out and buy that book, huh? But even though I didn't love the book or the food we created from it, we did make some good memories cooking together!!

Lunt Family Reunion

We had an amazing time with my mom's extended family at our reunion in Pinetop a couple of weeks ago. We missed Phil who had to stay and work, but loved our time there with family and beautiful weather!!

My kids love playing with my Grandpa--Ty was so excited when I told him Grandpa Lunt would be there!!

My Aunt Suzanne helped the kids make some fun baggie ice cream, and we did so many other fun things that day, too--like hemp bracelets, making cards, ladder ball, an outside photo booth and more. So fun!!

My kids had fun playing games with all the cousins there. Ty's even old enough to join in the fun instead of just hanging out with me =)

Suzanna loved hanging out with my cousin Sophie and my Aunt Julie playing "Loaded Questions". Pretty sure my girl loves any game where you get to talk about yourself =)

Brendon got to complete his Canoeing merit badge and Suzanna & Sophie took a long canoe ride across the lake by themselves to return a canoe. My dad followed them and brought them back. I was pretty impressed they took on the challenge.

We had such a great time doing other things like attending my cousin Hyrum's baptism, participating in a family talent show (Suzanna played a duet with my mom and Brendon played the trumpet and did a skit with my cousin Spencer), taking a hike on the Mogollon Rim, playing "minute to win it" and just hanging out, visiting and catching up with everyone.

Ty's Fourth

We celebrated Ty's birthday with swimming and (gasp!) a store bought cake.

Don't think I've bought one before--not because I don't think they're great and all, but I usually have fun decorating one at home. But we had just moved....

Anyway...it must be the summer of lame birthdays for our family, but he loved the small decorations we put up and we all had fun getting out of the house and swimming at the pool. He also loved his presents and was just as impressed by his store bought cake as anything I've ever created for him. Shocking, huh?!?

Father's Day

We attended our new ward for the first time on Father's Day. I was surprised when they didn't pass out anything to the dads after Sacrament meeting, and then surprised again when the kids brought these cute paper bag shirts to their dad after primary. Love those cute bags!! And I love how my kids couldn't stop laughing to take a picture--they were in a good mood =)

Brendon turns 12!

Brendon turned 12 in June, and we celebrated by moving on his birthday! So exciting...we know.

But after we moved all our stuff to our new place, we drove back to Phoenix so that we could attend our old ward one last time and have Brendon's priesthood ordination there on Sunday.

So, I don't like to get all mushy, emotional here on my blog, but it was pretty awesome to be there as my husband ordained my son to the Aaronic Priesthood. One of those great moments in life that I want to (and will!) remember for always.

The rest of church was emotional, too, as I said goodbye to all of the young women and countless friends. I am sooo missing them all.

And then we continued our celebration for Brendon by having a family lunch at Evan and Laura's home. It was so kind of them to host--they have a wonderful home that is perfect for family gatherings. Thanks again to all of our family who came and celebrated with us!! We are so proud of Brendon and the steps he is taking in his life--he's turning out pretty great so far!! We'll see what the teen years bring =)