Snow on the Mountain

We were so excited that Mount Graham was covered with snow during our trip to Thatcher, and we loved trying out our new snow gear. Snow pants are amazing!! How am I just discovering this?!?



Phil and Brayden



Jace and Brendon

Brendon and Alyssa

Uncle Phil helping Suzanna and Lelia sled.

I am so glad we got to enjoy the snow with all the Allreds. Such a fun time for the older kids, but sadly the younger ones weren't such fans. They waited it out in the truck drinking the hot chocolate that Aunt Lisa was brilliant enough to bring.

Christmas?

So I know Christmas happened, but somehow the only pictures I have are the kids with their traditional gift pictures. They all got about the same thing though...so I'll only post one.

I spent countless hours making a quilt for each kid. Why would I think it is a good idea to try and make four quilts the month before Christmas when I've never quilted before in my life? I have no idea. But despite all the obvious reasons that this was a bad idea, I went ahead with it anyway, and somehow, miraculously, they all turned out great. Of course I had tons of help from my amazing friends :)

We also got the kids each an ipod The younger boys loved theirs for a few days...and then they've sat there unused ever since. Suzanna has already dropped hers and shattered her screen. But Brendon loves and uses constantly the stereo/docking system we got him (he already had an ipod).

We celebrated Christmas Eve with a dinner at friends, then loved enjoying Christmas day with just our small family.

Then we took off for Thatcher the next day to see all our family!!

Jonathan's Eighth

Amid the absolute crazy rush of the week before Christmas, we invited Jonathan's friends over for some improvised ice cream cake and a dart war.

The boys had a great time and loved posing for pictures and playing with the dart guns. I found a billion darts in the Christmas tree when I took it down after Christmas :)

Christmas Piano Recital

All twelve of my students did so great!! It was fun to have more than doubled in size since last year, and actually felt like a "real" recital. It would probably feel even more real if I had somewhere more exciting to hold the recital than the Relief Society Room...but it was better than my living room!!

Santa Goes Green...

Rudolph and Mrs. Clause, a.k.a. Raquel and Suzanna :)

Suzanna got to play Mrs. Claus in the school play "Santa Goes Green" last December. She loved that we brought her flowers after the performance.


the whole cast

Santa and Mrs. Clause performing one of their many songs.

Brendon, Jonathan, and Tyler were a little disappointed that the play was a musical :). We all had the songs practically memorized since Anna had been singing them around the house over the past few months, but it was fun to see the whole play finally. I love that she had such a great time practicing and performing, and she did a great job!!

Soccer Championship

The whole team

Suzanna holding up her medal

So on the VERY COLDEST day of all winter here in Kingman, Suzanna's team played TWO games and won the U-12 Championship.

They did it right: dyed their hair green, played hard, celebrated at Pizza Hut between games, and wore lots and lots of layers to fight the freezing wind. This team worked hard all year, and kept it going to the end. It was fun to watch them win their first game that went to a kickoff--I loved seeing the kids on her team give it everything they had and succeed!! The second team they played wasn't as tough, but the weather was way worse.

Somehow I survived the freezing cold and even managed to take pictures :)

Kindergarten Thanksgiving

Tyler and his friends Alex and Isaac in their super awesome Pilgrim hats

The kindergartners sang some cute songs for the millions of parents and grandparents who showed up to watch. This is my fourth kid, and I'm still always surprised at how many people show up to support their kindergartner. The support dwindles as they get older :)

I love that the decorations for the Christmas play were already up on the stage area...giving it a very mixed holiday feeling!!

Young Women in Excellence

The Sunday before YWIE, I was given a new calling, so this night was my last night with the girls and leaders I have loved serving with. We went all out, creating a wedding tent in the gym with beautiful decorations all thanks to Kate. The evening was amazing in every way: the musical number I'd worked on with the girls was beautiful, our guest speaker was inspiring, the decorations were perfect, dessert was delicious, and the whole night was just magical. A perfect end to my time serving with these amazing women and girls!!

Halloween

I missed taking pictures of our fun night at the ward trunk-or-treat, but we went out trick-or treating around the neighborhood on Halloween, so we dressed up again!! We had a repeat Iron man, Harry Potter with contacts (the glasses were ruined), and a glamour witch. Suzanna was super proud of her stick-on-nails :) Brendon is officially too old to dress up, but he had fun handing out the candy!!



We met up with friends as we walked around. The superheroes had fun running around together :)

Suzanna enjoyed making baby Laynee smile.

The kids had WAY too much candy as usual...so I tried to cut it down a little by making them share with Brendon who stayed home. Totally not fair, but a good way to spread out the junk!!

Soccer

The whole season...in one post? Maybe :) Soccer consumed our entire lives from August until December!!


We started out the season in the blistering heat. I think the first game day was the hottest day of the entire year, and unlike last year, none of our kids were playing on fields with shade for the parents. So we died that day, and then learned and brought our own shade for the rest of the season.


And almost every game had some wind...but some games were worse than others!



Then there were a few perfect days out on the field. I loved watching Jonathan's team play, and I was so glad not to be coaching this year!!



We even got to play in the snow!!

You can only see tiny patches of snow left on the field (there was more when we started the game), but the whole city was covered, and despite the cold, it was one of the best game days for our kids. Snow makes everything magical!

Tyler: started out the season just having fun with soccer, but half-way through the season he finally caught on and loved scoring goals!! It may have had something to do with his dad bribing him :)

Jonathan: Had a great season with a good team and great coach. They won most of their games, and Jonathan was sad that they didn't make the playoffs. There were 16 teams in his division!!

Suzanna: Had the most organized, experienced volunteer coaches I have ever seen. They held super long practices and worked the kids hard, which made their team great. They didn't lose a single game, but tied once, and went on to win the championship.

Brendon: Did not have a great season. He had coach issues (first coaches were married couple...who turned out not to be married because man was still married to previous wife. Man goes to jail, woman stays on to coach with new "cousin," but then gets cut because she's involved with drugs somehow. No lie. Third set of coaches tries to resurrect the team, but it's too little too late). He's hoping he can join the high school soccer team next year and that it will be much, much better.

Labor Day

We were invited to a great barbecue on Labor Day.

The kids played in the small pool:


The sandbox:



and of course, the big pool, which was heated, and thank goodness, because the day was a little chilly for swimming :)

Such a great day with friends, amazing food, and great weather!!

Freedom!!

For me :)

Not for Anna (5th grade) and Jonathan (2nd grade) who were going back to school and Tyler who started Full-day Kindergarten. Brendon is in his last year at the junior high, and he goes to school earlier than the other kids this year, so we missed him for our picture. I'm sure he's so sad about that.

The kids are all loving school and their teachers this year, and things are going great for me at home!! When asked what I do with my time now that they're all in school, I get to reply "whatever I want" with a smile. But really I'm just as busy as ever, and it's nice to have time alone during the day to keep up with all I have going on. Otherwise I would be much crazier than I already am :)

24th of July

Fun ward pioneer breakfast complete with sack race:

Three leg race:

Visiting cousin: (Spencer is on the far right)

and Bike parade:

Phoenix Fun

All summer long we made trips to and from Phoenix to meet grandma and exchange kids so that each of our kids could have some one on one time in Thatcher. Whenever we could, we met up with old friends and had fun while we were in town. Our favorite spot was meeting up at Centennial Pool.

Tenth

We celebrated Suzanna's tenth birthday with a barbecue lunch in the Hualapai Mountains with her friends Rachel and Kendra.

Then headed to Kendra's amazing pool house for swimming.

Anna was excited to finally figure out the rope swing, and we all had a fabulous time!!

Five

We celebrated Ty's fifth birthday a little late. All of his friends were out of town for his actual birthday, and only one in town for his "party," so we kept the celebration simple.

The Trip Home

We drove home through Wyoming so that we could see more of the gorgeous country. I thought Idaho was beautiful, but Wyoming was even better!! Too bad it's so cold there in the winter :)

We stayed at a hotel in Utah to break up the drive, and spent most of our time in the pool. Tyler jumped in and swam back out to tell me he'd forgotten to put on his floaties. I said maybe you don't need them then!! And now he's an official swimmer :)