Merry Christmas!

I love everything about Christmas. I am sad that it is over. I look forward to it and plan Christmas gifts for months. Now what am I going to do?

Here are some of my favorite parts:
- my wall of Christmas cards we received
- treats (making and receiving)
- Christmas music (favorite of the year: Internet radio pandora.com Faith Hill holiday)
- Christmas lights
- treats
- my kids' excitement for Santa Claus
*they wrote notes, left cookies, milk and carrots for the reindeer
*the reindeer left chewed up carrot pieces on the lawn
*Hanna asked Santa what her elf's name is, the answer was Jasper the Man
*we tracked Santa's trip in Google for hours on Christmas Eve

A few days before Christmas, Lucy decided she wanted a protector dog (who knows exactly what that is?) for Christmas. She mailed him a letter, he wrote back and said she had been really good this year and that he would bring her a protector dog. Santa brought her a webkinz dog for Christmas so she could have a "protector dog."

Christmas morning was so fun. All of the girls slept downstairs in Jill's room, and we told them they couldn't come upstairs to get us because they would see the Christmas tree. So they called us from Austin's cell phone to tell us they were up and ready. We had to wake up Carly and she was actually happy. She loved her new doll and stroller. Kids make Christmas magical.

Sleeping under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve Eve

Austin's guitar solo for our Christmas Eve program


Making homemade root beer in our garage on Christmas Eve


Carly, Lucy, Hanna, Jill ~ New pajamas on Christmas Eve

Carly & Hanna on Christmas morning

Lucy in her new hat in front of her new tent


Kaylynn in her new apron, new shirt, new necklace, new watch
Thanks to my family!

We have had a fun Christmas break so far...
-Sledding (behind the horse and down some cool hills at the park)
-Watched movies
- Played basketball at Austin's school
- Eat and eat some more
- Play with, read, and try on our new things from Christmas

Birthdays & Christmas

We can add this male pattern balding hairdo to Austin's list of crazy things he has done at his school. This was an incentive for the students to raise $2,000 for Christmas for those in need. They did it, so he had to wear this quality hairdo today. It is now currently all shaved off.


In other excitement, we love Christmas. We love giving and getting neighbor gifts. We love Christmas music. We love the lights and decorations. We love the treats.

I decided to add red balls to our cowboy Christmas tree the other night, so as each one was ready, Carly took it and put it on the tree. All 12 of them ended up in a very small space right in Carly's reach.



And I celebrated my birthday this week. I don't recommend having birthdays so close to Christmas, but it really has been a great birthday. We had this delicious cake, we have had 3 dinners that we have called my birthday dinners, I have had 2 friend lunch dates, I got new jeans from my husband (not from the D.I.), and I got like 15 birthday wishes on Facebook, plus some quality phone calls.

Christmas Party

We had a super fun, very snowy family Christmas party. We have grown to the point of not being together on Christmas morning anymore, so I suggested we have a party and exchange gifts from our name drawing (which happens every July - no procrastinators here).

Everyone came during the worst blizzard we have had all winter. It just added to the memory. There always seems to be extra memories when I am in charge of family activities (remember Green River, Utah at 100 degrees in a cabin with no air conditioning; poison ivy on the kid hike; and now bulldozing through almost a foot of snow to get into the church parking lot where the party was.)

We had delicious food, a birthday party for my Mom, a white elephant gift exchange game, Santa Claus came, took a family picture, enjoyed a chocolate fountain, and exchanged gifts from our name drawing.

What's up?

Austin has been working to put together a competitive girls basketball team, and they went to their first tournament yesterday. Jill's team played three games in a row, and they were by FAR the smallest girls at the tournament. Jill was our tallest player, so she had to guard girls like this all day. This giant girl is in 6th grade. She only played a few minutes because somehow her hair extensions got pulled out, and so she left for the rest of the game.

Our team got spanked in all three games, but the girls did so good for being the youngest/smallest. And it really turned out to be a fun and memorable day:
-hair extensions falling out
-one Mom running into the curb in her minivan and breaking her tire rim
-Carly pouring out a whole bottle of gatorade while she was sitting on my lap (we both looked like we had an accident)


Thanksgiving
We had Thanksgiving by ourselves at our house. We had planned to go to my parent's house, but we had germs that no one wanted us to share. So we watched movies, cooked turkey, fixed fence at the new place where are keeping our horses, fixed fence at our house to keep a couple horses here, went Black Friday shopping, and played basketball. We really had a fun break. We like ourselves, so we didn't feel bad we had to stay home.

We went to Austin's cousin's wedding reception in Salt Lake. It was a Vanderhoof and Gwilliam family reunion. It was so fun to see everyone.

Austin's great aunt came up to me and told me that I looked like I had lost a ton of weight. I don't know if I should take it as a compliment or to be offended, since I weigh the exact same amount as the last time she saw me. Did I look that bad the last time we were together?

Funny Conversations

I guess I will share a couple of our funny conversations.

Hanna: "Mom, can we buy a treat while we are at Wal-Mart."
Mom: "No."
Hanna: "Why not?"
Mom: "Because"
Hanna: "Because cannot be the subject of a sentence. It is only a connector word. You should never start a sentence with because."

I am glad she is learning something in 3rd grade.


The other night our family went out to get ice cream. As we were standing there giving the nice lady our order, Lucy is jumping up and down, "I have to go to the bathroom, right now." So I took her and while we were in the bathroom, I said, "Lucy, you should have gone before we left." Lucy said, "But, Mom, I didn't have to go before we left."

What can you say to that?


At the ice cream shop, they have Kid Dips. They have a rectangle ice cream on a stick. The kids get to pick what flavor it is dipped in and one topping to put on. Imagine these delicious choices my kids made:
Hanna - ice cream dipped in banana (like Magic Shell) with gummy bears on top
Lucy - ice cream dipped in root beer (like Magic Shell) with pop rocks on top


Two words that every toddler/youngest child in the family should know: mine and move
Carly learned these two words this week. Whenever anyone is in her bubble, she pushes them and tells them to move. And she makes it clear when she has something that is "mine."

Halloween

Lucy & Lindsay posing for a picture

We decided to go to Jeanette's house again this year for a Halloween celebration. She has a great trick-or-treating neighborhood, and my kids love to trick-or-treat with their cousins.


The cousins in their costumes. My sister was a duck and her husband was a duck hunter.

Lucy, Jill, Hanna, and Carly at our Ward Halloween Party

On Halloween morning, we got to watch Nathan (my nephew) play in his championship football game, and they won (of course, according to Hailey).


This a delayed picture from my last post. This is a common sight at our house. Carly climbs on a stool and gets stuck under the cupboard.

This is another picture from last post - Carly with her pants down around her ankles.

We went up the canyon to enjoy a fall Saturday at the park. We were slightly afraid for our lives since it was the first day of the deer hunt.


This was a crazy project that I attempted. I bought 2 chairs that needed refinished, so I decided to paint all of our chairs and kitchen table. After many trips to Hobby Lobby to get more paint, paint dust all over the whole garage, and overcoming the desire to give up, I finally finished it.

Sights and Sounds of Our Family

*Carly with her pants down around her ankles (her shirt would be off, too, if she could get if off)
*Carly asleep when I got home from my first Relief Society presidency meeting (I got released from YW and put in as the Enrichment Leader, I know it is no longer Enrichment)
*Carly stuck on the stool under the cupboard
*Carly learned to say cookie and hurry this week
*Lucy doing gymnastics
*Austin getting dunked in the dunk tank at school for Red Ribbon Week
*Austin changing his clothes 42 times a day (exercise, school, cowboy, church meetings, basketball)
*Jill and Hanna riding horses much better than their mom
*Kaylynn saddling and unsaddling horses
*Kaylynn driving the truck and trailer to pick up and drop off horses
*Kaylynn chasing horses around the block because they ran away from her
*Kaylynn making cookies and doing leg lifts at the same time to burn off the cookies
*Kaylynn spray painting the kitchen table and chairs (I lost a few brain cells and made a gigantic mess)
*Jill playing the same songs over and over on the piano (Indian Song, Mexican Hat Dance) - we can't wait until next month when she starts piano lessons
*Hanna asking every morning if she should wear long sleeves
*Lucy watching Barbie movies

My Husband Has a Funny Job

It's Backwards Day at Austin's School


Jill won 1st place in an essay contest on Why I Love My Community, and she got to read it to the Utah League of Cities and Towns mayors and city council conference. We got to stay at the Sheraton. She got prize money and travel money. She did a great job reading it (and writing it of course). We went swimming at night and in the morning, and she got a gift basket of great treats

This is Ernest, the bellhop/customer service/security man at the hotel who gave all of us some cool balloons. He was so funny.

We got to stay at the hotel on Jill's birthday. We went to see my Grandpa, Mom and sisters that night, too, and had some quality cupcakes. Happy Birthday Jill!


Jill rode her horse in two parades as the rodeo princess. She rode our new horse, Cheno. We need to teach Jill to do a softer beauty queen smile:)

Hanna and Austin rode on the school float.

We celebrated our 13th Wedding Anniversary. Since it was on a Sunday, we had a candlelight dinner in our living room with Jill and Hanna as our waitresses. Lucy was the dancer for entertainment. Carly just wanted to sit on my lap and eat my delicious food with me.

I love my kids!!!

Words of Advice

This is what we learned this week.
1. Don't do business with friends. (except the Campbells mortgage/real estate team)
2. Get any deals you make in writing.
3. Listen to and then follow the Holy Ghost.

In other news,
Jill is heading out on her first babysitting job. Doesn't that bring back memories of your babysitting days? And it makes me feel a bit old. She has spent the afternoon getting games and projects ready to take. She'll do great.

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

Lucy tops our news this month with a new diagnosis of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.
She has always had different shaped legs, first it was her ankle, now she has one knee that is way bigger than the other because of extra fluid on it. So we finally took her in to get it checked. After two different doctor's exams, an X-ray, an MRI, and blood work (actually we haven't gotten the results back from the blood work), they decided it is juvenile arthritis. She has a mild case because she doesn't have pain in her joints, but she will have to take medicine and go to lots of doctor check-ups until she grows out of it (we hope). The worst part (but best part about catching it early) is the chance of chronic eye inflammation, which could lead to blindness, but it is very treatable if it is monitored and medicated. So she has to go to an eye doctor every 3 months for the next few years, and get checkups from the rheumatologist.

Austin, Jill and Hanna started back to school today. We had such a fun summer.


Jill is starting 5th grade with Mr. Allen who has the theme of Survivor, and he has horses and he judged one of Jill's 4-H Horse Shows this year. Hanna has Mrs. VanSlyke for 3rd grade, and her teacher is an environmentalist who doesn't eat meat. They are both excellent teachers so they are very excited to start school.

For Waite Family Fun Days, we went camping and then we played in Tony Grove Lake in my Dad's canoes. It was super fun.

All of the Waite grandchildren (except Capri)


Grandpa Randy watching the canoe of kids come to shore

We had a fun ward party last week. The bishopric did a skit of a spoof of Rapunzel. Austin was the prince. He had a cantaloupe and a bowl of pancake batter dropped on his head. He gets himself into those kinds of situations quite often.

Then we played Limbo. No one in my family won.

HannaLucy

Kaylynn
Jill

Family Picture