Today

Levi is hacking

Saw a few flakes of snow

Played with cousins

Had a nice dinner with the missionaries

Called Animal Control

Kids lasted about 2.4 minutes at the park

Took a much-needed nap

Kids are sleeping soundly

Jonah's Christmas Concert

Jonah's Christmas concert for school was a zoo! I'm glad that the Kindergartners got to go first. Jonah was so excited to sing for us. He was on the very right of the stage, in front of the piano. I had to move so I could get video of the performance. I didn't have a chance to get any video with my regular camera, but I got it all with my camcorder. The kids sang three songs and then we got to have a chance to take pictures. Jonah was pretty funny and loved the attention. He even took a few bows! It was funny. He did a great job singing, and he looked very handsome!

Ward Christmas Luau

This year our Ward Christmas party was a Luau. It was pretty awesome. We had some Polynesian dancers, including one of our young women dance. They did a lot of Tahitian dancing where they move their hips like crazy. It was really good. I was having so much fun, I ended up only taking a few pictures. The food was awesome as well. At the end, Santa made his appearance. Jonah opted not to sit on his lap, and although Eden looks pretty aloof here, believe me, she wanted nothing more than to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas.The kids had a lot of fun running around with their friends. Eden and Nate even go to preschool together.

My Favorite Christmas Tunes

Here are my Top Eleven picks for Christmas music!

11. Robert Shaw Chamber Singers- This is really relaxing and is excellent if you like choral music. Seriously, these guys sound like angels.

10.MOTAB- This is a staple. Love these guys too.

9.David Archuleta- Just added this to my stash last year. This kid has some serious pipes and I love the song selection.

8.Home Alone- New to us this year. I don't know why I never thought of this soundtrack before. There are some great songs on here and my kids love the John Williams numbers as well.

7. Ray Conniff Singers- Pure cheesy Christmas goodness. We listened to these guys a lot growing up and they are really good! More fun than serious, I'd say. Love their medleys.

6. The Osmonds- We had this record album growing up. It was a double album, so there are tons of goodies on here. My favorites were the caroling medley, Sleigh Ride, and Kay Thompson's Jingle Bells.

5. Amy Grant- Another staple. Love this whole album.

4. Andy Williams- Andy has the most amazing voice. His voice just sounds like Christmas! He also does Kay Thompson's Jingle Bells, which I love, and Happy Holiday is a favorite. I also love his more recent Christmas album.

3. Mannheim Steamroller- With a thousand different Christmas albums to choose from, these guys are so awesome. They have fun, lively numbers, and some of the most reverent Christmas music out there. I love listening to Mannheim when I am getting sick of the other stuff.

2. The Carpenters- Grew up on this and the Carpenter's other Christmas album, Christmas Portrait. The arrangements are fabulous and you can't beat Karen's voice.

1. Bing Crosby- My all-time favorite Christmas album! I know a lot of people love Bing's Christmas music, but this album is the best! Good luck finding it, but if you do, it's priceless! It has a ton of great lesser-known songs, and his voice just melts you!

Hope you are enjoying the seasonal tunes as much as I am. Anything I forgot or should know about?

Christmas Letter 2010

Merry Christmas!

This year has been pretty good for us. We are grateful for family and friends and other blessings that have come our way this year.

Peter continues to work at Wells Fargo. He enjoys it for the most part, and we are grateful that there are jobs in his line of work. He works hard as the Ward Clerk and is starting to find small amounts of time to get back into painting.

Connie is busy as ever as the Mom! She stays pretty busy with all sorts of projects and activities from sewing to carpooling. She loves being in Young Women as 1^st Counselor and loves working with the Mia Maids.

Jonah turned 6 this year and is loving Kindergarten. He is already reading and doing addition and subtraction. He is also in a pre-piano class, which he loves. He is still a great singer and dancer. We have recently discovered that he is a great artist as well. He also loves telling stories.

Eden is now 4 ½ and is quite the charmer. Everyone loves Eden and her spunky personality. She is in preschool and loves her teacher. She makes friends wherever she goes. She loves singing in Primary. She is a girly girl and loves dressing up, but she can also hold her own with the boys!

Levi is now 3 and is getting so big so fast! He just recently got potty trained and is doing really well. Levi is a big kid and he towers over everyone else his age. He is also now in preschool with Eden. He loves riding the bus with her. He is obsessed with Darth Vader and Mr. Potato Head.

We have made it through the year without too many illnesses or setbacks. We are so grateful for this and hope that each of you have had a good year as well. We love you all.

President Thomas S. Monson said, “The Christmases we remember best generally have little to do with worldly goods, but a lot to do with families, with love, and with compassion and caring.

The Savior gave freely to all. And His gifts were of value beyond measure. Throughout His ministry, He blessed the sick, restored sight to the blind, made the deaf to hear, and the halt and the lame to walk. He gave cleanliness to the unclean. He restored breath to the lifeless. He gave hope to the despairing, and He sowed light in the darkness.

He gave us His love, His service, and His life.

What is the spirit we feel at Christmastime? It is His spirit—the spirit of Christ.”

We hope that we all can feel the spirit of Christ this season.

Guess Who's Potty-Trained?

Levi!

Levi has been potty trained for a whole week! Who knew that Dum Dums and Star Wars figures could be yield such great results? We started last Saturday, and he has been doing fabulously! He had a few pee accidents his first few days. I thought he might have a problem pooping like some kids do, but he was a pro from the get-go and has yet to have an accident. He is in Pull-Ups so far at night, but I think he might be already ready for undies at night.

I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to have all of these kids potty-trained. Potty training is not my favorite task, but thanks to some good advice I received a long time ago and a little research on my own, we have had three pretty good experiences. We had three kids in diapers for at least a year, so we have definitely paid our dues, both figuratively and literally! It will be nice to have a break from diapers.

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving this year was a blast. It was a little smaller than usual- only around 90 people. I know that sounds like a lot, but when there are 200 people in the family, 90 is a small group! We first went to Logandale and then met up with Peter's brothers' families in St. George. We didn't get to spend much time there unfortunately, but the kids had fun playing with their cousins. We stayed at Penny's, and like always, it was a party every night. I love being at Penny's house. In some ways it's like a second home to me since I lived there when I was in college.

Thursday morning we met at the church for breakfast. The kids ran around like wild animals and had fun climbing on Tibi.Later we stopped by Walmart to pick up a game to play at Penny's. I didn't get any pictures of dinner because I was too busy eating! But I did get a picture of Tibi hard at work doing the dishes. In our family, the teenagers do the dishes after Thanksgiving Dinner. It's nice not being a teenager anymore!That evening for Family Night, we learned about our Scottish ancestors, the Campbells. It was really interesting. I love hearing family history stories. Eden got chosen to pick the closing song, and even got to sing in the mike. She loved the attention.

Here's a picture of the band:

Friday morning we all met back at Uncle Bob's again because it was too cold to go hiking. Chad and Lauren planned a cute little treasure hunt for the little ones. The kids found all sorts of cute little toys in the bushes and grass. Here's Jonah with one of his treasures!Hanging out...

Friday night was Silly Song Night! I got video of the whole program, but didn't get any still shots. It took forever to upload this video, so this is all you get! (Anyone know an easy way to upload to You Tube?)

And of course, we did some dancing later. I love seeing the uncles get up and dance!

Eden cozied up to Uncle Bob for most of the night.And then back at Penny's, we played a bunch of games, including a finger-breaking game of Spoons. It was a great weekend! Freezing, but great!