Christmas week

This past week has been a busy one at our house. We first hosted our annual Christmas Family Get-together. The Utah and Georgia part of the family were unable to make it, so we were a bit small in numbers, but it was a good time none-the-less. It's always good to get together and catch up.

Then Christmas Eve was held at our house and we had the whole turkey dinner with trimmings. Yum! My sister has been here all week and it's been so nice having her around. She's such a great aunt. She kept the kids busy playing cards, games, making Christmas cookies, etc.

My kids really miss having their aunt around. They love her so much! They're excited to make the trek out to CO to see her and Uncle Dave this summer. We spent Christmas evening reading about the birth of our savior and opening gifts. We even had a surprise visit from Santa!

The next morning the kids got us up at the allowed time of 7:00 and we went down to see what Santa had left. They were all very happy with what they received.

Then it was off to Kirk's parents pretty early for lunch. Justin couldn't have been more excited to have gotten his telescope from his Grandma and Grandpa Sumida! He is really into astronomy right now.

It has been a fun week filled with lots of family...just like we like it!

School celebrations

Yesterday and today were full of Christmas excitement for the kids. Devin had his preschool party and program. I didn't attend it for two reasons. First, I had already committed myself to doing something for Avery's teacher (Devin's original program was supposed to be in the evening, but with all the rain it flooded their backyard and so it was moved up to the morning during class) and second because he doesn't perform well when I'm around. From what I am told he did great and performed well and had a great time (although you can't tell from this picture). I did get to see him on Santa's lap at the end.Thanks, Nat, for taking the pictures for me!

Today was all about Avery and Justin. Kirk was home today and took care of Devin while I went into their classes. It started off with the annual kindergarten Polar Express parade. Avery is very proud of her car. She did a great job gluing and taping things on to decorate it. Then I went to Justin's class for a bit and helped with his classes projects and festivities (did I mention it was pajama day?) and then went back to Avery's class to finish up the day with treats the kids had brought in. It was a fun day!

Sea World

Our passes to Sea World are expiring at the end of the month, so we decided to go one last time on Saturday. We had a really good time! It was freezing, but I personally loved it. It's so much nicer to have a coat on than sweating to death there during the summer, in my opinion. We even got caught in a downpour during the Shamu show. Kirk, Justin and Devin got up and ran for cover, but Avery and I put our coats over our heads and enjoyed the rest of the show. We're the tough ones of the family. Ha! We saw all the shows and walked around to the different exhibits and had a great day. Devin was a pleasure this time around. It really made us appreciate that time does help and we were able to marvel at how much he has progressed from 6 months ago, which was the last time we went and vowed we wouldn't take him again. This time he was able to hold our hands and pretty much stay with us (he didn't want anything to do with his stroller) and even enjoyed most of the shows instead of watching everything else around him like last time. Ha! Here are a few pictures from our day.

10 GREAT YEARS!

I know it's a terrible picture, but our scanner doesn't seem to be working all that great and it's the best I could do. We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary over the weekend. TEN years! Part of me feels like it was only yesterday we were married and the other part of me feels like we've been together forever (in a good way - ha). I have to say it was well worth the wait...not getting married until I was 30. Kirk is a wonderful husband and a fantastic father. I feel very blessed to be in a healthy marriage and have such beautiful children inside and out. I'm mostly grateful that Kirk honors his priesthood and is such a great example to our children of how that should be done. I'm thankful beyond words that he feels so strongly that I be a stay-at-home mom. I'm grateful that we are just opposite enough to balance each other out and keep it interesting. I love my husband and the life that we have built together in these past 10 years! Thank you, Kirk, for being such a wonderful husband, loving father and hard worker! I love you!

So, in celebration of our anniversary we went to Las Vegas for the weekend. Not the best get-away, but so much fun none-the-less. My wonderful friend, Allyson, came to watch the kids the entire weekend for us. What a great friend, right?! Our kids just love her and were very excited to have her come stay. I understand they had a ton of fun! So, we got there on Friday evening. I have to add that on our way we stopped in Barstow and ate at Bob's Big Boy. Come on. Who remembers Bob's? We laughed at ourselves as we pulled up to have our anniversary dinner at such a romantic diner. We both have many memories growing up and eating there. So, that night we checked into our hotel (Tahiti Village Resort) and hung out for the night. Nice place if you don't want to stay at a casino! The next day we left our room at 9:00 and only came back for 1 hour the entire time, not ending our night until after midnight. We had breakfast, went to "Outdoor World" (Justin is SO jealous!), went to Treasure Island and walked around, went to check out Circus Circus to see how it had changed since both our families used to stay there when we were kids. We then went over to the outlet mall, dinner and then to see Mystere (Cirque Du Soleil - so incredible!) and lastly to see Twilight (don't ask what number this was for me). I really wanted Kirk to see it since he knows how much I love the books. It was a fun-filled and packed day. Sunday we left pretty early and made a couple stops on the way home. It was a great little get-away and one that wouldn't have happened without Allyson's help. Thank you so much, Allyson! We had such a nice time having the whole weekend just the two of us. Great!

Justin rocks!

Each Friday certain grade levels participate in a "Peacebuilder" awards ceremony at school and 2 children from each class get recognized for good things they have done. Today was the 3rd graders and Justin and his good friend, Dillan were chosen. Justin was recognized for helping others. So Justin, right? He's such a good kid and we're proud of what a wonderful boy he is!

Master Mathematician

Justin was recongnized today during his third grade assembly and given an award for being a "Master Mathematician". What a smart guy. We're very proud of you, Justin! The picture above is him and his teacher, Mrs. Kohrmann.

Bobcat

Justin earned his Bobcat in Scouts and was awarded this past week. Go Justin!