Christmas Day

Christmas was magical this year. The kids are all at that stage now where they were all SO excited for Santa Claus to come. Conner had a very hard time getting to sleep because he was so excited. He even woke up and told me that he heard Santa and the Reindeer on the roof!

This year for Christmas morning Grandma and Grandpa Houghton came over to watch the kids open their presents and the kids really loved that.

Kenadee was really hoping for Kit the American Girl Doll. Conner was dying to get a Wii and little Ethan wanted race cars. I guess that they were all pretty good this year because Santa brought them all just what they wanted.

After they opened up their presents from Santa and Mom & Dad, we went over to grandma & grandpa houghtons for another round of presents and fun. We have had such a great time this year for Christmas. It has been so much fun getting together with the family.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve started out with the kids opening up presents from Grandma Georgia and Grandpa Bruce. Since they are on their mission in Connecticut, the kids persuaded us to open the presents as early as possible.


This year for Christmas Eve the Blanchard side of the family got together at Ryan & Jenae's new house in Salem. We had fun visiting, eating dinner and of course, participating in the annual nativity show. What a special time of year that we get to reflect on the birth of the Savior. We are all so blessed!

Conner's Kindergarten Christmas Program

Conner's Kindergarten class put on great christmas show. Conner sure enjoys his class and is quite the little singer too!

Gingerbread Houses at Grandma & Grandpa's

One of the kids favorite traditions during the Holidays is going over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to build gingerbread houses and to watch Polar Express. The kids had fun eating pizza along with lots and lots of treats. Even little Ethan built a house!

Visiting Santa Claus

The kids have been so excited this year to go and visit Santa Claus. We got lucky and found Santa Clause at the Provo Towne Center Mall. As you can see they were loving every minute of it. Kenadee told Santa that she wanted "Kit" an American Girl Doll. Conner wants a Nintendo Wii, and Ethan wants race cars. We were surprised to see that Ethan didn't even cry.

A Day at the Movie

This year the Spanish Fork movie theater had a free showing of the Polar Express. We decided to take the kids and cousins to the movie. All the kids had a blast, especially when Santa Clause showed up after the movie was over to see the kids.

Halloween 2008

Halloween this year was great! Even the weather was unusually nice. This year the kids did a lot of trick or treating, along with going over to their cousins (RJ & Jamie) house for a little party. The week before Halloween we even managed to make it over to the famous Grandma Houghton party just in time for the costume parade.

Rifle Hunt

As you can see from this picture, we had a great group of hunters and soon to be hunters for this years Rifle Deer Hunt. We all enjoyed each others company and had fun eating, shooting BB guns, riding horses, playing catch, telling stories around the campfire and of course hunting for the big one. Conner and I went hunting with the Ryan Johnson Family, the Jeff Higginson Family, the Ryan Blanchard Family, The Brian Hughes Family, & The Nick Slye Family.



Conner really did good on the rifle hunt this year. He got up really at around 4 am and rode horses with dad, and even hiked around and help spot many the deer. It won't be long before he really is carrying his own rifle.

Conner and dad showing off Scott Higginson's buck.

Reed, McKay, Issac & Conner loving to see the deer that was brought back to camp on opening morning.

Pumpkin Patch

It's becoming a fun little tradition to go over to the Pumpkin Patch over at the "Red Barn" and South Ridge Farms in Santaquin. This year we went over for family night with Grandma & Grandpa Houghton, Shelly & Rod, and Todd & Nicole. The kids had fun on the hay ride and picking out their own special pumpkins. Grandpa even treated everyone to ice cream afterwards. What a fun family night!

Conner's Soccer

Conner has had an absolute blast playing soccer this year. His team happened to win every game this year, and when compared to last year's team that lost every game, it was quite the turn around. Conner was the star player scoring at least 5 or 6 goals per game. He does however need to learn a bit of humility since he would shout out how many goals he scored each time, and then remind the other team of what the score was. He is a sweet boy and didn't mean it how it sounds, but we did need to remind him not to rub it in.

Tagged

Jami tagged me, so I guess I better be a good sport and participate.

8 TV Shows I watch

1. Grey's Anatomy 
2.  HGTV
   
3. Food Network
4. Army Wives
5. Brothers & Sisters
6. ESPN (thanks to Kyle)
7. E Channel
   
8. Jon and Kate plus 8 
   

8 Things that happened yesterday

1. Packed up everything to head home from St. George
2. Went to church
3. Drove home form St. George
4. Unpacked
5. Made Dinner
6. Read to my kids
7. Played games with my kids
8. Read

8 Places I like to eat

1. PF Changs
   
2. Outback
3. Brick Oven
4. Joe Vera's
5. Octavios
6. Cafe' Rio
7. Red Lobster
8. Chef's Table

8 Things I'm looking forward to

1. UEA 
2. Trip to Florida next month
3. The Holiday Season
4. Getting my new water softener 
5. Going to visit my Mom and Bruce on their mission (they don't even leave for a few more weeks but I can't wait until I can go out and visit all the areas they will be over)
   
6. Kyle's new job position (less stress)
7. The starting of a new year so we can close out all the books from Kyle's door business and never have to do them again
8. Date Night

8 Things on my wish list

1. Pay off our house
2. Going to Disneyland with the kids
3. New mattress
4. A cleaning Lady
5. Kids that never whine
6. Kenadee to be doing better in math
7. My basement to be decorated
8. A new camera

No More Diapers!!!!!

I swore that I would never do a potty training post, but I am so excited that I just have to say no more diapers at the Houghton house.  Ethan has mastered using the toilet all in one week.  YEAH! 

Kenadee and Conner Start School

The first day of school has come.  Kenadee and Conner are both in school.  I can't believe summer is over.  Ethan may as well enroll  since I am at the school almost every day and he has to be dragged along with me.  Somehow I got roped into being on the PTA board as the treasurer.  I am so glad that my kids love school.  They have both said that they wished it was longer.  Let's see how long that lasts.

Kenadee's 7th Birthday

Kenadee has turned 7 years old.  It scares me to think of how fast she is growing up.  She reminds me so much of me and that is the scariest part of all.  She is totally independent and does not like to be told what to do.  I have a feeling that her teenage years might be a little rocky, but we love her just the same.  She is my my little sidekick.  She comes along with me where ever I go.  I can't explain how much this girl means to me.  She had to have a great big birthday party and invited 12 girls.  Talk about crazy, but she had lots of fun.  Then we met up with all of the family at the park to continue the celebration 

Yellowstone

The kids and I headed down to Yellowstone with out Kyle this year.  He had to work and the kids just could not miss the chance to go.  We met up with the rest of my family and had a lot of fun.  Kenadee and Conner fed the bears.  We saw tons of wildlife.  Of course we had to see Old Faithful but, I think the best part for them was that all their cousins were there.  Thanks Bruce for letting us stay at your place.