I am only one....

 



This last year we decided as a family that we would look for more opportunities to serve. I thought it would be fun for the kids to have a visual reminder of what they need to do and what they have done so we mounted this in our family room and began keeping track.

 

There are so many randon acts of kindness that the kids did throughout the year that didn't get put mostly because I would forget but it was neat to see the kids learn that it makes them just as happy inside to help someone as it makes the person serving happy.

"IF YOU WANT OTHERS TO BE HAPPY, PRACTICE COMPASSION. IF YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY, PRACTICE COMPASSION!" Here's to a GREAT 2011!

More California fun

 
On this day we were actually going to take the kids to a childrens science center. I remember liking those when I was young and so we decided it would be the perfect thing to get them out of the house and active. HOWEVER, when we got there we found ou that all of Southern California thought the same thing. When we realized we couldn't even find a parking space we decided to take the kids to a park. I believe they had just as much fun there for over 2 hours as they would have at the science center....and it was FREE. Can't beat that!

 
I LOVE how these pictures of the kids turned out! The sun was just right in the sky and the setting was so picture pefect. Lucky for us we didn't notice the sign until we were done taking pictures of the kids....then we got a couple of the adults and called it good.


 
Nelson turned 7 years old on December 31st (poor kids) so we all got to be there for his birthday. Grandma Boden needs to go back to school though; "Happy Birlday"? Heehee. Actually, I didn't even notice until I was going through the pictures later. Not sure anyone noticed :-).
 

Then, later that night, we all celebrated New Years with....NEW YORK! It was 9pm California time and we thought we would get the kids down and play some games with just the adults but we ended up celebrating with Chicago too and then putting the kids down. With all the sugar in their bodies they weren't quite ready at 9pm. The bad news is that I couldn't keep my eyes open by the time it was 10:30 so I snuck off and went to bed myself. I know. I'm such a party pooper.
AND THIS IS IT PEOPLE! I am now officially done with 2010! WOOHOO! and since January is usually a pretty slow month, I am pretty much caught up! YEAH! Just in time for Valentine's day ;-)

Our second Christmas

 
This year Grandpa and Grandma Boden we going to go to South Carolina for Christmas to see Steve, John and Dan and their families but Grandma Boden got sick with pnemonia and that was a no, no. So, on the Wednesday after Christmas we took a trip down to California and spent a few days down there. Mike and Riss and their kids came from Arizona and we had half a family reunion and a second Christmas. I love the pictures of the boys together and the girls together. They honestly look like they could all be brothers and sisters. The shrugs that the girls all have on were all made by Grandma Boden. They turned out really cute. Thanks for all the time spent on the gifts, Carolyn!
 
K, so story behind the attractive pants that Rich is holding up; Dave and Mike set out to get Rich a gift certificate to a golf shop in the area and decided that it would be better to get these golf pants for him. So, instead of opening up just a plain old gift certificate, we all got a good laugh at what he thought (but only for a second) we actually got him. The reaction was worth it and now he can return them and get something he really wants! It was a great idea. SO funny!
Tyler got some things to continue on with his coin collection and Grandpa Boden is excited that he is interested in coin collecting too. Ryan got some camp/scout gear and Chase got a remote control car (that has already been played with so much that it broke already). Dave and I got a beautiful hademade goblet that was made out of a special type of wood (forgot the name) from Grandpa that I don't have a picture of and a bunch of gift certificates to different restuarants which we have enjoyed.

 

The kids LOVE to hang out with their cousins and had so much fun! Rebekah couldn't get enough of Ryan. Little kids LOVE Ryan! It is crazy! He is so gentle and sweet with them so I'm not suprised. I'm always afraid that if I post too many pictures within one entry that some of the pictures will disappear so I will post the rest in another entry.

Christmas Day 2010

 
Our Christmas day started with a 7am wake up and waiting a few minutes for Aunt Marge to get here. Once she got here we started our traditions; reading in the Bible, getting our papers out from last year to see what gift we gave Christ and to think about how we did, writing a new gift to Christ that we are going to give him this year and letting the kids break through the gift paper that we put over the door to the family room every year so there can be no peaking :-).
I put pictures of some of the kids favorite gifts. The triplets love their new wake board, Tyler got a vinyl picture of himself wake boarding at Lake Powell that we put on his bedroom wall, Ryan got his Electric guitar that he has been begging for for the last year, Jenna got a snowbaby (her very first on a collection she is now beggining) and Meagan got a snowglobe from Chase (something she has been collecting for a little over a year now. The kids also got a new trampoline that mom made them follow around the house for clues that led them eventually to the garage because we weren't about to set it up or move the heavy box into the family room. They have been begging us for a new "springy" tampoline ever since the last one I got was a springless (safer) trampoline and it "just doesn't bounce very good". We are waiting until the Triplets birthday in April (Spring) to set it up though.
Dave suprised me with a new digital camcorder and I got dave a Kindell (sp?).
We are sure glad that we have Marge. It doesn't quite feel like Christmas if there is no family around.

 

Onto more family traditions; Dave makes yummy omlettes made to order. This is a tradition that his family (dad) did and we have passed it down to our family. Mom likes this tradition because she can clean up Christmas while Dad makes breakfast. the kids enjoyed their new games (of coarse Chase completely disappeared to play his new Wii Spiderman game Ryan got him for Christmas), and Marge stayed around for half the day to play with us. Dave made most of the dinner too and, as always, it was DELICIOUS! We usually hit the movie theaters on Christmas day but were having too much fun with all the games that Steve and Darcy got us. Our new favorite game is "Tiki Topple". The only thing is that it is only up to 4 players. It is fun though so check it out!

Christmas Eve at the Larsen's

 
Another tradition that has happen for quite a while now is going over to Aunt Claudia and Uncle Craig's house for a Christmas Eve dinner. This year she added in a music show. Who ever plays an instrument and wants to play for the family can. Kirsten played a piano duet with her Aunt Becca who were visiting from Illinois, her brother Kanyon played the trumpet, Ryan played "Silent Night" and "Deck the Halls" on the guitar, Chase played "Jingle Bells" on the recorder, Meagan and Jenna played a duet on the of "Come all ye faithful" on the piano and violin and Clint and Becca and there three kids sang while Becca played the piano. It was actually a pretty cool addition to the evenings events. Brought in the Christmas spirit.

 

Afterward, we all gathered in the Family room for the White Elephant gift exchange. At that point, Dave's Cousin, Marrisa, and her husband, Curtis, visiting from Arizona showed up with their twin baby boys and, OH MY GOODNESS!....the girls went crazy! They could not get enough of those cute boys. Kaleb and Joshua weren't feeling so good but were pretty patient with all the fawning anyway.
The funniest part of the evening was when 6 year old Braden opened up his gift; an old, size 10 womens dress. You have to look at his face in the picture. The reaction was hilarious. Anyway, we were lucky enough to come home with "The Karate kid" and "How to Train Your Dragon" on DVD. I had to BEG Devin not to steal it but he was nice enough to let us keep it. It was a fun evening!

The busy month goes on

 
After starting out the month with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Boden, Ryan's preisthood ordination and birthday, Ryan's breakdance performance and the girls gymnastic performance (forgot the camera so didn't get any pictures of that one) we went on with more parties and performances. The triplets have been getting up 2 days a week a little early so they can go to school before it starts and be apart of the school Christmas choir. Yes, this is the same one that I mentioned before when I told you that Chase was doing it for "the party that has food afterwards". I asked if he was going to do it again next year and he said no. I guess the reward wasn't worth the effort. It's too bad too because he was hilarious to watch. He made the program worth watching. He was so animated throughout the entire performance. When I first saw him doing some "motions" I thought that they were supposed to do these motions to match the song but nobody else was doing them. Nope. Chase was making them up as he went and it was so funny! At first I was trying to shake my head no to get him to stop when he would look my way but I had a long time friend/mission companion, Nalene Low, who came to watch the kids performance talk me out of it. She said he was making the program better and that it wasn't a big deal. It was pretty funny.
Anyway, they did great and the girls did great on the lines that they had to give.

 
Every year for the pass 14 years (except for the year that we were in Omaha, Nebraska) we have gone to the Pyott Family Christmas party the Friday before Christmas. The Pyott line comes from Dave's maternal grandmothers side. Marie Pyott married Louis Larsen and they are Dave's moms (Carolyn) parents. It has been something our kids have grown up with and look forward to every year.
Every year it is the same thing; we have dinner, then Santa comes and each child gets to sit on his lap and they each get a gift and a candy cane, then we move into the gym and the kids get to hit a pinata that is filled with mostly candy but some change/money. This year was the first year, however, that they did not do the pinata. I honestly forget why though. It was still fun for the kids to see cousins and play in the gym. Here are each of the kids telling Santa what they want for Christmas.

 

Here are also some of the kids 2nd cousins sitting on Santa's lap. Sure wish we would get together with the cousins more. We really don't see them much and I really think that my kids miss not having their first cousins around. I envy my nieces and nephews who live in North Carolina because they have eachother. I hope they know how lucky they are.

December means....

 
Jenna has been taking piano for about 10 months now and she surely has a gift. She practices everyday without being asked and sometimes twice and has excelled quickly. People are amazed how good she is for the time that she has taken. She had a big recital in September that we forgot to take our camera to and a little one with 3 other kids at one of the students homes in December. I LOVE listening to hear practice. Especailly when she goes above and beyond and starts learning other songs on her own.

 
We have had a lot of snow this year so fat along with the rest of the country. Of coarse with snow comes at least one or two snowmen. Meagan was sick that day and didn't get to help so it was just Ryan, Chase, and Jenna that made this little man.

 

Neighbor gifts this year were a long time coming. I bought these little wooden sleds about 5 or 6 years ago with the idea of doing neighbor Christmas gifts and I finally did it this year....with Tyler's help (he was home sick from school). They turned out really cute, I think.
So, yes, we have had the "sick" going around in our house. My kids are pretty healthy for the most part and don't get much but colds every-once-in-a-while but this year we just passed it from one to another. All were good during Christmas and the surrounding days though so that was a blessing. Dave and I have been fine....and with that I will close my entry and go find some wood to knock on.

Crafts, a quiet Thanksgiving and birthday!

 
So one day I was watching a local channel called "Studio 5" and saw them creating these little Thanksgivng turkey out of chocolate nuggets. I thought they were so cute and simple that I just knew I had to do them with the kids. So, here they are and the kids loved doing them. I love the place card lollipops! We actually just made them for some of our neighbors and didn't use them as place cards. It was fun!

 
We didn't use them as place cards because we decided to just have a quiet Thanksgiving this year. We had just gotten back from California 3 weeks earlier and were leaving for Cali again in 4 weeks so we didn't want to go any where. I usually call around and ask friends and neighbors without family around to come over but felt a little selfish this year and just wanted a quiet day with the family. At one point we were even going to go out to eat instead of make dinner but then Dave said he wanted to just have a dinner at home, "nothing fancy. Really quick and easy". Well, it turned out really nice and relaxing but I don't think it was simple. Turkey, homemade rolls, homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, cracker with cranberry salsa (one of my favorite holiday foods) and bbqed asparagus (also one of my favorites). I was in my pj's most of the day (heehee) and the girls decided they wanted to give me a pedicure so I was a little spoiled too.
Our family tradtion is to set up and decorate the tree the Monday after Thanksgiving so in keeping with that tradition the kids went to town. It's the same every year; mom passes out the ornaments and the kids get to decorate with the ones they have made over the years. Aunt Marge always give the kids an ornamnent every year with the year and their individual names on them. It is really fun for them to put their ornaments she has given them on the tree. Now when they leave home they will have at least 18 ornaments to hang on their Christmas trees. What a cute idea! Thanks Aunt Marge. I'm stilling that idea for my Grandies ;-).

 
Ryan turned 12 on December 8th and since he plays guitar I thought it would be neat to make him a cake shaped like a guitar. I found it on Family Fun nearly a year before and knew that that is what I wanted to do for his 12th b-day. When I was growing up my parents always let us decided whether we wanted to have a party with friends or go out to eat and to dinner with just mom and/or dad. Well, most of the time I chose the latter because my parents hardly EVER took us out to eat anywhere. We take the kids out though and so I thought he would choose a party with friends but he didn't. I have to say, that makes us feel good. Don't know how long that will last since he is approaching the teenage, "I'm to cool for you, Mom and Dad" stage.
Anyway, he wanted to try and blow it out with his "air gun" but after two tries he decided he wanted to burn it our between his fingers.
Becoming 12 years old in the church is a big deal. They enter what is called the "Young Mens" program and they also recieve the Aaronic Priesthood and can begin doing baptisms in the Temple. Ryan, for a month before his birthday, kept saying, "and you know what I want for my b-day, Mom. It is so cool!" but whenever I asked him he wouldn't tell me. He just kept saying I should know. "An electric guitar?", "A rip stick?", "A nintedo DSi?", "a new Wii game?"....I guessed and guesses but was wrong. Finally I told Ryan that if he wanted what he wanted for his B-day that he'd better tell me because I didn't know. FINALLY about 2 weeks before he told me; "I want to go to the Temple and do baptisms". What a specail mommy moment that was for me. He has always been so sweet and spiritual and I pray that he continues on the path that he has choosed so far throughout his life. Nothing better than to see that my children "walk in righteousness". Nothing!

 

Ryan started taking Breakdance lessons in September and in December he had his first recital. He was nervous but did really well. The battery on my camera was going dead so the pictures weren't snapping as fast as I wanted them too but we got some good ones. Grandma and Grandpa Boden had just flown in from California that day to be here for Ryan's Priesthood ordination so they got to come to the recital. We SO appreciate the fact that Grandma and Grandpa always make it a point to be at their grandchildrens special moments. They never missed one until this year when Carolyn had pnemonia at Christmas and missed cousin Andrews baptism. It was hard for them to miss but flying to South Carolina was just not an option. I understand how they feel because I have missed alot of my nieces and nephews baptisms, blessing and such. It is very hard to live so far away from family.

California means Disneyland!

 
Whenever we go to California to visit Mom and Dad Boden we always go to a park that is just around the corner from them; Cherry Park. If it's a really nice day we walk there, let the kids play for an hour or two and walk back. It is a fun thing that has become a tradition.
While we were there this time we came across this huge spiders web with a HUGE spider in it. Freaky! I swore I was going to have bad dreams that night but I didn't. I had Tyler stand behind it so you get get an idea of just how BIG this spider was.

 
If you have never been to Disneyland in during the Halloween holiday I would recommend it. The park was not crowed and it was decorated to the hilt! They go all out! Especially on the haunted house. The entire thing was different. It was like a new ride. This is what happens when the two holidays and Halloween and Christmas collide.

 
Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, and Thunder mountain! I lost my sunglasses on Space mountain. It was worth it!
You can't see Chase in the Tower of Terror but his arm is on the very left hand side of the picture.
Mom was the one taking the picture for the last picture so I'm not in it but here is the family at the entrance.

 

I love the way the kids get along and play with each other. For the most part they really do get along. It is so cute/fun to watch. Tyler and Ryan were "too old" to hang out with Mom and Dad so they were off on their own most of the day. That is why I don't have many pictures of them.

Disneyland in OCTOBER!

At the end of October we went to California and used our "give and day, get a day" tickets to Disneyland. Having gone three years in a row now I wasn't as excited and thought the kids would feel the same way. I was wrong. They were excited, giddy, and so fun to watch.
 
HAHA! Can't help but laugh when I look at this first collage. Jenna and Meagan were finally old enough this year to go on 2 of the rides they were not old enough to go on last year; California Screamin' and Indiana Jones. Last year one of them (i think Meagan) got on Rock-n-roller coaster (the equivalent of Screamin') one time but not another as there was a different person on "guard" the second time that would let her on. Jenna, I guess, was a tad bit shorter than Meagan. It was seriously less than a forth of an inch from where the top of their heads were supposed to touch. She was so sad that she couldn't go with Meagan so we went to the bathroom and tried to stuff toilet paper in her shoes to make up the slight difference. It was a no go. SOOOO, this year they were SO excited! Then, Jenna started getting scared standing in line. She is a very timid child in a lot of ways. The top picture is of her expressing her doubt about the safety of the roller coaster. Of coarse, she went on because Mom is mean and made her and of coarse, just as Mom knew, she loved it and wanted to go, "Again! Again!". I actually took video of her going on it the first time. It is pretty funny/cute. I'll see if I can upload it onto here.

 
I have to say that Tower of Terror is a family favorite. I know it is my personal favorite. I think we hit it at least 3 times that day. I never get tired of that one.




 

Another family favorite and actually the one we always head straight for when the park opens is Splash Mountain. We get a pass and then go on. We always get on with no wait and usually a two minute wait as we get off and go straight around and get on a second time. This time, however, we pulled up and they asked if we wanted to go again because nobody was there waiting. Yeah! Oh, and I took a picture of their picture of us going down the big plunge. Chase is trying to act like he's asleep and I was trying to get a picture of the big plunge from our view (obviously didn't get it in time or it would be on here). My face is ugly/hilarious! What the heck?!?!