New Do's

We took advantage of Tawnya's hairdressing skills while she was visiting from Arizona. We all lined up to have our hair cut, colored or both.

I got my grey covered and a new short do.

Rylee wanted "peek-a-boo" color and a choppy, shaggy new do.

Taylee got highlights for the first time and a nice trim.

Treyson received a much need haircut.

Thank you Tawnya for being a willing family hairdresser.

We LOVE our new do's!!!

Ison Chicks Know How to Par-tay!

With Tawnya coming into town from Arizona, it just seemed like a good excuse to get together and party again. We rounded up as many Ison Chicks as we could to have dinner, gab and eat.

We tried to recruit locals and outta-towners alike.

All in all, we had about 13+ Ison Chicks come to party.... Megan (& girls), Tiffany, Tawnya (& kids), Amber (& Sterling), Candice (& Levi), Karen, Amber Munt, Lisa McKinley (& girls), Melanie (& Lydia), Aunt Jana, Chanel, Aunt LoraDawn & Me.

That was risky. Did I miss anyone?

We almost got Emma & Abbey to come, but our day and timing didn't quite work out for their schedules. Bummer.

We had soup and rolls for dinner...an ok rice soup made by me and a DE.LIC.IOUS soup made by Candice... a cheesy potato chicken chowder to be exact.

As we started to snack on the treats we brought to share, Aunt LoraDawn made a shocking discovery...... not nearly enough chocolate was on the snack table! Jana was already too close to stop at any stores, so Tiffany was called in for back-up. As luck would have it, she had just walked into a grocery store to purchase a treat. She came minutes later with a variety of M&M's to share. Whew, chocolate crisis averted!

After dinner and as we continued to snack, we used my "Conversation Starter" question jar. We took turns asking a question and then allowed anyone who wanted to, to share their answer.

Some examples of questions;

-What do you think is the best thing about growing up?

-What is your first memory?

-If you won a lifetime supply of candy, what would you like it to be?

-What is your favorite of the 5 senses?

-What is your favorite holiday?

-What chore do you dislike doing the most?

-If you had to live in a cartoon for one day, which one would it be and why?

-What do you worry about the very most?

-Describe your perfect day.

It was fun to hear everyone's answers and get to know one another a little bit better.

We were happy to have Melanie and Lydia there for the girl's night out.

Sterling and Levi liked being a part of the girly party too.

Most everyone stayed until about midnight.... except for a few of us crazies who were up until around 3am!...I think. It's all a blur now, I can't remember for sure. :)

We missed all who weren't able to attend. But be sure, we gabbed and snacked for you all!

A Baptism & A Blessing

New Year's Day we traveled to Dietrich, ID for a baptism and a blessing.

J.C. and Julia were blessing their new baby Christian...
and baptising their oldest son Cameron.

Joshua, J.C., Adam, Cameron, Christian, & Matthew

It was so nice to be there and share this special weekend with them.

Fun to catch up and get reacquainted with family and friends.

Missed being at Sterling's blessing that same Sunday. Wish we could have been in 2 places at one time. :)

New Year's Eve

WHAT?...

It's 2011 already?!

Dean and Candice's family came over for New Year's Eve. We considered playing games, but mostly snacked, talked, played D.S.'s and hung out.

When it got close to midnight, I made everyone come upstairs and watch Dick Clark and the famous ball drop in New York.

HaPPy NeW yEAr!!!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning, when we started hearing rustling, I got up and put breakfast in the oven.

Our Christmas morning breakfast usually includes sweet rolls (orange or cinnamon) and orange juice. This year I decided to add to our tradition... "Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole". It not only has eggs and ham, but 3 different kinds of cheeses...including CREAM CHEESE! Yum.

We brought the breakfast upstairs to the family room where the kids had been sleeping.

We ate our mini cinnamon rolls, breakfast casserole and orange juice as the kids anticipated what Santa had brought downstairs.

When breakfast had been cleaned up, the kids got into the traditional line-up-- youngest to oldest, and came downstairs.

As the kids filed into the room, they each went to their own stockings. Jason, Grandpa and I wondered when they would notice the family gift sitting on the coffee table. We waited and waited.

Finally Treyson said, "Hey, what's this hamster food for?" (by his stocking).

I said, "Hmmm, maybe it's for that" (pointing to the cage).

Santa had brought our family a cute little dwarf hamster! There was squeals of excitement and a rush to the hamster cage to check her out.

Grandpa Waite got a BSU Coach Chris Peterson bobble head.

Rylee was in LOVE with the hamster! She played with it ALL morning, including chasing it when it escaped from the exercise ball accidentally. She didn't need any other gift in the world. She was content with this cute little addition to our family.

The hamster was named Nibblet, after much discussion and consideration.

The "aftermath" of Christmas morning.

Look how cute we are with our new Christmas clothing. :)

In the evening, we headed to Grandma McKinley's house for dinner and gifts.

Sterling sporting his reindeer hat.

Grandma had outdone herself. We had baked ham, rolls, a variety of salads and lots of snacks and treats to enjoy.

Tyrel & Levi

I finally got to hold sweet little Sterling. I had been keeping my distance, up to this point because I wanted to make sure I was healthy and that he was stronger. He was such a sweet little bundle!

We all opened gifts from one another. Our giving "theme" this year was food storage and/or emergency preparedness. We received a box of cream soups and the book (and workbook), "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey, from Brinton and Amber. Thanks!

I've read the book, going on 3 times ,and have enlisted Jason to read also. This is good.

We enjoyed our books from Grandma and many started reading right away. :)

A wonderful day, filled with family, fun and giving.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve, we had family over to celebrate with Grandpa Waite.

We had a yummy Taco Soup dinner (prepared by Candice...thanks!) and lots of yummy treats.

For the kids under 8 years old we had a........ gift pass?

We all sang Jingle Bells as they passed the gifts in a circle. When the song was done, they opened the gift on their lap.

The rest of us did the traditional white elephant gift exchange game.

Next, we gave Dad (Grandpa Waite) his gift from all of us. He wanted a "shake weight", so that's what we got him. He quoted the commercial, "Only 6 minutes each day, is equal to a 42 minute work out with traditional weights." We all tried the shake weight and played around with it. There's a learning curve to getting it shaking just right.

Levi liked the box it was wrapped in.

He hung out and played in the box for a long time and LOVED it!

You can't tell from these pictures, but he was perfectly content and really did LOVE it.

When it was starting to get late, everyone left to do their own Christmas Eve celebrations.

As a family, we read the Christmas nativity story in Luke, reflected on our services days and opened our homemade family gifts.

As predicted, Abree LOVED her blanket from Treyson. It was so fun to see her excitement and watch Treyson soak up the excitement and gratitude.

For days after Christmas he said things like, "Mom, I think Abree really likes the gift I gave to her." or "Do you think Abree likes her new blanket as much as her old one?" He was so proud. :)

Grandpa read us the book from Taylee.

She had illustrated it with lots of cute detailed pictures too.

Jason liked his Rubik's cube.

He planned on taking it to work to put on his desk.

Taylee liked her scarf.... except for the fact she was poked and found 3 hidden straight pins in the ruffles. Oops!

Treyson thought his walking stick was cool and began asking when we planned on going camping or hiking next.

Taylee kept teasing him that it had her initials on it and that she was going to love using it.

After opening gifts, we set out our stockings for Santa. The kids gathered their bedding and headed to the family room to sleep. It took them a little while to settle down, but they got quiet within an hour or so.