It's Christmas time!

Hello to my favorite time of the year! I, like most people I assume, LOVE Christmas time! There's something about this time of year that makes things absolutely magical!

We had our friend "Freddie" here all month again, helping to make sure A & B were on their best behavior. He's a sneaky little elf and we found him in some funny places!

Janna & I kept our tradition alive of seeing Peter Breinholt's Christmas concert, and this year Mama Crook came too! LOVED the show, as always!

We had an early Christmas with Janna & Claire the week before Christmas, which was just as fun as the real thing!

Claire was SO happy to get her very own Hairspray CD- she's slightly obsessed with the movie and all the music! It's a riot to watch!

Abby & Brenna were just a little excited about the text messaging device they got from Janna & Jason! We were all dying laughing at their reaction!!

My cousin David's new wife own an amazing Dress-Up line and gave Claire and my girls these ADORABLE "flip-slips". They wear them constantly-- even to school one day and they both said that everyone LOVED them! We do too- thanks Jenn!

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Our official December 25th Christmas morning

Sandie & Matthew spent the night with us and we got to enjoy the fun day with them!

The one thing my girls asked for was those dreaded Snuggies. They were more than excited to open them (for some reason) and I'm just mad that I didn't come up with the idea of a backwards robe. Oh well, they love them!

And the BIG exciting present of the year was the bikes
they got from Grandma & Grandpa Carlton!
I was in charge of picking them out and must have had a brain lapse when I chose the Hannah Montana bikes, but they were the least tacky choice out there!
Unfortunately they aren't getting much use right now, but they're all set for the Spring-time to roll around!

We LOVED Christmas this year, and hope you did too!
Sorry there was no official card from us... keep your fingers crossed for next year!

Abby's BIG Baptism Day!!!

December 5, 2009 was a big day for Miss Abby Jane Carlton.

She chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.


It was a beautiful day, and she was lucky enough to have her Dad be here to perform the baptism. She has been able to see several of her ward friends get baptized, and was ready for the big day! When she came out of the water, she said "Wow- that was cool!"

Abby & her daddy!

And Abby and the mom :)

I'm proud of my little girl and for her desire to make the right choices.

She even bore her testimony for the first time the following Sunday and it melted my heart to see her want to do that all on her own.

sadness...

Sometimes things happen that are out of our control.

One of those things we experienced in November was this little girl moving to Las Vegas.
(her mom and dad moved too, but they're not as cute as this little one!!)

It was a couple of weeks full of tears and sadness, and I'm still not happy about it.

My little girls, who are unfortunately bigger cry-babies than I am had a rough time. For at least a week or two after their move, Brenna would see a picture of Claire and start crying because she missed her, or Abby would wake up in the night because she wanted to see Claire Bear! I know change is a good thing, but it's not ever easy. Although we do get to see them fairly-frequently, we still miss having them so close.

I suggest we all start praying for Trader Joes to open in Utah-
then we can (fingers crossed) convince them to move back!!!

Abby's EIGHT!!!

I know, it's hard to believe that I am old enough to have an eight year old, but the truth hurts.

Abby had a fun start to her day with a huge banner on our front door from her new Achievement Day leader!
And had a blast opening her presents with our family that night

This was a year where Abby got to have a "friend party". As we were thinking of ideas for the party, the idea of a baking party won and it was SO fun to do (with LOTS of help of course!)

Janna and I made all sorts of cookies & treats for display

and I made a plain cookie dough, with all sorts of mix-ins for the girls to make their own creations

Janna also made the ultimate cupcake cake for her day too!

My mom made these adorable aprons for EVERY girl there, and they were perfect!
so the girls went home with their aprons, Abby's favorite cookie recipe and a recipe book.

If you ask me, it was a great party!

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY ABBY JANE!!!!
XOXOXO

Halloween 2009!

Halloween was so fun this year. The Dallessandros & Wetzels came over to Trick-or-Treat with us and we all had a blast! The weather can sometimes be bitter cold, like a couple years ago when it was SNOWING. So we thoroughly enjoyed the full moon lit sky!

While I was at work that day, Janna made a fun snack for the girls... all orange!
Pumpkin shaped grilled cheese, corn tortilla chips, orange cookies, and orange punch! That sister of mine ALWAYS has the best ideas!
and she made these too, which I taste even better than they look!
and for dinner, once again, Janna made a fun minestrone soup, and I made the bone bread sticks! So cute!

Then it was time to head out for the night.
Abby J was a beautiful Snow White..

and Brenna was a gorgeous Cinderella...

and little Claire Marie was the cutest Minnie Mouse ever!
with the cutest shoes!

Three little girls and a full moon, starting out the evening!

We made a fun stop at the Bowns, and snapped an adorable picture of the girls!

And saw my friend Breanne's little chicken girl... she's adorable!

Hope you all had a fab Halloween too!

Fourth of July fun!

I've always LOVED the fourth of July, so this year just added to my fabulous memories of Fun Fourth of Julys!

We started off the morning with our dear friends, the Atkinsons and Taylors at the Provo City Freedom Festival Parade. It was SO fun, and we don't get together with them enough. Our kids were all decked out in their festive gear, and despite the random bout of rain we had, it was a fun start to our day!

Mom & Joanna Atkinson... friends since before my parents got married in 1970!
Kims cute kids and mine too!
Kim brought better treats than I did... and obviously A & B loved them!
Keeping dry form the few sprinkles that came overhead!

Later that afternoon, we headed to Mike & Jodi's for their last BBQ that we've loved attending for the last 4 years! We won't know what to do with ourselves next year since they're in Vegas now, but we're so glad we were able to be with them and the family and friends that were there!

My girls and Claire won the costume contest!
Having fun playing on Talmages trike and trailer... Claire really is having fun, she just doesn't like to show it. Mike must've been looking at her or something!
Janna always does the cutest food creations, and made these dessert burgers and dogs... the best part was the nasty circus peanuts that I love to hate!
Brenna stole the camera and took about 22 self portraits, so here she is in all of her patriotic cuteness
And Abby enjoying her dinner...
Thanks everyone for such a fun day!
We loved the fireworks and surplus of glow bracelets!

schoooooool's out, for the summer!

This cute little girl of mine will be in SECOND grade in the fall!

Abby has had an amazing year and I've loved seeing her independence grow as she was gone to school ALL day! She had a fabulous teacher who did some amazing things with their class. Abby was featured in the newspaper several times this year, has made so many new friends, and on a whole.. she loves school! Even if her favorite hobby is "chasing boys"... I love this girl & am proud of who she is becoming!

Star Valley!

I love traditions, especially our tradition of going to Star Valley for Memorial weekend. We look forward to it every year... it's our relaxing get-a-way, and we love it!

Heading into the valley at the top of the Salt Pass:

The weather hasn't been our best friend the last two years or so, but this year we had a solid 1 1/2 days of swim-like weather! Abby & Brenna are lucky that Uncle Matthew likes them and we love his swimming childhood because he helped them become more comfortable in the water, and had lots of fun!

and the next day, Jungle Gym Jeremy wanted to swim and A & B were out there with him having just as much fun!

We danced in our cabins

and of course, went to the Cemetery

Samira looked like a tourist!


Aunt Cheryl shared the history of why Memorial weekend was so important to Grandma Crook, and why she finds it so important to come to Etna every year. We then all shared memories of our family buried there... I loved it, and hope this becomes a new tradition!

We also went to Swan Valley one day for their square ice cream cones, and passed the Palisades Dam. I remember as a kid being "allowed" to swear only when a Dam is in sight, so we had fun getting it all out, especially when we stopped here:
Good thing the kids were with Sandie & Matthew watching movies!

and here we are on Memorial day, before we left the valley
We sent balloons to Papa again...
We MISS YOU Dad!!!

Then it was time to leave & we had Claire in our car
for part of the ride home, and as you can see... everyone was happy!

and then the craziness came out and these girls were rockin' out!

and ended up like this...

I've always had a thing for cemeteries... I just love the respect that is shown with flowers, balloons, notes, etc. So, coming home down 900 East in Provo and seeing this cemetery COVERED makes my heart happy!