Christmas Card 2010

Bill Pay Chart

Bills are just a part of life. I don't know if anyone else has ever had this problem, but sometimes I'd find myself trying to remember what bills had been paid, which ones I still needed to schedule, and exactly how much more cash was going to come out of my bank account that month. A few years ago I got tired of keeping track in my head, or having to check the budget to remember, and came up with this little gem. Pretty simple, but completes its purpose.

It's a small, (about 2.5x4.5 in) pretty basic form with all of the bills that need to be paid each month. I make 6 months at a time, attach them together with brads, put tape/magnets on the back and put the booklet up on the fridge.

When a bill has been paid, I fill in the box. When I've scheduled the payment or sent a check, I fill in half of the box. When the payment goes through, I fill in the rest of the box. It makes it easy to see at a glance what has been paid, what has been scheduled, and what still needs to be paid. Plus I can easily figure how much more is going to come out of the bank account for the month.

At the end of the month, I tear off the top sheet and start all over with the next month. As I said before, it's nothing fancy, pretty simple; but it allows me to feel organized with bill paying and that really makes me happy.

More Christmas

Gina just sent a couple pictures to me and she did a better job of capturing the adults and the yummy Christmas Eve dinner.

Post-Christmas Fun

Christmas is fun, but the activities held before and after are pretty great too. Sunday, we were able to go to church with the Stevens family, which is always great- although Matthew's nursery experience wasn't one I'd care to repeat...he HAD to go potty, and rather than take him to the other bathroom, or come and get me, the leaders made him wait for the little girl who was using the nursery's bathroom, and 3-year olds aren't great at waiting...I'll leave it at that. On a positive note, Amanda was teaching Relief Society and gave a wonderful lesson that we were able to enjoy and participate in singing a song. After church we enjoyed a great meal and again enjoyed the evening playing games together. It just makes me wonder where the time goes, because before you know it, it's already midnight. Time really flies when you're having fun.

Brown sweater dress was Jeff's Christmas gift to me

I loved this picture of Emily, she loves computers. She loves to sit and whack the keys. This night she kept trying to get at the laptop that was left on the couch. I love her little grin, and how her little foot is up against her leg. Trying to be a big girl.

Monday was sadly our last day of vacation. Unfortunately work schedules don't necessarily coincide with school breaks, and Jeff had to be back at work on Tuesday so we tried to pack in as much as we could on our last day. Monday morning brought some racquetball at the YMCA. The kids were pretty excited to go and play in the cook kid zones. It's definitely been a while since Jeff and I have played. My sore arm for the next week was proof of that. It was great and if I ever had the chance to put something cool in my house, regardless of my skill level, I would probably choose a racquetball court.


After racquetball, we went back to the house, threw on different clothes and met my family down at the institute building where mom works for some lunch and games with them. The boys enjoyed playing pool, fuse ball, and throwing a Frisbee around. I had fun talking with Mom and Lacey, watching Matthew and Emily play together, and attempting a game of pool with Jeff. I'm pretty bad, but we had some good laughs. Originally we wanted to go bowling at the student union building, but the place was packed! We walked down and ended up waiting over an hour. By then, Houston & Becca had to head home, and we had to head back to meet the Stevens for dinner. So we didn't get to bowl, but I think the kids had fun pretend playing on the arcade games, and of course, we're always happy just to spend time together.

I love this one. Emily up on her tip toes, trying to play the piano with Matthew.

Monday night, we did an adult date night. We've now reached the wonderful stage when both Scott & Amanda, and Tami and CJ have kids that can babysit! Yahoo! The kids enjoyed a night of pizza, movies, and playing with cousins. Those older kids really do a great job! It sure brings back memories of times when my cousins and I used to do the same thing. I guess it paid off. We sure appreciated Kyle, Sam, Isaac and the others who took special interest in watching our boys.

The adults then headed off to Texas Roadhouse, the best part, we all got to ride together in Scott & Amanda's van. I think every family should have a big vehicle just for the sole object of allowing everyone to travel together- it really makes it all that much more fun. The dinner was fun, and we enjoyed spending the time together- I only wish we would have had a booth that fit all 13 people. The highlight of the evening though, had to be Emily puking all over me at the end of the meal. It was bad. :) The reactions were great. Thankfully Tami gave me her cardigan sweater to wear home to spare everyone. It definitely wasn't much fun, but I guess it's already pretty funny looking back. I guess the ice cream Jeff gave her (me shaking head) and everything else didn't go real well with Emily, but she was great afterwards.

Tuesday was the day we had to pack up and head home. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone, but we had a great vacation and lots of fun memories to take with us. Part of me was also looking forward to getting back home and getting back into a routine. The kids and I had been home since the 17th, and after that much time, I need to get back to life. I'd just love it if we were close enough to spend time with family more frequently. We'll sure take what we can get though. Jeff had to be at work that afternoon, so after dropping him off, the kids and I traveled the rest of the 30 min home and after getting everything unloaded, enjoyed a pizza and movie night. The kids sure slept well that night!

Christmas

It was our year to spend Christmas with the Stevens family this year. Other than Nettie & Mark who are in Oklahoma for work, the whole family was together. Christmas Eve dinner was held at Scott and Amanda's place, where we also stayed during the holiday, it was so fun to be there with their sweet family. The dinner was wonderful and we enjoyed being able to spend time together. We even had a surprise visitor- Santa decided to make an appearance before his busy night. The kids were all pretty excited. Well, except Emily, she started to cry the moment he walked in the door, poor girl probably thinks this crazy guy is following her around! The kids had fun sitting on his lap, they especially thought it was great when Grandpa Stevens did too- we had a pretty good laugh about that.
Gina and I were in charge of the Christmas Eve program for the evening. It went well and my favorite part was hearing all the fun numbers from the family members- Kimber's special number, the Cahoon family, and especially Greg & Amy's rendition of "Baby it's Cold." I love being able to spend time with the family and feel the joy and love that is present. We sure missed the Howell crew.
After everyone cleared out to their designated homes, the real fun of getting kids to bed and getting everything ready for Santa began. It was fun to finish up all the last minute details with Scott and Amanda. Although I'm pretty sure the entertaining conversations kept us up even later, it was fun to visit with them. Between Emily waking up during the night, and Matthew not feeling well- I swear we always end up with at least one child ill on Christmas eve- morning came all too soon. I was feeding Emily at 6am and could hear the kids. I think all the cousins having a sleepover together made them especially excited for Christmas morning- I over heard them talking about the alarm they set to make sure they were up early. I admit I wasn't really feeling the Christmas spirit at that moment- but then I heard Amanda out in the living room singing Christmas songs with the kids and it changed my attitude. Christmas morning was also a little stressful because Jeff- while trying to upload songs as part of a gift- had managed to delete ALL our pictures from the computer. We have an external hard drive backup, but there was a whole month of pictures I hadn't backed up yet, and for some reason it didn't just send the pictures to the recycle bin, they were just gone. Fortunately he was able to download a program and spent most of Christmas day sifting through things to find them.

Anyway, Christmas morning was a lot of fun. I think the kids had a lot of fun opening presents together. Emily didn't quite know what to make of everything, but everyone was so excited that she just sat there smiling and enjoying everything. I found the cutest little doll, so that was the first thing she pulled out of her stocking- and proceeded to give it a big kiss. I thought it was so sweet.
Caleb got some walkie talkies, color changer markers, and finally opened up a remote controlled helicopter that he's been asking -and praying for- for about 4 months. It didn't disappoint. He gave a test run right there- all the kids were pretty entertained. Notice the sunrise in the window in the background. I think it was about 7am at that point.
Jacob got a helicopter just like Caleb's, a mini etch-a-sketch and another long desired toy- an atm bank. He was pretty excited when he saw it and quickly rounded up some money to put inside.
I honestly could have been perfectly happy just watching Emily take everything in. The kids are all so sweet to her and give her so much attention, and she just loved watching everything. When it was time for Emily to open her present, everyone was right there to help. She's definitely too young to understand the concept, but she enjoyed ripping the paper off with some help. I love the last picture here, it pretty much summed up the present opening, trying to figure everything out. She got the wire bead toy, some books, and her little doll.
Matthew slept in, which I was happy about, when he did wake up he felt great and was pretty excited to go through his stocking and open his presents. He loved his guns, puzzle, and Toy Story figurines, those have been his absolute favorites. They're perfect size, and I love watching him play with them. I'm pretty sure Matthew was most excited about the candy canes and juice in his stocking though!

After we cleaned up, we headed over to Mom & Dad Stevens place for a big Christmas breakfast. We also opened some presents, the kids had fun things- pajamas and a small pvc marshmallow gun. All the men got massive PVC marshmallow guns and the morning was spent with some pretty good marshmallow battles- those things shoot hard! Another fun thing was being able to go on a 4 mile run with Amanda, Kimberly, Tami and Kyle and Sam. It felt good to have some time outdoors with some exercise. When we got back we enjoyed time with the family, playing games and just enjoying the company.

Emily was pretty tuckered out by then, and took her nap on Daddy's chest.

We headed over to the Tanners later on to spend some time with them. Of course the kids went right to their presents- Caleb got some Transformers, Matthew got a Hot Wheels truck with cars- he didn't even want to take his eyes off it long enough to take a picture, Jacob got a cool marble track, and Emily got a cell phone....small taste of the future right? I absolutely love Christmas. I love being able to enjoy a lazy day with family with nothing to do but sit around and enjoy each other while watching the kids have so much fun. I understand why Caleb says his favorite days are Christmas and his birthday.
We headed back later on that evening for Christmas dinner with the Stevens and finished up the night playing more games of course and having fun. It really was a great Christmas. We haven't spent a Christmas with family for a few years now. I missed some things about just being with our own little family, but I sure loved being able to enjoy both of our families for the holiday. I feel so blessed to have two wonderful families that we can spend time with.

Pre-Christmas Fun

After the reception, we were able to enjoy some time with the family before Christmas. This year was an "in-law" year, so the married couples would be with our other families, but it worked out great that we had a little time before Christmas to spend together with the Tanner side.

The weather cooperated perfectly for a Christmas season, and the boys were able to play in the snow and make a snowman.

My Dad also reminded us of a tradition we started many years ago when I was about 11. There was a big snowstorm, and he offered $10 to anyone who would put on a swimsuit, go outside and do snow angels in the snow. I was the first one to go. This year Cole, Jacob and Caleb were the eager participants. I was impressed with the boys. They were pretty darn tough, but the reward was tempting enough to get them in their swimsuits and out the door. It was pretty funny to watch.

We were able to get in a 4-mile run one morning, and this time Jeff came along too. It was especially nice to have him there when a couple dogs decided to come out and chase us. Tom was nice enough to play with the babies while we were gone.

Family gatherings wouldn't be complete without the game nights. We played some pretty entertaining games and had some good laughs. Some of the favorites include "Guess Who" and "Choose Your Weapon." Not to be played by the faint of heart!

The FOUR Tanner girls.

It's so fun having a new sister. Becca is so fun and fits right in to the group.

It's also nice just having down time to enjoy playing and talking together. I know our kids love having aunts and uncles around to play with.

Emily found the central vac outlet and entertained herself for about half an hour playing with it and trying to figure out what was inside. It's so cute to see such a tiny little girl standing up and acting so big. We love this little girl.

One night we were able to catch a movie. We took Jacob and Caleb, and went to "Despicable Me." They thought it was great. I love the dollar movies.

One night we headed down to the church for a family game of dodge ball. It was pretty funny to play and to watch. Jacob, Caleb, and Matthew especially loved it. They usually ended up being the last ones on the team in each round and did pretty well. I definitely think I used to be a lot better at the game, but still had fun playing.

Emily and Lilah had the best seats in the house! These two cuties were great spectators for the evening.

Team A

Team A with their game faces on!

(We had a little mix-up during the pictures, Houston was on A and Becca was on B)

Team B

Team B showing their tough side

A couple action shots from the evening

One of my favorite parts was just watching Emily and Lilah play together. These two little girls are so much fun. Their "playing" at this point usually just consists of Emily taking Lilah's pacifier, both of them poking each other in the eyes and faces, slobbering on the same toys, and crawling over each other, but I think they'll be great little friends when they get older.

One morning we tried to get some pictures of the two of them. Emily is getting a little too mobile and most of the time was spent trying to keep her from crawling out of the picture, but we did manage to get a couple cute ones. Lilah, on the other hand, is at a perfect stage and would practically smile the moment the camera came out. These little girls are so fun.

All in all it was an enjoyable week. Time with family always goes too fast and leaves us wishing for more time, but it makes the next get-together something to look forward to. I was just glad we were able to have as much time together as we did.