Five Years of Marriage

Five things we learned about marriage in five years:

by Brent

1.) Lindsay gave me an hour and a half hair cut

2.) She always has my back

3.) I can beat her in Tennis... always ...undefeated

4.) She's Awesome and a great Mom

5.) marriage is good times and hard times but if you do it together you'll make it throw it no matter how hard it is.

by Lindsay

1.) Brent will never give up... he especially doesn't give up on me.

2.) We have learned how to communicate and most importantly how not to communicate.

3.) Whenever I get upset about something it's usually not because Brent is trying to make me upset. He really wants to please me.

4.) Kids change everything....for good!

5.) I would just be copying and pasting Brent's number five. No matter what we go through we just keep doing it together and getting better at it.

Happy Holidays

We had a great christmas! Spent the whole day christmas eve cooking. I learned last year that I needed to have a timed cooking schedule which worked great this year and I had some help watching the kids from Cathy while the boys went hunting, well brent was sleeping. He's been working the night shift and he also had to work christmas eve night so he was getting his rest. Dinner was ready on time and Brent's Parents and Brice had dinner and opened some gifts, we did our PJs and read the Night before Christmas and we were going to sing songs and read more books but Brent was off to work and the kids were just too excited for santa to be good so I felt it was best that they went to sleep instead.

Dakota with no jammie pants because with impatience she spilt water all over them. And Paige went to bed a little earlier.

Christmas morning arrived bright and early I was feeling pretty tired when the girls came into my room and asked if santa had come I told them we would have to wait and see until dad had come home from work so I started reading some stories I had put out the night before to wait for dad to come home before we opened presents. Then as I was reading I looked over at the clock and it was 3 o'clock in the morning so I finished the story and sent them straight back to bed. (I need my beauty sleep you know.:) So then again Dakota rose at about 8:00 and Cloe didn't wake up untill Daddy got home. He got a fire started (or tried to anyway the wind kept blowing it out.) and we lit the tree and the girls came out to see the tree. I was laughing very hard becuase when they came out to see the tree they were just staring in disbelief somehow they were expecting something different, more less I'm not sure but it was really cute and then they really did get into their stockings.

Paiges favortie gift: The Orange
Most of the rest of the day was spent playing with their new things and or keeping them away from each other. And watching shows and relaxing.



Then we went over to Trevor and Trish's for Dinner. It was a lot of fun and the food was delisious. I loved the Crab Pastries. We had lot's of other foods and traditions from Sweden. I like their tradition of celebrating other countries festivities, it was really neat and of course great company.Paige and Bryant were so cute playing together. Very Happy Babies!It's always a surprise what the Holidays will hold and you know they are never going to be perfect I'm just glad for all of the great parts this year. Especially my new Vaccum. :) It's soooooo Awesome!

Gingerbread House

This year I went with a store bought pre- put together house and we all decorated it together. It was cheaper and easier and took a lot less time, stress, and energy. Although I did miss the fresh baked gingerbread smell in the house this year too. Brent had the camera during this activity and there were so many pictures that I had a hard time picking my favorites not because they were all so great but because they were all so much the same. There were also several pictures of him photographing himself (a normal happening when he has the camera) but this was my favorite one of those. :)

Dance Recital

Cloe's First Dance Recital was on Wednesday and it was a lot of fun. She did a great job! she is just quite the cutie. Brent did get it on tape amidst other wiggly crying children. I was nervous as well because it was my first one to manage all by myself. I sure learned a lot and I hope that they just keep getting better and better. :) It is fun to see Cloe and her personality developing. She did a great job I was really proud of her. One of her favorite parts was the ballarina bun and getting to wear make-up.

Sunday and Saturday Stars

Sunday was a great day of accomplishment for our family.

Dakota Decided to pack her own bag for church today and when we got to church she had a stuffed animal and an orange all ready to go. She asked, "Can I eat an orange?" we thought, "What?" and then there was the orange. :) She sure likes to take things into her own hands. (I think mommy snacks were not efficient enough for her.)

Paige started crawling. Right down and out of the aisle after Dakota's bag. Apparently she liked Dakota's packing job better too!

Cloe gave her first talk in primary. She did a great job. She spoke up loudly into the mic and she held up her pictures. She was very confident and cute. It was very neat to be a part of it. She talked about Jesus being the perfect example of love and kindness and that when she shows love and kindness to others our family is blessed.

Saturday was also fun at church for the ward Christmas dinner. The primary kids did the Nativity Unfortunately mom forgot there costumes they were just winter kids for the nativity in there coats. We didn't have enough to remember Saturday. Getting ready for Cloe's talk and mom subbing Sunday school again thank goodness it wasn't the adults again, CTR 6-7, (which was a lot of fun), we made rolls for the dinner and baked cheesy potato's. I'm glad all the other things weren't forgotten. The kids also got to see Santa and they had a family dance afterwards which was a blast.

Cloe and Santa, you could not tell from this picture but she was very excited to see Santa.

Dakota did not want to sit on Santa's lap but she did anyway, because she really wanted a bag of goodies.I thought Paige would not have anything to do with this. But she wasn't ready to leave Santa, she was taking it all in and she loved the fluffy beard.

UHHHH!

Paige can clap and the grunting is just way too funny! We had to capture it on video! She is almost crawling, but seems to move her way around the room without it anyway. She also loves to put her hands way above her head and we say "So Big!"

We have been busy getting ready for christmas. We are doing our christmas everyday tradition. We have been reading the Nutcracker and we just finished it last night. The girls love all the pictures of the ballerinas. I am done shopping for christmas I just have some last minute finishing gifts and wrapping and all that good stuff. We are going to be making a gingerbread house (storebought this year) and lots of cookies. It has been so cold here lately and the snow and ice are just sticking around. It's been really nice to have the fireplace going.

Trees, Lights, Parades, and Holiday Cheer

We have been busy getting ready for the holidays. For the first time that I remember in my life we went up the mountain and cut down our own Christmas tree. It was so much fun! The years past we just thought it would be too much work with young kids. This year we bit the bullet and just did it and we even had more young kids and it really was a great time. I was sad that I also forgot my camera on this excursion. We found a spot to get out of the car and walk through some trees we got out and we headed towards the trees and the snow just kept getting deeper and deeper it was so cute to watch the kids trek through the snow, I can't believe that Cloe did it all be herself and Dakota got a little help from Dad. I held Paige and finally the saw after dad gave it to Cloe. But she did hold it for awhile trudging through the snow. We walked through the trees where the snow wasn't quite so deep. We found a few trees that could have worked but then the clouds opened up and the sun shown down on our tree. "Hallelujah, Hallelujah!" It was an awesome Hallelujah moment. We walked over to it and Brent started to saw it and then he stepped on it to get it the rest of the way down. Then we had to figure out how to get all these kids, the saw, the dog and the tree out of the woods. It was a very funny sight and I'm glad that we didn't miss it this year. Then that night we had a Lights Parade downtown, the kids really enjoyed and got lot's of goodies. Then we had some friends over for Hot Cocoa and cider. And today we have been decorating the tree and putting up lights, and other decorations. I love the holiday spirit and the feeling of Holiday music and decorations going up. It's been a really nice couple of days off (Brent's Days Off).
Not much more says holiday cheer!