New Year's Eve

We had a great time tonight. We all went out to Kasey's new house and had a big celebration. Everybody had room to move and play. We had a great spread for dinner and snacks for the rest of the night! Then the party began. We broke out the Wii Dance 3 game and everyone got involved. The kids played bingo for prizes. It wasn't as easy as the Disney bingo we play with the Cromwell's so we had to help the kids find the numbers. They loved it!

The kids at the 'kids tables' playing bingo

Jane, Julia and Kate striking a pose

All the big girls dancing

Royce, Kasey and Mom dancing the night away

We let the kids do some sparklers outside to celebrate before they went to bed. Once the kiddos settled down for a movie/bed time the adults got to play bingo for prizes as well. It was intense! Amy and dad were so serious about it. The concentration was thick! Well everybody was a winner to say the least. We ate a ton more food and then played the new game "Head-bands." Now the Cromwell's have this game too, but the Disney version. (Do I see a pattern here?) Anyway, we just had the normal game and it was hard! It could have been anything! At least with Disney Headbands you have it narrowed down a bit with the subject matter. But even though it was a little tough, we all had a blast playing it, we had a lot of good laughs over it. And a laugh that Kasey will not live down. She a card that had pizza on it, so she knew it was a food. But she kept asking one question over and over again at the start of each round. Might have been the pregnancy brain kicking in or the late hour but we all had a good laugh! Is it Candy???

New Year's Eve Celebration. The kids loved the sparklers!

All the kiddos snuggled in for the night

The intense concentration! Don't forget to say BINGO!

The tough, but funny 'Head-bands' game

The night flew by and the New Year came! We broke out some bubbly and said our 'Happy New Year's"! It was a great night. Bring on 2012 we are ready to see what you have in store for us this year!

A few goals for the year:

Susie:  Attend the temple 2x per month
Amy:   Write in a daily journal
Kasey: Become a mom
Royce: Work on his new house
Layne:  Get into a house and get out debt
Karrie: Daily scripture study and of course lose weight! Hopefully cut down our debt too!
Kristy:  Scriptures and also lose weight
Dad: Well, I think he was asleep when we all talked about this

So we shall see how we do when the next year rolls around.....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Celebrating Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! It was a great Christmas up at the Cromwell's this year. It was great being able to gather for Christmas Eve with the family. It's always fun to get together and catch up on all the going's on. It's also so fun to see all the little babies that were all born within the last year. A year goes by fast and the little grow up to quickly. They are all so darn cute and each have such a different personality.

All the babies.........
Eli 18mo, Christian 12mo, Olivia 10mo, Austin 23mo

We had a little Christmas eve dinner, a program, and the kids got some new pj's. Layne and I were in charge of the program this year but I let Layne take the lead and basically do it :) It was fun, entertaining and a night full of gratitude! After the program, the kids got the traditional gift of pj's, they all  looked so cute in the matching pj's. Grandma did a good job at picking them all out :)

Gpa & Gma doing a tongue twister and eating marshmallows

Rich on guitar and Layne on harmonica
playing Jingle Bells

Everyone enjoying the program

Christmas morning was wonderful. The kids get so excited and grandpa always shouts down the stairs, "I don't think HE came!?" The kids never believe him and come running up the stairs. Julia was so happy that Santa had brought her the one gift she really wanted, a singing Rapunzel doll. Christian got a new ball popper and loves to dance when he hears the music. Christian was a little tired that morning but loved crawling around to see what everybody got for Christmas.

All the girls

Most of the boys

Singing Rapunzel

The elephant ball popper

Christian chillin with grandpa

She loves Aurora!

Yay....new toys!

It was an enjoyable day! We even got to have church on Christmas day. It was nice to feel the spirit of the day and really remember what Christmas was all about. The rest of the day was spent playing, napping, and eating until we were about to burst. It was great to be able to stay up at gma and gpa Cromwell's house with everyone. Andy and Whitney and kids came up a little later and it was so nice to see them. We miss all of our family so much and wish we could visit and get together more often. At the end of the day while I was getting Julia ready for bed I was asking her what her favorite gift was and a few other questions and she just said to me, "Mom, everything was just perfect." That was nice to hear and hopefully that was her way of saying or giving thanks for the day :)

Such pretty girls

A handsome boy!

Ella, Olivia and Julia all dolled up and ready for
church in their new Christmas outfits

Kids playing the Disney Headbands game!

Hailey is finally here. ALL the girls
LOVE her to death!  She's a great cousin!

The 2 littlest cousins trying to conspire
on how to break the barrier and get to the tree

When we got back home to Alpine, it was time to have Christmas all over again! It was nice to be able to spend time with both families this year! We had a great time at gma and gpa Mott's house. The kids were so excited once again to open more presents. Julia got a few gifts that I am grateful she received because it keeps her busy and out of my hair. Thanks to Aunt Amy and Gma Mott for her new Leapster and Alphie computer games. Again we ate and played games and got to talk and just enjoy the day with each other.
It was such a rough year for our family this year and it was so nice to end it on a good note! We are all so very appreciative and happy for being able to receive so many wonderful gifts and more important love and family time. Its what makes the holiday's so wonderful for our family!

Christian taking a bite out of
his new BYU Cougar pillow pet

Anxious to see what it is?!

Happy about his new BYU jacket!

Another tear-filled moment. Mom opening her
new calendar of the grandkids! She's always worried
she won't get one each year!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas!

For unto you is born this day in the city

of David a Saviour,

which is Christ the Lord.

GLORY to God in the highest,

and on earth peace, good will toward men.

~Luke 2:1, 3-14~

"Born in a manger, He cane to earth under the humblest of circumstances. The Son of the Almighty became the Savior of all mankind. He walked the roads of Palestine working miracles. He healed the sick, He brought sight to the blind, He raised the dead. He blessed the little children and condemned any who should offend them. He left His mark upon the world, which can never be erased nor diminished. Concluding that brief life was the agony of Gethsemane and the terrible suffering of Golgotha, to be followed by the glory of the Resurrection. No other had ever before done what He did. He rose from the grave, and through His great act of Atonement came salvation for all men. Our eternal lives are in His hands, and our eternal progress lies in obedience to His teachings."

                                     ~President Gordon B. Hinckley~

The TRUE meaning of Christmas is CHRIST!

 Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve and Fun Trivia

For many of us, Christmas Eve is the most wonderful night of the year. We sing and read traditional favorites. We ponder and pray. On this night of all nights, we gather together and rejoice.

Imagine being a shepherd on that night
of nights and hearing the angels sing.

Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, Hallelujah!

The kingdom of this world is become

the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,

 And He shall reign for ever and ever,

King of Kings, and Lord of Lords!

Christmas Trivia: Fun Facts

• Q: How much does the average American family spend on Christmas gifts?
A: The average American family spends about $800 on Christmas gifts every year.


• Q: How many Christmas trees are sold each year?
A: Thirty-seven million fresh Christmas trees are sold each year.

• Q: What state first recognized Christmas as an official holiday?
A: Alabama was the first state to recognize Christmas as an official holiday, starting in 1836.

• Q: How many candy canes are made each year?
A: More than 1.76 billion candy canes are made annually for the Christmas season.

• Q: Why do Barnum's animal crackers have a string handle?
A: Barnum's animal crackers in the circus-themed box were designed with a string handle so they could hang on a Christmas tree.


• Q: What are sugarplums?
A: Sugarplums are actually chocolate candies with cream, fruit preserves, or other sweet fillings inside.

• Q: What is wassail?
A: Wassail is a beverage dating back to the Middle Ages. The word is derived from the Old Norse ves heill, meaning "in good health." This evolved into visiting neighbors on Christmas Eve and drinking to their health.Traditional wassail contained ale, wine, or hard cider topped with beaten eggs or stale bread. Modern recipes for wassail use hot apple cider simmered with spices and sweetened with honey.


• Q: Why are candy canes bent?
A: In 1670, a choirmaster in Cologne, Germany, bent the ends to resemble a shepherd's staff and handed them out to children during church services to keep them quiet. In the early 1900s, candy canes acquired their famous stripes. The first candy canes were straight, white sticks of sugar candy used as Christmas tree decorations.

• Q: Why do people eat mincemeat pie on Christmas?
A: Eating mincemeat pie on Christmas dates back to the 16th century. Traditionally, it was thought that eating a small pie on each of the 12 days of Christmas would bring good luck in the New Year.

He knows if you are sleeping!

"I want to emphasize that I have no quarrel with that well-fed gentleman with the red suit and the white whiskers. He was very generous to me when I was a boy, and we are looking

forward with great anticipation to his visit at our home.

All of those things with reference to Christmas are appropriate and

good and all of them are for children

-except, I suppose, the mistletoe."

~Elder Boyd K. Packer~

I think we all believe in Santa because he reminds

 us of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ!

Christmas Goodies!

Probably one of the best parts about Christmas are all the goodies we make and eat! We all have our favorites so can you name the top 14 Christmas treats? Are any of your favorites on the list?

• Candy canes

• Gingerbread
• Chestnuts
• Fruitcake (really? this still makes the list?)
• Bûche de Noël or Yule log cake
• Rum balls
• Chocolate truffles
• Meringue kisses
• Divinity
• Mince pie
• Pumpkin pie
• Homemade fudge
• Frosted sugar cookies
• Toffee

I think they need to update the list. Not alot of my favorites made the list. The tradition in my home was to make sugar cookies, frost and decorate them with my mom's homemade frosting. We still do this each year mostly for the kids. When we were little, I remember my mom making fugde and carmels so dad could take them to the people he home taught. And we ALWAYS had chex mix. Just the smell and taste of it reminds me of Christmas. So I have made a ton of it to snack on this year, probably a little to much. My dad's favorite thing to do was go to Hickory Farms and pick out something to send my grandpa Mott. The taste of smoked gouda brings back a lot of memories. And now I have traditions of making chocolate covered pretzels and buckeyes (as seen from an earlier post) and the marshmellow fudge. Julia was so excited to go and deliver the treats to the neighbors this year. So hopefully we can continue to do this each year.


 I remember growing up my grandpa and grandma Spafford would have little candy dishes all around the house with the old fashion hard candies in them. Whenever I see them, which is rare, it always reminds me of Christmas and gma and gpa's house. Grandma Spafford would always make a bunch of really good treats. I really loved a particular peanut butter bar that she made that had oats in it and to this day no one has the recipe. Another one of my favorites she made were the Danish Wedding Cookies. I have never attempted to make them but man I LOVED those things! She would also make haystacks and peanut clusters, so more of my favorites.

"Traditions offer opportunities to create memories, share love, and bulid strong bonds etween family members. They will not only helpyour family life be more peaceful and rewarding, they will also give your children memories they can draw on no matter where they go or who they grow up to be."

                     ~Linda and Richard Eyre~                               

Christmas Movies

Can you guess the movie that matches the following movie clips? Some are pretty obvious but others may not be so easy? How many did you get right? Was your favorite on the list?

Did you guess them all? Here are the answers:

1.  Holiday Inn
2.  Prep&Landing
3.  Rudolf the red-nosed Reindeer
4.  The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
5.  It's A Wonderful Life
6.  A Charlie Brown Christmas
7.  Christmas Story
8.  Home Alone
9.  Frosty the Snowman
10. Nat'l Lampoons Christmas Vacation
11. Polar Express (My favorite animated Christmas movie)
12. Miracle on 34th Street
13. White Christmas (My all time favorite Christmas movie, I watch it every year)
14.  The Holiday
15. The Santa Clause