More Christmas

Cole got to hand out gifts at Grandma's this year, he was taking the job very serious:


Rylee wrapped up the sweatshirt she had borrowed from Shannon at Thanksgiving and gave it to her. You can tell Rylee thought it was hilarious!


Every year Mike's mom gives everyone a new fleece blanket she makes. This year she made them big enough to fit everyone's beds. Noah was nice and warm with his while he watched the rest of the gift unwrapping.


Jenna got a new baby with a miniature blanket that matches her big blanket, she loved it!


The kids with Mike and his mom playing bingo. They play every year and Carol always has fun prizes. The stash is in the middle of all the kiddos.

Merry Christmas!

The kids woke us up about 7:30 on Christmas morning. We opened gifts at our house, then went to church with all of Mike's family at his sister's ward. Then we came home and went to his mom's for more gift opening, bingo playing, and of course lots of eating! We got to talk to Mike's niece, Heidi, who is on her mission in Michigan. we skyped with Ashley, Brett, and baby June; we also skyped with my sister, Sara and her family in Vegas; and with my mom and Griffin who are in Texas with Devin and his extended family. I was suppose to work, but got called off which was nice. The kids always stay the night at Grandma's with all the Martin cousins. So I came home and went to bed early. It was a low key, wonderful Christmas!


I told Rylee to get close to Mike for a picture and this is the look I got from both of them:


Jenna loved the journal Rylee got for her! I think my kids favorite part of Christmas is buying gifts for each other.


Noah got a new guitar strap from Cole:


Cole with his new tie, guitar books, and his favorite gift, a fadora (not sure how you spell it) from Jenna:

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve this year. First, Mike and I went to lunch at Iggy's so we could watch the Raiders beat Kansas City! Then we got an early Christmas present when Mike's niece, Ashley, had her first baby. She had a girl (of course) named June. She is adorable! We were able to skype with them for a bit on Christmas which was nice, but I can't wait to we get to meet her in person. We went to Mike's moms for pizza (pizza is a Delozier family tradition, so even though my family was gone we still got to keep the tradition). Then we came home to finish reading our Muppets Gift of the Magi advent calendar books and the kids opened their new pajamas. Then they all slept downstairs in Rylee's room and were asleep before 10, nice!


Jenna reading one of the last books:


Cole hanging the books on the tree:


Moe enjoying his early Christmas present:


My silly kiddos:


My kiddos acting "normal" for me. I love this picture!

Live Nativity

My parents were heading out of town for Christmas, so we got together the week before to have dinner. My mom wanted to take us to a sing a long down at the Delta Center, but Rylee had to cheer at a game that lasted long, so we decided to go see the Live Nativity they were having in Bountiful. It was fun! The kids got to pet a sheep, a goat, and a miniature donkey. They had shepherds, wisemen, an angel, and of course Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. They had hot chocolate and cider along with some firepits to try to keep warm, it was COLD! After we drove around and looked at some fun light displays.

Deck the Halls

Our elementary school puts on an annual singing event called "Deck the Halls" It was weird only going to see 1 child this year. It's always a lot of fun, each grade sings a few songs. Jenna's grade (3) sang a fun version of Jingle Bells in different voices and A Gift For Every Child.

The next night the boys had their Christmas Band Concert and I forgot to take any pictures. Their band is so large that we could not even see Cole or Noah from where we were sitting. It was a lot of fun too. They have really improved (individually and as a whole)!

Jenna, looking cute before her program, it's hard to get her to do a decent smile.

And here she is talking (probably when she shouldn't be), typical!

Christmas Choir Concert

Rylee's choir concert was a fun way to start the Christmas season. They have an amazing teacher (she is a member of the MoTab) and she keeps the concerts short and sweet. The kids always sound fantastic!

Ry with some of her best friends: Keadon, Anna, and Brayden.

A big group of us went to Orange Leaf after for yummy yogurt.
The have a great group of friends!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my parents, Griffin, Krista, and Rachel at my mom and dad's. I forgot to take any pictures, oops. The day was filled with yummy food and lots of laughs, a typical Delozier family Thanksgiving.

Mike's niece, Jacque, and her cute family came from CA and we were able to see them for a little bit. The kids love their second cousin, Maggie. She is so sweet. Here she is with Cole and Jenna.

Breaking Dawn

I know after this post I may sound like an extreme Twihard but really don't think I am. I have only read the books one time each and I don't own any of the movies, but I have been to a premier the night before for each Twilight movie and last night was no different.
I went at 6 p.m. with some of my friends to a showing that a friend does to raise money and they give out lots of donated prizes and everyone is screaming and crazy. It was SO much fun!!!
Then I went again at midnight with Rylee and some her friends and their moms. It was way fun too!!!
This movie is definitely more intense and graphic, but I really enjoyed it. I don't tend to over analyze the movies probably because I have only read the books once. I think it makes the movies more enjoyable for me since I am really just watching for enjoyment, not to compare the books and movies. I also don't remember all the details of the book and don't have any real preconceived ideas of what the movie should be. I think this was well done and had some cool effects. It also had some cheesy and funny lines and scenes mixed in randomly. I enjoyed it, but it is not a movie for the faint of heart.

Here is Rylee with a couple of her friends before the show:

Our Money's Worth

We have been talking about getting a new van for a long time and have looked on and off. We have not had a car payment for so long, which is so nice, and the van kept chugging along so we waited...
Last Saturday I was driving up a hill in the snow and my van died...when we found out a few days later that it was completely dead we didn't have a choice anymore. So after a few days of seriously looking we found a new van that we hope will last as long as our old one. We had the blue van for 12 1/2 years and we had just passed 198,000 miles so we feel we definitely got our money's worth.

A Baby Shower

Rylee's assistant cheer coach (she is also Cole and Noah's enlgish teacher) is expecting her first child in December. The cheerleaders threw her a baby shower and it was so fun! They are all SO excited she is having a baby girl.


This is the cake one of the moms made:


This is most the girls with both coaches and the blanket they made (in their school colors) for the baby...they made it one morning at practice when she was not there...she loved it!


P.S. Rylee and Jackie are holding babies...they had them for 5 days for a school project.

Sweet Baby Amelia

We were blessed to be a part of Amelia's (my cousin Colby's daughter) baby blessing. I don't know what was more special, the blessing, or being able to hear my grandparents, my parents, my uncle, my cousin and his wife bear their testimonies. I am so glad my children were there to hear so many family members bear testimony and to feel of their spirit.
The next night we were able to have dinner at my parents with a lot of the family again. I love spending time with my family, especially those like my grandparents and aunt and uncle who live in San Diego. I am grateful that my kids get to spend time with extended family and learn from them.

Isn't she so sweet? I was lucky enough to hold her for quite awhile while she slept in my arms. Almost makes me want another one...almost!

All my kids were fighting over who got to hold Amelia next. Jenna especially loves babies. She still keeps asking for a baby at our house. I told her we can just go babysit and hold Amelia.

A Full

Rylee has been working on her full (a layout with a 360 degree twist) and she did a couple private lessons with an awesome coach and now she has it! It's fun to watch her working hard, being completely exhausted and sweaty, and then see the joy in her face when she sticks it!

Halloween

I am feeling like a slacker this year. I didn't decorate the house, I didn't dress up at all, I forgot to take pictures of the boys, I didn't even do any trick or treating. The kids didn't have school so we went up to my mom's for our annual pizza lunch and decorating sugar cookies. Then we came home and I made homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls. Then I dropped Rylee off with her friends at a Halloween party. I dropped the boys off at their friend's to go trick or treating. Then Mike, Jenna, and I headed up to his sister's house for chili dogs and trick or treating (this is a tradition for us). When we got there our niece, Alicia, and her husband David wanted to take Jenna trick or treating. So we were able to sit and eat and watch some football and old "scary" movies. Everyone had a good night so in the end Halloween was a good one this year. Maybe next year I will try to be more on top of things.

Rylee with 3 of her friends...
the one in the blue is one of her best friends and one of my favorite kids too!

Jenna (the vampiress) with Alicia and David

Jenna and Shannon

A Fun Visit

Our cute niece, Ashley, is expecting her first baby January 1st. She lives in Pasadena so we don't get to see her as often as we like. Her, and her cute husband were in town this weekend for a couple baby showers so we were lucky enough to spend some time with them.


Jenna LOVES their pug, Lucy. The way Lucy attacked her, I would say the feeling is mutual.

Rylee with her cousins: Alicia, Ashley, and Shannon.
They are all so beautiful and so much fun to be around.

The boys didn't come to the shower and kept bugging me about seeing Ashley.
Usually when Ashley comes all they ask about is where is Lucy? Where is Brett? This time all they wanted was to see Ashley! They got to spend some time with all 3 of them.
Love this picture! Just wish Noah was smiling!

GNO

I was lucky enough to get together with most of my girls from nursing school. We had our same clinical group (10 girls) throughout most of our 2 years and all but 2 of us were able to be there. One girl has moved to Canada and the other had something come up last minute. So the rest of us met at The Porcupine Grill (YUM) for dinner. It was so much fun to get caught up on everyone's lives and to laugh like the old days and even better that we didn't have to try and squeeze studying in too. One girl has gotten married, one is engaged, one is divorced, 2 have had babies, 1 is pregnant....All of us have RN positions that we like and are becoming the best RN's around! I really would not have made it through nursing school, especially clinicals, without these girls. I cannot believe it has been almost a year since we graduated and were all together.

Haunted Houses

I went to a haunted house a couple weeks ago with some of my girlfriends and Rylee and my niece, Shannon came too. I was really freaked out, but had a blast!!! Rylee and Shannon have been buggin me to take them to another haunted house and my boys wanted to try one too. So we decided to try the Haunted Hollow in Ogden. It's outside in a wooded area...spooky! It was not as scary as I was anticipating and not as scary as the other haunted house we went to, but it was fun! The boys loved it! and were not scared at all. I had to hang on the them a few times.

PLANKING

Not sure the what, where, when, why, and how of the whole planking thing,
but the kids had fun the other day planking.



Jenna

Cole

Noah

Shannon

Rylee
(when I saw this picture I yelled at her a bit. She is way too high up, on too thin of support. Teenagers...too brave and/or stupid...)

6 Years

Cannot believe it has been 6 years since seeing his incredible smile. 6 years since he has given me one his big brother hugs. 6 years since we got to hang out with our kiddos together. 6 years and it still seems like yesterday. 6 years and I still think about calling him to tell him some exciting news or get some brotherly advice. 6 years and it still hurts a little everyday.

I love you Brandon!

9th Grade Choir

Rylee is in choir again this year and enjoys it a lot. Not sure if that is because all of her friends are in the class or because she enjoys singing (probably the friends). I know she does not like their dresses, which I think look very nice. They always sound great! They did a few songs with actions and their closing number was The James Bond Theme...very fun!


Anna, Jackie, and Brayden with Rylee. These 3 are some of her best friends. I love these kids almost as much as she does...they are awesome!!! So glad Rylee has good friends.