2011 review

Sorry this post is a lot of text and no pictures, but this is mostly for me!

I did plans & predictions for 2011. I thought I should follow up and see how the year went before I do a similar post for 2012. This is copied from my post back in January - the results are in RED.

Family/General:

Job promotion/change for Kevin. Not yet, but he's had some promising interviews and he has several recruiters working for him. But life is a bit better at his job these days so a change is not quite as urgent.

Continue working on and complete my in-laws' mission journal/book (created from their weekly letters). The book is done, with the exception of them writing the conclusion and sending it to me. Then it just needs to be edited and printed.

Fun Family Outings - at least monthly. We haven't been as good about this recently.

Family Game Time - weekly on Sundays. DONE! We all love it and it will continue to be part of our Sundays. Between afternoon game time and having breakfast for dinner, the kids have declared Sunday to be their favorite day of the week!


Personal/Spiritual:

Attend the temple - at least 12 times. I did not keep an exact count, but I think I made it about 10 times. I cannot wait for the much closer Gilbert temple to be done in a few years!

Read the Book of Mormon again. No, but we area almost done reading the New Testament again. But the good news is that after many years of inconsistency, Kevin & I have FINALLY found a consistent time to read scriptures together.

Fast each month. DONE - and very proud of myself!

Exercise. After a rough start (I hated the first gym I signed up with so I quit after a few months), I have been extremely happy with the gym that I have been signed up with since August and have consistently gone 3x per week.

Travel:

Summertime trip with the whole family. DONE! We made it to Colorado and had a great time!

Sea World. DONE! We went in March!

A "real" (no kids) vacation for Kevin & I. DONE! We certainly didn't expect that we would be going to New Zealand in August, but it was a deal we couldn't refuse and we had an amazing time.

Home/Purchases:

New dining room table. DONE!

New piano. Not done, but it will definitely be on the list for next year!

Decor for the boys' bedroom. DONE! It's nothing fancy so I didn't do a post about it, but at least it's something.

Decor for the dining room. DONE! I don't think I ever posted a picture of it, but I LOVE it! My friend was selling some stuff before they moved and it looks great!

christmas 2011

Here's the play-by-play of our Christmas Day:

The kids woke up about 7:00 a.m. to find that Santa brought them some presents. (Kevin's note to Danika: next year remind Santa to get gifts that don't require a million hours of assembly time). Brandon got a basketball standard (the rest of it was outside), Tyler got a new bike, and Natalie got a doll mansion (seriously...she cannot even reach the top floor!).

We didn't let them open anything else (besides their stockings) and we hurried and had breakfast & got dressed & took photos and were LATE to 9:00 church. I was mortified...I've never been late to church in my life!
After I got over my embarrassment and frustration, I settled in and thoroughly enjoyed the program. Great music, fantastic talks, and I FINALLY felt the Christmas spirit for the first time all month! I had been so busy it was nice to just sit and relax and remember the REAL reason for the season. Some may not like Christmas on Sunday, but I personally think it's wonderful!

After we got home from church, we let the kids open the rest of their presents (the ones from us). I am always surprised at which items are the favorites! The boys LOVED their new pillow pets (Natalie already has one).
Brandon almost burst from excitement - he desperately wanted this Arizona Cardinals one ever since he saw it a few weeks before.
I wish I would have gotten video of Natalie opening this. I think she might have actually screamed with happiness! She had told Santa that she wanted "all the Princess Barbies" and "a HUGE Barbie house," so needless to say she was thrilled with her gifts.
After lunch we went up to my sister's house to open all the gifts my parents brought and to have dinner together. The boys thought their HUGE Lego sets were awesome!And Natalie got more princess stuff (notice a theme here?).I told my mom her punishment for buying so many gifts should be to be here at our house on Dec. 26th to open everything, assemble everything, teach our kids how to work everything, play with them, and then find spots for everything in our house!

In the chaos we forgot to get our traditional "all the grandkids in front of the tree" photo before we opened presents, but we did manage to get a shot of Grandma & Grandpa with all 8 grandkids.
December always feels like such a whirlwind of work and stress, but when it's all said & done it's pretty fun and definitely memorable! I crashed into bed exhausted and feeling overwhelmed with gratitude with how blessed we are.

christmas fun

We've had a busy & exciting week with the entire Carlson family here in town. Here are some of the fun (and not-so-fun) things we did:

Cookie decorating!
Playing with cousins (Tyler also lost another tooth in the middle of a family dinner last week)!
Making up skits!
My sister-in-law Amy made us a delicious brunch and my kids actually tried new foods without complaining!
And what would Christmas be without a sick kid? (thankfully he woke up better the next morning)
I sliced open my hand! (you know you're a dedicated blogger when instead of grabbing a tissue or a band-aid you grab the camera first!)
The usual trip to see the Mesa Temple lights (also known as "the one time a year we wear our coats").
But most of all we enjoyed meeting and cuddling with my adorable new nephew Matthew (3 months old) who came all the way from China to be with us. He is such a good baby and we loved having him (and of course his parents, my brother Eric and my sister-in-law Amy) here with us.
More photos of Christmas Day to come...

natalie's preschool program

Natalie was as adorable as her preschool Christmas program! Mrs. Packer always does such a wonderful job getting the kids to sing. And the weather was perfect for their outdoor performance.
There are 11 kids in her class (from L to R): Asher, Natalie, Carter, Lucy, Ashlyn, Thais, Chance, Gus, Chloe, Tatum, and Crew.

Each child had a short speaking part.
These are Natalie's two best friends Chloe and Tatum. They are so cute and are hysterical together each week during carpool as they "discuss" things.
I only uploaded one of the songs (I'll Be a Little Angel), but rest assured they were all equally as adorable!


It's starting to really hit me that Natalie only has one more semester of preschool left, especially as I recently got the notice for kindergarten registration. She is growing up way too fast!

holiday class parties

Yesterday was the last day of school before fall break, which of course meant class parties! First was Tyler's, which was a breakfast and different activities. There were crafts, a book exchange, decorating cookies, reading stories, and bingo. The kids were very well behaved. Tyler's teacher is Mrs. Martin.

Brandon's class party was in the afternoon. It is a very different feel to a 4th grade classroom from a 1st grade classroom! Much like Tyler's class, there were different stations that they rotated through: crafts, eating donuts & drinking hot chocolate, bingo, and Minute to Win It games. Brandon's teacher is Mrs. Whitmire.
Both boys had a fun time and came home VERY hyper from all the sugar they consumed. I am thankful for a great school, amazing teachers, and willing room moms who volunteer to put together these parties. I feel very blessed that I am usually able to go help & participate.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas!

Christmas is in full swing here in our house and all the usual December madness has ensued. There have been a few funny events & comments that need to be recorded.

I bet you didn't know that there was Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the wisemen, the shepherds, and THE Wii REMOTES in the stable?!? This made me laugh when I walked in the room!
A few days later I received my beautiful new Mikasa nativity set (that I got for a ridiculously cheap price on Cyber Monday and is stunning and my new favorite Christmas decoration) and I moved my olive wood one to another place. I did it while the kids were asleep and the next morning Natalie came out and asked, "Why are there white people up there? What happened to the brown people?"
And after 3 1/2 years in this house, I finally used the master bathtub for the first time! We call it "tub-o-presents!"

ward christmas breakfast &service project

This year our ward did something different instead of our usual Breakfast with Santa. We did a breakfast and then participated in a ward service project at the Arizona Police Toy Drive Warehouse. It's a building that receives toy donations where police & firefighters can "shop" for families that they have met through their service calls who are in need during the holidays. They also work in conjunction with the suicide hotline and if they get calls on Christmas Eve from needy parents who are contemplating taking their own lives because they have nothing to give their children for Christmas (sad, but true), they immediately rush toys there in the middle of the night.

This was an AMAZING facility and they had lots for us to do in preparation for their big week (they said this week over 500 police officers & firefighters would come to "shop"). The men & young men built bikes & other large toys & put up additional shelving. The women & young women wrapped toys and stocked shelves from donation boxes & trailers. The kids under 12 weren't allowed in the facility (since it basically looked like Toys R Us) so they made cards for the needy kids, played games, and visited with Santa (a man from our ward who did a fabulous job as Santa)!

Natalie didn't want to go sit on his lap, but once she saw he was giving away candy canes, she decided it was worth it!
Overall, it was a great morning and I would have loved to stay and help for a few more hours. I love doing service projects, especially when they are fun & meaningful & with good friends who are hard workers. It is always overwhelming & humbling to hear about other people's tough situations & needs and to feel the immense gratitude that comes from knowing we are so very blessed, especially during the holiday season. I hope this can become a new annual ward holiday tradition!

natalie's christmas dance recital

Natalie had her Christmas dance recital today and it was every bit as cute as I expected it to be!
Natalie with one of her best friends Chloe who did dance with her this year.
Natalie with her awesome dance teacher Miss Misty.
With her class (Natalie is second from the left):
They did a tap dance to "Suzy Snowflake" and Natalie even decided to sing along at the top of her lungs as you can hear! She is on the front row on the far left side:

brandon's christmas piano recital

Yesterday was Brandon's Christmas piano recital day! I always get very nervous for him (probably because I was extremely afraid of recitals myself, and especially after his last recital) but he did FANTASTIC! It's hard to believe he's only been playing piano for 2 1/2 years and he's already in Level 4.

He played Deck the Halls and Irish Wedding Dance. Ironically, I played Irish Wedding Dance for a recital when I was a kid, but I'm sure I never played it as well as he does! I may be slightly biased, but Brandon has an amazing amount of musical talent. It's the one area that his determined, perfectionist attitude comes in very handy! Great job Brandon - we are very proud of you!

tyler's first grade concert

Each grade level at our school has a yearly concert. Every other year it's been in the spring, so we were surprised when Tyler's first grade concert was this past week with a holiday theme. The music teacher at their school is unique (for lack of a better word...I'm trying to be nice) so these concerts are always interesting.

The concert started very late (a HUGE pet peeve of mine, especially when you are waiting on hard benches and with young children). The kids finally marched in, adorable as always.
They got all 120 kids lined up ready to sing, only to realize they had them completely in the wrong order! Having them lined up by class was important because different classes were singing different parts and there was color coordination with some props. So they had to completely rearrange all the kids. Imagine trying to herd 120 cats...that's pretty much what happens with first graders! I'm not sure what occurred outside before they marched in, but the teachers were quite embarrassed & the audience was confused & frustrated.
30 minutes after scheduled start time they finally got around to singing, which was as cute as expected. Though I find it quite amusing that they had a winter theme and it was 76 degrees outside here in Arizona...most of these kids have never even seen snow! And how the music teacher got permission to sing holiday songs like Jingle Bells I will never understand (this school is VERY strict about NO holiday anything - no Halloween, no Christmas, no Easter).



After almost every song, they sang it again with the audience, making the concert feel even longer and very repetitive.

Part of the first grade music curriculum is learning to keep a beat. I thought this was a creative way to teach this concept. However, I will never be able to listen to Nutcracker music again without thinking of this paper plate choreography!


Here's Tyler with his first grade teacher (who happens to be a friend from our previous ward - she was actually Brandon's sunbeam teacher!). This is NOT the music teacher!
Overall, it was a fun evening (once the singing actually started) and Tyler did a great job! And I guess at least all the drama makes for a entertaining blog post!