Christmas Eve and Christmas

We had Christmas Eve at our house this year with Blayne's family and a few of his cousins. It was a fun night filled with lost of visiting and a ton of food. Everyone cleared out around 8:00pm then it was of to bed for the Yates kids and finishing Christmas prepatations for Blayne and I.

After the kids were quiet, not asleep but quiet, Blayne and I proceeded to finish things up. At 11:45pm, when I was all done I rounded the stairs to head to bed only to find a sick 9 year old waiting for me on the stairs. I took her upstairs, barf bowl in hand only to have Maddy follow suit. Two very sick girls all night long made for a very cranky Christmas morning. I think Blayne and I finally went to sleep about 5:45am only to be woken up by the only child that wasn't sick at 7:30am. After convincing Maddy to get off the floor and that she really wanted to open presents we headed down stairs for the festivities to begin.

After all the presents were open and after Grandpa Doug made us breakfast we tried to settle back in for some sleep. After what seemed to be no time at all, we got up to head out to Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher's house for the remainder of the day. We are very blessed and not only had a great Christmas but made some great memories to finish off 2011. I am thankful for my wonderful husband, my healthy and happy kids, and my supportive family. It was a great year for the Yates family!

A Very Busy Saturday!

It all started with the meet and greet for primary. We went for the kids to meet thier new primary teachers and for Blayne and I to meet our new CTR 6 class. We stayed as long as possible until we had to leave to make it to Doug's graduation. He graduated with his Bachelors Degree. It has been a goal of his for quite some time. We are proud of him for working so hard these last couple years.

After leaving the graduation, we were driving home and as we drove into Sandy we noticed that Mt. Hood looked beautiful. We had some time to kill so we went to the view point and took some pictures.

After making it home I took the kids annual pictures in front of the Christmas tree.

We spent very little time at home before heading off to Victoria's piano recital. She has been taking lessons for a little over a year and this was her first recital. She was very excited but nervous too.

So, as I stated in the beginning it was quite an eventful day. It was filled with great and memorable things so it made all of the stress and rushing around worth it.

The Kids with Santa at the Ward Christmas Party

We took the kids to the ward Christmas party. We had a great dinner followed by yummy desserts. Then the kids got in line to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Both of my big kids told him they wanted cell phones, good luck, and Maddy told him she wanted Barbies. Very cute!

December! Christmas time has arrived!

As is tradition we went out to get our tree the first weekend in December. It was really cold and got dark really early. We still managed to get our tree. It was a little shorter than I like but it is still beautiful and smells great!!

The following week we went to the ward Christmas party. With Leilani in tow we took the kids to see Santa. Leilani wasn't fond of him but the others kids told him what they wanted for Christmas.

Stay tuned for our other Christmas activities.....

Thanksgiving at the Martin's

This year for Thanksgiving all of the Fletcher's met at Ashley and Jake's in Prineville. Even though Jake was casted and laid up we had a lot of fun.

Aunt Sandi brought all of the supplies to do some fun activities including chocolate dipped pretzels that the kids decorated as snow men. It was messy but the kids had a lot of fun.

Even though Jarom can't do much he did a great job entertaining himself and his sweet little spirit was a great addition to the day.

Thanksgiving day came around, we were up early and with everyone helping we managed to make a great Thanksgiving dinner.

All in all it was a great mini vacation. We enjoyed our time together like always.

Quick Pic

Today as we were leaving for church the sky was clear, sun was shinning, and the leaves looked awesome. So Blayne and I decided to take a few pictures of the kids.

Gavin turns 7!!

My sweet boy is getting so big! It was fun to have the birthday of 11/11/11 this year. We bought him some new snowboarding gear. Then Blayne, myself, and the girls took him out to the LEGO store. We didn't tell him before hand where we were going, only that we were taking him somewhere fun. The boy now has more LEGOs then he knows what to do with.

My kids are growing so fast. I am the luckiest Mom ever. I have three beautiful and healthy kids.