Jocelyn's 1st Birthday Party

I spent a lot of time planning Jocelyn's birthday party.  I know she won't remember it, but I still wanted it to be special.  I made decorations, the banner, and a smash cake for her.  She thought the cake tasted pretty good, but she did not like the ice cream.  It was way too cold.  My family came and of course Jon's mom was there.  I served tacos for lunch, which was delicious then we had dessert and opened gifts.  Jocelyn didn't totally understand what was going on, but she knew it was all about her.

High chair skirt I made

Banner I made.  It has a picture from Newborn to 12 months.

Dad wanted to watch the BYU game.

Smash cake I made

She took a while to get into the cake.  By the end of the day she was a little messy.

I made the mistake of showing my mom and my sister the same picture, so they got her the same thing.  I felt so bad.  I definitely was not paying attention.  So we went and got something else for Jocelyn.

She was waving to my Grandpa in this picture.

Happy Birthday Jocelyn.  I love you with all my heart.

Christmas lights and Christmas

Growing up I remember my parents taking us out to look at Christmas lights.  I took the kids and they had so much fun.  We had heard about a family in the Selah Stake, who always decorate big time for Christmas, were giving hayrides one night for Family Home Evening to see their lights.  So we took the kids up there and it was Amazing!!!  They loved it.  Jeremy even got to drive the tractor.  It was very cold, so they even served Hot Chocolate.

The pictures don't do it justice.  It was so beautiful.  The kids want to go again next year.

Christmas this year was so different having kids.  We heard several times this was the best year ever!!  It warmed my heart but also made me a little sad knowing that life has been hard for them growing up.  I'm so glad I can give them a little more normalcy then they have had in the past.

Christmas Eve we did our Annual Family Home Evening reading of the Christmas story out of Luke 2.  Then we all got pajamas.

Santa was very good to all of us.  Malachi got a bike, James got a Telescope, and Penny got an IPOD.  They were all super excited.  Santa didn't leave us out.  He got us a new projector for our basement.

Jeremy didn't get to spend Christmas with us.  He was transitioning home, so we didn't see him until after Christmas.  It was sad not having him there.  Because he wasn't there, we didn't get to see him open any gifts.  We did have him open a few before he left.  When he came back the day after Christmas, he was upset, because the kids wouldn't share their toys with him.  So Jon came to my office and got something we were going to give him and then decided not to since he wasn't staying.  He had so much fun, and was in it all day.