Merry Christmas 2009

Here is our 2009 Christmas card for all those who I missed!



‘Twas the days before Christmas,
And all through the year
The Blads have been busy
Having family cheer.
The kids keep on growing
And getting so big.
Zach is now 7
And a 1st grade big-wig.
Parker turned four
Has a mind of his own.
Alivia is 1
And has really quite grown.
Gus went back to school,
To follow a hunch.
And Melanie is still
Taking care of this bunch.
This year has been busy
We traveled a bit.
Took a plane ride to Seattle
And saw the Mariners get licked.
So with the kids all nestled
Snug in their beds
With visions of Transformers
Dancing in their heads,
We remember our family
And our friends so dear
We wish you a Merry Christmas
And a Happy New Year!

12 Ways of Christmas

I know I should have posted this a while ago, since 5 days has already gone by! There is an amazing lady, Andi, who has an amazing blog called LDS Creativity Corner. For the 12 days of Christmas, she is doing the 12 'ways' of Christmas. Each day different bloggers have come up with ideas, inspirations, lessons, scriptures, and stories to help us draw closer to Christ this Christmas. She invited me to present a day, day 7, through my other blog LDS Handouts! I am super excited to be part of this wonderful thing. I have been posting all the days on my other blog. You can go here to see the amazing stuff that these ladies have come up with. Have fun and remember to be sure to check out Day 7 from yours truly!

Parker turns 4!

Where does the time go? I was just looking at Parker the other day and thought 'he looks so big'. Now he is 4! I can't believe it! Four years ago I took a nice slip on the ice and I swear that's what sent me into labor that night. Easiest labor so far.

Here is the little munchkin with his cake. It's Optimus Prime if you can't tell! We live and breath Transformers around here these days. Gotta love that smile! I think he was trying to make himself smile. Oh well, that's Parker! We had family and friends over for cake and ice cream. Mamoo, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, the Manglesons and the Reinholts were all here to celebrate Parker's special day. We are so grateful that Parker is part of our family. He is a very unique and special little boy and we love him greatly!

Halloween

I have to admit that Halloween is my least favorite holiday. I think teaching absolutely ruined it for me. Anyway, Gus tells me I have to forget myself and do it for the kids. We carved pumpkin out at Grandpa and Grandma's this year. Zach designed and cut his own, which was a vampire.

Parker (Gus mostly) made a Transformers Autobot head. Surprise, surprise.

Alivia didn't like the inside of a pumpkin, so she just hung out!

On Halloween we went to our Trunk or Treat. I was just getting over bronchitis and did not feel well. Then we went out for Chinese. It's a tradition we have. We then made it back here for doughnuts and cider. Wow, what a sugar rush!! Zach was Megatron this year, Parker was Bumblebee and Alivia was Dorothy with pink slippers instead of red! I'm glad we had decent weather and not snow!

Girls Night Fun

Last weekend we had our semi-annual girls night. Yes, this just so happens to coincide with the semi-annual General Conference, but that's just the way it is! The Blad girls get together and have some fun! It has been a tradition since the beginning of time (at least 39 years-inside joke). We used to go to Ladies' Night at Deseret Book and dinner while the guys were at priesthood session, but that got too crazy finding babysitters for more and more kids. This year we went out on Friday night to dinner while the guys watched the kids (we missed you Janet and Darlyn). Then on Saturday we CRAFTED!!! Yay! Bonnie rented a Cricut and that thing never stopped cutting!!! The guys cut us blocks of wood to make fun decorations. Here is some things that I made:

A cute Halloween sign:

A Harvest sign for fall:

Vinyl saying for Alivia's room:

And some blocks of the Young Women values: (I thought this would make a cute centerpiece for YW)

We had so much fun that we all want a Cricut! The possibilities are endless! I have some very talented and crafty sis-in-laws! Until April!

Gus Turns 30!

Okay, so I forgot to grab the memory card for my camera this weekend. Of all the lousy things to forget! Gus turned 30 on Sunday. We spent the weekend in Island Park with my family. It was nice and relaxing and probably the last nice weekend we'll have of weather!! We went to West Yellowstone and also played in the river by Big Springs. The kids had fun and it was nice to get away. Gus is so old now!(As old as me) Happy Birthday Gus!

LDS Handouts

In all of my spare time (haha) I decided to start a new blog. Yeah, I like blogging and wish I had more time. No, this blog is where I am just posting my handouts that I have made for Young Women lessons on Photoshop. I wanted to share them because our girls love them. We have Sunday Journals and these handouts that I've made fit nicely inside. I like to have them printed as a picture at Walgreens but you can also put them into a Word document and print them off at home. Anyway, for any of you that are interested the blog is LDS Handouts. If I don't have something posted that you would like, just let me know!