Our 2009 Christmas letter

Even though Christmas is over, we wish everyone a very Happy Holidays and a great New Year. Enjoy our Christmas letter this year...It has a title - "12 things in '09 that we are thankful for..." (Yep, it goes to the tune of the Christmas song. You have to sing it in your head as you read this...I know you want to! Have fun!)

12 things in '09 that we are thankful for...

12 Months of health...We have been very blessed to have such a healthy family. Aside from our occasional colds and quick flu bugs, we have been very healthy this year.
11 "Grand" visits...We figured we were able to visit with Grandparents at least 11 times this year. It was fun to go play with Marissa's family in Melba, and have fun with Kevin's fam in Preston. This also includes the good times when Grandma's and Grandpa's came to visit us.
10 Cricut projects...Last year for Christmas I got a "Cricut" cutting machine, and I have put it to good use. I used it for church lessons, making fun stuff for the kids' rooms, crafts, Christmas presents and scrapbooking. It seems like though, I've had to put it aside for a while as I have been very busy being a stay at home mom to 3. I'll continue to keep it working hard through 2010 as well, I'm sure.
9 Years of marriage...This Dec. 29th (tomorrow) Kevin and I will hit 9 years of wedded bliss! It has been such a fun road and I just love him so much. We still enjoy doing a lot of the things we did together when we were dating, like watching movies, being outdoors, playing sports, and working on projects together. We think we make a pretty good team.
8 months of smiles...We had more than just 8 months of smiles in our family, but these are specific to Brigham. He began smiling just after 4 weeks of age and he hasn't stopped yet. He is now 9 months old and such the sweet little boy! He is crawling all over the place and pulls himself up to everything he can. He absolutely loves his big brother and sister--they are his main source of entertainment. His smile lights up his whole face, including his beautiful blue eyes. We sure do love this little man.
7 months of Pre-school...Breanna was able to get into the Head Start Program here in our area and has been receiving some fabulous help with her speech as well as learning other much needed skills. She loves school and attends 4 afternoons a week. We could not ask for better teachers and she has made amazing progress.
6 years with Vance...This November Vance turned 6 years old! We cannot believe he is 6, but he reminds us almost every day. He is very much into all sports, all movies, Transformers, books, music, and our Christmas gift..the Wii. He is a very happy guy who loves being in Kindergarten and talks about so many of his friends and all the fun things he is learning. He is an excellent big brother, especially to Brigham, and he is best friends with his hero, his dad.
5 hours of labor...(I think I was most grateful for this one!) In March of this year, we welcomed our 3rd sweet child into our family. Brigham Tad made his way here without any problems and has been a joy every since. He is a perfect addition to our family. We all love him to bits!
4 years with Brea...Just a few weeks ago, our little girl turned 4. She is a very BIG 4 year old girl, but she has a heart that matches her big size. She is such a sweetheart. She loves to keep track of her baby brother, and makes me aware when he has a stinky diaper, or is getting into "trouble". She loves to dance, to chase Vance, go to school, and help me cook. She gives the best hugs and blows kisses to everyone.
3 Cabin stays...We were able to go to the family cabin 3 times this year to relax and enjoy the beautiful world around us. Kevin has been getting into fly-fishing and he tried his hand at it a couple of times down on the water. He's still learning and has only lost a few flies, but it has been very fun for him.
2 Graduates...Vance had his pre-school Graduation in May of this year. He had such a good experience and made some super good pals. But, the graduate we're most proud of is Kevin...He finally received his Bachelor's degree and we couldn't be happier! He has worked so hard and sacrificed so much time with his family, but it has paid off and he now has the reward. Things are now moving forward with work and he is an intern, ready for new learning experiences.
...and a Christmas season filled with joy!We all have been so excited for this Christmas. Kevin didn't have any classes, Vance and Brea are at a super fun age for Christmas, it was Brigham's first Christmas, and I'm just a Christmas-a-holic. But, the thing at Christmas that gives us so much joy, is remembering our Savior and His birth. And that is what we are most grateful for.

Here's the quick run down...

I'm going to try and quickly recap from Sept.-now -(early Dec.) before I get my Christmas post in. A lot has happened, but I'll just review the big events. First things first...Vance began Kindergarten! I can't believe it! It seems like both he and I had been waiting for this day. He was so excited and has been doing very well since then. He cracks me up, because he gets a little bummed when it's a "school day", but then, when we get in the driveway of the school, he lights up, and then can't stop talking about what they did--when I pick him up. He's a crazy little kid.

Vance was not the only one who started school this fall...Breanna is again in the Headstart Program. This year she is at a much closer school and goes 4 days a week instead of just 2. What a blessing! She has the most amazing teachers and has already made some big progress. She loves to go to school and throws a royal fit on Fridays when Vance goes and she does not.

There was a lot of excitement then, as we got ready for Halloween. I LOVE Halloween and my kids were super fun and ready to go this year. I again made their costumes, (except Briggs)which is my favorite part. Breanna was a witch, and Vance was a Star Wars Robot, although a lot of people mistook him for Buzz Lightyear, and Brigham was a monkey. We had lots of fun trick-or-treating with cousins. It was cold, but we got a good haul.

Next on the list of big events for our family was Vance's 6th birthday in November. This kid thinks he is invincible now that he is 6. He had a ton of fun taking 2 friends to dinner and then having Transformers birthday fun afterward.

Next on the list of events, was Thanksgiving. We were able to take 5 days off and go to my parents' for the holiday. It was so nice to relax and to visit with family, especially some of my extended family on my mom's side who was there to party as well. And the weekend started off right with BYU winning against Utah that Friday night. Kevin was thrilled.

Who knew that popsicles were at the first Thanksgiving feast. Ha Ha!

Here's our little Indian and Pilgrim. They both made these at school.

After Thanksgiving weekend, we came home and I went down to Salt Lake on Monday to decorate a small tree for the Festival of trees in Sandy. It's an even that happens every year, and we have gone 3 times in the last 6 years because Kevin's aunt and uncle have done a tree. It is awesome because all proceeds go to Primary Children's Medical Center. I have wanted to do a small tree for a while and this year, I did it! For my first try I must say, it wasn't too bad and I found out that it did sell at the auction and for not too bad of a price. A big, big thank you to my mother and father-in-law who came down with me to help decorate. It was much needed help. That weekend, the 4th, was Breanna's birthday! I can't believe our little girl is 4! It is crazy! We had a fun family party, that even G & G Harker drove down to help celebrate. She chose Burger King for dinner and Curious George decorations--which is quite appropriate since Brea is quite the little monkey, and always getting into trouble. Here is our princess on her bouncy cow she got for her birthday. Only Brea...Now, since her birthday we have really been getting ready for Christmas. We put up our tree the first of Dec. and are planning some fun things for next week when the kids are out of school. One other non-Christmas related thing we did do, was cut Breanna's hair. It was so long, and pretty (when it was combed) and she screamed like crazy every time we tried to brush it. So, being the mother that I am and not wanting to deal with the screaming, took a pair of scissors to it and cut off 5 inches and most of her curls. I killed me to do it, but I know it was for my own sanity. It actually looks really cute on her and it's still pretty long. (Pardon the panties in the pictures.)

Before......After

Well, that seems to be it, at least all I have pictures for. I'll be posting again, for our Christmas letter, and I'm sure we'll have some fun times during Christmas break we'll share.

Summer update PART 2...JULY

So, here we are again to attempt the update. We have moved on to July where we left off. The 4th of July weekend came and we left for some relaxing at my parents cabin. Kevin was excited to go fishing and it didn't produce much. Although my dad did catch two the night before we left. They ate them for breakfast, but I am not a fish person. It was nice to be in the mountains, and do pretty much nothing. We headed back to my parent's home on the 3rd to celebrate the 4th of July in Melba. I absolutely love it! We watched the parade and it was tons of fun, because I sat by my best friend from growing up, Shirlaine, and her family. It was fun to visit with her and watch the great parade. My sister and her whole family were in it somewhere, so we had fun yelling at them and seeing if my nephew, Troy, could chuck candy all the way to us. After the parade, my mom wanted us to take family pictures. My cousin, Darci took all the pictures and she did a great job.

After pictures, we had a BBQ at my aunt's house and then relaxed for a while. We headed over to the booths and festivities in the heat. Then we retreated back to my mom's to refuel and cool down. We headed back down to the school for fireworks, which Breanna has a love-hate relationship with. Her head was burried in Kevin's chest all night, but all the way home she kept saying, "I love fireworks! BOOM!" Brigham loved them. The noise didn't even phase him and he just watched the colors in the sky. It was awesome.

After the weekend of the 4th we actually had a break for a week. But, technically it wasn't too much of a break, because Vance was in tumbling 2 times a week and Breanna was taking a dance class once a week. They each enjoyed these activities. I didn't get to take any pictures of Vance tumbling, because every time we went to his class, Brea wanted to go out onto the mats and trampoline as well. So, every Tues. and Thurs. for 3 weeks, Breanna and Brigham and I walked across the street to the school playground. It's a good thing Vance could handle tumbling on his own. He absolutely loved it. Brea's dance class was hilarious. She loves to "shake her bootie" at home all the time, but this class was at 9 a.m. and Brea is NOT a morning person. I had to drag her out of bed every week and she basically just stood there, or laid on the floor for a lot of her lessons. The final week and "recital" she did o.k. She did about half the dance, then waved at me and Vance and Briggs. Let's just say, she's not ready to be a Laker girl yet. (I guess I should say Jazz Dancer since we live in Utah...ha ha.) But here are some cute pictures of her.

The 3rd weekend of July we got together with Kevin's family up in Cache Valley and Preston. We played in Logan Canyon at one of the dams and tried fishing, ate some grub, played games and enjoyed being together. We ended our fun in Logan with some Aggie Ice Cream (Go Aggies!) then headed back to Preston for more fun. It's always fun to get together with the Nelson's. I did more pictures with the video camera than I did the digital, so I don't have any to post.

The last weekend of July is always booked with the Harker reunion. This year it was just outside of Pocatello. It was super fun to see some cousins I haven't seen in a long time. Including one of my best friends, Courtney, and her little girl, Brooke, who was born exactly a month before Brigham. They were pretty comparable in size, but she definately has more hair than he does. She is a cutie! We had our regular fun, dancing, singing, playing games, getting in water fights, eating good and visiting with more people than you'd believe we are related to.

So, another fun yet, busy, month ended. Again, I must pause before updating on August. It officially ended today, so I need to recap in my mind before I can post it on here.

Attempt to recap the summer...or at least June.

Wow! Have we had a very fun, very busy, very memorable summer. Our weekends were filled with so much, during the week it was all I could do to get some normalcy back in our lives, and keep up on laundry and housework. Although I haven't done a very good job at that last one. I am trying now, since we don't have much left for the last weekend of the summer. So here we go. Let's start at the very beginning...."a very good place to start". (for those of you Sound of Music fans.)

The first weekend in June, Kevin and I took Vance to a REAL Salt Lake soccer game. We left B & B with an aunt and uncle. It was tons of fun, but got a little cooler than we expected. By the end of the game Vance was freezing. Luckily the lady next to us, over-did the blankets and coats for her kids and let us borrow one. I knew Kevin wanted to go to watch the game, as he is a big fan, but I really wanted to go because David Archuletta was singing the National Anthem to start the game and then doing a mini-concert after the game. I can't tell which one Vance liked better. He sure was enjoying dancing while David A. was singing. Here are some fun pics of the evening.

Way to go REAL! They ended up in a tie, but I guess that's better than losing!

I am not one of those crazy-screaming fans of David A., but the boy DOES got talent!

Kevin and his boy. What fun they had.

The second weekend in June, I left Kevin at home for the weekend and took the kids to St. George for my mom's side of the family's family reunion. I was very grateful that my parents went with us to help me with the 3 little ones and to join in the fun. It was nice to visit with my cousins and aunts and uncles. I didn't take too many pictures because I left the camera in the hotel while we had our "big day of fun" at the local rec center, so you get to see our game night at my uncles house. Thanks to the McGary's for a great weekend!

Here is Vance with my cousin's little boy Daniel. They are only 3 months apart in age. They had a ball playing together all weekend.

My uncle Kirk, and Breanna. He said she was so entertaining, he wanted to rent her. I'm all for it!

The 3rd weekend in July was Father's day and a lot of Kevin's family was here for that. We partied from Friday on through Sunday. Friday night we all went to the Drive-In movies for a couple of good flicks and really good treats. We absolutely love the drive-in!

Brigham had a great seat for the movies!

Hey when does the movie start?Here's part of the gang!Me and my cute boys, ready for some good movie watchin'!

The 4th weekend of June, my sister and her family came to visit and play for a while. The Monday following, I turned 30 and we celebrated real good. We actually didn't stop celebrating. I bought birthday doughnuts from a local shop I absolutely love, during the day we broke out the Slip-n-slide for the kids and then that night we all went to dinner together and I got a free brownie dessert, followed by some good gifts at home. I still can't believe I'm 30, but it's not as bad as everyone thinks. Maybe 31 might be the realy kicker, cuz then I'm really out of my twenties. We went bowling the next night, and then the following day we left for my parents' cabin. Party week! It ended with the 4th of July and fireworks! What fun.

Here are the kids ready to SLIP & SLIDE!PSYCHO 30-YEAR OLD ON THE LOOSE!HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! (w/Shayla, McKoy, Lynae, Vance & Kymra)Here are my guys bowling.

Well, that gets you through June. I'll have to do another one tomorrow to continue the catching up through-July.

Important info you need to know...

O.k. so this wasn't the first post I wanted to do after being "MIA" for over a month, but this is really important. Any of you who have my e-mail address, and I had yours in my address book, you need to be aware of a false e-mail coming your way. Somehow my account got hacked and sent out a message that I was in London needing money. Please DO NOT OPEN THIS E-MAIL. I think there may be a virus in it. Also, for those of you who have a Yahoo! account, do not reply to anything about having your account suspended. I think that is where I slipped up. I'm sure you are all smarter than I am, but it happened. Please make sure your family and friends are aware of this e-mail also. Sorry again, and I hope you don't have the troubles I did.

Breanna's hair-do

For those of you who know Breanna, you know she screams like crazy when it's time to do her hair. That is why we don't do it every day, which is probably what makes it worse. I did however get her to sit still long enough the other day to put in a small french braid. I was so proud, first of all, because she sat still long enough to do this, and that I could actually do it so that it would stay in and look fairly good. She can look like a girly girl! You look beautiful Brea!

Just a stinkin' cute kid

I'm sorry. I am a VERY proud mom and I just have to say that Brigham is just stinkin' cute! Here are some adorable pictures I have taken in the last month or so.

Yes, he is chunkin' out a bit.

He has the cutest smile. It's pretty catchy.

We've decided he is already a vain child, because he loves to look at himself in the mirror. (J/K)