~Happy New Year~

2012 was a great year for our family.  We had many exciting things happen.  The most exciting thing was the arrival of our newest member to the family, Garrett.  Garrett is such a happy, sweet boy.  He is always smiling (he has the cutest smile that lights up his whole face).  The kids still fight over who can hold him, who gets to sit by him, and who he likes best, lol.  He is not lacking attention :).

We also moved into our new home this year.  It took a little while for the new home to feel like home.  There were several weeks that went by that we would drive by our old home and get teary eyed because we missed it. We no longer do that, because the new house now feels like home.  We love it!  We had several Christmas parties at our home this past month and it really helped break things in, lol.

Dave is still a high councilman at church.  He continues to be super busy with work, church, and coaching Hunter's basketball team.  He did manage to squeeze in some hunts this year.  Hunter and Dave got a deer.  This was Hunter's first time hunting and he loved it.  I'm sure Dave is glad to have a permanent hunting partner :)

I was called to be the Relief Society 1st councelor.  I really enjoy being in Relief Society.  I love the spirit you feel during each lesson.  I also like visiting with the sisters in our ward.  The kids keep me extra busy with all of their activities, but I love it!

Hunter continues to love sports.  He played comp soccer and comp basketball this past year.  Although his heart lies in basketball.  He loves it!  He is still playing piano, which each day he lets me know that he is not going to play anymore when the school year is over, lol.  We shall see.  He is doing great in school and keeps busy.

Mckell is such a little mother.  She is so good with Garrett.  She loves to hold him, feed him, and sing to him.  I can't get her to change one of his diapers though, lol.  She loves school! And has gotten back into dance which she loves.

Lexi is now in preschool, which she loves!  She also is taking dance.  She loves that too. She is such a good helper and loves to make others happy.

Life is good!  We hope that 2013 will be another great year.

~Happy Birthday to You~

Hunter is 10!  He is getting so grown up.  It shows in the way he talks, what he wants to do, and the way he acts.

On his birthday he played in a basketball tournament so we really didn't get to celebrate because he had games all day.  We did take time to open gifts though.

Hunter is big right now into building his muscles.  So for his birthday he got a weight bench and ankle weights.  He also got video games for his DS and the Xbox, and University of Utah stuff.  After opening gifts we headed out for a day full of basketball games.  We told Hunter that we would celebrate his birthday, as a family, the following day.  However that didn't happen because when he woke up we found that his face had swollen though the night and was beat red.  He had had an allergic reaction to something, but we are clueless to what it was.

For his party with the Wangsgard side of the family he chose to have Steaks for dinner and to play the candybar game.  Everyone had a lot of fun!

For his birthday, Hunter got basketball cards and boxing gloves from the Wangsgards.

It may look like Hunter and Rich are hugging, but they were really boxing, lol.

Some things about Hunter on his 10th birthday.

• He loves playing basketball!  It is his favorite sport.  He could play everynight of the week if he had the chance.  He loves that Dave and Jerry are coaching his comp basketball teams.
• He loves to read the Diary of the Whimpey kids series, as well as the Persey Jackson series.
• He loves playing the xbox with his friends.
• He still loves pizza, but over the past year he has decided that his favorite food is now Steak.
• He loves working out.  He has an exercise routine that he does everyday.  It consists of sit ups, pushups, leg presses, etc.  He is getting some pretty strong abs, lol.  He is bound and determined that he is going to have big muscles.
• He is a really good babysitter.
• He plays really well with his sisters, even though there are times that he will not admit he enjoys their company.

We love Hunter!  Our family would not be the same without him.  It is so fun to watch him grow into a great young man.  We love you Hunter!!!

~Christmas Day~

So we put the kids to bed at 10:00 on Christmas Eve,  Dave and I told them they were not to come out of Lexi's bedroom until 6:00 in the morning, then we'd see what Santa brought us for Christmas.  Well about 12:00, I heard Lexi crying.  I quickly ran upstairs to see what the problem was because I didn't want her waking up the other two.  I knew Santa was starting to get things ready and I didn't want the others to be up to see him.  When I got up to her room, I found Mckell standing up squealing that Santa was here.  I immediately told her that no he had not been here yet.  She insisted that she saw some oranges that he left and that he was here.  He did start putting out things but had not brought out the gifts yet.  We figured that I had scared him off when I ran up to see why Lexi was crying (she was crying because Mckell woke her up to tell her Santa was there). I told Mckell that she'd better go back to bed so Santa could come back and leave the rest of the gifts.  She did. However, Dave had to go upstairs and be the guard while Santa put out all the gifts.  He did catch the kids trying to sneak out of the room a few times.  When the gifts were finally all out, Dave and I said goodnight to Santa and went to bed.  As we started to doze off we heard pitter patter.  Dave jumped out of bed and ran upstairs.  It was 2:15 in the morning, the kids were all wide awake.  They begged me if they could go see what Santa had brought them.  I told them no, we'd wait until morning.  They were not going back to sleep and at about 2:30 Dave and I decided to let them see what they got so we could go to sleep.  Otherwise it would be a long night for us, lol.

Santa brought Mckell a Karioke machine, a Taylor Swift cd, a picture, lamp, flowers, etc for her new room, movies, art supplies, and a coat.

Hunter got some video games, clothes, a model car kit, movies, and a basketball shooting game.

Lexi got a Barbie house, a new Barbie, a coat, movies, and socks.

Santa brought Garrett a crib toy, cars, a toy remote, baby food, and clothes.

So after we saw what we got, Dave, Garrett, and I went to bed while the other 3 played with their new toys.  I was mean and made them wait until morning to open the gifts under the tree.  It was just clothes so I didn't think they'd be too upset by having to wait.

We had visits from Grandma and Grandpa Ropelato, Marc and Randee and Zoee, and Grandma and Grandpa Wangsgard and Christian.  Dave made everyone omlets, bacon, and French toast for breakfast.  He can be quite the cook.  Later that afternoon we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Wangsgard's house to exchange gifts there.

Hunter loves Michael Jordan!

Garrett and Paisley

I love my boys!

Lexi has loved having Paisley up to play with.  She is going to hate it when she heads back home to Kentucky.

My cute girls!

 We had a GREAT Christmas!

~Christmas Eve~

This year I have been such a slacker.  I don't know if it is because we moved into the new house, we have had several parties at our house, or that I have Garrett  but I had not bought anything for Christmas until about a week ago.  Which is why Dave and I spent the morning shopping for Christmas.  We probably could have spent the entire day, but we got together with the Ropelatos to exchange gifts and celebrate Becky and Hunter's birthdays.  We really only ended up celebrating Hunters because Becky was home sick with a fever.  I can't believe that Hunter will be 10 in a few days.  I'm getting old!

The grandkids all got matching pajamas.

After visiting at Jerry and Darindas for a while, we headed home to have our Christmas eve dinner.  We made lobster, steak, and stuffed chicken breasts then had a candelight dinner as a family.  After dinner, we watched a Christmas story (which we do every year on Christmas eve) then sent the kids to bed.  They all decided to sleep in Lexi's room this year.  Lexi was thrilled that they were having a sleep over in her room. She kept saying "This is going to be so much fun!" 

 

~Wangsgard Christmas Party~

We had all the Wangsgards over to our house for our family Christmas party. We ate, visited, opened presents, and my Uncle Clark was over the entertainment (he's great at that).  He sang while the kids made fart noises with straws, hahaha.  That is Clark for ya.  Then he opened it up to jokes, singing, etc.  A lot of the kids had fun showing off for the family. But there favorite thing of the night was opening gifts.

Mckell is such a good helper with Garrett!

~The Night Before Christmas~

Lexi's preschool program was "The Night Before Christmas".  She did such a cute job singing and dancing along to the songs.  Her favorite song to sing was "Oh Christmas Tree, How lovely are your branches".  It's funny because that was Mckell's favorite song in her preschool program too, lol.

Lexi and Melyn are best buddies.

Lexi has sat on Santa's lap 4 times now, and every time she has asked him for a bumblebee shirt and a tree.  Santa has looked all over and has not been able to find a bumblebee shirt, and I'm really not sure he knows what to do with the tree thing, hahaha.  I hope she will not be disappointed Christmas morning when she doesn't get either.  I'm sure she will love what Santa brings her so much that she forgets about the other 2 things.

Mckell has asked Santa for an art desk, a karioke machine, or a sewing machine.
Hunter was a party pooper and didn't want to sit on Santa's lap again.  He wants a basketball hoop for his room, video games, and a weight set.