Christmas Day 2011

Here is a little peak into everyone's haul Christmas day:

 Rachel's theme this year was music and crafts.  She got lots of art supplies, new jammies and slippers and a Dance Central Xbox game.  (She also LOVES dancing!)

 Josh's theme was snowboarding gear and church clothes.  I can't seem to keep up on Josh's growing and so he needed new pants and shirts and belts.  He also got jammies and slippers.

 Mr. Bubs theme was STAR WARS.  As David and I searched the stores for something to get him (he would really like anything), we decided it was time for a Star Wars intervention.  Dave even planned a movie day at our friends theater room to watch the original movie with the boys.

 Jake also got snowboarding gear and jammies and some other stuff like a basket ball and ear buds for his iPod.

 Rachel made this great calendar at school for me.  Each month has a season appropriate art project.  It is something to treasure for ever!

 Sarah's theme was marching band paraphernalia.  She really, really wanted a band jacket.  However, when I went to order one, the company that the HS had used for their embroidery had gone out of business at the end of November.  She knew this, but didn't know that I had worked with the HS to get the name of another company.  So, Christmas morning it was quite the surprise for her that I had pulled it off.  She also got a ceramic engraved ring with the marching band and Rose Parade logo and her name on the inside.  Of course she got new jammies and slippers and a flat iron for her hair.

 It looks like Uncle Steve likes Star Wars even more than Dan.

 Yep, he still has his helmut on.

 And Rachel is still rocking out with her iPod.

Christmas fell on a Sunday this year so we headed off to church at 9:00 am after a quick breakfast.  Steve and Dave look quite dashing!

Christmas Eve 2011

This year, my sister's Lori's family and Dave's brother Steve joined us for Christmas Eve.  We had a big ham dinner with green beans, cheesy potatoes, rolls and of course, LOTS of homemade treats.

Cal, Cody, Caden, Rachel, Dave, Carson, Jake,  Josh and Bubbs

 After dinner we had fun playing speed scrabble and hanging out.

Our family tradition is that on Christmas Eve, the kids all get to exchange their gifts they got each other.  Jake bought for Dan this year.  While we were at Target doing their shopping, Dave had Dan and I had Jake.  Dan saw this helmut and fell in love.  Dave texted me a photo of it and we snuck over and got it without Dan seeing.  He was super excited when he opened it.  Then after all the kids opened their presents, he came up to me crying.  He said, "this is a stupid helmut and I don't even have a bike to ride."  He was sad because he didn't get a toy like his cousins.

 However, he got over it pretty quick and he wore his helmut for 3 days straight.  He was pretty funny about it.  Dave and I thought it probably was a good idea for him to wear it as much as possible since he falls off chairs and crashes in to the walls DAILY.  

 Sarah had Rachel this year.  Me, being the brilliant and resourceful mother that I am, thought that the perfect gift for Rachel would be for Sarah to give her Sarah's old pink iPod nano.  Sarah has a iPhone now and didn't need it anymore and Rachel LOVES music - I knew she would love it.  The best part was that it would be FREE for Sarah.

So, Christmas Eve afternoon, Sarah went to her room to get the iPod and wrap it and . . . guess what?  She couldn't find it ANYWHERE!!!!  I about killed her.  I had given her this idea MONTHS ago and she waits until the LAST POSSIBLE SECOND to find it.  So, lucky for her, Dave and I were heading to the mall, any way and were able to pick up a NEW iPod for Rachel (something I would not have considered for a 6 year old).  This set US back over $100, but it was worth it for the reaction the we got from Rachel!

Rachel LOVED her gift.  And for days and days we have got to listen to her singing as she walks around with her ear phone on.

 Danny had Jake this year and he got an assortment of things.  He requested a case for his iTouch and he got an Xbox came and some of his favorite candies.

 Rachel had Josh and got him his own ukulele.  Dave and I have been encouraging Josh to learn the ukulele for awhile and he has started to take an interest.  All through the rest of the week, he practiced and was able to learn a couple songs.  Lucky for him, Uncle Steve was around and able to give him some one-on-one private lessons.

 Last, but not least, Josh had Sarah this year.  He got her some lotion, a belt and bracelets and a pair of grey skinny jeans.

 All in all, it was a great night and everyone had a great time giving and receiving their gifts.

Monson Train Party

December 21, 2011

The Monsons all gathered at Grandma and Grandpa's house to have the annual train, cookie and nativity party.  Rachel and Josh starred this year as Mary and Joseph.  (For whatever reason, this was embarrassing for Josh).

 Bubba makes the cutest little lamby EVER!!!  Jakers and his cousins Jordan and Jason were his shepherds. 

 That's me just kicking back and enjoying the show.

 Sarah played the hairy wise man and played a Christmas song as well.

 Dave always has some computer "fix-it" project every time we visit his parents.  Here he is working on reformatting Amy's computer and Tom is keeping him company.

 Sarah, Rachel Carter and Josh eating some pizza.

 The best part of this party every year is the unlimited amounts of sugar cookies the kids get to decorate and eat.  They have a blast frosting, decorating, licking and eating their cookies.

Need I say more???

Christmas tree NIGHTMARE!!!

Every year we plug in our 14 foot "pre-lit" Christmas tree, there are more and more branches that are NOT "pre-lit" anymore.  This year was no exception.  In fact, it was so bad that we decided to finally bite-the-bullet and re-string the tree.  (By "we", I mean David.) David started on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and worked and worked and worked and worked on it for 3 days straight.  He even had his brother help him while he was visiting for the weekend.

David ended up taking off the original 2500 lights and stringing on (52) 100 light boxes of new strands.  That is 5,200 lights.  Holy CRAP!  What a freaking NIGHTMARE it was.  Mostly for David.  But still, I had to endure the living room looking like a tree factory and baggies, twisty ties, and empty light boxes all over the house for 3 days. 

It sure did look good when he was done, though.  I am hoping for a beautiful tree for years to come!

 We had to be careful when the kids hooked up the X-box on the TV by the tree because it kept tripping the breaker.  When we took the tree down after Christmas, one of the plugs was black and looked like a serious fire hazard!

 I had A LOT of help decorating the tree this year.  Rachel was my special little ladder-climbign elf.  It's a good thing, too, because it's a BIG job!

Jakers Turns 10

November 13, 2011

Jake's birthday was on a Sunday this year and David sang in church so we invited Grandma and Grandpa Monson over to celebrate.  They joined us at church and then came back to our house to have lunch and chocolate cake!

 The whole family!

 This year we decided to take Jake on a special date with us.  We went to Chili's for dinner and he got to order his FAVORITE food: RIBS!!!  Then we went to see Real Steal at the movies.  It was such a great night to spend some alone time with a great kid.

Western Regional Band Comp

 October 28-30, 2011

The whole family went to St. George, Utah for the Western Regional Band Competition and Band Fest.  We were excited to see Sarah compete against the top band in the western area.  There were bands from California, Oregon, New Mexico and Washington.  American Fork Band took 2nd place in regionals and
1st place in state.

 Rachel, David and Josh watching from the TOP seats at Dixie State College.   Unlike most performances, the very "nose-bleed" seats are the best ones (not the front row) because you can see the whole field and the band formations the best.

At the end of the competition, all the bands march out and line up on the field.  It is very impressive.  You can see AF 4th from the left in red, white and black.

The shot is so wide that I can't even fit all the bands in the shot.  The front semi-circle is the drum majors and color guard reps that come out to receive the awards and represent the band.

Danny was a trooper but just couldn't make it through the last competition.  He just curled up at my feet and fell asleep.  He slept through 2 hours of LOUD marching band songs and had to be woken up and carried to the car.

Halloween 2011

Jake the Zombie, Josh Mr Frankenstein, Rachel the Vampire princess and Devin

I think this is the ONLY picture I have of Halloween this year.  My BFF Stef did the kids makeup.  They look SPOOKY!!!

RAGNAR Rules

October 20 - 21 , 2011

I was finally able to convince David to "BE" a runner with me - so we signed up to run the RAGNAR, Las Vegas.  If you don't know what that means, then here is a little description.  It is a running relay that covers about 190 miles with 12 runners.  You divide into 2 vans of 6 runners each and run 3 separate legs that vary in length from 3 to 10 miles each (that is a total of about 15 miles for each runner).  Our team started at 9 in the morning on Friday and we ran until Saturday evening about 4.  In case you didn't figure it out, we do run through the night, everyone sleeping when they can.

This is VAN #1 - David and I,  Stacy and Grant, and Ryan and Mary

I was runner #4 and my first leg was 7.2 miles.  David was runner #6 and his was 5 miles.  We started at Lake Mead and ran through the desert to nowhere in particular.  By the time we ran, it was HOT!!!  

Mary was runner #1 and is passing the baton to Grant.   You can tell that he is a "serious" runner.

After all 6 of our van ran, we met the second van and got a group shot.  David is not in the picture because he is still running.  Poor David.  It was soooooo HOTTTTTT!!!!!

Here we are at our last van exchange.  We are DONE running and ready to go shower and sleep and eat and not run for a long while.

The whole team met back at a park in Las Vegas to cheer on the last running as he ran in.  We were all awarded out metals and the famous RAGNAR stickers to put on our car.  Bragging rights!

Marching Band

Marching band (and soccer) became our LIVES this fall.  Sarah had MB practice M, W, Th for 3 hours each day.  Then on Tuesday and Saturday, she had competitions which would last for 4+ hours and on Fridays at the home football games she had pep band.  I am exhausted just thinking about it!

 This photo was at Sarah's first competition in Payson.  AF band swept the awards with first place and set the stage for all the many other competitions for the rest of the season.

 AF's biggest competitor is Davis HS.  AF even swept the David cup (on their home turf) with all around 1st place.

The band was super excited about this win because just the week before, David HS beat them by a couple points at the BYU performance.  It was quiet the upset!

Fishing & Swimming at Silver Lake Flat

September 2nd: After school one Friday we headed up AF canyon to do some fishing and swimming at the lake.  We picked up some pizza on the way for dinner and headed up the canyon with the Cottrells.

 Don't be fooled by the crazy kids wearing the swim suits and swimming.  IT WAS FREEZING!!!  The sun went down way too fast.  Unfortunalty the fish weren't biting either.  But the kids did have fun swimming, climbing the rock and exploring.

Josh and Cole are BEST BUDDIES

 Cal, Jake, Carson and Danny

 Lori and Cody

Danny, Dave and Rachel on an adventure hike around the lake.