Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas!  We went to Grandma Neilson's home the Sunday before Christmas and had a wonderful dinner and the kids performed the Nativity.  We also sang Christmas hymns around the Christmas tree.  It was nice to take the time just before Christmas and focus on the true meaning and remember the birth of the Savior.
We spent Christmas Eve at both Grandparents home and exchanged our gifts.  Dexton got some DS games from his Grandma and Grandpa Burk and Ocianne got a Snow White doll.  At Grandma and Grandpa Neilson's Dexton got a much needed punching bag and boxing gloves.  We are hoping this will help him take his aggressions out on it instead of his little sister!  Ocianne got a swan princess castle.  They enjoyed playing with their cousins and playing games.  When we got home from the grandparents, Kevin suggested to Dex and Oci sleeping together in the same room as we did when we were kids.  Of course they were ecstatic!  I was a little weary on how this would all work out being that Santa needed to come.  They came out once and then decided they had best go to sleep or Santa would pass them by.
Kevin and I got to bed late of course, and it felt as though we had just gone to bed when I was awakened by two small children saying,  "It's Christmas!"  I noticed it was still dark.  I scrambled for the clock hoping it wasn't really time to get up.  It was 4:00AM!!!  Dexton had woken up and woke up his little sister who was dazed and confused but had decided she'd best get up too if it was Christmas! I told them they had better go back to sleep and that it was NOT time to get up!  What a mean mom I am!  A few minutes later I heard noises and got up to find Dexton climbing back in bed.  Later that morning I asked Dexton if he had sneaked downstairs to see if Santa had come and he said, "yes"!  That little stink!  I asked him if he looked at everything and he said, "yes"!   I was a little bugged.  But what can I expect.  The poor kid was sooooo excited and I had told him to go back to sleep.  How can a five year old go back to sleep wondering if Santa had come and what he had brought?
We had a wonderful Christmas morning!  The kids had a great time playing with their gifts.  Santa brought Dexton his ipod, which Mom and Dad were not sure about.  He also brought Zhu Zhu pets for both him and Oci.  Oci got an armoire with a piano which she adores!

Merry Christmas!

Karate

Dexton was finally able to pass off his T1 routine at karate and earn his yellow belt!  He has been looking forward to this for weeks.  Every week he goes he earns a tip.  Once they have earned eight tips they are then able to pass off a routine and earn a belt.  This was Dexton's first time since he began taking lesson's to pass off a routine.  He practiced for a few day's before and just before Christmas break he was able to pass it off!  I wasn't sure what he was more excited about, passing off his yellow belt or the fact Christmas was just days away!  He did great!

Video of Dexton doing his routine:



Video of Dexton receiving his yellow belt:

Merry Christmas

I hope all of you are enjoying this wonderful holiday season!  This year my heart has been full of gratitude.  I have so many wonderful blessings to be grateful for.  I have a wonderful and healthy family and they are my choicest blessings.  I try each day to look for the good in my children.  Some days are easier than others.  I feel so blessed to have them in my life and I am really trying to enjoy every day with them.  I love my husband dearly and I am so grateful for all he does to provide for our family.  He has been working very hard over the last two years to get his company off the ground.  In-spite of the economy he is prevailing and doing very well.  I know our Heavenly Father has blessed us immensely.  My testimony of the blessings of paying tithing has been enriched.  I know that when we put our trust in the Lord and do what he asks of us "all thing shall work out for thy good."  I love you all and wish you a Merry Christmas!

Halloween

Sorry for the late post, but I thought I should post Halloween before Christmas!  My my how the time has just flown by!  Dexton was a Magician for Halloween this year and Ocianne was Cinderella.  They were adorable!  Oci had a hair piece for her hair and it looked soooo cute!  She looked like she was five with it in her hair!  We went to Grandma Debbie's house for her Halloween party on Friday night.  I dressed up as Snow White and as usual, Kevin wanted nothing to do with dressing up so grandma gave him a clown wig for the pictures!  HAHA!  The kids had a great time playing games and bobbing for apples.  Dexton also had a Halloween parade at school and sang some fun songs for the parents.  Hope you enjoy the videos and the pictures!

Carving Pumpkins

Bobbing for Apples!

Happy Halloween 2009!

Like Father Like Son

Today as we were getting ready to leave the house and go meet Kevin for dinner Dexton had an idea! He told me that when he grows up he would like to own his own restaurant. He is going to call it the Noodle Bomb. He said, "I can see it in my head. The bomb is going to be made out of noodles. And in black letters it is going to say "The Noodle Bomb". It will be in a BIG building."
I said, "Wow! That sounds awesome! I hope you do that one day!"

Scarcrow Festival

I took the kids to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving point on Friday October 16th. The festival is put on by the kids at the boys and girls club who are struggling with different challenges in their lives. It is pretty pricey to get in and then you have to pay for a lot of the other activities which is a little annoying. I guess my money is going towards a good cause though. The kids had a great time. There were lots of blowup slides and games for the kids to play. Dex had a blast with his friend Jake on all the blowup's. Of course, Oci didn't want anything to do with them they were "scary!" I got her to go down one slide with me and that was it for her. Her ticket was pretty much a waste of money. Oh well what can you do!

Karate

Dexton began taking karate lessons this week. As many of you know he has been waiting all summer long to take lessons. Because it is a six month commitment I told him we had to wait until the fall. He is loving every minute of it! Yesterday he passed off some things to get his white belt. His instructor had him break a piece of wood with the back of his hand! He was so impressed by himself! He was able to bring the wood home with him, which is now in two pieces. He was trying to break one of the pieces again with his hand like he had at his lesson. I finally said, "Dexton, the wood was split a little bit in order to help you break it. I don't know if your going to be able to do that again without it being split a little." He was a little disappointed. After that, I didn't have the heart to tell the poor kid his instructor helped break the wood too!

Fast and Testimony Meeting

Last Sunday was Fast and Testimony Meeting. While I was sitting there, the thought occurred to me that I had never really discussed what that meant with Dexton. So I leaned over to him and whispered, "Today is Fast and Testimony meeting, people will be going up to the pulpit and bearing their testimonies today. Do you know what a testimony is?" He replied, "No." I tried to then explain what a testimony is as best as I could in lame mans terms. I said, "Just listen to the people going up today and you will see what I mean." After about 20 minutes Dexton looked at me and said, "I want to bear my testimony." I looked at Kevin and said, "Do you want to take him up?" Kevin told him that we should practice his testimony at family night and that way he could go up next month and do it all by himself. Dexton was disappointed and wanted to practice right then. So I started going over some things he could say. He looked at me and said, "I'm ready." I said, "No lets just wait." No sooner did those words come out of my mouth when Dexton stood up and started down the isle as fast as he could toward the pulpit. Kevin and I just looked at each other like are you going to go after him???? I took pity on the poor boy and hurried up the isle after him. I arrived at the front row of the chapel just as he arrived at the pulpit. His eyes were big, it was as if he was thinking, "What have I done!" I sat on the front row and looked up at him and helped him say the following.... "I'd like to bear my testimony, I know this church is true. I am thankful for the prophet. I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my teachers. In the name of Jesus Christ amen." He did great! And everyone thought he did it all on his own because I wasn't standing up there behind him! I guess I have learned that I should be doing a better job teaching my children things at home during family home evening!

St. George

Our family went to St. George for Conference weekend to get out of the cold! We went to the pool to enjoy the warmth of summer one last time. The pool was a little cold though. I don't think they had turned the heater on yet! But the kids still had a fun time!





Uncle Darren flipping Dexton in the pool.



The Splash Park

St. George has this awesome water area on main street. I don't know what to call it other than a splash park. There is a fun little stream and all these red rocks for the kids to play on and a little water fall. They also have a fountain pad similar to the one at gateway for the kids to run through. The kids loved playing there.



Doing a little sunbathing (that's my girl!)



Just playing around....



Jennaca, Dexton, Jaylynn, and Jarron

The Zoo

Great Grandma and the kids have been asking to go to the zoo all summer! And all summer I have said, "No, it's too hot!" Well it finally cooled off a little last week so we went just before it got cold! We had a great time!



Great Grandma Barney and the Grand kids.



The Tiger's

This was a fun day to see the tigers. The male tiger had been separated from the baby cubs and the mother. He was just sitting in the river bathing himself, as cats do. Then he started walking around up at the top of his cage! We couldn't believe how BIG he was! We weren't able to see the baby cubs, unfortunately, because they were sleeping.



The Gorilla (which is no longer there)




The Train Ride





Great Grandma, Michelle, and Jack

Baby to Kindergarten

My Baby boy has sure grown up!



Dexton's first day of Kindergarten












It sure is crazy how time rushes by. Sometimes I can't believe I am a mom and have been married for almost ten years now. It seems like yesterday when I started Kindergarten. As a mother you have mixed feelings about your children growing up. It is wonderful to watch them grow and change over the years, but it is sooo hard to let go. Let go of what some of you wonder, he's only in Kindergarten. I know I still have many wonderful years that await me with Dexton, but I guess that is what makes Kindergarten a little hard. It is the first step that makes you realize as a parent that your child really is gowning up! I must admit, I didn't shed a tear when I dropped him off at school his first day. It wasn't until I got home and read the sweet poem his teacher was handing out, to the parents as they dropped off their children, that I began to ball like a baby and wish I hadn't bothered to read it! Needless to say, Dexton hasn't seemed to miss me at all! Which, is wonderful! I am glad he loves school! Every time he see's his picture of his first day, he asks me, "Mom, am I scared or sad?" My response is, "I don't know, why don't you tell me!"

The Burk Family Vacation

Well, as I stated below, we started our two week vacation with the Neilson family. The Burk family vacation just happened to be planned the very next week. The kids and I didn't even come back home to take a break. Kevin drove home from Scipio on Sunday night with Darren to work for a few day's before meeting up with us in California. Lacey drove from Scipio with me to California to help me with the kids. We dropped Lacey off in LA on Monday and took a break for a few hours. Then the kids and I drove the rest of the way down to San Clemente to meet up with my family. We spent the next three day's at the beach trying to recoup from being away from home for sooooo long. Kevin flew in on Thursday night and Lacey picked him up from the airport and they met up with us at the beach house. On Friday we went to Sea World and had a blast! Saturday was our last day at the beach with my family. We loved hanging out at the beach! We spent hours there! We met up with Darren and Lacey that night in LA and went down to the pier at Santa Monica on rode a few rides. On Monday night we went to a Dodger game and had a blast! We headed home that night. All together we drove over 2,500 miles with the kids. Amazingly, they were great! Needless to say, we had a wonderful summer and lots of fun! Now we are all trying to get back to real life!

The Beach in San Clemente CA

Dexton, his cousin Riley, and Oci


My cute nephew Jack!



Dex wanted to snorkel in the ocean, but he soon realized that wasn't possible on the beach with the big waves coming in!


Wipe Out!


All Ocianne did the entire time at the beach was play in the sand, she didn't care much for the water.


The last day at the beach, Dex found this strange "thing" floating in the water. It didn't seem to be alive, it smelled fishy, and Dex wanted to keep it! NO WAY!

Sea World

From Left to Right: Dexton, Jessilyn, Grandma, Ocianne, and Justin

Faris Wheel at the Pier in Santa Monica CA

The Dodger Game

The Neilson Family Vacation

We began our two week summer vacation with the Neilson family. We started our vacation by driving to Panguitch Lake. On the way we stopped at Big Rock Candy Mountain. We stayed in Panguitch for two nights in a cabin. Dexton and Kevin had a blast fishing! We then headed off to Bryce canyon and spent the first day driving though the canyon visiting all the look out points! The next day we went for a 3 mile hike. Kevin carried Ocianne the entire way on his back! Dexton walked the entire way without any complaints! That evening we drove through Zion's on our way to St. George. We spent three day's in St. George relaxing and swimming! And of course we had some In N Out. We finished the vacation off in Scipio. There the kids played with their cousins and rode horses with Dad. Dexton rode a sheep in the rodeo and had some battle wounds to prove it! We had a great time!

The battle wounds from the sheep ride!

Fishing at the Grove in Scipio

Ocianne fell asleep on our way to the Grove. She looked like a little angel!

Horseback Riding in Scipio