Duets with James

Carina has been playing lots of duets since we came home from our vacation.

Mary and Ernest taught her them and we have been enjoying it...
Everyone takes a turn. James is especially cute having his turn!

Sheer joy!

Solar System!

Kathleen had a solar system project due. So she did the research and then when it was done, we made our planets out of rice krispy treats! They were fun to do. After they were formed and cooled, we covered them with Almond bark that I colored and Michael built a board for us to display them on.

Rice Krispy treat planets getting their coating of almond barkThe solar system... all 8 planets!

Kathleen with her project!

It was completely edible... We stuck the planets on with frosting. Mercury and Uranus had their rings stuck on with twizzler pull and peels and frosting. It was a really fun project to do.

After it was graded, (a week later) her class actually ate it. Kathleen swore that it wasn't stale... Must have been the almond bar coating!

... Mama caught them....

Once upon a time, it was very quiet in my domain, so I snuck down the hall and found ...
Jared and James happily eating ice cream!
So I snuck back and got my camera trying to stifle my laughing... Enjoy!

Visiting in St. George

We drove down to St. George and visited with Michael's family. One of the things we did was to go and visit the St. George Dinosaur discovery site. It is really neat. It is an actual dig site currently being dug. They just built the building around the site.

We got dinosaur stamps on our hands

Various artifacts from the dig...

After the dinosaur museum, we went to a really neat park near Michael's parents home. It was lots of fun and had all sorts of cool things to do like a rock climbing wall and counterbalanced swings and other neat gadgets. The kids had a really great time.

We came home to Georgia on the 30th. After our long vacation, we were pretty tired! When we pulled up to our home, Jared looked up from his car seat and exclaimed, "My House!" I couldn't have said it better myself! The whole week after we were home, we were all very THANKFUL for the blessings of being home and our routines and things. We really appreciated everyone for all their assistance in ensuring that we could come out and visit! We love you all!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was nice. The kids let us sleep until about 6:30, than we ate the traditional light breakfast(muffins this year) before presents. It was a nice mad flurry for an little while than the presents were done and everyone settled down to enjoy their presents.

Michael made an extra yummy homemade green bean casserole to compliment the ham we ate for Christmas dinner. It was an extra nice day because I finally got a NAP! Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was another fun day. We went in the morning to show the kids my Mom's grave. What I really hadn't counted on was the 2 feet of snow on the ground in the cemetery. The weather was bitter and there was a very brisk wind blowing. So after plowing our way to the grave site, we dug snow off of the headstone and took a quick picture than plowed our way back to the car! We were freezing!!!!

Quick picture before leaving the cemetery.

Christmas Eve night, we did the traditional reading of
the Christmas story with the kids acting out the parts. It was lots of fun.

Carina and David waiting for the Nativity to start

Dave enjoying the moment

John and Rachel surrounded by Peter, Jared, Annie, and Erica

David Aldrich and David Pinegar

Uncle Ernest and David Pinegar

David P. and Jared were shepherds

Jared!

James was a wise man! (hence the suit coat..)

Joseph and Mary (also known as Peter and Annie) with baby Jesus

It was a cute nativity scene!

John and Rachel's Wedding

December 23, 2009, was a very exciting day for us!
My brother, John Clawson, married Rachel McKay
in the Salt Lake City temple.
Dad did the sealing and it was a beautiful wedding.

John and Rachel leaving the temple

All the little nieces formed a train parade

and helped Rachel not drag her train in the snowy ground

Rachel and John with their respective parents

Smooches on the temple steps!

The reception was that night. It was a very nice reception.
We got to visit with family and friends.

Mary and Ernest enjoying wedding cake

Mary was the official photographer for the wedding.

Here she is talking with DaveWe got a special treat that night. We got to see our good friends, Liz and Matt.
They moved from GA earlier in the year and we were thrilled to meet
up with them and their cute newborn twins.
Liz is holding Alexandria in this picture.
Matt and Thomas visiting with David (he just loves babies)

I got to hold them for a little bit. It was fun having 2 babies!

Christmas Vacation!

We went to Utah for Christmas! My brother, John, was getting married so we were able to attend the wedding and then spend Christmas with my side of the family. After Christmas, we went to Michael's family for a few days! Of course, while we were there, they had a huge amount of snow. Our kids were very excited and enjoyed playing in the snow.

David getting ready to toss a snowball!

Jared enjoying the snow, we borrowed gloves since we couldn't find his!

Kathleen, Annie, and Erica making snow angels!

Uncle Gary, Erica, Annie, and Kathleen building a snow-woman

Uncle Ernest holding Megan

Trenton and Jared were best buds!

John and Rachel being attacked by Annie

The beautiful bride, Rachel

James loves Megan, he followed her around
and tried to hold her all the time

Grandma Katie and Grandad Clawson

We ate several yummy meals.

One of our favorites was banana splits for dinner!

Annie, Jared, Joshua, Kathleen and Peter enjoying their banana splits!

Peter's pack meeting

We had such a fun pack meeting in December! The Wolf and Bear den did some bell ringing for us. They were great. After they were finished the adults had a turn. I really enjoyed it! Peter and Braxton performing a skit!