December Fun!!!

WOWSERS!!!! What a crazy, busy, but super FUN month December has been. Here's a photo post to show a little of what's been going on with the Pope Familia this past month....December must be kicked off right with the traditional 1st of December jammies!! Neighbor Gifts are a big deal around here and it's always nice to have them finished up and delivered. I think we delivered almost thirty this year!!

Me, Kambree, My Mom, Mandy, Alyssa, Sheila, Kendall, and Vicki had an awesome Girls Night Out...We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then to the Pickleville Playhouse production of "Once Upon a Christmas".

The girls with a fun elf from the play.

Kambree got to check in with Santa

Love our Girl Time

Kambree and I went to this production a few years ago and just loved it...went back this year and it was just as good, I think it will definitely become a tradition.My Mom even won on ipod...woohoo!!!

My little Kaisley won the coloring contest at A.A. Hudson. She was super excited, her gift was a doll..someone knew exactly what she would like!!

....here is the masterpiece

Chad has worked so hard putting up all of our Christmas lights outside, and the kids have helped a ton!!

I am the wimpy cold-hater and prefer to do my decorating inside. I have really been into the decorating this year and have had so much fun with it.

We ventured to Salt Lake the first of the month for the annual Pope Family Christmas party. It's always fun to get the whole family together. The girls just love to play with all of their cousins.

Uncle Dan gave the kids gift cards to Toys R Us. We had to stop before we returned home that night. It took a looooong time but the gifts were finally chosen. Kambree got two new Nintendo D.S. games and Kaisley picked this shopping cart that she absolutely loves!!!

it even came with a few groceries.
Kort got his new Board and is ready to hit the Beav!!

Kambree had an Orchestra Concert and a violin recital both on the same night. She did an amazing job, especially on her solo at the recital.

Here we have the twins..haha may as well be since they are pretty much clones. The BFFs after the recital



Kaisley had her very first dance performance.




Doesn't she look excited...well she wasn't. She told us she wasn't going to dance when she got there and she stuck to her word. She just stood there and watched everyone else dance. Oh well she looked cute.


Kambree and Kenzie played Silent Night and the Nativity Song in Primary

Honestly, how is Christmas really complete without SUGAR COOKIES?? The girls had a ball making and frosting sugar cookies AND looked amazingly cute in their brand new aprons that Sheila made for them.

Even Kort got into the action by drizzling the oreo balls. We have done a lot of baking...We did fudge twice, two different types of cookies, these yummy oreo balls, cupcakes, and Muddy Buddies to name a few.

Whew..no wonder I'm exhausted and haven't had time to blog for almost a month. Although it's so busy..I have to admit it really is my favorite time of the year. We have been doing a little Secret Santa for one of our neighbors and it's so neat to see the kids get excited about giving.We truly are blessed. Merry Christmas to all!!

Meet Nickel from the North Pole

As Kaisley and I were pulling out of the driveway to go and get Kambree from school, she spied something hanging from the mailbox. We were in a hurry and didn't have time to investigate so we ran and got Kambree and hurried home to see what it was. To our surprise, the mailman had delivered a package that had been mailed right from the North Pole. The Girls were so excited and immediately tore it open

This is what we found inside. Santa sent us our very own "Elf on the Shelf" we weren't sure what this was all about but it came with a story book and so we sat down and read it. It turns out that Santa has given us our very own little Elf to keep an eye on the kids and see how they are doing. The story says that all day long the elf will watch and then at night he flies back up to the North Pole and reports to Santa how the day went. Every morning he will return BUT in a different spot. The story also goes on to say that he is very magical and if children touch him, he will lose his magic. He also made a promise to Santa that he would only watch us and that he would not talk to us. He is however, able to hear us and so the kids can tell him what they would like for Christmas and any other important messages that they have for Santa.

Here is a picture of our new little friend. It says in the book that you must give him a name. Kaisley immediately came up the name Nickel (think it had something to do with St. Nicholas but not real sure)

It's been so fun watching the kids with Nickel, whenever Kaisley does something a little bit naughty, she runs right over and apologizes to him, also whenever she sees something that she wants on TV, she will run over and tell him all about it. They love to look for him as soon as they get up in the morning. Nickel has been a great addition to the season. It says in the book that as soon as Christmas is over he must return to the North Pole. I certainly hope that he decides to return to us again next year!!

Jammies

We have always had the tradition of opening a new pair of pajamas on Christmas Eve, this year I thought that we would shake things up a bit and get some new pajamas on the First of December, that way we can be Snuggly, warm all month long!!! Kort got some pajama pants as well, unfortunately he has taken a month long hiatus with his x box so no photo was available!!

Indulgence and Craftiness

Last Thanksgiving we decided that the time has finally come that we must take turns every other year with our Families. In the past we have always just tried to hit both, it just didn't seem fair though that we never really got to spend the whole day with one family. We were rushing to get everywhere we need to be and so we are now doing the every other year thing. Last year we spent Thanksgiving with The Porters so this year it was the Timothy side turn. We went to my Mom and Dads and had a delicious feast. Soooooo yummy, everything you could imagine and more!! Kaisley got ahold of my camera and snapped a few shots.. This must be before we ate,afterwards Kambree was pulling a much different face.

No Thanksgiving would be complete without a little brother/sister wrestling going on!!

This year we decided to do a craft for the kids after dinner....they LOVED it!!

Kambree made this super cute Christmas Countdown..

Kaisley did these cute little Thanksgiving blocks.

We had a Great time, Thanks Mom for the Delish meal!!! Now all I have to say is .........

and I hope that every one of those days are filled with Holiday Cheer!!!!!!

Thankful

I feel that I am a pretty grateful person for the most part, however I know that I don't always express my gratitude. Seems that today is a pretty good day to day that. I am so thankful for the family that I have been blessed with. I have a husband that loves me and would do anything in the world for me, whenever I am down or have any kind of a problem he is always right there for me and he makes everything better. He truly is my Best Friend and we have such a great relationship and have so much fun together. He is also one of the hardest workers I know and the best Dad in the world. Some Dads grumble if they have to watch the kids, but he absolutely loves spending time with his kids and taking them to do fun things. Speaking of the kids, I don't think that I could have got any better ones than I did. Kort is a teen now and still acts like he likes me, Kambree is the sweetest little thing in the whole world, and is such a great helper with Kaisley, and Kaisley is so dang cute and keeps us all laughing. All three of them are healthy and great kids. Besides just my own little family, we have a wonderful extended family. I'm so thankful that my kids have so many Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins that love them so much. I also am feeling very grateful lately for good friends, I have been blessed with the best friends ever!! They are all such good examples to me and I love every single one of them so much for what they do for me. Last but certainly not least, I am so thankful for the gospel in our lives, sometimes people try and make us believe that it is silly to try to obey Gods commandments, and sometimes we feel a little out of place for doing the things that we believe are right. Looking back at our lives when we weren't making the best choices, and seeing how things have blossomed for us since we took those vows to keep Gods commandments, is proof enough for me that our Heavenly Father really is there and blesses us so much if we just do our part. I am so thankful that we were able to go to the temple and be sealed for time and all eternity. Knowing that no matter what life throws at us, I will always be with my family, gives me a peace of mind that is priceless.
There are just so many blessings in our life, Chads business is just thriving in this this economy, I am able to stay at home and raise my kids, we have a beautiful warm home and plenty of food to eat, we have amazing neighbors,and we have the Priesthood in our home. I recognize Gods hand in our lives each and every day and am so Thankful for all that we have been blessed with.

A Priest

Chad ordained Kort to the office of a Priest today. I really wish that I would have taken a pic of the day he was ordained a deacon and a teacher. Would have been to see how much he has grown, as you can see he is now taller than both of us. Congrats Kort we love you and are so proud of you!!!

Disney on Ice and Weekend in Salt Lake

This first pic has nothing to do with Disney on Ice or Weekend in Salt Lake, I came across it when I was taking pics off of my camera and found it 100% blog-worthy!! Amy Burbank and I decided that we would take our Girls to Disney On Ice this year. The theme was princesses so that of course, fits them all perfectly. The guys decided that they would come along (not to the ice show) and we decided to get a hotel and make a weekend out of it. It was a good thing that they came along because we drove down in a terrible snow storm. We stopped before the show to have a little lunch at Rumbi!!

They dropped us off at the show and then went and checked into the hotel. Chad took Kort to Murray and he was able to spend the day with Albanie and her family. He was pretty excited about that!!

You just can't go to Disney on Ice without dressing in some very fashionable Princess Wear.

Here are all 4 our princess's watching very carefully!
Ahhh...Cinderelly and her Prince
No Disney show is complete without these two...
We had really great seats, we were on row 7 and they were perfect!


One of my little Princess's and I.
That night we went to Dinner at Joes Crab Shack. Chad and I had a huge steampot of Crab Legs...YUMMMMM!!!! The kids had a great time playing in the play area. I think that these are just the funnest desserts...you paint a rice crispie crab with a paint brush, the paint is actually strawberry, chocolate, and carmel sauce. We went back to the hotel and the girls were able to get a little swimming in before bed.
The next day we went back to Murray and picked Albanie up, she was able to hang with our family for the day. We had lunch at the Mayan and then did some Christmas Shopping.
I love to be able to hang out with my little family, and I love it even more that they all still want to hang out with me!!!