Christmas in ARIZONA

This year we had the opportunity to spend Christmas in SUNNY Arizona with Ryan's grandparents. They are serving a Temple Visitors Center mission in Mesa. We were there from Dec. 22-29th. We had a GREAT (exhausting!) week. I didn't quite know how to document the trip.....I mean....what do you do with 150+ pictures and a weeks worth of stories that nobody wants to read about on a blog. :) This 1st picture is an example of the CRAZINESS of it all. This is our luggage. I was responsible for getting 6 people and 12 bags through all security checks and onto and off of the plane....TWICE!! Can you see what I am talking about people?!

SO.......I decided to do a TOP TEN LIST:

#10 - THE PLANE RIDE

This is snowy Idaho that we left behind,
and this is Sunny AZ where we landed. (The date on the pics are wrong....don't go by them!)
The kids were nervous and excited all in one about the plane ride. It has been a few years since we have flown anywhere and they ended up all really liking it, of course!
#9 - RAWHIDE and the OLD MINING TOWN in Apache Junction

The 1st two days there were actually a little chilly and this was one of those evenings. We took the kids to Rawhide to see Santa come in on the Stage Coach. We also got to see a gun fight and ride their little train ride. They had one of the cowboys light up the star on top of their 100 ft. Christmas tree with his pistol. :) The boys LOVED it!

Here are the cousins waiting to ride the big train at the old mining town. It was pretty exciting....that was, until we got on the ride. I swear the tour guide was the most slow talking, monotone person EVER! It was a very boring tour. :( Luckily we got to see another - funny - gun fight and a live reptile exhibit and spend time with great gram and gramp Romrell. It made for a fun afternoon.

The above pic is in the old mining town. We LOVED the cactus and the palm trees everywhere!

#8 - THE OUTLET MALL AND SHOPPING

There are no pictures to go with this, but we did have a good time doing a little (Little because we had to find a way to bring it home with us - VERY LIMITED ROOM!) shopping. The best story of shopping was the day that we went to the outlet mall Laiklie had the throw-ups and didn't feel good AT ALL! I packed her through the first couple stores and was SO RELIEVED when we got to JC Penney's and saw that they had carts. I put her down in the cart and she was instantly asleep. As we were leaving their store one of the super nice workers saw her asleep and told us just to take the cart. I seriously WOULDN'T have made it through the mall if he hadn't let us take the cart. He was a life saver!!

#7 - MUSEUMS

We took the kids to a Flight Museum. This was the day Laiklie had the throw-ups and infact threw-up in the car on the way to the museum. YUCK!! So....when she saw this little plane she was in heaven. It was the 1st smile we got out of her all day!

We also got to walk through this WWII bomber plane. It was AMAZING! I can't believe the things the men that fought in the war in planes like this went through. INCREDIBLE!
We also took the kids to a Children's Art Museum. It was all hands-on which they LOVED!

This is Oakley, Kiana and the back of Laiklie trying out the huge dry erase board.

And this is ummm......something that Dallin built!

#6 - INDOOR AMUSEMENT PARK and BASS PRO SHOP

Ryan's phone has the only pictures from the indoor amusement park and he doesn't have 2 seconds to help out his wife's blog. ;) So....no pictures. It was a huge indoor play land with an arcade and a few carnival rides. It was not busy at all and so the kids ran from thing to thing. It was a BLAST!!
Tuesday night was free kids night at Bass Pro Shop too. So we took the kids to do the free rifle arcade, rock climbing and a craft while enjoying free popcorn! SUPER FUN!

Here are my three hunters. LOVE THEM!!

Rhett and Laiklie painting.

And here are the rock climbers....Dallin in the top pic and Rhett in the bottom.

#5 - WILDLIFE ZOO

We took the kids to the wildlife zoo and aquarium in Phoenix one day. It was a huge zoo with a sky ride and all. They BEGGED to do the sky ride. I LOVE rides, but the sky ride has ALWAYS been my worst nightmare!! A million people (pounds) being held up by one little cable. AHHHH!! I got to ride with Laiklie and she thought it was great! She would swing her legs and her mommy would freak out and tell her 'not to move'!! It was NOT my favorite part of the zoo.

Can you see that BRIGHT SUNSHINE!! LOVE IT!! This is the kids infront of the flamingos.

I LOVE this picture of Laiklie in the aquarium. They all LOVED the aquarium. It had alot of super cool water animals!

And the ALL TIME FAVORITE of the zoo was the giraffes. They got to feed them and they would stick out those SUPER LONG tongues and the kids couldn't get enough of it!

#4 - SWIMMING

We swam and swam and swam! Every day we were in the pool. My friend Hollie, who at one point lived in AZ, told me that people would know we were tourists because none of the natives swim outside after Sept. 1st. We were actually grateful that we didn't have to fight any of the natives and had the pool to ourselves!! The kids all came home with little swim suit tans. I wasn't so lucky!:(

This is our wet little Laiklie. She has turned into quite the swimmer!

I know this picture is HORRIBLE, BUT....It was Ryan and I's favorite of all time!! Rhett and Kiana would climb out of the pool, walk to the 5 ft, stand by each other and yell - "POSITIONS" (which meant to put your arms out like an airplane) "FLOP!" and then belly flop into the water. They did it over and over again. IT WAS HILARIOUS!! You might notice their goggles. They are DI specials. They found them that day at DI and needed them really bad. Rhett's were DISGUSTING and I was sicked out that he wanted to wear them, let alone touch them!! SO GROSS! He loved them though and they were very much used!!

Dallin - coming up for breath. He is like a fish and spends more time under water than above!!

This is our brown little Oakley giving her sis a piggy back ride. This was the pool at great gramp and grams condo and was a very nice, HEATED, pool. Lots of fun!

#3 - CHRISTMAS

Christmas was very different this year for our little family. Santa came to our house while we were gone so there was only one little present each to open Christmas morning and we tried to make them more spiritual gifts instead of toy gifts. We decided this was a great opportunity to make Christmas about Christ.

This was our Christmas Lamp (instead of tree!)

And this was our SIMPLE Christmas morning. It was PERFECT! We spent the morning in church. As the bishopric member opened the meeting he said that he couldn't think of ANY better place to be that morning than to be at church partaking of the sacrament as we celebrated the birth of Christ. It almost made me cry because THAT IS EXACTLY HOW I FELT! I LOVED how simple Christmas was. For the 1st time PRESENTS didn't matter!! We spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine in the park and the evening in the visitors center and walking around the temple with family. It was a Christmas we will never forget!

#2 - THE MESA TEMPLE AND VISITORS CENTER

The Mesa temple was different than the temples we have here close to home. It was a square with no angel Moroni. It kind of surprised us! It was beautiful though. I loved the outside, but the inside was GORGEOUS!! It is an old temple (1920's) and so the construction of it is super amazing! I was SO GRATEFUL for the opportunity while we were there to spend some time in it.

This is a picture of my little Rhett's hand touching the temple. He wanted to remember it and so he captured it in a picture. SO PRECIOUS!

The visitors center where Ry's grandparents work is huge. We were able to have a family tour before it opened on Christmas Day. It had alot of interactive things to keep the kids busy. They loved seeing where "The Greats" are serving.

#1 - and the #1 thing on the Top Ten List is (and ALWAYS will be) FAMILY!!

We were able to spend an entire week with Ryan's family - Grandparents, Aunts/Uncles and cousins. We were also able to spend that time with his brothers, sisters, nieces and nephew and his parents. But most importantly....we were able to grow closer as a little family unit! The morning Laiklie got the throw-ups Ryan and I were getting ready to attend a temple session with all of his family when she threw-up the 1st time. I stepped into the bathroom to tell Ryan (who was in the shower) that plans had changed and I was no longer going to the temple. He said, "Well, if you aren't going, I am not going." I proceeded to tell him that his whole family was going and I didn't want him to miss going to the temple with his family! He came back with a very simple, "YOU are my family!"

We loved Arizona for so many reasons and look forward to another visit!

Because NICE Matters

I PROMISE I have tried REALLY hard to raise great kids that know what respect is and try to show it. I PROMISE I have tried REALLY hard to teach them to be kind, loving, considerate, etc., etc., etc. I PROMISE that I don't allow naughty words to be said or my children to talk unkindly about other people. I PROMISE I REALLY AM TRYING to be a good mother.

SO.......why is it that my 5 year old knows this song??

(sung to the tune of jingle bells)

911, 911 Get me out of here

Before I get my shot gun out

and shoot you in the rear!

Christmas Excitement

We've been super busy preparing for Christmas. We have had a lot of fun, exciting things going on. We have also had a lot of super late nights because of all the fun!:) This is my little sheep and angel at the ward Christmas party in line to see Santa. Oakley was home with high blood (AGAIN!!) on the couch not feeling well....and Dallin was WAY TOO BIG to be in the nativity or sit on Santa's lap this year. *Side note - it kinda makes his mommy sad he thinks he is too big for those kinds of things. It means he is growing up. :(
If you look hard you can see Oakley in the bottom right hand corner behind the trees. The picture is REALLY BAD....SORRY! This is her Christmas Dance Recital. The dance she is doing this year is a super cute baseball dance. This is how we spent Monday night.

And here is Wednesday night (with Tuesday night mutual between). Oakley once again was part of the Christmas Choir our elementary 4th-6th grades puts on. They were SO GOOD again and I LOVE that they teach them some Christmas songs about Christ. I love that we still live in a small enough community that things like "The real meaning of Christmas" aren't overlooked.

This is Thursdays nights band concert. I don't know if you can see my sweet girl very well, but she is....UHUMMMMM....THAT'S RIGHT 2ND CHAIR ON CLARINET!! I am so proud of her. She got 2nd chair out of I think she said 12 clarinet players. There were a TON of 6th graders in the band and they did great. We had to sit through advanced, intermediate and beginner band before we FINALLY got to hear our 6th graders. I am not a patient person and so, I am not gonna lie...it was a struggle. :) But when we finally got to hear Oakley perform they did fantastic.

We are counting down the days til Christmas!!

The Ugliest Tree E.V.E.R.

I told Ryan that this was the year of the "REAL TREE!" I am a firm believer that at some point in every child's life they need to experience the - "go and cut down a real tree for Christmas." I have been wanting my kids to get this experience for SEVERAL years now, but a coal furnace that dries trees out ruined that plan for me. Last year, however, we got a new furnace so this year......REAL TREE!!! YAY!!We had originally planned to go to the Kilgore Ranch to get the tree because there are some beautiful trees that would make wonderful Christmas trees there. The plans changed though when Dallin headed to the Bone Ranch with his grandpa to snow machine. I was kinda bummed he was going to miss the cutting of the tree so we headed to Bone hoping that we would maybe run into them. Bone didn't have alot to choose from. :( This was the tree....and Ryan if you look really hard....on the mountain. The tree isn't really all that bad....but decorated...ummm...that's a different story. You'll see!
These are the two hikers. Oakley had really high blood and felt like she had been hit by a train. Plus....when she has high blood she has to pee ALOT and the outhouse she went in at the snowmobile parking lot spit almost everything back on her. So she was wet and cold before we ever even started. Poor little girl! Did I mention that I HATE DIABETES!!

We never found Dallin and grandpa so that left Rhett and Laiklie to be the tree picker outers. They didn't have alot to choose from and Rhett was upset when his dad chose for him. Infact, he cried all the way home and told us he WAS NOT putting that tree up in our house and hoped it blew out the back of the truck. :) Kids make me laugh!

So, here is our pretty sad looking tree. The branches are flimsy and won't hold up the decorations or the lights for that matter. The lights are all around the trunk making it look pretty funny. The decorations fall off more than they stay on. It doesn't smell good like I was hoping it would. :( I gotta say....it is SERIOUSLY the ugliest tree EVER.

BUT....I also have to say....WE LOVE IT!! I am TOTALLY in love with the popcorn stands my kids made by hand the other night as part of our family home evening lesson. I am also in love with the lack of wirey branches that come with fake trees. I love that we have fewer decorations (since the branches won't hold them) so it is so plain and simple. I love that we have a story that goes behind this tree. I love that it is my kids 1st real tree and hopefully not the last!

No Pictures

We are back to normal...unfortunately! We were out of school last week FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK!!!! and we LOVED it!! The only problem was how fast it went. I had more than one kid in tears yesterday morning because WE HAD TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL!

Over the break we kept busy. We got the carpet cleaned. We took a road trip to Malad for gates and Pocatello to pick-up diabetic supplies. We took the kids to the movie Dolphine Tail or Tale...hmmm....I am not really sure which one of those it is. :) All through the movie Laiklie kept saying, "how much longer? Is da movie over yet? When is dis movie going to get over? Is it done?" As we headed out to the car after it was over I asked the kids if they liked it and Laiklie was the 1st to answer with a big loud YES! I wondered what in the world all the whining was about then. :) We spent Thanksgiving at my parents and had a great time visiting with family. My brother and his wife had their new baby Sophia Marie just a couple days before Thanksgiving and came home from the hospital Thanksgiving day. So, I got to not only see the sweet baby, but even hold her for a second. PURE LOVE!! One of my sisters and a cousin and I braved the Black Friday sales. I gotta tell you though.....I HATE that they are starting earlier and earlier. We started at midnight and got home around 9:30ish that morning. It has been ALOT of years since I've pulled an all-nighter and I was EXHAUSTED! It was fun though and we got several of the things we went for! Plus, like always....we laughed and laughed! Saturday night Ryan and I took Oakley and some neighbors to The Forgotten Carols. It is SERIOUSLY my favorite and I was soooo excited for the neighbors and Oakley to both get to see it for the 1st time. Within the 1st few minutes of it starting I got a phone call from the babysitter and the neighbors little boy was having a seizure at my house. It was scary for the babysitter and for our poor sweet friends. He has had them before though, so the babysitter had been warned and they jumped in their car and headed home. I was kinda bummed they didn't get to see the show, but was relieved that things were okay at home!

Like I said, we had a fun filled week.....but unfortunately....no pictures to show for it! :(

Life is Hectic BUT.....

Look at these SUPER CUTE SKIRTS I've sewn. We had a Relief Society Activity last week where they taught us to sew these stripy skirts and I am SERIOUSLY in love with them!! I think they turned out so stinking cute! I am in the process of making three more for Christmas presents for my 3 little nieces and possibly more. I just wish material wasn't SO EXPENSIVE!! :(

I have been sooo very stressed lately.....infact, so very stressed is a major UNDERSTATEMENT. My life is so full and so crazy with being a mom, helping at the school, being YW pres., having a husband in the Bishopric and in the middle of calving cows (which unfortunately I am a part of - not the fun part either! *sigh*), having kids with random fevers and last night random throw-ups, having one kid that I am really concerned about and several times each day I am on the verge of tears over it.... so this sewing mess has taken over my table and there is no end in site, BUT....how can I stop making them when I have such cute little girls to wear them! :) and...it is actually nice to have something to do FOR ME FOR ONCE!! The mess and money are worth it!

My New Car

For those of you that I have talked to lately, you know that I have been seriously shopping for a little car. Ryan and I have been talking about getting one for a few years now for when it is just the kids and I running around and to help save wear-and-tear and miles on the suburban. With gas prices being SO HIGH and with most of the kids in school - alot of days it is just me and Laiklie in the giant suburban - we KNOW it would save us alot of money. Well.....early last week I took Oakley to the orthodontist and he announced that it was time to remove the space maintainer and time to move forward with braces. Before
After
So....here is my NEW CAR! We had decided on the amount of money we wanted to spend on a new car and well....braces were just $1000 off of that.....so once again the car gets put on hold because 1st and foremost I AM A MOM! Braces for my sweet little girls teeth are much more important than a new car for me. It is one of those "better" sacrifices we heard about in general conference. :)

D's Day

We celebrated Dallin's....aka D's...birthday yesterday. I can't believe he is already 9!! He has been super excited about his birthday!

This is the pogo stick he asked for. He was BEGGING AND PLEADING Sunday for us to let him open it after church. We kept telling him he had to wait until Monday - HIS BIRTHDAY! He cried and thought we were the meanest parents EVER! But, he survived the wait and enjoyed learning how to use it. He is actually pretty good at it now. We are counting down the minutes til we get a broken arm though!! :)

Dallin is an amazing kid. He works very hard and LOVES to work. The minute he walks in the door from school he calls his dad to see where he is so he can head out and help. Because of this he is learning new things so quickly. Dallin can already drive a STICK SHIFT TRUCK and when I have to drive the tractor or anything else that terrifies me I make him go with me because he is a great coach and he isn't scared of the cows like his mommy is! His teacher told us last week at parent teacher conference that he is a delight to have in the classroom because he is just so laid back and easy going. Dallin is a good kid and a great friend to so many other children. He is a great blessing in our lives! Happy birthday Big Guy!! We sure love you!

2011 Halloween

This is the family tradition of painting the straw bale pumpkin at grandma's house. This is actually halloween day....the day we painted the pumpkin it started to rain!
Pumpkin Carving....what a ooey, gooey mess!

And here are the finished Jack-o-lanterns. They LOVE this part of Halloween!! Dallin's pumpkin this year was HUGE! We weighed it before he started and it was a whoopin 40 lbs. I carried it outside when he was finished and I don't think it lost a lot of weight being cleaned out. Here's a big shout out to Uncle Jason for the super large pumpkin!

This year we hit the ward trunk-or-treat Monday evening and then headed into Grandma and Grandpa Murdocks for a little visit. They LOVE having the kids come see them. It makes their day!

Oakley was a lego, Laiklie a pirate princess (from Jake and the Neverland Pirates cartoon), Rhett was a penguin and Dallin a hunter. We came home with the mother-load of candy, like every other year. Super fun!!

What did I ever do before I had kids??

Do you see what I see? I was sitting on the couch Sunday night listening to the home teachers and looked up and what do you know? MONKEYS! I find such random things like this day in and day out and I wonder what I seriously did before I had kids to find joy?!
We had a super late night last night because of Ryan and I both having to be at stake meetings. So, kids got to bed late. This morning I decided to let them sleep in and drive them to school. Oakley had an orthodontist appt too, so I was trying to get all 4 kids up and motivated on a Monday morning (almost impossible!) and out the door by 8. I grabbed my socks and cowboy boots on the way out the door to slip on as I drove to the school. (I know....SO NOT SAFE!) I put the left sock and boot on....no big deal. I got the right sock on - much more complicated since it is my driving foot - and started to slip on the boot when I felt something! AH!! Ya....4 littlest pet shops had made their home in my cowboy boot. KIDS!!:)
Also on the way out the door I grabbed Laiklie a waffle and a thing of milk. On the way to the orthodontist she asked me if she could plant "this seed?" I asked, "What seed?" and turned around as she held up her SEED...a WAFFLE seed! Ha, ha!!

Dallin Earns his Wolf

Dallin has been working extra hard these past few months on his scouting and this past Thursday was awarded his Wolf badge and a gold arrow point and a silver arrow point. He has one more pack meeting before he turns 9 and is super close to earning another silver arrow. I am SO PROUD of him. He has worked hard on everything from cleaning up the side of the road in front of our house to grilling chicken outside to learning about our country and state flags. He is such a fun big guy and I have loved every minute of working along side him on this first year of scouting.

Voicemails

(This is one of Rhett's "I'm up to something smiles!")

Yesterday as I was just leaving the last lady's home that I visit teach my cell phone rang. I saw it was HOME calling, so I ignored it thinking I would call them back when I got in the car. When I got in the car to call them back I noticed I had a new voicemail. Now, my voicemails from home are always pretty interesting. I have to admit though, my new favorite voicemails are from Rhett. The other night he left me one while Ryan and I were at a fireside that said something like this:

Mom, when are you going to get home? because I am the only one even being nice. Oakley said she will give me a shot with her insulin thing and they are throwing cheese at me!

Hmmm....you can only imagine what kind of a hurry I was in to get home. NOT!! :) A cheese fight?! Seriously kids??!!

So....back to the visit teaching voicemail. It is my ALL TIME FAVORITE voicemail Rhett has left me. I saved it so I could type it word for word including the pauses....I only wish you could all hear his sweet voice....

Hi Mom, Ummm well........ I'm bored, REALLY bored...... and I want you to come home SO BAD! (Pause).....like I told you on the other message that. I am having popcorn for myself and I told Laiklie that she couldn't have some then she started crying so Oakley beated me up and ripped the popcorn bag. Then she hurt my ummm, side THEN....... she's so mean and she should be grounded ........for a week ...............maybe even for a year!

Ha, Ha! I still laugh everytime I listen to it. What a fun little guy! One of my other FAVORITE things Rhett does I discovered is:

On some of the papers he brings home from school on the NAME line instead of writing Rhett he writes Mr. Hawkins. Ha, ha! LOVE IT!! LOVE HIM!!

West Yellowstone and More

This past weekend the kids were out of school for Thursday and Friday and since all the Hawkins grandkids were, the Hawkins ladies decided to take a trip to West Yellowstone. We of course picked the crappiest weekend to go. It was snowing and cold and we could barely see Old Faithful through the snowy, cloudy sky.....but....the kids didn't know any different and HAD A BLAST!!
Kiana, Oakley, Macady, Rhett, Laiklie, Dallin, Ciara and JD.
The plan was to drive to West, go through the park, and sleep in Jackson Hole. The problem was though, the weather. Because of the storm the pass to Jackson was closed. So we turned around in the park and headed back to West Yellowstone. We were super lucky to find enough rooms in this hotel with an indoor slide for all of us. The kids swam for seriously 2 hours and then we FORCED them to get out!

This is Oakley at the bottom of the slide. Oakley is amazing! She would go down the slide and then stand at the bottom and catch her two cousins Kiana and Ciara that were too short to touch in the 4 feet deep water. She did it over and over again. She is a great cousin!

This speedy blurry dot on the slide is Dallin. He seriously went down every possible way to go down. He did some head first, on his back, belly etc. He LOVED it!

And here is Rhett. He was a little nervous at first and made me stand at the bottom of the slide the first couple times down, but once he figured out that he LOVED it and that at the bottom he was capable of swimming to the side of the pool he went down over and over again. He was the cutest because 1/2 way down the slide he would wave to us EVERYTIME over the side of the slide. Super cute!!

Here is Lu. She went down the slide 2 times on my lap. The first time she threw her head back at the bottom and gave me a fat lip....ouch! The 2nd time as we got to the bottom my feet slipped and we both went under and I couldn't get my feet under me and we were under it seemed like FOREVER!! She coughed and coughed. I asked her if she drank some of the pool and later heard her tell Rhett that she drank "half da pool!" She spent most of her time in the kinda nasty, kinda dirty hot tub. The nasty, dirty water didn't seem to bother her the way it bothered me. :)

THE CREW!

That night it worked out that I had Rhett AND Laiklie in bed with me. This is just one of the positions my sweet Laiklie slept in several times that night. She was flopping all over the bed all night. At one point I had to break up a "sleep fight" between her and Rhett where she seriously THUMPED him. I was so glad he slept through most of the attack! Crazy girl!

The next day after we got home Ryan decided he wanted to go to the Cabin for the night. This is Laiklie on the way to the cabin. She was making up for her restless night in West.

We rented a few movies and went in search of some deer and elk for the kids to see and mostly just enjoyed some family time together!

Now....here are just a couple other things we have been up to...

Dallin started taking a basketball clinic once a week and it learning some great bball skills. This is his cousin JD behind him....he was at grandma's this day so we took him with us to watch Dallin.

Oakley started playing in the band about 3 weeks ago also. I have a picture of her with her clarinet, but forgot to upload it. I will post pictures of the Christmas Band Concert. Should be good! :) She has also started her Christmas Choir with the school. It makes for some early mornings and long days on days she has band after school plus homework, but I have to remind myself all the time that she is growing-up and can handle it. She loves it and never complains about any of it. She is also clogging again this year and her team has actually moved up to be an advanced group. The dances she is learning are seriously AMAZING!! She is a great little clogger!

Yesterday for FHE we ran to Grandma Hawkins house to "paint the pumpkin!" This is something we do every year. The kids love it.

You can see in this next picture the girls ducking trying to avoid the rain. It came a little too soon so they all rushed to the house and I stayed out in it and finished the pumpkins face. High Five Natalie!! Way to take one for the team! :)

You can see we have been crazy busy, but loving every minute of it!