Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  We have had a fun, exciting, crazy weekend as we celebrate Christmas!  We had a fun Christmas Eve party at G&G Shields; we ate a delicious dinner, spent time with cousins, played games, read the Christmas story from Luke, and sang many Christmas songs. 

All the kid cousins (except Turner) exchanged gifts, they were so thrilled with their little presents, we almost could have cancelled their "real" gifts.  They all played well together doing puzzles, and playing games. 

After the party we headed home to put kids in bed and get things ready for the big day!  Taylor, Emily & Isaac were asleep by 9:30 and woke up around 8AM, we were so happy to sleep in a little.  They were excited and cute about all of their toys.

Taylor got a watch, sled, coat, books, Fushigi and Pokemon cards

All Isaac wanted from Santa was "undies".  He got his CARS undies, books, a pillowpet, and a tool workbench.  He was busy sawing, screwing and working at his bench all morning!

Cute Emily got the walking pup, a pillowpet, new boots, makeup and books. 

All the kids got really spoiled and they were ecstatic with all their loot!

We had one more present for the kids.  We bought a new house and we kept it a secret from the kids for 2 months!  We closed on our house on Dec. 15th and have been secretly working on it, and getting things in order for us to move it.  Taylor, Emily and Isaac had NO idea. 

We took all the stocking and had them at the new house.  There was a note from Santa under the tree telling them that there had been a mistake, and the stockings had been left at another house.  Then we made the kids cover their eyes (except Isaac) while we drove around for 20 minutes. 
When we got to the new house we carried them inside and let them take off their blindfolds.  They were so confused and didn't know what was going on.  We told them about our new house, and then they were SO excited!  They started running around the house checking out the bedrooms, and then ran outside to play on the swing set.  It was so fun to see their reactions and finally let on that we are moving!  It's been hard keeping it a secret all these days.  I wish I had picture of the house, I was busy videotaping, and didn't get any pics. 

We had G&G Shields, Nat, Colton and Derek over for brunch and later we went skiing at Alta.  We met Brett & Teresa's family up at the resort and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and clean air!

Danny and Taylor had tons of fun skiing and we had fun watching them, for a while. Taylor LOVES to ski, and he is really good.  Today was only his 2nd time skiing, but he did great.  We are so proud of you Tay, way to go!

We had an amazing Christmas day, Merry Christmas to everyone!
Now we just have to paint, pack and move this week! 

Christmas Recital!

Emily had her Christmas dance recital this weekend.  She picked out her new red "Tu-Tu" complete with matching headband, and was so excited for the show!  She has made so much progress with her self confidence in the last year.  She loved being on stage and performing and wasn't even scared, unlike last year when she was terrified, crying and sad. 

Taylor started Jr. Jazz this week too, with Danny as his coach.  He is in a stage where he doesn't want any pictures taken of him, and this was the best I could get.  He is such a 7 year old boy, too funny!

Here she is on stage performing to "Frosty the Snowman".  She knew all the moves, and did them just perfect.

Loving all the attention from her Grandparents!

Emily and cute Becca, they are such good friends/cousins!



You did a fantastic job, Emily!  We love how excited you are about dance



December is here!

We are so excited that December is here.  We have been busy sledding, decorating and getting all ready for Christmas. 

Some of our favorite things we've done so far are getting our Christmas tree, going to Pioneer Park for the Candlelight Christmas and spending time in the snow.  I haven't taken many pics, I hope to do better as the month goes on.   

Isaac, Emily & Rebecca saw Santa Claus at the mall this week.  They were all happy to meet him and sat on his lap, a first for all of them!  They told him what they wanted to Christmas: Emily a toy dog/doll, Isaac wants toys and undies (we are starting to work on potty training) Rebecca said she wanted candy.  They did great, there were no tears at all. 



Last week I celebrated my b-day with a joint party with Dave.  Unfortunately we turned the camera over to Taylor and these are the best pictures he took.  It was a fun night and a good way to celebrate my b-day.  One year older!





I took the kids sledding several times this week.  They all love sledding, even in the freezing cold weather.  Isaac is crazy on his sled.  He lays down on his back and bombs down the hill.  He wrecked a couple of times and I thought he would be scared and crying but he was happy and wanted to do it again!  He is our crazy guy, who has no fear!



We look forward to a wonderful month full of spending time with family and friends.  We love Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thankgiving!  We have so many blessings and so much to be grateful for this holiday season.  I can't even count all the things I am grateful for, but I know that my family is one of the most important blessings in my life.  I have an amazing husband and 3 wonderful kids who make me laugh, and teach me so much.  Plus we have an fabulous extended family on both sides.
 

We spent time as a family this week, we went to Santa Barbara for Grandma Wall's funeral.  The week was spent seeing family and friends that we haven't seen for along time.  The funeral was very nice memorial of Lenna Marie Wall.  She was an amazing mother, grandmother, sister and friend to all who knew her. 

It was great to see sunny Santa Barbara, and let Taylor see where he was born. We spent some time at the beach. Taylor tried surfing, and boogie boarding in the icy cold water. He was very brave about getting in the water.  We had tons of fun playing in the sand, gathering shells, looking for tide pools, and even finding a live lobster on the shore!

These are the turkeys we made for FHE at the beginning of the month.  The kids had fun listing things they are grateful for, and loved having them displayed all month. 

 

It was nice to spend time with Danny's family, especially his siblings that we don't get to see very often.  We will always love to visit Santa Barbara. 

Thanks SO much to Katie & Adam for letting us stay with you!

Grandma Wall

Danny's sweet Grandma passed away today.  Everyone is sad to see her go, but happy because we know she is in a better place. 

Danny has always been close to his grandma from the time he was a little boy.  She holds a special place in his heart.  She became a wonderful friend and example to me when we lived with her in Santa Barbara.  We move to SB to live with her when I was pregnant with Taylor.  I was privledged to spend my days with her after he was born.  She was a sweet, funny, thoughtful, generous woman.  We lived with her for a about 18 months and it was full of wonderful memories and fun times together. 

Once Taylor was born she spoiled him rotten.  She was always holding him and rocking him and playing with him and he loved her!  When he was 5-6 months old, we were sleeping training and he was crying in his crib.  She would come downstairs and beg me to let her hold him so he wouldn't cry. I wouldn't let her get him out, because I wanted him to fall asleep without being rocked.  I am sure she thought I was so mean!   Taylor had his first taste of Diet Soda and cookies thanks to Grandma Wall and he was 8 months old. 

We will cherish our memories made while living in her home. 

I wish I had more pictures from when we lived in SB on my computer but here are a few pictures of Grandma Wall. 

We love you Grandma Wall!

Taylor finished his fall soccer season last Sat.  They had a great season and all the players really improved.  Tayor especially is running faster, shooting more goals, playing aggressively, and  learned to play goalie.  Way to go Tay!

Little Isaac has been making us laugh all week long!  He has such a funny personality and he talks constantly, telling us about everything, and asking a million questions.

His questions lately are about where we buy everything; food, clothes, toys, snacks, cleaning stuff etc..  We will be eating a meal and he'll ask over and over "Where you buy this cheese, mom?"  "Where you buy my sippy cups, mom" Etc, etc, etc....  He will repeat the questions until you answer him with a response he's satisfied wiht.  He asks about everything.  It's really cute, but gets hard after a whole day of questions. 

I took him to my Dr. appt. this week, and he was hilarious.  He made himself at home in the waiting room by making friends with other patients, and exploring everything in the room.  I had to go to the bathroom and pee in the cup, and he was announcing
 "Why you pee in that cup, mom?" and "I want to pee in the cup!" over and over in a loud voice!  Then when I was walking back to the room, he yells "I want to hold the pee cup, mom!"  I was trying to keep him quiet, but the staff and nurses were all laughing so hard! 

Love you Isaac!  You keep life entertaining!

Shields Family pics.

We had some family pictures taken this summer with the whole extended J&P Shields clan.  It was quite a production to get the kids all in good moods and hold still long enough to get some decent pictures. 

Thanks to Brandon, he did a great job and they turned out great!



This group was the hardest and funniest to try and get a picture.  They all love being cousins, and have so much fun playing when we all get together! 



Happy Halloween!

Here is Isaac the Frog.  All of our kids have worn this costume when they were two.  It's been the best costume, it can be used for a girl or a boy, and it's really warm!

We had such a fun, busy Halloween weekend. 
Thursday Emily had a Halloween program and party at school and we carved our pumkins that night.

Friday Taylor had a Halloween parade and that night a Halloween carnival, compete with dinner, games and a scary spook alley.

 Saturday we went to "Boo at the Zoo", attended a friend's baptism and had dinner and scones with our neighbors and friends, followed by Trick o' Treating. 

 All the kids have been wearing their costumes for a few days.

  Here is Emily as a princess (big surprise)!  She was dancing, singing and twirling around so this was the best picture I could get of her. 

Taylor was a scary skeleton this year.  He really scared Isaac when he put on this mask. 

Here are a few pics. from the weekend.

The kids were thrilled with their Halloween adventures and completely exhausted.  It was freezing cold and rainy on Halloween night, so thanks to Danny for taking the kids out to get candy!

Happy Halloween!