The many faces of Brad

Brad is turning 32 this week and I just wanted to pay tribute to him.

First, as our hunter and gatherer.

Culinary Artist: Yes, he cut out the cheese and the summer sausage with a cookie cutter and delicately put them together. A lot of work if you ask me, but that's Brad!

Athelete: He's always telling me how he was the fastest guy in his High School and how no one can beat in in arm wrestling. Well, he is pretty amazing! Glad he didn't fall off this really high cliff!

Impersonator, and all around funny guy. He keeps everything fun and we laugh a lot more than we cry!

Acrobat, Oh yeah, he's still got it even in his 30's.

What more can I say. We are extremely blessed to have him in our lives. He is an incredible provider of ALL our needs and we would be lost without him!

It can't be the 15th already!

I can't believe how fast the time goes. Schools back in and I still keep thinking that I am going to be getting the house back under control. Of course, I kept saying that during Christmas break I was going to do that as well. Anyway, it's always good to have goals, right?

I just have to post a few pics from when my sis was here after Christmas. We had so much fun with them. Wish they lived a little closer. Wish all my family lived a little closer, but I'm not going to complain.
Just loved this pic of Jen and Cameron. Also, love that we were outside two days after Christmas without coats! Brad helped all the kids make marshmallow guns out of pvc and then we had a big war. The kids were cracking me up. It was a contest to see who could eat up all the already-shot marshmallows fastest: the babies or the dog.

Here's the line up! Order of age, and still order of height!

We love Christmas!

Christmas was a great time with lots of fun building things! All the kids made gifts for each other and Santa and Brad and I built a Barbie house for Audrey. She was so excited. She said that she thought she would never get Barbies because I had told her a couple years ago that she couldn't get them until I thought she could keep them modest. So far so good! We had so much fun putting this together and adding in some things that I had saved from my Barbie days.

Ben and Jacob got Legos and we spent all day Christmas putting them together.

I was really happy that we didn't go too overboard this year. Just a few things for each kid. Most of our pre-holiday energy was spent getting ready for the Nativity and it was so wonderful to focus on that instead of how many gifts did I get each kid.

I love that my children are still young enough to enjoy the simple things at Christmas and to be just as excited about what everyone else got as what they got. Eric was so excited that he got this candy cane in his stocking and was thrilled that Santa brought him some pancake mix and syrup (his favorite)

Live Nativity

This past weekend we hosted a live nativity at our home. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights from 6:30 to 11:00 we had about 30 people in and out of our house each of those nights. It was a wonderful experience. We were very excited to share the message that, yes, indeed Mormons are Christians. Brad wrote a short article and submitted it to the church news. You can see pictures and hear more about it at:

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/56328/Texas-Nativity-scene.html
Here are some of my own personal favorite pictures from the weekend:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

As this Christmas Season approaches we are reminded of the wonderful blessings we have enjoyed this year! We started out the year as soccer coaches of Jacob's Kindergarten team. This was a fun time and a bit of a challenge with our 3 month old baby Samuel and the others in tow. Not to mention juggling with Ben's team as well. We all enjoyed the experience and appreciated all the good counsel to simplify our lives in April General Conference.

Life never gets simple, but we do try to prioritize. Summer brought a wonderful family reunion in Canada at Emily's sister Barb's house. We drove the 4000 miles at the peak of the gas crisis, and I think we've never had a better family trip. The kids really enjoyed spending time with cousins, going "Canadian Bowling" and most importantly, Benjamin was baptized. It was a special time to have all the family there.

School started in the fall with half of our children in school. Ben is in 3rd grade this year, Jacob is in 1st and Audrey is in Kindergarten. We love the school that the kids go to and enjoy seeing them learn and grow and be excited about it!

In November Stephen and Samuel were both 1 for a whole day. Being 364 days apart has been fun. They keep us and each other very busy! Samuel broke his leg exactly one week after taking his first steps. He'll be celebrating the holidays in a cast!

Eric is a big help at home with mom. He is very good at entertaining the babies. He is the self-proclaimed "biggest of the babies".

Brad and Emily are doing great! Brad is keeping busy at work and enjoys the 60 mile commute now that he is driving his diesel VW Beetle. He also has enjoyed serving in the bishopric in our ward for the past year and a half. Emily loves to be at home and is trying to get over her addiction to having a baby every year. But as you can see, there is still room in the crib for more!

We were saddened at the passing of our beloved Prophet President Gordon B. Hinckley this past year, and strive to remember the important things he taught us. One of our favorites is that "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured". We are enjoying life and are so blessed to be living in this exciting time on the earth.

This year we are celebrating Christmas with our whole ward family as we are hosting a live nativity in our front yard. What a wonderful thing to have a constant reminder of the birth of our Savior at this busy time of year! We love all of you and hope that you too are reminded of Christ this Christmas and throughout the year, for truly that will bring a Happy New Year!

Gingerbread Houses

Yesterday we went to the local Public Library and built a Gingerbread House. We got a babysitter for the babies and just took the 4 big kids. We had so much fun! I think it will become a yearly tradition.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Bowling
This was actually a lot of fun! We ended up with so many little pumpkins from pumpkin patch parties and friends, that we needed something else to do with them. We all got into the action and it didn't hurt that it was 80 degrees out that day!





Here's the fam for Halloween. Ben was really excited to use the sore on his mouth as part of a cool vampire costume. Brad went as the "Texas Tough Guy". Had a fun dinner and went to the ward Trunk or Treat.