Golfing on Christmas. Lucky Us.

Every year we try to go golfing on Christmas. It is FREE! When Darrin and I were first married we started this tradition. When we first started doing it, no one was on the golf course. Over the years more and more have come and now there are a lot more. We went to Red Hills first because it is less then one mile from our home. The parking lot was pretty full so we left.(Darrin is VERY big on golf etiquette and we didn't want to slow anyone down with our kids). So we went to Southgate which is about 5 miles from home, less crowded but not much. We decided to play the last three holes because no one was there. The kids did great walking the course carrying their clubs. We were so lucky with the weather. It was so nice and sunny we had to take our jackets off.

This is my favorite picture. I love my boys.

Caleb waiting his turn. The boys were so good at waiting their turns and falling ALL the MANY rules.

Jared hitting the ball of the tee. He got new clubs for his birthday.


Drew with his "Happy Gilmore" pose.

Caleb with his own golf clubs. Owning our own store the boys have always had their own clubs. They have so much fun golfing.

Darrin showing the boys how to golf.

Drew loved playing. He is a child that has to do good when he first does it. If he can't get it right then he gets upset. He started out struggling but by the end he picked it up.

Caleb putting the ball in the hole. He had a ball.

Caleb after golfing, he loves to sing and walk. He would not let anyone touch his ball or golf club.

Drew got his YELLOW Belt

Drew is such a good kid. Since he thinks he is 9 like Jared he picks up on thing quickly. So we thought we would ask Jared's karate teacher if Drew could take karate. He doesn't take kids until they are 7, but he said let him come and see if he could handle it. He went and has been doing it for six months.

If I haven't told you yet, we LOVE karate at our house. The teacher lives at the end of our street and teaches out of his home. So the boys get themselves to and from. He is a VERY strict teacher and expects them to do their best. To test for a belt, his tests are hard and he expects you to know it all. A lot of teachers will let you pass and give you a new belt to make you feel better, not this one. You don't earn it, you don't get it. He teaches them to eat healthy and he applies a lot of gospel to karate. He teaches you that karate is not to be used unless absolutely needed.

Anyway Drew earned his belt in 5 months, but it took us a month to test because of weddings, being out of town, etc. He is very proud, and so are we.

Christmas Time Finally!

Christmas time with kids is the best they bring all the happiness. It makes all the stress worth it. Anyway this is the kids in their new PJs they got to open for Christmas eve. We let them open this gift and the gifts they give to each other. It has been great for us, by opening the gifts from their brothers makes it more special, and not just another gift they got on Christmas.(Plus we don't have to hear the nagging of opening up a gift.

Caleb being Caleb.

Waiting to go look under the tree. I like to be the first one down so I can get their picture. They weren't too happy about that.

Jared and his new bike.

Drew and his wiggle car.

Caleb and his wiggle car. The boys loved them.

At our house we take turns opening a gift one at a time. The boys are very good at it, but sometimes they get too excited and so this year we sat in the TV room and had one gift brought in at a time. We LOVED it. It wasn't so rushed and the kids really enjoyed each gift. We will for sure do that next year.

Caleb choosing a gift for his brother.

Caleb with his favorite gifts, his wiggle car and guitar.

Loved getting a new pillow.

Jared and Drew got down comforters. Now I can have mine back. They were taking turns using it.

Jared being Jared.

Teamwork on opening gifts.


Drew was so sad. For Christmas I got a BYU snuggie and they boys got one to share. He wanted his own. He was so tired by this time. In all we had a great day.

Live Nativity

For the second year in a row he were able to participate in the Live Nativity at Tuacahn. Tuacahn is a beautiful outdoor theatre that has plays every summer/fall. At Christmas time they have the Live Nativity. It is a 25 minute play with music and a narrator. It is so amazing and you can feel the spirit so strong.

I am amazed how good the boys are. We had a talk before we went. I told them they are there to help everyone who comes to see them feel the spirit.

They thing the boys love about it is the animals. They have horses for the soldiers, goat with the Shepard's, Mary and Joesph have the donkey and the wise men had a camel. Nothing like kneeling down 20 feet from a camel. Good thing he was a good camel.

Drew and one of his best friends, Kess.

Boys in their townspeople customs.

The boys and Kess during the walk through.

Me and the boys at our "Inn" we were the first inn to turn Mary and Joseph away.

Jared pretending to be one of the soldiers. We had such a great time this year. Only about 40 people came. Therefore we had to play bigger roles this time. The boys loved it. We got to go under the stage to get from one place to the next and go through secret doors.


Drew pretending to be one of the soldiers. The thing that I loved the most was sharing this spiritual experience with my boys. It is the most amazing thing to be able to kneel to Jesus. It makes you realize what it may have been like when Christ was born.

Sing a Song

This is Jared's Choir. They are amazing. There are about 110 kids and the teachers do an awesome job. They have even been asked to teach a class to teach a class to all the music teachers in Utah on how to have a great choir. When Jared first told me he wanted to be in choir I thought he was joking because I am with him in primary and he doesn't sing. It also requires him to get up and go to school early twice a week. But he LOVES it and is in his second year. This is his Christmas Concert. By this time I am a little tired of the songs because by now I have seen their Christmas song 5 times at different places. But it is still awesome to see it.

Poor Caleb has also seen it several times and wasn't too happy to see it again.

This is what we started out doing. Good thing it was only 40 minutes long.

Here is Jared he is on the third row up, third child from the left or the cutest one there.

This would be Caleb in time out because he wanted to be loud and run around.

We went back in to listen because Caleb loves the Twas the Night Before Christmas Song.

But that is about it, so we were in the hall AGAIN.

Jared did a great job.

Caleb was ready to go home.

Drew did great. He loved going and listening. I love my boys so much, they make me happy(most of the time)

Weblos and wolves and BEARS oh my!

Thanks for bearing(no pun intended) with me as I try and blog our happenings in December. I might have it done by April. Any how in December Jared received his Bear advancement in Cub Scouts. He really earned it in October, but I didn't know. I thought you had to do all 20 sections in the book, it turns out you only needed to do 12. It turned out good though. We just had him receive it in December when Darrin could be there. However Darrin was very sick and couldn't be there anyway.

Jared after he received his Bear. It only took him about 6 months to earn it.

In our ward we paint their face with some story about talking a trail to get to where they are. The boys love it and I enjoy doodling on Jared's face.

This is Jared and his AMAZING scout leader. Bonnie has done a lot to help Jared get many patches, belt loops and pins.

This is all the boys who received advancements. Pretty awesome since that is about half of our pack. I love working with the scouts. They are AWESOME!