Snow Sledding with Friends

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas Eve P.J.'s

Such a fun, favorite tradition! Grandpa Randy and Grandma Cindy do an awesome job choosing pajamas for all of the grandchildren each year.  The kids have drawn their numbers to see who gets to come out first to see what Santa has brought, opened their pajamas and are getting ready to nestle down in their beds (for a few hours).  So much excitement, who can sleep???

 

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma! We love them!!!

My Parents......Randy & Cindy Mullenaux

We had fun taking some pictures while we were in Thatcher. We couldn't forget Dad's tractor & our favorite dog Casey!

Taige gets his cast on!

We went to the Dr.'s today and they put a cast on Taige's arm.  He will get it off on January 14th and then they will x-ray it again.

 

 

As soon as we left the Dr.'s office, we hurried back to the school so Taige wouldn't miss his pizza party! His teacher, Lisa Hatch called to be the first one at school to sign his cast!

 

Family Home Evening

This evening we went to the Hansen's and had a family Christmas Recital with also the Codner's and the Fisher's.  All of the kids either played the piano, an instrument or sang.  It was a really nice evening.  Kailan accompanied all of her brothers and sisters on the piano while they sang.  It's a beautiful song called 'Lullaby, Little One'.  Chase played 'Sonatina' and 'Little Drummer Boy' on the piano.  Abi played 'Jingle Bells' on her viola.  Kailan played 'Could I Hold the Baby' on her cello.  Mark and Jordynn and then Brother Fisher and his daughter Jessica sang 'Merry Christmas With Love' and I accompanied them on the piano.  I also played a couple of duets with Dallin Codner.  We played 'Jingle Bells' and 'Candle on the Water'.  I'm currently giving Dallin piano lessons.  He is 8 years old.  He's one of Taige's good friends.

Broken Bones

Last night at approximately 9:00 P.M., as I was leaving the Stake Center, after enjoying a Christmas Musical, Jordynn calls me on my cell phone to tell me that Taige's wrist looks a little funny, is swelling up and he can't move it.  Mark and I quickly hurried home to find both Taige and Chase in tears.  Taige because of pain and fear and Chase crying and scared that he may have caused his brother to break his arm.  Taige had been standing on our tall kitchen stool (thank goodness on the carpet vs. the tile floor) putting a key away when Chase came up and lifted him up to help him down.  As soon as Chase picked him up from I'm assuming his calves, the weight of Taige's upper body flung him over Chase and they both came crashing down hard.  Unfortunately Taige came down with all of his weight on his wrist.  When Mark and I saw his wrist, we both assumed he probably at the least had fractured it.  The top of his forearm is where he hurt the most.  But he could not use his wrist to lift his hand and it was very painful as well.  The Fisher's had followed us home after the program to practice a song, so Mark and Brother Fisher gave Taige a blessing and we were off to the Emergency Room.  He did break his right radius, right at the wrist, or right above it.  That is the larger of the 2 bones on the lower part of your arm.  They put a temporary cast/splint on it from just above his finger tips to half way in between his elbow and shoulder.  They will put his arm in a cast Thursday morning.  Chase is feeling extremely bad for his brother.  He was just sobbing last night and so worried about him.  He of course wasn't trying to be mean - just playing around and not thinking! After coming home and seeing the state Chase was in I couldn't even be annoyed with him because of how bad he felt and how upset he was.  He has a very tender heart and he does love his brother a lot.  This morning Chase gave Taige his $5.00 and was helping him with whatever he needed or wanted before he left for school.  Taige told him to keep his money but Chase insisted Taige have it.  I believe Taige could actually be enjoying this a little.  He's excited to pick out the color of his cast!

Scoliosis

I took Abi back to the Specialist in Phoenix for her back.  She has 3 curves, the worse curve being at the very top of her back.  That curve alone, from April to August increased by 10 degrees.  From September until December, it has increased another 5 degrees.  It is too high for them to brace.  They normally do not do surgery for girls before the age of 14 because they do not want to stunt their growth.  But unfortunately they need to do something with her back.  Her one shoulder is a lot higher than her other shoulder and one side of her rib cage, where it has rotated, really sticks out.  Dr. Segal has referred us to another specialist in Phoenix her works with the spine on young children.  We have an appointment with him the first part of January.  Her upper curve is currently at 51 percent I believe.

Gingerbread Houses

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is making Gingerbread houses.  Growing up my mom would always make two Gingerbread houses - one for our family and one to give away to another family.  We always had so much fun each year as kids deciding and voting on which family we would give our other house to.  The last couple of years, I've been going to my sister Kimberly's to make my Gingerbread houses with her and another sister, Cari.  My youngest sister Aubrey just moved to AZ this summer from Texas, so we were excited to make them with her but unfortunately she had some really sick kids and ended up not being able to make the trip.  We definitely missed her! Next year! We always have lots of fun and even though they are a ton of work, we always feel so good when we finish and never regret the time they take!

Cari, Kimberly's friend Brandi, Me and Kimberly

This year our family decided to give our Gingerbread house to the Merrick family.  They live just a few houses down.  They are a wonderful family who unfortunately have had an extremely tough year.  We admire their strength and examples.

Magic Mountain!

Kailan's really good friend Isabelle invited her to go with her and her Church group to Magic Mountain in California.  Of course, Kailan had a GREAT time! They met at the church at midnight, drove in a charter bus all night, played all day at Magic Mountain, stayed the night at a hotel, went to the beach the following morning for several hours and then drove home.

 

Isabelle, Porky & Kailan

Where's the biggest roller coaster??

Kailan, her friend Elizabeth (in back) and another girl from the church group.

Hang on Kailan!

Resting up after a wild ride!

Kailan and Elizabeth

Isabelle, Elizabeth and Kailan

A New Calling

Today I was sustained as Primary President in the Walnut Canyon Ward.  I have Kristy Bliss as my

First Counselor, Emily Codner as Second Counselor and Kim Poole as my Secretary.  It's great to have such wonderful ladies to work with! This calling will definitely be a big challenge for me, but I also think it will be a lot of fun.

Steelers

Chase got to play Tailback against the Rage. He carried the ball about 5 times and had several good gains. This was the first time he played tailback in a game. His Coach said he is one of the fastest on their team. This was the first game in the playoffs and Chase's team won 44 - 0.

Chase Moore #85

Chase is playing football this year and is on the Steelers. He plays Safety and is making a tackle on a Cardinal player.

This is Chase's first interception of the year. He was so excited (as was Dad)! He took off and ran about 25 to 30 yards.

Way to go Chase! (This is his run after his interception)

3rd Grade Field Trip

Today I went with Taige's third grade class to the Arboretum.  We learned a lot about plants, enjoyed lunch together and watched a bird show.  It was a lot of fun.  We even got to quietly watch while they trained a bird (crow) to put plastic in the recycle bin and dollar bills in the paper bin.  It was amazing how smart the bird was! During the bird show, a hawk flew right over our heads; so close that it's wing brushed against my right eye!

 

Do you know how to tell the difference between a Spruce and a Fir tree? You need to reach out and shake hands (needles) with it.  If it is a Spruce then it will be Spikey.  If it is a Fir, then it'll feel soft and Friendly!

This is Taige and Spencer Larson - a good friend from both his class at school and church.

Kailan's 14!!!

Kailan loves the Jason Wolfe series.  This is the 5th book! She received birthday cards and money in the mail from Grandpa Randy, Grandma Cindy and Grandma Jackie.  She's looking forward to a shopping trip!   For breakfast, she requested hashbrowns and eggs.  When she arrived to school, she said she was ambushed by lots of her friends.  They decorated her locker with wrapping paper, brought her cupcakes, a big symphony candy bar, a scarf, etc.  During history (3rd period) she was called down to the front desk and there were her Beehive Y.W. leaders.  They brought her rice crispy treats wrapped up super cute (see picture) and sang happy birthday to her.  She will really miss them.  At the same time she is super excited to now be a Mia-Maid!  Her dad brought her lunch (she requested a spicy chicken sandwich from McDonald's).  For dinner she had a date with mom and dad to Oregano's.  It was her first time eating there and she loved it!  She ordered Alfredo and the large cheesy bread.  Mark ordered the same.  I had a really yummy salad.  At the end they brought her a cookie - 1/2 macadamia nut and 1/2 chocolate chip with ice cream on top.  Following dinner she played in an orchestra concert at NPA.  She is doing well with her cello.  After her concert we came home and had strawberry cake and strawberry ice cream with all of the family and she opened a few more presents.  She had a great day!

 

Patience is .....

W.W.W.

(waiting without whining)

Sinagua's Homecoming

Jordynn was asked to Sinagua's Homecoming dance by Tanner West.  It's a dressy dance, but not formal.  This is the group she went with.  A lot of great kids! She had a good time.

Mark took pictures of all of the kids on our back porch.

Dawson Merrick

Our family (with the exception of Hallie) attended Dawson's funeral services today.  Dawson lives just 3 houses down from us.  He recently turned 10 years old.  He passed away from a rare form of Leukemia. The services were very touching.  I am amazed at the community support and the support shown from Knoles Elementary school as well.  For months many families have pulled together in an effort to raise money for Dawson's medical expenses.  In addition many have been praying for Dawson and showing continuous support to the Merrick family.  There was a reception after the services at Knoles.  The donations made for that itself were unbelievable.  My heart was truly filled with gratitude for such good people and wonderful neighbors.

Preschool

Several ladies and I are doing a Preschool for our 3 and 4 year old children.  We are doing it 2 days a week and we rotate weeks.  It was my turn this week.  We did the letter 'A'.  This week we learned about the sound of the letter from 'Baby a', we had fun singing the 'Ants go Marching One by One' and making these red ants.  We also had fun with apples and Astronauts! It sure brought back a lot a fun memories when Tracie and I knew little else then Preschool!

Bear Paw

Bear Paw is one of Hallie's most favorite places to go! It has a really cute baby pool that she loves to swim in.

This is Olivia Fox, one of Hallie's really good friends.

And this is Maren Peterson, another really fun friend of Hallie's.

 

 

Hallie loves to go completely under the water and then she pops out and says, 'Mom, I'm AMAZING'!