It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

Thanksgiving weekend was spent decorating the house for Christmas. 

Just as they have done every year since they were little, the kids assembled the Christmas tree. Cassie and Parker were only 7 & 4 yrs. old when their Dad started forcing…I mean allowing them to assemble the Christmas tree.  They needed some help the first couple of years, but have been pros ever since.  They don’t complain about doing it anymore because they know that it won’t do any good.  Dad will make them do it regardless. :) 

We went to see the Temple lights early on in the season to avoid the heavy crowds.  It makes it so much more enjoyable. 

Christmas means parties, parties, and more parties.

Ferrin Party:

Roberts Party:

Phelps Party:

Lots of love going around!!

We have so much fun with our tradition of having a Christmas “picnic” in our family room. 

Merry Christmas to my sweet family!

Haley’s Wedding

On December 16th my niece Haley was married to Kyle Ayelsworth in the Mesa, AZ Temple.  It was a beautiful ceremony and reception. Haley is the oldest granddaughter and the first to be married in the Phelps family.  I just can’t believe that we are to the stage in life where our nieces and nephews since we have known and loved since birth are starting to get married!  What’s crazy is that Cassie is the next oldest granddaughter (3 yrs. younger than Haley).  Scary! Life is happening way too fast!

I loved this picture of some of the grandkids watching a movie while they were waiting for Haley to come out of the Temple.

Not too many kids can resist climbing the Temple gates. :)

Haley and Kyle coming out of the Temple. Happy as can be!

Such a beautiful Bride!

The reception that night was beautiful! There was plenty of dancing going on!

Father/Daughter dance

Even my parents got out to do a little swing dance.

Congrats Haley & Kyle!

Christmas Lists

I really get a kick out of reading my kids Christmas wish lists. Sometimes they come up with the most random things. These are a few of the things that Dallin wrote on his list:

*Alvin or Theodore or Simon toy speakers
*Darth Vader friends clock
*Ninja snow or fire globe
*Rainbow shooting gun

Oh my goodness...does anyone know if these things even exist?? But it doesn' t matter because even if they don't, Santa's elves can make it, right?? At least according to my cute 7 yr. old.


Parker’s list was quite interesting as well. Here are a few of things he asked for:
*BB Gun
*Real Hand Cuffs
*Safety Glasses
*Back Pack
*Duct Tape
*Rubber Bands

What is this kid planning??? All I know is that if Santa actually comes through with these gifts for Parker, we’ll be keeping a real good eye on his little brother. :)

Also on his list…a “Preach my Gospel” book. Maybe I shouldn’t be too worried. 

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we spent Thanksgiving at my parents’ house along with my Mom’s side of the family.  It was a perfect day to have Thanksgiving lunch outside.  The food was so delicious, just as it always is! You can never go wrong when the Phelps’ and Ferrins’ get together for a meal.  Yum!!

You may remember last year when Stan stayed up all night to brave the Black Friday crowds to get Parker a $200 laptop (with Parker’s own $ that he had saved up).  Well, Cassie decided that it was her turn this year.  She’s been awfully jealous of Parker and his laptop this last year.  So, she and Stan were crazy enough to go get a place in line at Walmart about 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.  This is the first year that the stores opened their doors at midnight rather than at 4 or 5 in the morning, so it complicated Thanksgiving Day a little more.  In a way it’s good in that you can just stay up late to catch the deals and then go home and sleep rather staying up all night long to be in line.  However, I don’t like that they weren’t able to be around Thanksgiving night.  But Cassie was willing to make the sacrifice in order to purchase her $200 laptop.  She had been saving her $ for a while and this was her chance to get a good deal.

The line for the laptops was in the paint aisle…boring!!

They ended up being 2nd in line, so Cassie had no problems getting the laptop.  They probably could have waited a few hours before getting to Walmart, but it was just so hard to know what time everyone was going to start lining up, and last year, they only had 15 laptops available.  This year they ended up giving out 60.  Oh well.  It was all worth it to Cassie.  They were home by 1 a.m. and went straight to bed.  Mission accomplished!

“Sweet 16” Birthday Party

We held Cassie’s “Sweet 16” party at my parents’ home in their backyard…the perfect place for a party!  The kids entertained themselves with volleyball, tetherball, the swing set, trampoline, zipline and plenty of food.  Papa was a good sport and even let Cassie play music.  It’s not a teenage party without music right?? :)

We had the camera on night setting for the first 1/2 of the night, and for some reason they all turned out blurry.  I’ll include a few anyway.  Still cute.

After a fun game of capture the flag, the kids played some games that really got them laughing.

I think their favorite was “Honey I love you, but I just can’t smile.”  It’s a game where the person who is “it” approaches someone and tries to get them to laugh before they can say “Honey I love you, but I just can’t smile” 3 times.  Hilarious!

I think all would agree that Cassie was the hardest to break. Even when she was a little girl, Stan would have “no smiling” contests with her and she almost always won.  Sorry Trent…not a chance. 

Nice try on the push-ups Sam.

Landon finally broke her and made her laugh.

What a great group of teenagers!  They were a really fun group. There ended up being some other events that conflicted with Cassie’s party, so there were a lot of people that weren’t able to make it, but the group of 25 ended up being the perfect size group.  It was a fun and memorable night for Cassie. 

When we returned home after 11 p.m. that night, this is what we found…

Whoever the culprits are, they did a masterful job.  Nobody will fess up to it and Cassie is still trying to figure out who did it.  

Oh to be a teenager again…