The Nutcracker

Grandma Nettie and Alayna are just waiting for the exciting Nutcracker Ballet to start.

Alayna is pointing out to us that she wants to be "this Ballerina!" Ashley and I were lucky enough to join Grandma Nettie and Alayna for a girls night out.

Alayna was WONDERFUL. I had a purse full of treats and other than giving her a few at the intermission she was great. I think she was able to sit longer than the adults. I was afraid it wasn't going to keep her attention but it did. I think it's just any little girls dream to be a ballerina. Thanks for the fun night out, Danette. She has placed her Nutcracker pamphlet on her dresser to keep it away from Jakey. She LOVES to show it to everyone.

Our Christmas Letter... Hang on it's a long one!

(They do know how to smile...they just forgot how! This was the best of everyone..what a joke!)

First things first. Merry Christmas to all. Our little family his been so blessed and we acknowledge all our blessing to our loving Heavenly Father. We are thankful for our testimonies in the Savior this holiday season. We witness miracles so often in our life. For all these things we give thanks to Him. We love you all and hope you too find His love in your life.

What has the year 2008 brought us…

I can't believe it was a whole year ago when Jared started the year of 2008 in California completing his out of state internship. We were so grateful to have him stay with family. They were so generous to keep him in their home for two months. The best part about him being away in California for two months was that my family used that as enough reasoning to travel to California for a vacation. I started a week early staying with Jared and visiting with two other great friends. Then 2 weeks later my family joined us for Disneyland and a family reunion. It was the BEST time of year to miss the winter weather in Utah. I will never forget the early morning phone call I received from a neighbor in the ward saying, "Church has been canceled because of the snow!" I couldn't have been happier wearing short sleeves and nothing better than flip flops! It was a very hard transition when we had to leave the palm trees, sunshine and fun to return to grey skies, snow piles and ice covered driveways. That's what we get for living in Utah.

A few months later Alayna turned 3 years old. Celebrating as any three year old would, "Disney Princess" style. She had a princess dress-up party. She was no other than "Belle" herself. It was a fun adventure for me to create a princess castle cake. Jacob one month later to the same day celebrated his first birthday. He is famous for making dinosaur screeches so his cake fit him well…a dinosaur.

The month of May was an exciting month for all. Jared finally completed and graduated his Doctorate degree in Physical Therapy. My parents and siblings were so kind to watch the kiddo's for a week so he and I could go and celebrate his accomplishment. We went on an ALL Jared trip. From start to finish he got to plan the food, entertainment and all the adventures. He introduced me to a new found thrill, mountain biking (especially the down hill part). I couldn't have enjoyed it more. We ate at buffets that included salad bars (I didn’t enjoy), we watch sports late at night on all the cable channels he wished we had, and we did very little swimming. (Not his first choice activity!) Either way I came home with a sun tan and a new found interest that I now share with my hubby…mountain biking. By the end of the month Jared had interviewed at several physical therapy clinics. Late one night we talked it out which one out of the three seemed to be exactly the perfect fit for a new grad out of school. With that being said, he accepted the offer "Would you like to be a part of our team?" Yes, was the answer to RPT – Registered Physical Therapists, Inc. We couldn't have been happier when we realized Jared would be working less than four miles from home and he even can come home for lunch most days.

June brought the completion of a long awaited project for me. I finally reached our family's one year supply of food. With the kind hearts of my sister and my parents, Jared and I have been able to store our supply at their houses. It's been a fun and semi-slow process, but there is not a better feeling to know that we have it. It might not be all around us, but all those pasta noodles and bags of wheat are bought and paid for!

The summer months were booked weekend after weekend with "My Food Storage Deals." I was excited to help my sister out with attending booths at several different local parades, town days, etc. We even made t-shirts! It really was fun to share in my new found passion for food storage. We had great success and we can't wait to do it again next year!!! Alayna was spoiled in July to go on a Grandparents Only trip with my parents. My parents took Olivia (age 5) and Alayna (age 3) to Lego Land and Sea World for a week. They had the best time. My parents quickly learned that Alayna requires A LOT of sleep or else the scary, "sleep deprivation monster" comes out, and there is nothing you can do to reason with it. They played hard from morning until night! These grandkids are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Alayna managed to add to her wounds list…she got one single "stitch" on her bottom lip! So, she officially has had more injuries than I. A broken arm and a "stitch!" Hopefully, we won't have many more exciting accidents coming this New Year.

Jared and I rounded out 7 years of marriage! That's right; July 14th, 2008 was our 7 year wedding anniversary. It's all about patience, learning and growing and more patience. Oh, and a whole lot of laughter and fun times together. And our top favorite hobby is to love our little kids so much. We've truly been blessed.

Later in that month Jared, Riley, Krista (my sister & bro-in-law) and I were able to take a short mini trip to Zion’s National Park. We actually hiked the Narrows. This was a HUGE step forward out of my comfort box. I don't enjoy hiking very much and for a few moments on this trip I came to actually have fun.

One of the top highlights this year for me happened in August. It was the chance to attend a live comedy act by none other than, Brian Regan…literally the funniest & dorkiest comedian ever! My family & friends had the best time rolling with laughter and wishing it could go on all night long. It was worth every dollar we spent. Another top highlight was finally meeting one of my personal role models…Merrilee Boyack. I attended BYU Education week and I worked up the courage to talk to her in person. It turned out to be one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, because I was practically drooling over her…but, oh well. I did it and she will never remember me again! It was awesome.

In September we celebrated another birthday for my mom. This was a fantastic day. It was a day to celebrate her and to celebrate the great health that she has received this year. We have been on a roller coaster with her over the past year. But she is doing so well; we can only count our blessings. We are so thankful to a loving Heavenly Father who allows miracles to happen. She is a living testament of that. I love you, Mom!

Alayna has started in a Joy School group with 4 other neighboring kids. She is in heaven. She is little miss social butterfly. Everyday she asks what friends she will be able to play with. Her famous line is, "Mom, I still want to live in Herriman close to Livvy so I can still play with her, but I do want our own house and bunk beds for me and Jake." We will try to make her wish granted…all in good time.

Jacob has managed to find a huge interest in climbing, jumping, throwing balls, kicking balls and saying, "No!" This little guy couldn't have come any cuter. He really has become our little prized possession. Even Alayna wants to be there to sing him good night. He's developed an ever growing vocabulary and can run faster than any kid his age. We just love to teach him new words and see that adorable spaced teeth smile with dimples. We just adore this little guy.

November came and went just as fast as the entire year has. We celebrated Thanksgiving with all families and ate way too much. For those of you who endured reading this novel and tribute to our little family you will know that another announcement will be made.

We finally have broken the news to our family that we will be welcoming yet another baby into our family, next year in June 2009. Yes, you heard me correctly --we are going at this baby thing again. We have this silly two year, one month space between each child. Alayna was born on April 11th, 2005 and Jacob was born on May 11th, 2007 and yes baby number three (it will remain a surprise until that due date, I know!) until June 3rd, 2009. I'm hoping to go late (I generally do) so this kiddo can be born on June 11th, 2009 – to keep with the tradition of the same birthday as its siblings.

There ya have it. A breakdown of fun things and many things to be grateful for! Here's to welcoming a new year…a new baby…a new car…a new house….Okay, I won't get too excited…I'll just welcome a new baby! Bring on 2009!

A Christmas Party for...

Well, the Christmas party was intended for Brian and Ashley since they will be "ditching" us for her family in California for Christmas!!! JUST KIDDING. I understand, I'd leave the snow for sunshine, too! So we had a fabulous dinner and a great game of Ticket to Ride - Germany. Thanks for staying up so late to hang out with us.

Alayna & Jacob...thought that this party was for them of coarse. Brian and Ashley do a great job of spoiling the kids. They as usual brought gifts. I love their presents though because they are usually, the cutest kids books. So thanks!

Grandpa Suker and Jason Suker (and Matt in Canada!)....also thought the party was for them. We celebrated all the December birthdays. Cute Ashley had baked a huge cake, and then had a bad contact with the ICE in the driveway. So after a shattered plate and no longer a cake, we improvised and made some box brownies. Sorry, Ashley the cake looked delicious as usual. Happy Birthday to you all!

Ah..just a cute little picture of the kids under their Christmas tree!

One messy boy...

Here's to Jake!

This was after his experience with Jell-O! What a mess. I ran upstairs to share some Jell-O with the other cousins...a few seconds later. Here was Jake, enjoying his treat a little too much. I had to take a picture. Even Uncle Todd came downstairs and said, "That's pretty good, you should take a picture." He's probably teasing me...but I agreed and pulled out the camera.

Making Gingerbread Houses...

We are lucky to have 1:00pm church. One good thing about it is that today the kids had fun making Gingerbread houses. Luckily, Aunt Shanny had an extra milk carton for Alayna so she could join in on the fun. She was in heaven.

The kids houses were darling. Alayna's looked half licked and stuck on with slobber. Hey, she was loving this fun holiday time. Oh, and I'm sure all the frosting and candy she ate!!

Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert

It was fantastic. I can't decide though if my favorite part was listening to the concert or the fact that we parked in Crown Burger's parking lot and had to spend $14 to park our car. So with that being said, we hurried and ordered...3 minutes later we were RUNNING down the sidewalk while eating our hamburgers. Seriously, it was the best! Next, I loved that after the concert we went back to Crown Burger for ice cream and for the men, more hamburger. Murphy's thanks for the fun van ride. That made the drive so much fun.

Oh, I almost forgot the next best part. The Prophet, Thomas S. Monson was there on Friday night. He was the best to watch. He would clap and give a standing ovation nearly after each performance. I was glad to have several standing moments throughout the performance. The concert was phenomenal. A memorable part was when the choir was singing, "Hee haw, Hee haw, Hee haw." It ended up being a really cute song about all the animals in the stable. It was cute!

As my sister said, "They are so posey and cheesy when taking pictures!" We actually did it on purpose...to show her that we are so cheesy!
The cute ladies that joined the party. The men refused to take a picture...we should have taken a picture of them eating all their food at Crown Burger. Thanks Murphy's & Madsen's for the tickets. Tanner's it was so fun to get to know you better. Oh, and THANKS mom & dad for watching the several grand kids for hours and hours.

Sewing Christmas Stockings...

For those of you who remember reading about me learning a new hobby...sewing. I completed sewing all of the Halloween costumes and some how I hadn't had enough of sewing. Strange, I know. I really had a difficult time trying to get into sewing, but I learned a very profound lesson. Amazing that it really has taken me 26 years to learn it. It goes something like this..."If at first you don't succeed, TRY TRY AGAIN." I can't tell you how many days & nights I was cursing the idea of sewing. With TONS of help and laughter from all my helpers...mainly because I didn't know what I was doing! I was able to finish the 6 costumes. So as I said, I had began to enjoy sewing despite my definite lack of experience I wanted a new project.

With the holidays upcoming I thought of something that would be very simple and memorable. So I decided to pick what I loved most as a child. My Christmas stocking. So with that in mind I headed to 4 different fabric stores trying to make up my mind on what exactly to sew for my kids. I went out first seeking, matching decorative fabric. By the third store I was not "feeling" the love if you will for fancy stockings. I realized by the 4th store that I wanted to do something FUN that Alayna and Jake would actually be excited about if I sewed it or them. So with that being said, I picked the "cheesy Christmas fabric!" Yes, I gave in and picked a Christmas print!! So unlike me I know. But I can't tell you how pleased I am with how they turned out. They are adorable.

I learned how to cut out the pattern, put a lining, batting and then she taught me how to quilt it. I had 3 different fabric options. With my lack of experience I bought enough fabric to make 12 stockings! Anyone interested? I decided to make 6 stockings, so all my kids...If I live long enough or choose to have 6 kids will have to have the same kind!

Here is the finished project! Jake LOVES his chubby (extra-batting = very squishy like a pillow!) penguin stocking.
Alayna has a darling reindeer pattern. So CUTE! I am so very pleased with how they turned out. A HUGE thanks goes to my wonderful mom who endured two very loud and hectic afternoons at our house with wild children running around and us trying to finish a project. Somehow we did. So thank you! My kids LOVE their new stockings. Plus I learned more about sewing...what should my next project be??

A night out on the town...

Saturday night was my works Christmas Party. We were able to go eat some yummy food at the Roof on Temple Square. The food was fabulous and I must admit I ate a ton! My absolute favorite item was the Chocolate Custard served like a Creme Brulee (however you spell it?). It was heavenly!! Thanks to the great company of Mountainland Exteriors we were able to celebrate yummy food and a date out!

Riley and Krista were also present. Really it's because of Riley that I am so blessed to have this mini-job. So thanks to the Pecks who are so generous. It's Riley's dad who owns the company, so it was fun they let us join their family business. THANKS.

Jared and I smiling because we are about to eat some yummy food! Krista and Riley got there first, so they were able to have great "view" seats! It was beautiful because we were just in time to have all the Christmas lights turn on.

Just outside on Temple Square and enjoying all the Christmas lights. We really lucked out because it wasn't cold at all. So that was lovely. Thanks again for a really fun night!

It's all about Service!

I don't know about you, but I enjoy the holiday season because it's filled with thinking of others and filling our time with serving others. This year I feel that Alayna is old enough (3 1/2) to comprehend that she has been given much and that she too must share. After having a FHE on serving others, we went to work! She and I came up with a chart that she can check off when she has done a job of any kind to earn money for our service family. My parents are serving a mission in the Inner City Mission in Salt Lake City. They have been given the opportunity to "adopt" families in need. So we are blessed to be able to help these sweet people from other countries, who truly are just thankful to be alive.

So Monday, Alayna was rearing and ready to go! She was a GREAT helper. She folded towels, emptied the dishwasher, put shoes away, cleaned her room, etc. After she had earned 6 service dollars she was sitting and looking at them in her special Christmas jar. She said, "Mom, I think I want to keep the money to buy treats for myself, from the store." I said, "Well, you have earned this money, I'm going to leave it up to you." No, more than 3 seconds she said, "Mom, I changed my mind...I want to buy clothes and socks for our service family." I am just so thankful that she is experiencing the sweet joy that comes when we serve and love others. I was greatly blessed to have been taught this priceless lesson when I was just a young child from my parents. Next...Jared and I "volunteered" to watch 4 extra kids today. Todd and Shan lucked out getting 12 tickets to see the Christmas Devotional downtown. How lucky are they? Well, we were lucky too...it was just another teaching moment to tell Alayna that sometimes we have to do things even if it's not our first choice. But Jared and I had the BEST time watching these darling boys interact and have a great time! Olivia and Alayna just played house the whole time...they just love having an excuse to play together.

Over the past few months and weeks we have been focusing on praying for people in need. Our Grandma Suker has been recovering from some complications from a previous surgery. She is recovering in a rehab hospital in Utah County. Since we haven't been able to get there in person more than once, we are excited to send her some darling pictures. I had to take a picture of Alayna's adorable Christmas tree picture. On the back I had her write a letter through me. One of the sweet things she said was, "We have been praying to Jesus so that he will bless you." I just loved that she is expressing her faith and gratitude for a Heavenly Father who does bless us and look over all our needs.

This picture is simply to show off Jake's "Shiner!" He was in nursery last week and he took a tumble after he was going for a ball. Each day it has been progressively gotten worse. But Jake has learned that he is "tough!" It has changed colors and is now fading. But this tough kid even returned to nursery! Way to go Jake.

The 8th Annual Lighting Ceremony...

Yes, you heard me right. Todd has been known as "Clark Griswald" for 8 plus years. Each year he has been adding more and more lights to his house display. This year took the cake! Drum roll...he has over 30, 150 lights...47 extension cords...31 candy canes lining the driveway...Maple tree's have 3,150 lights...and over 28 decorated pine trees!!!! Yeah, that's right it is AMAZING. It takes him from Halloween until the day before Thanksgiving to finish hanging all the lights.

Here is Mr. Christmas himself with to extra excited girls. Really they had stayed up VERY late. We let them watch Christmas movies and eat treats all night long. These cute cousins couldn't have thanked Toddy for such a Fun filled night.

My mom, my sister Krista, and Mrs. Christmas her self, (baby Isaac).

I know this is silly, but I had to take a picture of the HUGE display of food. Really this is just to preserve a memory for me because we had so much food. It doesn't look appetizing at all because it was at the end of the night. But we made TONS of appetizers. This is our families favorite type of celebration. Any excuse to get us to cook some great food. We had two tables filled with several different appetizers. We needed this much food because we had over 60 people! Yeah, between our two families, extended families and a few great neighbors we cleared lots of food.

I have tried to upload a video I took of when he lights turned on. I'll keep working on it though because its amazing! Stay tuned...

Getting ready for Christmas...

It was Jared's day off on Wednesday (the one before Thanksgiving) and we decided it was time to start decorating for Christmas. Really we felt pressure to keep up with the "Madsen's" if you will. For those of you you haven't experienced Todd & Shan's Christmas Wonderland upstairs you really need to stop by and visit. They have trees in every room, and a huge 12 ft or so Christmas Tree. It really is spectacular! So with that being said we needed to get started. Alayna was starting to ask if we even celebrate the Christmas holidays. So that's when I left to play basketball and I put Jared and Alayna up to decorating for Christmas.

She was in heaven spending one on one time with dad and I came back to a decorated house. Thanks fam.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving #1...with the Aitken Family.

(My mom's side of the family)

Here we are getting ready to play Human Foosball...It was really FUN! We were trying to work off all of our turkey and mash potatoes!

Alayna is saying, "Happy Thanksgiving!"

Thanksgiving #2 - hanging with the Sukers

(Jared's side of the family)

Jacob has discovered is new favorite treat...OLIVES! I was shocked when he ate one, then he asked for, "More" he continued to eat the entire bowl! He gets this from me NOT Jared or Alayna.

Randy, very tired Jacob, Heather, Gr Denny, Gr Ludd, Jason, Mike and Jared.
Grandpa Suker and Alayna enjoying some football.

I think Alayna is holding her heart saying, "I love my Aunt Ashley and Uncle Brian!" These two are the BEST when it comes to allowing Alayna to "boss" them around. She has so much fun playing with them. Thanks for entertaining her she absolutely LOVES spending such great quality time with you!

Here is a perfect moment to show you how great these two are...Alayna and Ashley are hiding from Brian in the famous game of hide and go seek. They picked to hid behind the couch. Alayna was giggling so much she was trying to cover her mouth so Brian wouldn't find them. I couldn't resist capturing this precious moment! So cute.

Thanksgiving #3...Hanging with the Perry clan!

(My dad's side of the family)

Finally, best for last, right? No, all our Thanksgivings were great! This one was fun because it happened after a long morning of shopping on Friday...so we had worked up an appetite.

Here's my mom spending time on the grand kid table.

Kari (cousin), Ange (sister), Josh (cousin) - I wish I ended up with the cute pictures of there kids. Josh & Kari have twin boys about 8 weeks old and Ange has twin boys 2 years old. How did our family end up with two sets of twin identical boys? Either way all four boys are adorable!

Bring on the games!!! First my mom had us play a word game. Each person had two letters around there neck. We had to jump up and turn around to form the words. It was surprisingly competitive...Way to go girls - we WON!!

Here's Doctor Jared himself...while he was making the rest of us sick touching my uncles foot, he was making an assessment! I think they both are enjoying it a little too much.

I didn't end up with pictures from two other games we played. We played a salt shaker game. Where you hold hands under the table, and squeeze down the row of people. Then the two teams try to grab the salt shaker. It was an absolute riot! I will give more instructions if your interested. Then we played life-size "Rock, Paper, Scissors!" This was an absolute FUN activity. We'd huddle make a choice, then line up on the line and on the count of three we would do our action of "Rock, Paper, Scissors!" Then if you win the bet you chase after the other group to have them join your side! Then we ended the night with Speed. It was a fun think as usual!

Finally all the turkey and mashpotatoes are over!!! YEAH. So far Jared and I have tried to eat very light...we are trying to recover from all that heavy food. Yummy, but too much! Thanks for all the fun fam!