Vegas Bowl

There's nothin' like spending football games with the Jensons.  They have all sorts of quirks and superstitions ... it's hilarious.  Here are Ty, Plonns, and Jers in their usual positions for football watchin'.  This game they pinched each other every time there was a bad play.  Good thing BYU won.  :D!

The kids have fun playing dress-ups and goofin' off  (love that baby Ty's cheeser!):

Funny girls - they have so much fun together:

I enjoy football so much more than basketball due to the family get-togethers.  Basketball just seems never ending DVR-ing.  But - until next year - the football fever is on hold.

Cookie Tradition

Grandma Jenson gets her grandkids together every year to roll out butternut and strawberry cookies. It's really a special time together:

Pre-Christmas Eve

Our family spent Christmas Eve with the Jenson's this year ... so we had a little Miller Eve on the Sunday before.  We ate yummy Cafe Rio homemade food ... performed some piano pieces ... and watched the kiddos do a puppet show.  Good times!

Taylor Family Christmas Shin-Dig

I love Christmas traditions.  Every Saturday just before Christmas we have a Taylor Family Christmas dinner and white elephant exchange.  It's always good food, good company, lotsa laughs, and just a good time!

Here is Dad trying rice pudding for the first time.  He actually liked it!  And here's grandma Pat and Miss Krys:

Marissa loves these two girls.  And Aaron is always happy to hang out with Kobe every once in awhile.

Dad's white elephant present ... he loved it!

Seeing Santa

Getting together at Grandma and Grandpa Jenson's to see Santa is always a super fun tradition.

It's really amazing how much the grandkids have grown up:

Gathered around Santa for stories and songs:

Cute buds:

These kiddos have been very good this year!

Aaron Performs in the School Christmas Assembly

Having a teacher and music teacher that support Aaron in his piano playing ... and create these opportunities for him ... well - it just makes all the difference in the world. He was so excited all morning to perform for the WHOLE ENTIRE school - he could barely contain himself. I wonder if he gets nervous at all? I was so nervous I had an upset stomach until it was over. He did a great job! We're so proud of this kid!

Krystal's Preschool Christmas Program

Krystal was all smiles the whole night of her performance.

Let it Snow!

We had our first big snowstorm the first week in December ... and I'm finally getting around to posting the pics.  ;)  I got stuck taking the kids to school one morning and had to be pushed to get goin' again.  We preceded to get stuck a few more times the next couple of days as well.  Thank heavens for kindly neighbors.  :)

Here is T-Man after our car got stuck trying to pull into the garage (after we had been out and about).  I sat in the car and let him dig me out so I wouldn't have to step in the snow.  Gotta love the focus (aka tongue) that it takes to shovel snow.  :)

Krystal did a little shoveling as well:

Now I'm sitting in my warm home (3 weeks later from the time of these pics) awaiting yet another huge snow storm.  UGH!  I might have to just stay home.

In-N-Out

We finally took our turn at the Utah In-N-Out!!  I was seriously in shock with how crowded it was ... and it's been open awhile now!  But ... we had excellent service and the food was good.  It's funny how a restaurant that serves burgers and fries can be such a big deal.  But ... we obviously bought right into the hype ourselves.  :)

Photography ...

The whole Jenson clan scheduled family pictures for 3:00 one Saturday afternoon ... the weather had been fabulous all week.  But, lo and behold, the pouring down rain and freezing cold decided to hit right at 3:00 that day.  We ran outside for a quick picture in the puddles before the rain started up again.  Needless to say - we'll have to reschedule.  :(  But ... here we all are:

The grandkids:

Us:

And this is Krystal's school picture.  I've never posted it ... and wanted it up on my blog.  Ms. Heather (her teacher) scheduled Katie Valentine (katievdesign.com) to take the preschool kids' pics.  I am in LOVE with this picture of Krystal.  This photagrapher did a fabulous job ... I'll for sure be hiring her in the future.

24 Days of Christmas

I honestly am in shock that Christmas is only a week away.  We started off our "24 Days of Christmas" on December first ... like usual.  The kids are ALMOST as excited for December 1st to come around as they are Christmas!  :)

On the first day of Christmas - we put up our Christmas tree and other decorations.  Krystal absolutely LOVED every second of this (and really - they just out-grow the "put Jesus in the middle with everyone else squished all around to see" phase too too quickly - I just love that phase!).  The excitement of my kids is probably my most favorite part of December.

My poor camera is very temperamental.  Sometimes it works (always w/o a flash) and sometimes it doesn't work at all ... so I haven't gotten many pictures of our nights together.  It's been a bit more tricky this time around with Marissa in Young Womens and Aaron in basketball ... we've made a lot more treats.  :)

Here are the kiddos in their "24 Days of Christmas" pajamas ... that's always a fave.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous December and is getting ready for Christmas day!!  One more week ... that is just crazy land!

Almost ...

We shoulda knocked on wood just a little more, because we had ALMOST made it through the entire year without a hospital admittance.  But -- it wasn't as horrible as the previous times.  Having a care plan made things much easier ... although being there is still very annoying (except that we get our child well, of course).  Krystal never reached the sick level of disoriented, jerky, and seizures this time around ... thanks to being able to get her hooked up to an IV so quickly.  I still hate the 2nd guessing myself that I go through ... but, once I decided to just take her to the ER ... the doc ended up calling me and telling me to just go straight to pediatrics.  Hopefully we won't have to do this again ... but, if we do - there will be NO second guessing.  I'll just take her straight in (of course - I think I've said that before).  This hospital stay -- the hardest part was keeping her entertained.  She was an AWNRY fart ... add that to her natural bossiness and .... sheesh!!!  Being aware of everything going on made a difference this time ... I would be mad too if all that crap were happening to me.  Plus she was sooooooo thirsty and hungry - but, couldn't have anything until like 9:00 that night ... more than 24 hours without eating/drinking (besides what she threw up that morning).  Bless her heart.  It was so sad.

The toys, books, coloring supplies, and visitors were sanity savers ... so thanks.  :)

She DID manage to observe, "One good thing about getting sick is that I get to see M and grandma since we go to their work."

I really got a kick out of her little toesies sticking out from under this rolling table .... :)

MAN ... I'm glad she's better and home now.  It's exhausting.

Excuses ... Excuses ...

... and THIS has got to be the best excuse EVER!!!  Now that Marissa is in Young Womens - she has begun work on her Personal Progress.  So - we got to get together with some of our favorite people in the world so these two girlies could pass off a goal:

Marissa and Abbee worked hard to prepare an amazing FHE for us -- complete with games, stories, scriptures, songs, and treats.  They did a fabulous job ... and Ted made VERY sure that he was able to participate (behold - Ted as the lion finger puppet :D).  Ya know how ya just love some people .... and then there are those that ya just can't help but reeeeeeeeeeealllly love?  Well - these guys fit that "reeeeeeeeeallllly love" quota --  we just can't help ourselves!

L to R:  Megan, Krystal, Abbee, Marissa, Thomas, Aaron

Explanation of how prayer works:

We sure had a great night!  Thanks so much Abbee and Marissa!!!  We are so blessed to have you in our lives ... and to have a great excuse to get together.  :)

Krystal's Dress

I am very lucky to have a Mom who crochets and knits ... a lot!  She is always making cute things for the kids and us.  Krystal notices all the work she does and decided she might as well put in a request ... it had been nearly 2 months since Grandma made her a skirt for her teddy bear!!  Krystal sat by her Grandma Pat's side quite a bit trying to hurry along the process :) -- and, before ya know it ... she is twirling and posing in her new favorite dress:

She seriously is in love and wants to wear it non-stop.  Because I don't LET her wear it to places it could get ruined ... she makes up for it by wearing it in the morning before it's time to get ready to go to school.  haha.  Hence - the picture of her hair-do (she's wearing her dress in it).  She's so funny and has me take a picture of her hair when she can't see it good enough ... one of these days maybe I'll post all of 'em :).   So -- here's my girl ... feeling in heaven with her twirly-girly look.  Thanks Mom!!