Christmas Party Weekend Traditions

December 4th was the annual Phelps Family Christmas party. It was in Grantsville, UT. I was happy to see a lot of the family there. This is from my Dad's side of the family and it is quite large. But quite of few cousins and families were there. It was fun! Always lots of food and of coarse a little program. This year Bodie was asked to be a shepherd for part of the program. Aunt DeeAnn orchestrated a little Nativity performance. I put together a makeshift costume and he had fun having a responsibility.

Of coarse Santa came. The kids love to sit on Santa's Lap

Well, except Jax. He was happy as long as he wasn't sitting on Santa's lap. I even tried to tell him it was just Grandpa, but he wouldn't have any of it.

After the BIG party, we settled in at Aunt Deeanne's house for our
little family Christmas party. We had a white elelphant gift exchange. Brandon happened to forget his and Melissa's presents and so he scored the house for something to wrap. Needless to say that the people who opened his gifts couldn't actually take them home. One present being a family picture of one of Deeanne's kids and the other being the house phone. Silly Brandon!

We have made it the tradition to go to Temple Square every year after the parties. I LOVE this tradition. It was way crowded and hard to find a place to park, but well worth the it! It took us 5 minutes to get up to the Christus because of so many people. It was hard to not be aggrivated because of the crowds and chaos. As we were inching our way up the ramp, Harlee said, "Mom I always feel so warm when I see the Jesus Statue." I am grateful for a little girl that among the busyness and craziness she can still feel and recognize the spirit. That experience made it all worth it!

Jax was more concerned with how far up we were.

We also got to see the big fountain and the reflection pool. The "big big water" as Jax called it.

I love Christmas traditions and the spirit of family and Christ. I am so thankful for my children and their testimonies and examples. I am also grateful for a husband, that despite his impatience for traffic and crowds, helps to make positive and spiritual experiences for our little family.

Gingerbread Houses

We don't do this every year, but it's fun every now and again. Travis was out of town this week and to keep my sanity, I decided a little crafty thing for the kids would be fun. Don't worry, I prayed for patience and was blessed with it. I held it together clear up until bedtime, when we were done. The kids had a blast decorating their individual houses. I just bought the kit at Walmart. The whole village kit was only $9. I supplemented in a little more candy to choose from, but other than that it contained everything I needed. I don't let them touch it for a couple of days and then they can pick it all apart as much as they want. It is a blast for them to do.

This is Harlee's in the works. She is the one that takes the longest because she likes to add a bunch of detail.

Bodie wanted this and that. The more elaborate that
Harlee's got, the more he wanted too.

Jax had SO much fun having me blob icing all over in various
places so he could keep adding candy

Here they all are hard at work :)

Jax's

Bodie's

Harlee's

Mine and Travis'. Like I said, Trav wasn't home
and so I took the liberty to do his and mine.

Here is the little village all put togather. So much fun!

Cause we're the Best of Friends....

"Come on Bode, let's go play downstairs." Jax said as he wrapped his arm around his older brother. Bodie too, put his arm around Jax and off they went to play. Such a sweet moment. I love it when my kids get along and really do act like "the best of friends."

Surgery

Here he is. Post Surgery and he already looks wiped out. You can imagine how he is now. Haha :) He actually posed for this and then was surprised I actually took the picture.
Trav had a hernia fixed today and is doing well.......only okay, really. He is in pain and bored out of his mind. If anyone is close enough to visit, he would love for you to come and see him. As of right now, he will probably be off work for at least a week and a half. The problem with his recovery time is that he gets bored and wants to do something, even though he is not suppose to. He is such a workaholic. I guess there could be worse things :). Anyhow, I am hoping that he can just take the time to recover fully. Right now it is just painful for him.

Halloween

Here I am FINALLY posting our Halloween. We started our day with making cookies. Jax and Harlee had a blast frosting and decorating cookie after cookie. Well, Harlee did cookie after cookie. Jax just did the same one over and over again. He still loved it. Where was Bodie, you ask? Oh, you'll see.....

Jax's one cookie....yum

Harlee's decorations

The finished project. We took them to the ladies I visit teach.

Here is Bodie. Out hauling rocks. We had some gravel that needed to be moved and we (Travis and I) thought that if a kid wanted to stab the couch with a knife and then smear toothpaste on another couch, make lakes of water in the bathroom and steal from Walmart, then he could do some time working off some bad behavior.

Here are the kids all dressed up at the trunk or treat

Rumel and Heidi all dressed up

Kid in our ward. Too funny

Panther Libre, haha like Nacho Libre :)

View of our house through the beautiful fall trees. Love it!!

Run-a-thon

I know that it has been awhile since I have updated. Don't worry we are still alive :). I will just fill in the basics. Travis got a new job and is now driving bus for the INL. Our local Nuclear Site. We are excited and happy to have a regular schedule start and a better job opportunity for him. Bodie is loving Kindergarten and Harlee is loving 3rd grade. I love Tuesdays and Thursdays with just Jax and me. I have started making bracelets again. I am loving it!! Travis was recently diagnosed ( I guess that is what ya call it) with a hernia. He has to go in for surgery in the next couple of weeks. Nothing serious, but it is painful. He is pretty sensitive to pain. It is an outpatient surgery and recovery time is about a week. He will be just fine, unless you ask him and he is pretty sure that he will die. He is a little dramatic when it comes to Dr's, pain, and surgery. I love the guy, he makes me laugh.
Anyway, this year for fund raisers for Harlee's school, they had a run-a-thon. They had to get pledges to run laps for the money for the school. I thought it was a pretty clever idea. Harlee had fun. They had to run/walk for an hour. It was great. Here she is running her heart out

Life is not measured by the number of Breaths we take, but by the Moments that take our Breath Away...

A peaceful moment. Harlee reading the boys a story. Precious!