12/26/09 The Day after Christmas

We knew we had a lot to do to prepare for our new goat Butterscotch to come home. We spent Saturday building a goat hut. It is 8' X 4'. Going inside, it definitely is much cozier than being out in the elements. The girls helped to put primer on the outside in the late afternoon. We had heard that you are not supposed to paint when it is below 50 degrees. We decided to risk it and to get a coat on anyway just to help protect the wood from the winter elements.

12/25/09 Christmas Day

We seemed to have had a good Christmas. We hope you did too. The most popular toy was Paiton's. You put pieces together to create a maze for marbles to race thru. The whole family has enjoyed creating structures, and then see the marbles run through it...even parents.

12/24/09 Christmas Eve

We had dinner around 4pm. After dinner, we played some Christmas music on Chimes (see picture). This was Paiton's first year of playing chimes. She sure was having fun...she hit the chimes with much gusto and fanfare. After chimes, we watched a Trans Siberian Orchestra DVD, then we watched Mr. Kruegers Christmas. We also tried to watch "The Nativity" but the DVD was bad. We then read the Christmas Story from the scriptures, and then sang Christmas songs. It was a good Christmas Eve. The kids hung their stockings, and went to bed around 8pm.

Shannon and I stayed up and watched the movie "August Rush". This is our second time watching this movie. I really enjoy it. It is one of my all time favorites.

12/24/09 Day at work

My work was allowing parents to bring their kids on the day of Christmas Eve. Madison, Kayden and Ashton wanted to come, and were excited about it. Our day started early, after family scripture reading, we left at 6:15 to arrive a work at 7:00. I was sure they were going to be bored all day. We started off getting hot-chocolate out of the machine, set up a laptop, and turned on the TV. They also had coloring books. About 8:30 the CSR department invited the kids over for activities. They had about 10-12 kids come. They had games, coloring contest, TV, pop and christmas goodies. They seemed to enjoy this better than being in my office. Around 11:00 I picked them up to go see the goat. We got there in time to see them trim the hoofs. Little did I know that goat hoofs need to be trimmed atleast 4 times a year, if not more frequently. After that, we went to get corndogs for lunch. By the time we got back from lunch, the kids were all gone...so back to my office they came. At about 2:30 we left for home. As we were packing up to go home, Ashton stated that "it was not a very long day". They seemed to have fun, and thanked me for taking them to my work. I was tired when I got home.

12/23/09 Surprise gift from co-workers

The Billing and Accounting Departments surprised me this morning with this gift. Her name is Butterscotch, and she is a year and a half old. She seems to be good around people. What a shock. I still can't believe it. Can't wait to get her home

12/21/09 - Madison's Christmas Concert

Madison decided to try and play the clarinet this year. After about a month or so, she said that she did not want to do it next year. The next week when she learned that she earned first chair, she changed her mind. Here is their performance at the band Christmas concert. This is just 6th graders, and it is their first year playing. I think they did pretty good for first year. In my opinion they were better than the 7th-8th graders.

12/9/09 Reagan's 2nd Birthday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1DQfQSSBzo

Reagan had her 2nd birthday. We are not sure she realized it yet. We had a hard time convincing her to blow out her candles...now that should have been on video. Her sisters did most of the present opening, as seen on the video. She did enjoy her cake though.

11/26/09 Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was very quiet around our house. It was just our family. Shannon did great on the meal....she kept to the basics: Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, jello, apple pie. In my opinion all the other traditional/filler foods at Thanksgiving are overated.

The weather was nice enough that Jordan, Madison and I played "Horse" outside. Madison kept going for layups...it drove me nuts, because those were the only times that I got letters. They are both learning to shoot pretty well. I am proud of them.