Santa was here!

It seems that good old St. Nick made it down our chimney...

He made a little more clatter this year (or maybe I've just officially become an old person who gets up atleast three times a night) anywho, my long winters nap was cut short and I pulled myself out of the tiniest Davidson Whos' bed (where I fell asleep at about 10 p.m) to see if I could catch a glimps of that right Jolly Old Elf!

He's fast man and I missed him. He'd been in and out in more than a flash. He got 'er done and I didn't even get to see the whole rise up the chimney thing. DANG! I did manage to take a few pictures of his quick stocking stuffing present unpacking skills!

He had to take the stockings off the mantel...He stuffed them full to the top and really, they were just a bit too...

HEAVY!!

He left some presents under our tree too!

(lots of kids make for lots of presents!!)

My kids don't have any problems sleeping through the night and in the end we had to wake up the youngest Davidson Who pictured below (at around 8:15) to rally them all to the stairs before we marched in to see what Santa had left behind.

Sammy got a Leapster

Dallin + Lego = Christmas JOY

Shaina got the cutest stuffed mouse ever!

Julie checking out some shiny goodness in her stocking! I know, the onesie is adorable!

Max scored an iPod touch.

Maryn was happy that Santa found her and didn't leave her presents in Texas!

Mark holding up the quilt that Maryn and I made in just a little over a week! (thanks to Julie who held up the fort while we were busy sewing!)

It's made out of mens suit samples and the buttons are from Grandma D's button collection.

Mark loves it and we had a good time making it!

Here are all the Davidson Whos' (minus Russ) in their new p.j's We did get to talk to Russell on the phone, he is happy, doing great things and made us all laugh in the way that only he can. We miss him, but are already looking forward to next year when he will home with us.

I love Christmas and all the warm happy feeling that it brings out in all of us. I love that I still have little ones that get all caught up in Santa. BUT, what brings me true joy and happiness is that long ago a babe was born in a stable in Bethlehem. He was then and is now our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and he came that we all might live again. I love him, I want to serve him and more than anything I want to return to him with my family to live together forever and ever! That is what makes believing in Santa all right!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

Halloween Fun!

Halloween has come and gone (except the massive mounds of candy and sugar coated teeth that I am left to deal with!) and I am just about ready to start putting away all the Fall/Halloween decorations so I can start thinking about Christmas!

The pumpkin above is Julie's, it was my favorite and looked sweet next to my little witch.

More pumpkins in this picture with Shaina. The witch on the broomstick was done by Shaina, the skull was Sam's idea and Mom's handiwork and the scary face was carved by Dallin who did the whole project start to finish all by himself!! Shaina dressed up as "Betty" from the Flinestones. She went out trick or treating with some friends and brought home about as much candy as she could carry!

Here is Sam posing as your friendly neighborhood Spiderman!

Dallin aka Obi-wan Kenobi. The prize for the kid with the most candy goes to... Dallin!

After Sam had had enough trick or treating Dallin asked if he could go for a bit longer, I agreed and we headed off to the other side of our neighborhood. It was about 7:30 and their was only a handful of kids still out( our neighborhood doesn't have a lot of young children) so people were just dumping the "Loot" (as Dallin would say) into his bag. Seriously, I have never had a kid bring home that much JUNK!

Here is Sam in his final costume choice. It's so nice to have options!

I made this little Batman costume for Russell when he was Sam's age and each one of the boys have had a turn wearing it. It would be fun to do a photo collage of the four of them in the Batman costume and add it to my Halloween decor. Maybe next year!

I made these cute Spider Cookies to take to the kids class parties at school. They are homemade Oreos with shoestring licorice added for legs. These cookies are simple and delicious and would make a really nice Christmas exchange cookie by rolling the iced edge in peppermint! You can find the recipe HERE.

Hope your Halloween was great! Have fun keeping your kids (and your own) teeth clean...

I always tell Mark that he should have been a dentist!!

Birthdays!

September like quite a few other months in the year is a Birthday month at our house!

For the past couple years Mark and I have done the Melissa's Run in Banff. Last year it fell on the day of my birthday and this year it was the day after. We only ran the 10K this year and I'm pretty sure we won't ever do it again. The run was very crowded and it just felt like a bit of a let down after having run the 22K there before. It was a really fun little get away though and a great thing to do to celebrate being one year older!!

This little guy had a birthday this month too!!

Sam had a birthday on the 18th and believe it or not my baby boy is FIVE!!

I love this little boy and couldn't imagine my life without him in it. Each year when the air gets cool and the leaves begin to change I FALL even more in love with Sam and thank my Heavenly Father for the blessing that only He knew I needed!

I love you Sam... Happy Birthday!!

Peach Pies!!

My mom can do a lot of things. She really is one talented lady and I have always been grateful for the few skills she managed to pass along to me.

If you live in or around Magrath you might know that my mom can BAKE. Growing up we never knew what store bought bread tasted like. With 11 mouths to feed she made bread a lot! My Mom's "parker house rolls" are world famous (seriously, I have had perfect strangers in far away places tell me they have had my moms amazing rolls) and of course kids in Magrath for generations know her for her Halloween cookies! My kids and all their cousins will tell you that Grandma's homemade doughnuts are scrumptious and can put Tim Horton's to shame!! My brothers and sister and I were never hungry, the cookie jar at my house was well stalked for us and all the neighborhood kids to enjoy!! I, however, have a personal favorite and last weekend some of my kids and I drove down to Grandma's to have her help us make them...

PEACH PIES!!

Mom and Shaina putting the tops on the pies.

Some finished and some waiting for filling. Julie, who didn't manage to make it into any pictures, blanched and sliced peaches. I mixed the sliced peaches in the sauce and poured them in to the waiting pie shells. Grandma made the pastry and cut the tops.

Shaina was the "gofor" girl and helped with a bit of everything.

Doesn't that make your mouth water?? Delicious!!

Grandma put Julie and Shaina and I to work and we made 20 pies! We made them all Saturday down at the Stake Campground. We froze the pies and Monday we loaded them in to a cooler and brought them home. I now have 20 fresh peach pies in my freezer and can't wait till tomorrow night when we will bake and slice into the first one! What will be even better, is eating peach pie in the middle of February! If you're really nice to me and the stars are all aligned just right I might invite you over and let you have a taste!!!

Goodbye August

August was a busy fun filled month. We were able to spend time with family, eat good food, stay up late and enjoy the beautiful outdoors. For me that's what summer is all about! I am not ready to say goodbye to summer and all the fun that goes with it! Here are just a few (o.k more that a few) pictures of some of our summer time fun! 

Sisterly LOVE!!

Another fun family wedding- this is Annie and Aaron, they got married in Seattle at the very end of July. I was able to go to their wedding and spend a few days visiting Jim and Marie and their family.

Jim and Marie and their children

We babysat Lacy for a few weeks. It was fun to have two beagles around the house. I got more exercise those two weeks than I did all summer. Lots of dog walks in the ravine in the early morning hours and then the dog park at night.

Mark having a nice afternoon nap at the cabin

Max wakeboarding

Playing the favorite game of the summer "Werewolves"!

Mark getting some air!

Sammy discovered the lake this year-One day he actually swam around between the docks with out holding on to anyone. Next year he'll love it!!

The usual "Dock Wars"

We have a picture just like this one every year (except last year when we didn't go) for the last 15 years! We love going to the cabin and are so grateful to Uncle Brent and Aunt Julie for sharing their little piece of "Heaven on Earth" with us every summer!!

Julie made Pie!

Max did too!

We had a little pie tasting event... Max's won!!!

Speaking of Max- He has been a major source of entertainment for the little kids all summer! At the beginning of the summer I was thinking that he really needed to go find some kind of a job, it wasn't too long after that I was very happy that he was around during the day. Shaina, Dallin and Sam won't ever forget this game... "Tree Man" Good Times!!!!

I LOVE these two crazy boys! 

Dallin at the St. Albert skate park.

I went down to Texas with Maryn to get her all set up in her new apartment. She is sharing a very tiny bedroom with her new friend/roomate Kaitlyn. We spent two days straight going back and forth between her place to Walmart and Target. It was very hard to say goodbye, but unlike a mission  we can talk, text, and skype anytime and she will be home to visit at Christmas! Speaking of missions, Russell is over the half way mark Yeah! I would post a picture of him if he's send home his memory card!!  Maryn started her Dental Hygiene program yesterday and is feeling quite excited, a little homesick and very HOT! 

The 28th was SHAINA'S Birthday! Mark took the afternoon off and we all went out to the splash park in St. Albert. 

Here is the "10 Year old" with her stack of birthday presents! She got a new chair for her desk, an ipod shuffle, a new board game, a wii game (from Max) and a Webkinz racoon (from Maryn)

This last picture is courtesy of Julie. They went out the back gate and did a little photo shoot in the ravine. When I asked Julie how it went she said "I don't know Shaina doesn't like having her picture taken" You would never know it... she's so dang cute!!

School starts tomorrow... I am excited but very sad to say goodbye to summer and to my kids... they DO come home at the end of the day, I'll be allright!!

Sarah and Fraser's Wedding

My beautiful niece Sarah was married in the Cardston Temple to Fraser Perry on July 31st

It was a picture perfect day and the happy smiles on the bride and grooms faces pretty much tell the story. Sarah is a very special person and we are so happy that she has someone to share her life with forever.

This is a very photo heavy post... good thing they are both so photogenic!

My Julie took this picture and did the photo editing, a budding photographer perhaps... what do you think?

The wedding party- sure made for a nice picture!

Sarah and her bridesmaids- my girls, her two sisters and a good friend.

Sarah showing off her shoes- they were a gorgeous cobalt blue (too bad I cut them off)!

Sarah and Fraser with Julie and Brent (her Mom and Dad)

Aunt Julie and all the bridesmaids- this was the first time Julie had seen all the girls in their dresses, she couldn't get over how great they all looked. Aunt Julie looked amazing too!!

Maryn and Julie

Max outside the temple

Dallin and Sam trying to stay out of trouble!

Sarah and Fraser at the reception in Montana- they are standing in front of the quilt that Maryn made. I just missed taking a picture of Sarah wiping the tears away from her eyes as she looked at the quilt. It will be a real treasure for Sarah and we were so glad that she liked it!

More cute bridesmaids pics- they were all so done with having their pictures taken by the end of the day. 

Me and Shaina

This is at the end of the reception in Calgary- it was starting to get cold (nice cardigans girls!)

Julie and Shaina enjoying the fabulous buffet!

Shaina got to be the present girl- here she is putting away a card.

Grandma Davidson tying the bow on the back of Shaina's dress- no one can tie bows like Grandma!

One of the many beautiful food tables.

Julie and Brent did an amazing job getting their yard in tip top shape for the reception. It looked so good. Julie might have to stay home for a few weeks so she can enjoy it.

The whole wedding was just beautiful we were really glad to have been a part of it. Family is such a wonderful blessing in our lives. Weddings are great but the most important thing is the   Temple and how we honor the covenants we make there through out our lives. I am so grateful for this blessing in my own life!