brandon gets braces!

We have officially entered into the world of braces!  Brandon got his put on December 28, 2015.  His teeth aren't crooked, they are just fixing his bite and some spacing issues. 

He is transitioning well but misses some of the foods he can't eat!  The real fun will be begin when they start adjusting them every 6-8 weeks!

christmas 2015

Christmas Day itself was pretty good.  Thankfully no one was sick - that in and of itself was a Christmas miracle (Brandon and I both weren't feeling well on Christmas Eve, and Natalie got sick the day after Christmas).

I love this photo my sister took on Christmas Eve!

We got the kids a trampoline, so we finally have something to go in our dirt backyard!  We decided to let the boys help build it, so the box itself wasn't super exciting.

We were invited to join the Face Time call with our nephew Ryan who is on a sign language mission in New York.  It was so good to see and hear him.  I can't believe he's already 3/4 done!

It would be fun to go back and do a collage of all the "grandkids in front of the tree" photos we've taken each Christmas.

I've learned that most kids will cooperate and give you a nice photo if you promise to let them do a silly one next!

Not the greatest family photo, but at least I remembered to take one!

A (very rare) nice picture of both Tyler and Sean!

They didn't even plan this for the silly picture!

We had a pillow made for Mom & Dad with all the family's names on one side and a photo collage on the other side. 

Vikki had planned some Minute-To-Win-It type games and they were a lot of fun!  It turns out I'm a better artist while drawing on a paper plate on my head...I actually won!

Not surprisingly the girls won the "decorate the Christmas tree" game!

Kevin and the boys built the trampoline the next day, and it was immediately "christened" when Natalie got on for the very first time and vomited on it!  So three days after Christmas, everyone was finally healthy enough to jump on it for the first time together!

december activities

I'm not going to lie...this was not my favorite holiday season.  After a crazy and eventful year, I just wanted to relax and enjoy.  Every year I try to simplify December more and every year it is somehow more stressful. December is basically a month-long nightmare for introverts.  It seems to be getting worse as the kids get older...they are harder to buy gifts for and we seem to have more events to attend.  Add in a job change for Kevin and several rounds of the stomach flu and it was a recipe for frustration and exhaustion.  But here are a few of the many things we did that I actually took pictures of!

Natalie now makes her Christmas list to Amazon, not Santa.  She knows who really delivers the presents!  I'm not sad at all that my kids don't believe in Santa anymore...it makes life SO much easier!

Our ward Christmas party was a live nativity at a ranch, partnered with two other non-LDS congregations, and complete with animals!  Unfortunately we were late (Kevin forgot to grab the plates of brownies so we had to come back home), but we made it just in time for Tyler and Natalie to participate with the angel/shepherd choir.  It was a wonderful event!

I am a room mom for Natalie's 3rd grade class, which meant coordinating the class holiday party.  Thankfully her teacher is awesome and made it pretty easy.  They are very cute kids!

We had lots of plans with the Carlson family, but unfortunately we kept having to change or cancel them due to stomach flu.  We did get sugar cookies made and decorated though!

 Natalie adores her girl cousins Kelly and Brooke and they are so sweet to her!

Thankfully we were all healthy enough to go do service and pack meals at Feed My Starving Children!

The adults also had a nice evening out for dinner and doing temple sealings (no picture).

new job for kevin

Apparently the year wasn't eventful enough for our family with two moves, so Kevin decided to change jobs too! Here's how it all happened...

At the end of October, Kevin got a random phone call one day from a guy who got his name from a  friend he used to work with at Philosophy.  He was looking to fill a Sales Director position at a technology company that builds modular data centers. Kevin was not really looking for a new job (he was waiting until he got his yearly bonus in March), but thought it sounded interesting.  The best part is that it is located just a few miles away (rather than 32 miles into Phoenix). After a few interviews and research, he was even more interested.  And after another few interviews and negotiations, he accepted the position and gave notice to his company.  They were surprised and sad he was leaving (and tried to convince him to stay), but besides all the perks of the new company, billboards are a dying industry and technology is a growing industry which just makes everything easier and more fun.

He started December 16 as the Director of Sales Operations for Baselayer. It will be an exciting new challenge for him.  And hopefully we've found a company that he can stay with for more than a couple years!

They even delivered flowers the day after he accepted to welcome him into the "family"!  The benefits are fantastic and on top of the shorter commute, they work shorter hours!  We've had to adjust our family's schedule a bit, but it's been wonderful having Kevin around two extra hours per day.  He is sleeping more, exercises in the mornings now, and is even able to drive the kids to school! 

A new job and a new house...we feel so incredibly blessed. 2015 will be a tough year to top!

carlson choir

Now that Natalie is in 3rd grade, she could join the school choir, which was pretty much the most exciting news ever for her! I really like the music teacher at this school and Natalie has a natural talent for music and performing.

With her choir (and general music) teacher Mrs. Row:

Here are two of the cute songs they sang at their Christmas concert:

They were able to go perform at the Arizona State Capitol building in December and sang all their songs.  I wasn't able to chaperone, but another parent videoed it.

christmas piano recital

Tyler and Natalie had their Christmas piano recital!  I get so nervous for them, thankfully they are confident and relaxed playing in front of people.

Natalie is in Level 3 and played "The Marine's Hymn" and "Silent Night."

Tyler is in Level 4 and played "Black Forest Polka" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."  This boy drives me crazy...I don't think he ever played these songs without at least a few mistakes and then he plays perfectly at recitals!  He truly loves to play and he is the one found most often at the piano just for fun and figuring out new songs.



I told their piano teacher (who is my good friend) NO DUETS for them this year...they stress me out and cause too much contention in our home.  Note to self: be careful what you ask for!  Instead, she asked Tyler to play in a QUARTET of O Holy Night with 3 other kids we don't even know!  Oh, and the first time they played it all together was PERFORMING AT THE RECITAL!!!!!  In typical Tyler fashion, he wasn't concerned at all, but I was completely freaking out!  But all my worry was for nothing...they did AMAZING!  Hard to believe he's only 10, he can certainly hold his own with those older kids!

brandon - fall concert

Brandon had his fall Junior High band concert. The music was well done, but it was a L-O-N-G two hours sitting on hard cafeteria benches waiting to enjoy the three songs his group played (last, of course).

Brandon switched to trombone this year.  He did not enjoy being "middle of the pack" with 19 trumpets last year.  He is one of three trombones now and was immediately made first chair (the best), even after only playing the trombone a few weeks!  I like it better because now he's on the end where I can actually see him during concerts!

Here is "Phantom of the Opera."  They're not quite ready for Broadway, but I thought it was pretty good for a Junior High band!  He's on the far right side.

halloween 2015

We had a great Halloween this year!  Brandon dressed up as a jailbird:

Tyler was a scary ghost:

Natalie was Anna from Frozen:

And I borrowed a beautiful (handmade) witch costume from my friend Stacey:

Maybe next year we'll even convince Kevin to dress up!

Our festivities started out with a super fun youth Halloween party.  We have a professional photographer in our Young Women's presidency so we always have amazing photos of our events.  She even made a mug shot backdrop!

 We insisted Brandon and his convict friend Thomas get a mug shot picture together!

 

Then there was the ward trunk or treat, where I was too busy chatting to take any pictures!

Then on Halloween night our good friends the Johnstons invited us and two other families over for a Halloween potluck dinner, games, and trick-or-treating.  They really go all out and are so fun!

For the first time, the boys were allowed to go trick-or-treating with the older boys and came back with a ridiculous amount of candy.  Natalie went with the other little girls and one of the other moms and Kevin and I sat around and enjoyed chatting and handing out candy.  It was a great evening!

pumpkin carving!

We had a great evening once again carving pumpkins with our good friends the Meekers! We are getting much faster too!  Dinner, carving six pumpkins, and dessert all in two hours!

Pumpkin guts! And look at how thick those pumpkins are...good thing we were using power tools!

 

Natalie insisted on gloves this year which the other kids said was cheating...but at least she did all the guts herself!

This whole event is really just an excuse for Chris and Kevin to play with their jigsaws!

 The kids with their final pumpkins:

Thanks to the Meekers we actually look forward to pumpkin carving night each year instead of dreading it!