Christmas....Hillbilly style!

When I was in highschool my parents purchased a log cabin up by Park City, Utah.  We spent every Christmas there.  I loved going up with the family and staying there, usually snowed in, for a few days, playing games, playing in the snow, etc...  My parents sold the cabin a couple of years after Mike and I got married, so my kids never got to experience a Christmas there.  I've told Mike, I'm sure way too many times, how I'd love to go and stay in a cabin, where there is snow, for Christmas, so the kids can experience it.  This year he wanted to surprise me with just that.  However, Christmas in the mountains, is apparently very popular down here and places to stay were hard to find.  We didn't want to go too far, just far enough for there to be snow.  He found a place in the Tennessee, Smokey mountains, called Gatlinburg.  The area had a ski resort, so there had to be snow, right?  A place to actually stay was hard to come by.  He was able to get a condo, right by Dollywood.  Ok, not quite a cabin, but there would be snow, the kids could learn to ski and we could sled and play in the snow.  I was excited.  As it got closer to Christmas, about a week away, I decided to see if I could find some pictures of the place we were staying, to get an idea of decorations to bring.  Why I didn't do this sooner, I don't know.  I found some on the website and let's just say it was pretty much nothing like I was expecting.  The place was pretty old, which was fine, but it was tight quarters and there was no way for Santa to come without getting caught by the kids.  There was no fireplace and really no place to put a Christmas tree.  Now, I don't see myself as very princessy, when it comes to things like this.  You can't be when you come from a family of 8, but you know when you have an image of something in your head and when it turns out to be NOTHING like you'd hoped it's just disappointing.  I expressed my concerns to Mike, probably not in the best way, but I just couldn't see it working out.  After a long conversation, I concluded that I would just try to make the best out of what we had, not wanting to cancel our plans, especially since my mother-in-law had gone to such lengths to get us this place.  Well, my sweet husband, not wanting me to be unhappy, spent the evening trying to find other arrangements, without my knowing.  The next day he surprised me with a cabin that he had found.  Thanks to him and Cheryl, I got the "cabin Christmas" I've always talked about.  Unfortunately, this year had been unseasonabley warm, so the ski resort was closed, but we found other things to keep ourselves busy.  It was a lot of fun, and a Christmas I won't soon forget!

 The fireplace!!

          We went and ate breakfast at the "Log Cabin".  They are known for the best french toast.  It was pretty darn good.              Hailey and Logan on the tram going up to do some ice skating

 Well, this was a snowy as it got up there.

 This cabin had 3 hot tubs...overkill!  But everyone enjoyed sitting in them at night and relaxing.

 Our meager Christmas decorations.  We did go to the local walmart and purchase one of their last trees, brought it back and decorated it.  Hailey spent the week before making ornaments.

 Hailey and Logan with Aunt Kerri, Christmas Eve.

 In our new pj's Christmas eve night.

 Logan going through his stocking Christmas morning.

Cheryl looking at her gift from the kids.

 Playing games

 Lovin the box

 like father, like son....

 it was quite painful to watch Logan up presents....I thought he'd tear into it...nope, he pulled a little piece off at a time.

 another hot tub

 There was a pool table there too, a favorite with the kids.

going ice skating at "Ober-gatlinburg"

 Iceskating!  I thought Hailey would love it, but she absolutely HATED it!  She get's embarassed when she can't do something well.  After going around the rink about 10 times it started to get easier and she loved it.  Braxton was a weapon out there..he'd skate like a crazy person until he either fell or found a spot on the wall to grab onto.

Indoor skydiving.

Christmas Season!

....The most wonderful time of the year!  I look forward to this holiday season all year long!  Every year I say I'm going to get all of the busy stuff (ie shopping) done early so I can relax and enjoy it more, it never happens, but It's a nice thought.  I love traditions, Mike not so much, but I feel they are important, so I try to carry them on best I can.  Two of my favorite traditions growing up was making graham cracker houses and going to see the lights at temple square. These are the ones that I try to keep going.  We usually make graham cracker houses with Kris and her family, but this year her kids were sick so we weren't able to do it.  Trying to see the lights at Temple Square is a bit of a challenge since we live in Georgia. So we do the best thing we have out here, which is the lights at Lake Lanier Islands.  We try to go every year, but this year the dad's aka, Mike and Mike didn't want to pay the money to go see them, so no lights!  Do you think that stopped me?  Nope, we were doing our stinkin traditions!  I remembered that Grandma Cheryl had bought ginger bread kits from the craft store last year, so I dug those out of the pantry and we made our houses!  Tradition #1 down....Mike had heard about a little neighborhood, close by that was doing Christmas lights choreographed to music, for charity, so we went.  It was a small street, but still  neat to see.  Tradition #2, DOWN!

 I LOVE to decorate!!  It's fun for me to take a plain tree and make it into something beautiful to look at.  I have 4 tree's that I decorate every year, a 12 foot tree in our keeping room, our "real" tree in our family room, a tree in our dining room and a tree at the top of our stairs.  Last year after taking down the decorations and almost killing myself, falling off the ladder, trying to take the lights off of our tall tree, I decided it was time to scale down a bit, so we got rid of it.  We are down to a 9 foot tree in that room.  I'm sure as I get older I'll scale back even more, but for now I love it!  Every year I talk about getting a flocked tree.  When I was young, there was a neighbor who had a flocked tree and I always thought it was so beautiful!  We never could find a place the sold "real" flocked trees.  I even tryed to flock our tree last year, myself....bad idea!  But this year, Mike found a place that sold flocked trees.  YAY!  It was awesome!!!  Eventhough it was a beast to clean up, after I took it down, it was totally worth it!!  A new tradition.

 The kids....and the FLOCKED TREE!!

Making gingerbread houses.

Thanksgiving

 Happy Thanksgiving!!!  One of my favorite holidays...and not because of the food.  It's true what they say, food doesn't taste quite as good when you make it yourself.  I started cooking at about 9 that morning and had time to sit for about 10 minutes until we ate at 4 that afternoon.  I now know why my mom's back was hurting, every year. :)  However, it's all worth it!  I love having family over and being able to spend time with them.  Van, Patti and, Kerri came along with Jarom, Liina and Hanele, and of course Kristine and Mike wtih their kids.  We feasted (is that a word?) visited and watched movies.  Mike deep fried a turkey and I baked one, a long with lots of sides.  Mike Crosby brought the other half of dinner a long with desserts.

Mike carving the turkey....look how happy he is to do it!   Our feast!

 Just before the Thanksgiving break, Haileys class put on a play about the first Thanksgiving.  Hailey was a pilgrim and she even had a part..... "Mercy Me!"

#1!

Well, our #3 had his #1....and I forgot to blog about it!  Probably because it was pretty uneventful.  Braxton's football season has pretty much taken over our lives leaving little room for anything else.  So, we didn't even celebrate on his actual birthday, we did it about 5 days later.  We had a small cake and he got a couple of toys.  Nothing too exciting.  He was very unsure of the cake at first, as he is with all food, but once he tasted it, he couldn't get enough. 

 Not quite sure what's going on, why we are singing to him and why this flame is coming towards him.  (Yes that was a tea light candle, we were very unprepared)

 This is stinkin good!!

More please...

Didn't you hear me? MORE!!

 This was his main gift. 

 Not quite sure what to do with it, but he loves the sound effects it makes.

 Braxton takes him for a spin and it's pretty fun.....

Whoa...too fast! 

We are very blessed to have this funny kid in our family.  He truly is such a joy to have around.

Trick or Treat

October just flew by this year!  I had good intentions of doing fun things with the kids, but there just was never any time.  We didn't even carve pumpkins until the night before Halloween.  My parents came out and we made it up to Burt's Pumpkin farm, our annual tradition.  Then the trunk or treat/chili cook off with our ward.

 Choosing a costume for Hailey is always such an ordeal.  My idea of what she should be and her idea are never even in the same category as each other, so we end up compromising.  She always wants to be something flashy, usually immodest and I want her to be something cute.  So we settle on flashy and modest.  This year she had seen a "miss America" costume in a catalogue and was fixated on getting that costume.  I tried to convince her to get a cute witch costume that I had seen and she refused...finally out of frustration she says, "Mom, you just want me to be UGLY!"  It was hard not to laugh.  We ended up agreeing on this Spider countess costume.  I put flashy makeup on her and she was modest, win win.

 Logan's second Halloween.  I realize he's only one and he could careless, but he looked cute non the less.  He kept the hat on for about 2 seconds.

 Braxton picks his costumes based on the accessories that come with it.  This one had a cool machete so he was sold!

 Logan practicing for trick or treating.

 Playing while the kids carve pumpkins.

 Braxton's masterpiece

 Hailey's ghost

 We went to the Crosby's again for dinner and trick or treating.

CANDY!!!  Once Logan figured out what people were putting in his pumpkin he was loving it!  He ate so much candy.

Raider

Well, we did it...we broke down and got a new puppy.  He is a black lab mix (not sure what mix he is) and he is a stinker!  He was very young when we got him, only 4 weeks, so the first couple of months were very hard.  He is starting to pick up on things.  Ellie, our other dog, is in heaven.  Finally someone to play with.  And they are constantly playing!  Sometimes it's just too much.  He's a barker!!!  And once he get's going he won't stop for hours.  So he sleeps two floors down from everyone else.  The jury is still out if we are glad we got him. 

Yes, this is playing!

Kid updates.....

Braxton is now in Middle School.  I think the first week was a little overwhelming for him (although he'd never admit it), but he got the hang of it.  The school does a program where they have a rotating schedule, one week the periods are all in order, the next week it will go 3rd,5th,7,2nd,1st etc..  and then rotate the next week.  I would think this would be totally confusing to the kids, but they pick it up pretty quick.  Their philosophy is that some kids do better at certain subjects at certain times of the day so they want everyone to be able to rotate.  I guess is makes sense.  He does really well academically. He'll announce that he took a test and knows that he did poorly and come to find out he got A.  Anyway, along with school, which is keeping him very busy, he is, much to my dismay, in football this year.  And he is loving it!  The team he is on is a "feeder" team for the middle school and highschool.  This gives the coaches a chance to get to know the kids and help them out before they try out for the school teams.  Braxton is offensive lineman, although he really wants to do defensive lineman, so the coach has been working with him to see if he's good enough to make the switch.  They had their first win in two years last saturday, and you'd have thought they'd won the superbowl with how excited they were.  He doesn't have time for much else these days, other than scouts once a week.  I can't believe he's almost 12!!  He's a good, kind hearted kid and a great babysitter. Mike and I are constantly pulled aside at church and told what a good kid he is.  We are truelly blessed to have such a good boy.

Hailey is our little princess/diva/drama queen rolled into one.  She loves to be creative, which is a lot like me as a kid.  Always coloring, drawing, wanting to do projects.  She likes to write plays (who does that sound like, kris and jarom).  She loves to dance and looks forward to her lessons everyweek.  She's fantastic at watching Logan when I'm trying to get things done around the house.  She loves school and is an excellent reader.  She's a wonderful sister, doesn't like it if Braxton get's in trouble, even if she's the one that put him there.  She loves to play with Logan.  Since her best friend moved away there isn't much for her to do around here, because there is no one her age in our neighborhood, so she does what she can to keep herself busy.  She also is very tender hearted.  She can get her feelings hurt pretty easily.  She is very shy and wont even so much as smile at someone she doesn't know.  (I guess that's good)  She and Braxton love to joke with eachother and she loves to play pretend with her dad.  She can also be a bossy little thing, as Grandpa Ellsworth has found out.  :)  She can be very helpful and very loving.  We are very blessed to have her be a part of our family.

 Logan is our little man.  He's just started walking, but finds that he can get to his destination much faster by crawling.  He is such a smiley little thing and has the cheesiest grin.  In the morning or after a nap as soon as he see's you come in his room he's so excited!  He loves to snuggle and sometimes will give you a kiss, if he's in the mood.  He's started to wave bye bye.  He loves to watch the dogs play and will laugh when they wrestle.  He loves his big brother and sister!  And loves his dad!  He is a very curious little thing and will study something in his hand before deciding what to do with it....either eat it, throw it or just put it down.  He's a very picky eater and would rather be fed then feed himself.  He says dada when he's  happy and mama when he's upset.  He is so fun just to watch.  We are very blessed to have him be a part of our family.