Merry Christmas

We are going up north for Christmas and we thought we would wish you all a merry Christmas. We hope you all have a fun time with your families and friends.

Happy Birthday, Brinly!

So Brinly finally turned six yesterday. It seems like she has waited an awful long time to reach this mile stone since all of her friends are already six. We have practically celebrated Brinly's birthday all month long. Between her little friend birthday party, getting sung in Primary a week early, taking cupcakes to school, dance parties, and a family party, phew. I still think those few years have gone by way too fast even though she doesn't seem to think so.
She is such a great helper when she wants to be. She loves playing with friends. Her new favorite thing to do is jump on the new trampoline she got for her birthday (atleast when the weather permits). She loves her sisters and has taken on quite the role as being big sister to Skylar. She loves to draw and color. She does really well in school and is learning to read! She loves dance and playing barbies with her sisters. We love you Brinly! Happy Birthday Brinly!

Dance Recital

This last Saturday, the girls performed in their Christmas Dance recital. This year was Brooklin and Madison's first so it was a little scary and exciting for both of them. First of all, I can't wait for Brinly to learn how to do her own hair (nuf said). Three girls in curlz and makeup! Anyway, I was glad I atleast had Brad to help get the girls' costumes on. Needless to say we were about 10 minutes late to rehearsal, but just in time for the girls to go up on stage to practice their number once before the main event. I walked Brooklin and Madison behind stage and thought that was a piece of cake until, Maddie started falling apart and would not for the life of me dance on the stage. She bald and her teacher had to hold her the whole time. So I'm thinking great! The recital was about to start and of all days she had to fall apart now! Well after much coaxing, bartering, and hugs and chats from mom, dad and grandparents, Maddie finally went to sit with her class to perform.
It just so happened that Brooklin and Madison were placed right next to each other and right next to their cousin Taylee so it worked out perfect for the cameras and the photographers. Brinly was born to perform and pose. She did great and it was nice to see her do a little more than just hand motions and blown kisses. The girls were beautiful and all did so well! We are so proud of them.

The Black Friday Chaos

Well to start off I told myself I was not going to be one of those crazy people getting up at 0'dark thirty just to save while beating people to the punch and standing in rediculously long lines. After telling myself that, I reluctantly decided I was going to go to JoAnn's Friday morning in hopes to save some money on a project I'm working on for Christmas. I was only going there and I was going early enough that hopefully I would not have to stand in line so long. I made the mistake though, of opening up the newspaper Thanksgiving day to check out the "deals". Why???????? Of course the words "sale" and "Best Buy" tend to do something to a person's brain (me) and I get curious. Mistake! Next thing I knew I was planning my morning out and how on earth I was going to be able to get what I wanted, how I was going to make the opening on time to each place, and weighing out whether or not it would be worth it. I ended up getting up at 4:30 am to make it to Wal-mart by 5am to get what I wanted, get in a line as fast as possible and check out before I had to be to JoAnn's by 6am just to find that even with only 6 people in front of me, I ended up waiting in line longer than the entire time I was in Walmart, with that many more people mind you. Then on the drive home, I got to thinking about my receipt from Walmart and realized I got charged more than the "deal" I thought I went for. So before 8 am I strolled in to walmart yet again, only this time to stand in line at the return booth to get a price adjustment. Then come to find out that the product I bought was not the exact product on sale (difference only being the box!) so I just about had every manager called up and customers next to me on my side analyzing the "deal" between the ad and the product in hand. Can I tell you I was so frustrated after that, even though they fixed it for me, that I had to go home and have a nap. I'm not so sure I will do that again, but every year seems to suck me in! What the heck!!!