Christmas Day

Lots of smiling faces at Grandma's house before the gift opening.

We got a mousepad for Barbara with a picture of our family at Lake Tahoe last July.

Everyone was spoiled by Grandma. She is taking all of us to Utah in July and to see Mary Poppins on stage in May. Ben's favorite gifts from Grandma and Aunties were light sabers, more Zhu Zhu Pet stuff, and a doggie bank. Rachel's favorites were an iCarly shirt, Barbies and a Barbie movie.

I was totally surprised when Bryan rolled in a new racing bike for me. I couldn't believe it at first. What a great surprise!

It was a very enjoyable Christmas full of fun, good food, and surprises for all. I again felt very grateful for all the blessings that my family and I enjoy and was grateful for the season to remember our Savior and all that He has done for us.

Christmas Morning

Well, Santa came again. We told Rachel that she couldn't wake us up until 6:30. At 6:30 on the dot we received our wake up call and went to see the haul.

Rachel's favorite gifts were her new bed and comforter set and her blackboard/whiteboard. Ben's favorite gifts were the Zhu Zhu Pets and tracks.

We also had some fun with the extendable arms. They are attacking the camera.

We had a nice breakfast and then I went for a run with Robyn before we headed over to Grandma's house.

Chrstmas Eve

The Hodgson cousins came to our house for Christmas Eve. They always have fun playing, but today we had presents, so it was doubly exciting.

Ben and Nick exchanged Zhu Zhu pets (furry little hampsters that move around and make funny sounds). Rachel got a Webkinz dog and has had fun playing with it online.

We frosted cookies for Santa. Another crazy face from Ben.

It was a fun time. That night we had Bryan's family over for our annual clam chowder and bread bowls. I look forward to that all year long! Yummy food and good company.

Gingerbread House with the Parrishes

We had our friends Tom and Brooke Parrish over for dinner a few days before Christmas. They have two boys who are the same ages as Rachel and Ben. Shane is in Rachel's class at school and church and Tyler is a Sunbeam with Ben. We decided to have the kids put together the gingerbread house. I had to let go of my controlling ways and let them go at it.

They had a great time and had plenty of energy for a while.

Kings Game

Robyn got free tickets to a Sacramento Kings basketball game. It was really fun to take the kids. Aunty also bought them hot dogs and hot chocolate.

Ben was so funny. He had the hardest time trying to understand free throws. He kept saying, "So they get three shots?" "No Ben, it's F-R-E-E throws, not T-H-R-E-E throws." Then one of the men behind us made a sudden outburst when we almost got a steal. Ben was laying on my lap at the time and looked up at him and said, "You're a weirdo." I was too embarrased to see if the guy actually heard him. Then when the King's dancers came out to perform, part of the routine was to take off their t-shirts to reveal sports bras underneath. Ben said, "That's not appropriate." That's my boy!

Thanks for the Lollipops

Every Monday is a fun day for the kids because they get lollipops from both of the garbage men. We decided to thank them and say Merry Christmas with some treats and cards. It was a long morning of anticipation as we waited for the trucks to come by (who were a little later than usual).

Baking Party

The Morden girls used the Saturday before Christmas to bake up all kinds of yummy goodies. This year we made fudge, orange balls, Russian tea cakes, chocolate cookies with peppermint kisses, butter cookies with orange zest, and lots of truffles: peppermint, orange, lemon, rum flavored rolled in heath pieces, and almond flavored rolled pecan pieces. It took us all day but it was totally worth it.

Here's Barbara rolling some orange balls.

We all had our share of mistakes in the baking process, but Kim's fudge was the messiest mistake. She accidentally added the chocolate chips before the fudge cooked so we had to remove them.

We even let the kids in on the action. They got to roll orange balls too.

Painting for G.G.

Barbara wanted to do something special for her mom this year for Christmas so we all went to paint a ceramic plate with figures to represent each of us. We had fun making it and G.G. really loved receiving it. Bryan was the Picasso of the group and took the longest of anyone to perfect his fish. It did look really good.

December Preschool

I had my last block for teaching Ben's preschool in December (yay, I'm done for the year!). I really had a lot of fun with the kids talking about winter and Christmas. We made cottonball snowmen, bead candycanes, a nativity scene with stickers, took a field trip to paint ceramic ornaments, and decorated gingerbread men. Here are pictures of Pierce's and Ben's creations.

Trimming the Tree

After the usual torture of getting the tree in the stand, the kids got to put on the ornaments. I think we only had a couple of casualties this year, they're getting better!



Bryan had to trim some top branches and Ben wanted to try the clippers too. I was a little surprised that Bryan let him, but he sure had a good time.

Thanksgiving Times Two!

We had a double Thanksgiving this year. Bryan's Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Dave came up from San Diego with the kids to celebrate the holiday. We started the day (well, after our battle with the ants, who decided they wanted to have a holiday feast at our house...sigh) with our 2nd Annual Morden 5K. Cousin Sean joined Robyn, Bryan, the kids and myself at Elk Grove Park where the kids had a short race (which they wanted to run twice). Then Robyn, Sean and I ran the 3 miles (well Sean made it halfway anyway). I so enjoy this new tradition and hope to do it again next year. It was a beautiful, pleasantly chilly, morning of exercise before we dove into the feast! I made the pies and orange rolls (yay baking!) and we ate at Barbara's house. Then Bryan and I were fortunate enough to be able to go see Harry Potter with Dave, Alex, Sean and Lauren while the Aunties and Grandma babysat. It was a very nice day for all.

On Friday (after some Black Friday shopping) we drove up to Cherie's house to have a dinner with the Hodgsons and Joel and Nicole, who drove up from San Jose. The kids had fun playing Pin the Hat on the Turkey while we cooked.

Then we all pigged out! There was yummy food (including Cherie's homemade cranberry sauce, which is a definite new tradition...yum!) and of course lots of cousins to play with. The adults got to enjoy a cousin dance performance after dinner and some Rummikub playing.

I have so much to be thankful for in my life. We are all healthy and have sufficient for our needs. I am so thankful for my good husband and for my two wonderful children who bring so much fun and happiness to my life. I'm thankful that I am able to stay home and raise them; I wouldn't trade this time with them for anything else. Each year we have a turkey that we stuff with slips of paper saying what we are thankful for. My papers this year included my family, Joseph Smith, good books, Scrabble & Boggle, and chocolate. Of course I am most thankful for my Savior who gave me the gift of eternal life and who sacrificed himself and paid for my sins. I'm thankful for my testimony of Him and for His church on the earth today, which also brings much happiness into my life. I'm thankful for the early Saints and their sacrifices to bring the church to what it is today. I'm thankful for good ancestors and wonderful parents who strive to do what is right in their lives and who have taught me the way to have real joy.

Another great year full of good times and many memories! I think I'll go take care of some of that leftover pie now...

War!

One of the kids' favorite games now is war. I remember many happy hours playing war with my siblings, and now my kids love it too. Rachel is also getting better on her roller skates...and making silly faces for the camera.

Jelly Belly Factory

My friend Melissa (whom we knew in Visalia) came to visit Sacramento while her husband did some training and we were able to spend a couple of days together. We took the kids for a tour at the Jelly Belly Factory. Except for Ben not wanting to wear his hat inside the factory, we had a fun time. Melissa's oldest, Dean, was brave enough to try the dog food flavor after the tour. Some of the other disgusting choices were vomit, earwax, boogers, toothpaste, skunk spray, pencil shavings, and centipede. I stayed away from those and enjoyed some of their more tasty flavors. My favorites are buttered popcorn, root beer, black licorice and cinnamon. It was fun to try their Christmas flavors too. Rachel said her favorite was cherry, "but NOT the black ones!" And Ben just kept saying, "I want to go home." Very typical Ben.

Pictured: Emma, Jay, Dean, Rachel, Ben

We also spent a nice day together in Elk Grove. They joined us for our music class, then we went to Miwok Park and fed the squirrels and played. It was fun catching up with Melissa and to see her kids again.

Cute Quotes

Ben: "Mom, can we please have lemonade that was orange, chocolate cake and brownies for dinner tomorrow?"

Rachel: "My hand is, like, burnt like peaches!"

I just happened to catch part of a conversation Rachel was having with her friend Olivia and I heard her say, "Because you don't know every single girl in the world. Especially Japanese girls."

Happy Halloween!

Our little ballerina and Bumblebee Transformer. Ben is pretty sensitive about what he wears. So even though this costume came with a mask, front plate (which he actually agreed to wear for this picture), gloves, and a plastic gun, the body suit was all that he ended up keeping on. Oh well.

Oh the candy heaven!

What a pose:

After eating her Fun Dip:

Between Trunk-or-Treat, going to Elizabeth and Natalie's play, and Halloween dinner and trick-or-treating with the Parrishes, it was a very fun Halloween weekend.

Pumpkin Carving

I asked the kids if they wanted to get ideas for pumpkin carving from the internet. Ben said he did but Rachel wanted to draw her own face. Well, after I helped Ben carve the scary face he wanted, Rachel said that she wanted the same face. After my protests over having two of the same pumpkin, I decided not to fight that battle and carved an identical face for Rachel. When Rachel went on her class field trip to the pumpkin farm she brought home a mutant double-pumpkin. I thought it might be fun to have this one in the middle of the big, scary pumpkins and I think it turned out pretty cute.

The Start of Holiday Baking!

These are some fun cupcakes I made for the ward Trunk-or-Treat. I love this time of year!