Christmas'10

Christmas, it's the most wonderful time of the year.

 I was so happy that Hayden was with us this Christmas, I hate having to split it.  Halli and Devyn were here too and it made it extra fun. Here's the girls in their Christmas Eve PJ's.

 Christmas morning, the girls woke up at 7 a.m., but were nice enough and let us all sleep until 9 a.m.
The girls coming to see what Santa left.

 The girls left detailed letters to Santa asking 13 questions.  They left him Pepsi, cheese, milk and cookies, and celery and carrots for the reindeer.  Santa answered every question.  How does he have time for all that?

 Outside there were sleigh tracks, reindeer tracks, Santa tracks, carrot and celery crumbs, and magic glitter. It was really amazing.

 Halli received an Aerial Silk. We had never heard of this before.( its a huge piece of silk-type material you hang from a high point and do aerial gymnastics with) Halli takes classes back home in Kauai.  Halli is very good and showed Hayden how to do it.  Thank goodness Nana has a huge ceiling and a bracket to hang it from.

 Hayden wants an aerial silk now, she has gotten quite good.

 My whole family was able to go visit our Grandma and Dwight.  She is a great hostess. We enjoyed hearing her stories of when she was dating and engaged to Grandpa.

 Hayden's highlight was her Rip Stik which she hopped on and rode to Abbey's in bare feet. She also loved her new ipod dock and pillow pet.

But the very best thing was all of the kids and family together. It all ended way too soon.

Busy Christmas Weekend

We have been super busy this month and we have had a lot to look forward to.

I wait all year for this December weekend and all its celebrations.

 Saturday started with Hayden skiing at Snowbird and us getting ready for the party. We were able to go visit Jeremy's cousin Josh and Michelle and their cute new baby,Lincoln, before the party.

 Then to the annual Newcomb Christmas Party.  It's always so fun, everyone gets spoiled and we eat great food.  We all look forward to it, since we only all get together about 2-3 times a year.

 Hayden opening her gift

 All the girls received a handmade Christmas stitching from Arlene, she had worked on them all year long. (loved it)

That night we then headed to stay in Bountiful with my family so we could go to the Tabernacle Christmas Concert the next morning.

 Sunday was the the concert and we felt very privileged to be there.  I know a lot of people were unable to to get tickets.

 David Archuleta was very impressive and didn't miss a note. 

He was so good, he very much reminded me of Josh Groban. 

 The Choir and Orchestra were amazing as usual. 

 I absolutely love this event every year and I think have only missed one performance in 13 years.

 Hayden was very excited to be able to see David Archuleta.

 After the concert we went to Harmony's apartment for Devyn's 4th birthday party.

 Devyn is a hoot and Harmony's cake was one of the best I have tasted.

I guess the party's over.

What's Christmas without a little chaos?

Room Transformation: Before & After

My New Years' Resolution was to transform my exercise room into Hayden's bedroom and make the water closet storage room into a walk-in closet.

BEFORE

 Here is my exercise room that I painted 3 years ago. I wanted bright colors that would give me energy.  I loved this room and used it almost on a daily basis.  It was hard to let it go.

BEFORE

Here is the water closet/mess.  It was the only part of the house that was never finished.  I paid my talented brother Cannon to come and sheet rock it and divide it off from the furnace and water heater.  It was a great transformation.

AFTER
 So I started back in January.  I painted the room a light turquoise, put up beadboard (wallpaper) and the chair rail.  Then I had to caulk it all and paint the beadboard and the chair rail.  It took me weeks before I got it exactly perfect.

 AFTER
Then on to the closet.  Cannon made a dividing wall and then put in a door.  I painted the closet and even cut and laid the carpet.  Jeremy put up the new shelves and racks.

Its now ready for some clothes.

Finished Product

Finished and Decorated

Hayden is loving her new room, she has a walk-in closet bigger than ours, a reading corner and entertainment closet (tv, dvd, stereo).

I finally have one resolution checked off my list, now to start on the rest. j/k  And to think it only took me 11 months :-)

Hayden's 11

Hayden is finally 11 years old and I really can't believe it.

She is so mature and fun-loving.  She is spunky and organized and a great student. She is just a Awesome kid all around.

 She took peanut butter blossoms to school for her class, she has most every year. 

She got this big chocolate cupcake cake.

 That night we had a small family party and she received many nice things. She wanted gift cards this year, and this is what she got:

• 2 Dillard's
• 2 Claire's
• 1 itunes

 Her biggest surprise was her "total room makeover"

I have been working on a bedroom for her downstairs for months now and the completion plus new items in the bedroom was her birthday present from us.

She could not even peak in the room for weeks as we moved all the furniture, organized the closet and redecorated it. 

On her birthday she got to finally walk in and see her new bedroom.

New items she got was a bean bag, reading lamp, pillows, wall decor, closet organizers, etc.

She LOVED it.

(seeing the room for the first time)

The new walk-in closet was the best part. Large enough to keep most of this "hoarder's" stuff hidden from view.

Happy Birthday to Hayden.

(I am going to be posting some room before and after pictures soon. I am very happy with the way it all turned out.)

Halloween '10

Halloween was fun this year.  Hayden and her friend Brooklyn decided that Hayden would be a gypsy and Brooklyn a fortune teller.

 We found most all of Hayden's costume at the D.I. 

 Don't you just love the eyelashes?

Hayden and Brooklyn even told fortunes to the young trick or treaters at Brooklyn's house.

This year I decided I wasn't going to stress about candy because we always run out.  We have a ton of people come to our house that we have never seen before. 

We eventually ran out at 7:30, better than most years, I think the weather was to blame.

Happy Halloween!