Draper Live Nativity

We have fell in love the live Nativity a stake in Draper puts on each year. We first heard about this 3 years ago and went and had a wonderful experience. This stake has converted their parking lot and their bowery into the streets of Bethlehem. They have sheep roaming, goats roaming, bon fires, jugglers, people selling loaves of bread. They are all dressed in Bethlehem appropriate attire. The night we decided to go was SUPER COLD-- about 18 degrees. But we kept eachother warm and the bonfire's helped, too.

Here we are waiting in line.

Freezing, and in line still. We waiting in line for over 1 hour, but it was totally worth it.

The kids infront of a real-live camel.
Here we are infront of Isaiah writing his prophecy of Christ being born.

Kids petting the camel.

Inside the bowery we were not allowed to take pictures, but it is incredible inside there. They have money changers, food vendors, rug weaving, chickens all over the place, donkey's, candle dippers, a father and his son as a carpenter.....just like Bethlehem. Then, you turn a corner and all the sudden is Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. The baby Jesus was just looking up to the sky with a peaceful look on his face. It was so sweet. It is incredible. The spirit was so strong. The kids loved it and we loved it. Thanks to all those who put it on. So much work, but so worth it!

Sami Klaus

We have been blessed with so many wonderful people in our lives. We both have wonderful families and the people we call 'in-laws' are really the best. We couldn't ask for more kind, thoughtful people.

One such person is this cute lady, Jo. Can I just say that she is AWESOME? Joleen is the lovely Raquel's (who we love so much, too) sister. Jo is one of my favorite people along with the rest of her family. Seriously, the Kremin's are fabulous! Anyway, Jo is a CPA and is very good at what she does. She is also the Relief Society President in her ward and just recently spoke at her Stake Conference's Priesthood Session. (Yes, I said Priesthood session.) Anyway, Jo approached me a few months back about wanting to do a traditional Swiss Christmas party with my kids. Just my kids and her. I know. Amazing, right? So, of course, I obliged and the kids were just beyond excited....they were ecstatic!

You can see here, how excited Connor is. This is a picture Jo took and I stole from her blog.

Here is Jo's table set up in tradition Swiss form. Nuts, clementines and chocolate in the middle. Then, you just eat and leave all your trash on the table. The kids could not get over that and kept saying, "Really?" and "Are you sure we can leave it here?"

After this little dinner they got to go see the Mr. Fox movie which my kids thought was a hoot. Connor especially liked it!

While the kids were out, we went and finished our Christmas shopping and went to dinner! It was wonderful! When we came back to Jo's they were sipping hot chocolate and watching Mickey's Christmas Carol-- on of my favorites. I especially like the Ghost of Christmas past and the part where he says, "With yogurt!"

Thanks, Jo for being so wonderful and giving our kids a wonderful Christmas memory. We love you!

Alyssa is HOME!!!!

After serving an 18 month mission in the Californit San Jose Spanish Speaking mission, my little sister, Alyssa is finally HOME!!!! The kids were beside themselves with excitement after Halloween, so we decided to make a chain. It was about 45 links long, and faithfully every day, a link was removed. Here we are with 5 days left!

Here we are at the airport on the kids most favorite part of the entire airport-- the moving sidewalk. I can't tell you how many times they went back and forth on that thing! Thanks to Grandma Bell and Grandpa Harmon for taking them!

Grandma with cute little Wyatt while we're waiting.

Here we are waiting at the bottom of the escalator for her to come down! We are all so excited!

At this point- the view screen on my camera had broken and I was taking all of these blindly. So, no close up, but you can still see her! She's got a huge smile on her face!

The kids are so excited to see her! We are so glad she's home and safe. We just had her homecoming on Sunday. She is so inspiring and a wonderful example. We LOVE YOU ALYSSA!!! Welcome home, sis!!!

Blast from the Past!

I love these pictures from when the twins were little toddlers! SO CUTE!

During one of my Relief Society meetings Brett took the kids to a larger-than-life exhibit of the body. Here are Makenna and McKay inside the colon!

The twins on their first day of pre-school- 2007

Here he comes to save the day!

Here's McKay at his 1st talent show. He was 3 years old. We went to a grand-opening ceremony at the Daybreak Neighborhood. They had a whole bunch of activities including a talent show. No one had signed up. So, this was during the time of McKay's love of "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes." He would sing it anytime for anyone, anywhere. And you just have to understand, his little voice sounded like one of the little mice from Cinderella. It was so, so, SO CUTE! So, I asked him if he wanted to sing his song for the talent show. He said, "Sure!" So we signed him up! There ended up being about 10 other people competing in the talent show- they had piano players and back up music, but McKay just had his own little voice and a microphone. He got up there without a care in the world and just sang. He wowed the crowd and won everyone's heart.

THE CROWD WENT WILD!!!

There weren't any judeges, but the MC incharge said if there were, he would have won, hands-down!

The rest of the time we were there enjoying the other activities, everyone kept coming up to McKay and giving him high-five's and patting him on the back and telling him "good-job". He was happy about it all.

I do have to admit that I was more proud and happy about it as his mom. I think we have a performer on our hands. We'll see.

More nature pictures

Can you tell that I have an incredible view?

Awesome, huh?

Brett's Old Stomping Grounds

In May of this year, we went to visit my Papa. We knew he was getting close to the end, so we wanted to see him and take the kids with us. The last time we had gone to CA before this particular visit, was for my grandmother's funeral, and he was in the hospital, and in no condition to visit. The kids couldn't even go into his hospital room to see him. About 5 months after her death, he was doing a little better health-wise and in a nursing home, so we thought now would be the best time to go see him.


He was very happy to see us, but he was down in spirit. He missed my grandma so much. He didn't get to say good-bye to her because he was in the hospital when she passed away. I've never seen my papa cry, but this visit I did. I held his hand and cried with him. I am so glad we got to see him before he passed away and that the kids got to spend an hour or two each day with him.


Since we were in CA already, Brett wanted to take us a few hours north to where he grew up. San Luis Obispo is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I just love it there. It's a small town, but not too small and the coast is beautiful. This picture was taken at a park that Brett went to all the time growing up. He said him and his brothers spent hours here.

South of the park is a little canal, I'd guess you'd call it. It's not a stream and it's not a river, so we'll call it a canal. Anyway, Brett said he'd wade through this water after school, all the way to dinner time. The kids loved seeing a place where daddy played when he was little.



Connor flipped out when he saw this car. He loves Corvettes and he loves RED! He wanted to get as close as possible without touching it. Brett and I made it very clear: HE COULD NOT TOUCH THE CAR!

This is a huge volcanic rock just off the shore in Morro Bay. It's beautiful. There are lots of little shops and the kids got to talk to a real fisherman on his boat. They thought that was cool.

Here we are at Montana de Oro (Mountain of Gold) The name comes from the gold-colored flowers that grow on the mountain, not a buried treasure, like the kids thought. Talk about beautiful! It was so pretty here...not beaches to swim at but lots of climbing and hiking-- the kids loved it. They had no fear! There were a couple of times that Brett took us into a little alcove and the tide was just fine. 10 minutes later the tide is rising and we're scrambling to get out of there before the water gets too high! A little to much action, if you ask me. The kids didn't mind it at all.

We had just been down in that alcove a few minutes before and had to climb up the side of the hill before we got soaked! Makenna and Brett found a ton of abalone shells down there. She LOVES them and keeps them in a special box at home. Brett used to do the same thing as a child and actually almost drowned looking for abalone. Thank you to his Father and listening to the Spirit, he is here today!

Connor in an alcove before the water came in.

Here are the kids at an actual swimming beach. San Luis doesn't get a lot of swimmers and waders because the water is just too cold pretty much throughout the year. The water was COLD! But, I tell ya, we can't be in California and not go to the beach and get in the water. All we got in were our feet. Well, all except Mickey. The kids were jumping over waves for about an hour. They loved doing this. They would get farther and farther out as their legs got used to the temperature-- like up to their knees. Well, a huge wave came in and with McKay being the shortest, it totally toppeled him. He got put through the tumbler and was soaked! Too bad we didn't get any pictures of that! It was pretty funny, but I felt bad for him. He was freezing! Above being frozen though, the worst part was that he couldn't believe how salty the water was. He kept complaining about salt being in his mouth and nose. Poor guy!

This is a beach house Brett's family used to own. It is right on the beach! Brett's dad gets mad every time we bring this place up. He so wishes that they would have held on to it so we could use it, or so we could sell it for around $1 million! That's what houses go for in that area!

Daddy Daughter Date- a few years ago!

These pictures are too cute to not post. I found these on our computer from a few years ago.
These guys had a blast! How could they not? Brett knows how to dance better than anyone I know.

For reals.