We are starting the coolest tradition this year. It’s something we got from December’s Ensign. You’ll find it in the Questions & Answers section on page 12 regarding Advent Calendars.

Anyhoo, what we have done is wrapped 12 treats (candy), one for each of the 12 days before Christmas. Each one is labeled with a a scripture reference describing a gift Heavenly Father has given us.

Starting last night and until Christmas Eve, we will have one of the kids pick a wrapped present. Then for family scripture time we read the scripture reference on the package, figure out what the gift is, and then bear our testimonies of that gift in our lives. Oh, and then we open the present and eat the treats.

In the Ensign article, the author listed the 12 gifts she used this year and we just copied those. I went ahead and found verses that went with them.

So last night, on the first day of Christmas, Heavenly Father gave to us- The Creation.

It was so fun to see the kids get up and bear their testimonies. We are using this time to also teach them how to do it correctly. We even have them stand up in the front of the room. We realized last night that we need to get it on video… especially when Britt and Lister get up and do it. I think it will be a wonderful treasure that we can look back on for years to come.

I also love to see how excited the kids get just to open a gift. Last night was my turn so I opened up a nice bag of miniature Snickers. Everyone got two apiece. They loved it!

So for the next 11 days we’ll be posting our gift from Heavenly Father here to share with you all… sorry we can’t share the treat though.

~Adam

I love Nativity Sets! Every Christmas I hint to Adam that is what I want, but I haven’t got one from him yet. Guess my hints aren’t good enough. HeHe! So this year in my new house I was determine to have one, but being the person that I am I couldn’t spend money on something that I wanted. Until I found a little $2.00 one. It was cute so I got it.

A week later my sister, Marci and Kenny bought me this!!!

It is the Willow Tree set. I LOVE it!!! It is in the living room right next to the Christmas tree. My favorite thing is that Mary is holding her new baby, Jesus!

Thank you Marci! Thank you Kenny!  I love you guys! This means so much to me!

~Melissa

I received this video in an email. I thought it was compelling.

I worry that my children are growing up in a world that emphasizes these values. With 4 girls, I realize how much I need to tell them how beautiful they already are and to build their self-esteem as they grow. It’s part of what I can do to help them battle the pressures that will befall them.

I can only hope that they will win.

But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7

~Adam

Well we had another first this past weekend. We bought some sleds, went to the local elementary school and had a blast. The school has a perfect hill for our young family and there is plenty of room for the neighborhood.

We got some of our footage on film. Here is just a small sample of it.

Can’t wait for our friends and family to come and play with us on the sledding slopes!

~Adam

Kalixta was up at 4:45 this morning and was on her way to Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake. She was admitted and at 7:30 she underwent surgery for two inguinal hernias. WOW!

I noticed an abnormal bump in her diaper area a while ago and long story short, I finally found out what it was. She had two hernias. After the surgeon checked her out I found out she actually had one on each side.

So today we had it fixed. She was a VERY big girl. I was so proud of her! No crying or whining.

Her lungs spasmed a little because of her asthma, but extra oxygen cleared that all up.

This is her after surgery. All she wanted to do was sleep. I wanted her to wake up so we could go home!

Kalixta was ready to go home. She wanted her Daddy and her BoBo (Britain). The hospital gave her the doll on the left to help her fill more comfortable and happy. It did a good job.

I am grateful for Doctors and Children’s hospitals and father’s blessings!

~Melissa

We were sitting down to eat dinner on Monday night when Nik looked out the window and said, "Gee, look at all the bugs."

I thought to myself, "What is he talking about? There are no bugs around in this cold weather."

I looked out the window myself and saw a bunch of "bugs" banging against the window. After further review, I realized that it wasn’t bugs we were seeing but SNOW and tons of it. A good inch had fallen without us even knowing. It was already dark and so we didn’t bother to look outside.

So, we scarfed down our dinner and got dressed. The first thing I did was pelt Nik with about 28 snowballs. I haven’t had that much fun in a while. I even got Melissa when she poked her head out the back door from the kitchen. Oh how I laughed. She didn’t think it was funny. I’ll let her tell that story herself.

So we made a snowman and had a blast. The snow fell all night and I woke up to about 18 inches of snow. I had to run to Home Depot and buy a snow shovel. That is one part of winter that I can tell you I am not going to like. Good thing I got a strapling young son to help. hehehe.

We were bummed that Melissa’s family missed it- and by 2 days. Oh well, next time Marie. You should be glad because I would have pelted you with 628 snowballs if you were here.

Here are some pictures. Click on the photo of Ammon eating the snow and you’ll see tons more. Or you can CLICK HERE.

~Adam

Someone sent this to my email and I thought to share it with you all. I love to hear conversion stories and this one is a great one. I didn’t know who Glenn Beck was but I do now. I loved hearing his words and seeing him get choked up. It reminded me of my own conversion and the moments that I will never forget during that journey. This interview was done on CNN. I hope you enjoy this wonderful testimony…

~Adam

This week has been wonderful with all my family here. One worth much thanksgiving! This day has been very special and I have much to be thankful for so here is my list in alphabetical order:

A Adam, Ariana, Ammon

B Britain, Blogs, Books, BYU

C Christ, Candy, Chapstick, Candles, Charlie

D Doctors, Diapers, Dachshunds

E Extended Family

F Friends, Father-In-Law

G Grandparents, Gospel, Gum, Great health

H Home (MY!), Hot showers,

I Ice Cream, IBM, Indoor Plumbing

J Joey, Jason, Jaime, Jordan, Jeff

K Kalixta, Kenny

L Lotion, Lemonade, Lost

M   Moore Family,  My Mother-In-Law, Marci, Marie, Michelle, Music, Missionaries, Maisy

N Nikolas, Nieces, Nefews Neighbors

O Olives

P Parents, Pacifiers, Pictures,

Q Quidditch

R Red Pines Ward

S School, scrapebooks,

T Temples, Teachers (school and Primary), Thrift Stores, Target

U Uncles, Ups and Downs

V Van (twelve seater)

W Wolf den, Work, Warms Jackets

X X-rays

Y Yams, The ‘Y’

Z Zoë

~Melissa

Ammon is our family comedian. He constantly tries to make us laugh, plus he is at that fun stage of discovering things that is so fun. For example, he was watching T.V. one afternoon and came running up the stairs. "Dad" he said " Chicken nuggets are made out of chickens!! Why didn’t you tell me?!" So now he knows!

Last week he came running up the stairs (he is always running!) to Adam’s office and tells him that his heart is not beeping! Adam tilts his head back and listens and assures him that it is. Ammon let out a "Whew, good, I was worried that it had stopped." Later he told me that Dad made his heart start beeping again by tilting his head back.

Now to the check-up. Monday, Ammon had his normal five year check-up. One of the first things the nurse did was take his blood pressure. She explained that she was checking to see how his heart was beating. (Do you see where I am going?!) She told him to stay really still. As she did it, I told her how Ammon thought his heart had stopped beeping. She was great and played along with him as he told her the story. When the nurse finished she turned to record the numbers and Ammon asked her VERY seriously, "So how’s my heart?" She turned and told him his heart was great and he was going to live and long time. He sighed and said "Oh good." like he had been worried about it for years. It was the funniest thing, just thinking about it makes me laugh.

Ammon is perfectly healthy. He weighs a whopping 36 pounds and 9 oz which is in the 16 percentile and is 3 feet 5 inches, which is in the 17 percentile. Everything about him is great. He got to pee in a cup, something he found very confusing, and got his finger pinched to draw blood. He also got four shots and didn’t cry at all! He is very proud of that. He did, however, limp around the house for two days saying that his leg was broken but at least he didn’t cry! 🙂

Sorry no fun pictures, our computer is down again. I’ll try to put some up later. I have never missed the computer before, but now I HATE going a day without  blogging and checking out my friends’ blog! Who would have guessed?!

-Melissa

Many people don’t know that I am a big Star Trek fan. Actually, a lot do know that. I’d say it’s a good 50-50 ratio. The funny thing is that I got Melissa into it too.

For a while now, I have been watching the DVDs of Star Trek Voyager. It was a Star Trek series that ended about 5 years ago. It has turned out to be my favorite of them all. In particular, I like the character known as the Doctor. He’s not a real person on the show, just some computer program that appears as if he is real. Anyways, the actual actor who plays him has a pretty good opera voice. He has sung a number of times on the show. The other night I saw an episode of a rather silly scene where he is daydreaming and stealing the show with an opera performance to the crew.

I put in on YouTube so that I can share it with you all. It is classic and it’s especially funny if you know the characters involved and understand the Star Trek world. If you don’t, you’ll at least appreciate the song.

Enjoy!

~Adam