Snowed in!!

Today we got up and started to get ready for church. The phone rang and church was cancelled! The kids thought I had made it up and Tyra still wondered this evening. They were so amazed that church could actually be cancelled.

This is a picture of the car after it was cleaned. Dad and Hal had it all swept off before I could get a picture. It had probably twice as much snow and it had blown in the snow around it.

Merry Christmas to Elder Roholt's Mom

I have tried to send these videos by email and can't make it work. What am I doing wrong? Anyway, I know Elder Roholt's mom and family will love to see him rocking out, so I am posting them here.

Elder Johnson and Elder Roholt
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There are also a few with Elder Swenson and now I can't make them upload. I am totally challenged! I will try again when Eric can help me.

Christmas at our house...

Slade thought we should take pictures of all the Christmas decorations. He even volunteered to be in most of them.

The Trees

This is the "Relief Society" tree in the living room. I always wanted a pretty matching tree, but now I have to admit that the tree in the family room with all the memories is still my favorite!
This tree has all the ornaments that we have collected. There are even a few from Eric's childhood.
I couldn't resist buying this pink tree this year. Eric is not too fond of it, but Tyra and I had fun putting all the girly ornaments on it.

Brett's tree

Tyra's tree

Slade's tree

The Nativities

The Stockings were hung...

The Villages

Two weeks to sleep in!!!

As I sit here while the kids get ready for school, I realized that I don't have to get them up for school for two whole weeks!!! I don't need any presents or goodies, that is enough for me! Except for Christmas day, I'm sure they'll get me up early. Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Walker

Consider us sitting here singing "Happy Birthday to You!" Hope you had a great day!!

Check out that smile!!!

Today was a big day for Zach. He's had his braces for a little over a year and today he got them off! He looks great. He has to wear plastic retainers all the time for two weeks and then just sleep in them after that. The dental assistant told him he had a rock star smile. That made him smile even bigger.

Date to Spokane!

This is just a cell phone pic, but I had to put it on. We went to Cabella's and shot the guns in the Shooting Gallery. Eric said the winner could have $100 spending money. I went first and got 20 out of 20. With the pressure on, Eric gave it his best shot. However, he only got 18 out of 20! So I got the money and I was able to really stretch it. I got 4 shirts, one pair of pants, photo album with stickers and some jelly beans! It's like I won twice!

Ward Party

Brett has always been afraid of Santa and told me still this year that he would not go see him. He surprised me last night at the Ward Party and was the first in line! He told him he wanted a suit case!?









Slade told Santa he wants Sports Cards. Yeah, he is easy to please!

Tyra didn't want to see Santa until all the older kids decided they would too.
Zach sat on Santa's lap and just made up goofy stuff. Including his own name. Won't he be shocked if Santa goofs on all of his gifts?





Cole is the only one who opted out of seeing Santa. I guess he is waiting for the "real one" at the mall!


Tyra and her friend Ashley played some of their band songs. This is Up on the Housetop. The funniest part of the talent show was when 4 kids were lip syncing to a Chipmunk song. All of a sudden Brett was on the stage dancing in front of them. The whole audience cracked up. I was so embarassed I seriously felt my face turn red. I looked at Eric and neither of us knew what to do. Finally the song ended and Eric went and got him off the stage. Brett thought it was the greatest. He said "Momma, that was a funny dance and everyone laughed." He wanted to do it again, but we kept a better watch on him so he didn't.

Lots of musical performances!

This was a busy week for musical performances at our house. First was Slade's Garden Heights program. He was so excited and definately enjoyed singing. (Thanks to Brett Pack for taking such great pictures for me.)

Next was Tyra's first band concert. She uses my old clarinet and Eric loves to tease me that she is already better than I ever was. She is really good, in fact she is first chair. One boy was second chair and challenged her twice. She won both challenges, so he switched to the trombone! They were supposed to wear the school colors of red and white. She took it very seriously and looked really cute. Eric says she has finally graduated from the "Tammy School of Matching"

Tyra

Zach

Cole

Today Tyra, Zach and Cole all had a turn playing the piano for the shoppers at the Hallmark store. I'm not sure if any of them had practiced enough, but Cole put on a nice shirt and said it didn't matter how he sounded, because he was going to look good!

My Little Drummer Boy

My little drummer boy is big! And he's a really good drummer!!! I remember when Zach started learning to play the drums. He was in fifth grade in Montana. He kept telling us that he needed a full set of drums and could really play them. He only had a snare drum and we were skeptical and wondered if he really could play. We went to his concert and were amazed! He played on the drum set and actually sounded good. I remember getting chills and being so happy for him. Last night was just the same. I got chills again seeing the joy on Zach's face as he was on stage drumming. He looked so happy and was so in his element. In between songs, his teacher, Mr Gish, complimented the percussion section. He said they were all excellent musicians and really rose to challenges. He also said that besides that, they were all really sharp and that was rare for drummers!:) Way to go Zach! You rock!!!

Sorry the pictures aren't the best quality. They are stills from my video camera and we sat clear in the back.

Brett's Pre School Program

We were all so excited to watch Brett in his first Pre School Program. He looked so handsome!! Zach was teasing him before we left and asked him if all the girls were going to be chasing him. He said he thought so!! He sang some in the program, but mostly stood up there swaying back and forth. I think he wants to dance.

After 5 kids, I always felt lucky that my child was not the one on stage picking their nose... well, there is a first for everything.

You look kinda good!

This morning Brett came down and as I was hugging him we had the funniest conversation. This is how it went.

Brett: "You look kinda good." (I was wearing new pajamas!:-) )
Me: "Thanks, you're very sweet."
Brett: "You're sour."

I really like to have pictures on my post, but sorry you'll just have to imagine how "kinda good" I look in my new jammies!

17 YEARS OLD

I can't believe that Cole is 17. He is great! He studies hard and gets awesome grades. He loves Brett to pieces and is wonderful to him. Sometimes I think Brett likes him better that anyone. We are so blessed to have Cole in our family!

The Nativity

Each year our Stake does a live Nativity. They really do a great job with it. Tyra got to be in it this year and was so excited to get to be around the animals. She says her favorite part of the whole Nativity was helping Brother Byington load up the sheep to go home Saturday night. She was in charge of one and was supposed to hold on to it and guide it to the trailer. It started to run and she held on. The sheep tripped and fell and she fell right on top of it. Everyone told her it looked like she tackled it. I so wish I had a video of that whole thing!

Our Four Elves

This is funny. If you can't tell, it is Cole, Zach, Brett and Slade. Tyra thinks it is funny that she isn't in it and is the only one who can really dance!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9579928988

Spagetti Factory

One of our family's favorite restaurants is Old Spagetti Factory. We went there last weekend after a fun filled day of shopping. We had to split into two small tables, but we got to sit in the cable car. Brett had lots of questions if it would move and how they got it in the building etc. Our favorite thing to eat is the Manager's Special--half meat sauce, half mizithra. Yummy! It makes me hungry to think of it.