Hello from Utah!

Happy Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Lots of exciting things happening here in Utah. The boys have been praciticing snowboarding for the big day (the day after Christmas). Today my dad and I took Ben, Alex and Johnathan ice skating. Right now we are all sitting in the living room enjoying each other's company. I thought I would post something to let you all know (all six of you who happen to read this blog) that we were having a nice, happy, merry christmas eve. I'll post again soon with pictures. Have a nice evening everyone.

The Week Before Christmas

Is it just me or does this wonderful holiday cause a serious amount of stress?!! I know that I bring it on myself and that most of this is self-inflicted stress but still. I even decided not to do Christmas cards and I still have a bunch of things to get done, I can't even imagine what my stress level would be trying to get cards in the mail. I got on UPS.com today to get the two packages I had to mail out. It's supposed to be the busiest day of the year today at the post office so I did everything I could to avoid that. I put labels on the boxes and Joy is dropping them off at a UPS location (thanks Joy).

Amanda is coming today! We are so excited to see her. She will be a wonderful addition to our family this week. I'm sure that Diesel will be SO happy to see her and equally confused when she leaves. We'll be leaving to my mom and dad's house the day after Amanda leaves so we'll have a nice holiday together in Utah (we'll keep Diesel busy).

I just finished (last night) a BIG project that involved a lot of pictures so that is a huge load off my plate. Now I just have laundry, cleaning, preschool, a preschool party, wrapping presents, packing, more laundry, last minute cleaning, last minute gift buying and traveling to Utah by Saturday. I'm sure everyone is having the same stress this last week before Christmas. My bigger concern is to keep Christ in Christmas this week for my boys. I just hope they can see the bigger picture through the "stress of mom". That is one of my goals this week is to remember the "reason for the season" and keep it all in perspective. I really to want my children to understand why we celebrate the Christmas season and concentrate on our Savior and not what they are getting for Christmas.

After Friday my boys are on track break until the end of January. They are SO excited they can hardly stand it. I am pretty excited to have them home also. It will be a nice break for all of us. I was talking to Darrel last night and I told him that I was seriously considering taking a trip up to Idaho to see friends and family while the boys are out of school. If I made up the preschool day the week before or week after we could leave on a Tuesday afternoon and go to Utah, then leave Utah Wednesday to go to Idaho. Stay in Idaho until after church on Sunday, drive back to Utah and then drive home again Monday. I know the boys would LOVE to go and I would truly love to go up and see friends and do some serious visiting. We would have to spend at least a day and night at Rashae's house and then work out the rest of the trip, but I am seriously thinking about making that a reality. I haven't even hinted to the boys yet...as soon as I decide for sure then I'll tell them.

Well, I really should get to work now. I have put off the laundry that is sitting beside me for long enough. I complain about being busy and then I post on my blog (because that is more fun than facing reality). Oh well, Merry week before Christmas everyone. Good luck!

Celebrating Alex's birthday

Last weekend we celebrated Alex's birthday with a "scientific" birthday party. We invited a bunch of boys and they did fun experiments, built candy stuctures and had cake and ice cream. Alex loved it (which is really all that matters) - I also think the other boys had a fun time. It was fun to throw the party, although a little stressful given the time of year. We had seven boys here including Alex and Johnathan. They built volcanoes and dicovered how to test if something was acidic or not. We found a lot of the experiments on the internet and others we had in a kit from Walmart.



These are not all the boys who came - we had some who had to leave early for a soccer game.

An update on our family

We are doing pretty ding-dang good. We're getting VERY excited for Christmas here in the Webb home. I have been taking pictures like a mad woman. Everyone wants an updated family picture for their Christmas cards. I've actually only taken two families pictures plus a soccer team but it feels like a lot.

I finished most of my Christmas shopping online this year. It was easier than carving out time to go to the store. I just feel so busy all the time. This month has done a number to me but we're excited for our Christmas trip to Utah. The boys are SO excited to spend Christmas at Grammie and Grandaddy's house with everyone. I have assured them that Santa Claus will know exactly where to find us when he comes Christmas Eve. (All three are still firm believers)

We had our ward christmas party and it turned out nicely. Darrel put together a Christmas/Nativity video that featured the primary and young men and women. He got many compliments on it. The ward party also fell on his birthday and the bishop found out - the entire ward sang "Happy Birthday" to him - he was thrilled :0)

I have two more weeks of preschool and then I have a week and a half off. I am also very excited for the Christmas break. Amanda is coming down this next week to visit us and Diesel and we can't wait to see her. Diesel will be especially happy. He is doing really well and we all love him very much. He is an easy dog to love. We are still anxiously awaiting his duplex but hopefully it will be coming soon.

We decided not to send out Christmas cards this year so hopefully everyone will understand. This will have to be your official update. So here goes nothing...

Darrel is still enjoying his job here in Las Vegas and he is serving in the ward as the counselor in the Young Mens Presidency over the teachers quorum. The boys love him, and he is doing a great job. I am getting ready to lead the Christmas Choir program this next Sunday as the Ward Choir director. I also still have my calling as the Cub Scout Committee Chair. I also am immersed in preschool and photography.

Alex is enjoying fifth grade at his elementary school and just got on the A/B honor roll at school. He turned 11 in November and seems just so grown up. He babysits for us now and it is SO nice. He is good with the boys and we are very proud of him.

Johnathan is in third grade this year and just earned a citizenship award at school. He is a very obedient boy who tries very hard to do well in school. He enjoys being with his cousin Kenneth and if they aren't together the majority of the day they both go into withdrawl.

Zachary is just a kick. He and I hang out the majority of the time. He's decided that he wants to come to preschool now and stay with the big kids. He is really good at coloring and cutting so in that respect he fits right in. The letters and numbers he's not so good at but we are working on that and maybe by next year he will get there. He is also my resident model for photos - he still is a pretty good sport.

Hopefully this was a pretty good update on our family. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year.

another photo session

I took pictures of this very cute family just this past weekend. They were so fun and so easy to work with. The girls were amazing and we got some awesome shots of all of them. Enjoy!

The many faces of Zach

The other day I went over to my friend's photography studio to see how to work the lights. I took my camera and was playing around with the kids in the studio. Zach had some hum-dinger photos so I'm sharing just a few with you. I'll share some more later but here's some to look at in the meantime.

Happy Birthday Darrel!!!

Happy Birthday to you!!!
Happy Birthday to you!!!
Happy Birthday dear Darrel
Happy Birthday to you!!!

I really do have a better picture of my sweet hubby - but I wanted to get this posted ASAP and I didn't have time to track down another picture. Darrel is such a great guy and I love him so much. I know we have a bunch of things going on this weekend, but we'll have to find a time in the near future to slip away and celebrate together. Happy Birthday hon!

just a peek

Just a small preview of the pictures I took this last Tuesday of this fabulous and cute family. We had some interesting and fun times trying to get all this kids looking and smiling at the same time. We ended up with some very cute pictures though, I hope they'll be happy with the end result. I'm only putting up a few so you can see a cute sneek peek. Enjoy!

just look at that face...

isn't he just one of the most handsome kids you've ever laid your eyes on?!! We get to have this cute child at our house for a few days while his family is in Disneyland. I'm actually really excited. He is such a fun and adventurous one. Zachary and I are looking forward to a few fun-filled days with Will.

Have you please

I've been meaning to post this for awhile. My posts are really my own journal. I've never been very good about keeping journals. It's never been one of my strong attributes. I have about 10 journals that I've started and have written in for about a week and that's all. I know...pitiful. But, I digress, I need to write this down so I can remember it later.

Whenever Zachary wants something and we ask him to ask nicely he'll say, "Have you please, I have ... (fill in the blank with whatever it is he wants)" Like the other day he wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and so he said, "Mom, have you please I have peanut butter strawberries." Which is his way of asking for a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich. Funny.

Arrow of Light and Wolf

This past week at pack meeting Alex received his Webelo, Arrow of Light and Johnathan was able to get his Wolf. Both Darrel and I were very proud of them and all the hard work that they put in to be eligible for these awards.

Alex had to walk across this rope bridge when he received his Arrow of Light to symbolize his move from cub scouts to boy scouts. All the boys love this rope walk.

Johnathan was very happy to get his Wolf