Em's First Dance Recital

Emily was so excited for the big day, but I was a bundle of nerves because I knew how shy my little girl could be.

But she surprised and pleased us all from the start to the end with her beautiful confidence and stage presence. She wasn't nervous at all! Costumes for the Christmas recital were dancer's choice, and although my mom had bought a beautiful red and black dress for Emily to wear, she insisted that she had to wear her leotard and skirt because that is what she wears to practice each week. :)

all of the dancers gathered together for the big final dance number

I don't know who was more proud of our little star dancer...mommy, daddy, Grandpa & Grandma Reed, Miss Julie, or Ems herself. Afterwards Grandpa and Grandma Reed took Emily (and the family) out to a yummy lunch at Sizzler. It was a day I know we will never forget.

Neighborhood Christmas Breakfast

our little family at the Neighborhood Christmas Breakfast

My friend and workout partner, Meg, with her son, Brock, and our wonderful neighbors, Alix and Trent with their son, "Baby Isaac," as Jonny likes to call him

Jonny and Brock playing in the primary room

decorating sugar cookies

All finished!

Can I eat it now?

Emily snuggling up to Santa telling him she wants a bunk bed, a bike, and a baby doll for Christmas

Jonny boy

That night, we got together with Fraser, Meg, and Brock for some Papa Murphy's Chicken Gourmet Garlic Pizza (the best food on the planet...right up there with a Cafe Rio Pork Salad or Burrito!)

When I work out with Meg during the week at her house, these funny boys are just like this, laughing and being silly all the time. They have a racquetball court in their house, so Wade and Fraser will play a game or two, while the kiddos play with toys, and Meg and I chat. Or sometimes, during their racquetball game, Meg and I will jump on the treadmill and elipitcal and work out. She's been such a motivating work out partner! I sure miss my old running parter, Kathy, but Meg's the same way in staying positive and always making me laugh during a workout. It's great!

Festival of Trees

The kids and I went with the young women of our ward to the Festival of Trees in December. The displays were amazing! The last time I had been was with first graders on a field trip when I was student teaching in St. George, 5 years ago! Here's Melanie, Jonny, and Ems by the all too cool Curious George tree.

We had just seen the movie, Up, with my family over Thanksgiving, so we were delighted to see this cute display.

the beautiful young women and leaders I'm lucky to serve with

This boy

This boy is always climbing on top of and under things. He and Ollie climbed under the back porch one day during preschool and couldn't stop gigging because they knew they were being sneaky!
This boy loves having his mommy as his preschool teacher, but if I ever have mommy guilt for working(does anyone else get that?) this boy lets me give him frosting once in a while so I can see him smile and hear him say "Thank you, Mommy!" Then it helps me diminsh the guilt because I'll take a lick of the frosting myself and just enjoy the moment and enjoy my son.

This boy also doesn't like to take a bath where I scrub off the frosting that was caked all over his body and get him ready for bed.

Family Photos 2009

I thought I would finally share with you our family photos from November with just the 4 of us. Our friend, Rebecca, with Effervescent Photography, gave us a good deal and did an amazing job.

Thanksgiving in St. George

I love my job for many reasons, one of which is that I can set my own schedule for the school year. So I decided I won't hold class AT ALL the week of Thankgiving so we could spend more time in St. George with my family (9 whole days). Every one of my siblings and their families were there, and it was such a blast! :)Monday night, we had family home evening with my parents and Steve's family. Here's Emily, Katrina, Allison, and Amanda playing the opening song. Steve even taught us the actions to some primary songs. (yeah, he and I are A LOT alike)

Then after the lesson, we all enjoyed Wade's famous no-bake cookies.
On Thanksgiving day, we decided we had to get a picture of Whitney and Alex saying, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" hehe
Wade and Austin hanging out
Ruthanne, Margaret, and my mom working hard in the kitchen
I promise I was helping, too. I just took a quick break to snap some pictures, hence the reason I'm rarely in the pictures on our blog. You know how it goes! ;)
Lizzie and the beautiful Thankgiving spread set up behind her Steve and Jason

Ruthanne, Austin, and my dad watching Wade play "airplane" with Jonny

Funny story about the clown outfit Jonny's wearing...My mom bought it at DI as an extra just in case any grandkids have accidents at her house. It's the cheesiest outfit, and when Emily was playing dress-up with her cousins, Jonny found this outfit in the closet and brought it upstairs so we could put it on him.

Nick and Ruthanne talking while Preston is just chillin'

All week, Jonny wanted to climb a tree, just like the big boys. Wade finally gave in and helped him get up in the tree so he coudl feel "so big" for a 1/2 hour or so. It was the highlight of the week for my 2 year old!

After giving thanks for all of our many blessings, we helped Grandma get ready for Christmas. :)

It really was an incredible week being with the Lang family, and it was one I will never forget because it was then that I heard my friend, John Jones, died after being trapped in the Nutty Putty Cave. Our families go way back since our moms became friends at BYU nursing school. They worked together for years as home health nurses, and we had dinner and family home evening with their family a few times.

We all went to the same schools, and I had the biggest crush on John in middle school. I think he means so much to me still to this day because of the way he treated me, during my most challenging years, when I had such a low self-esteem, feeling ugly, chubby, awkward, and different. He was just the type of guy EVERYONE respected and admired because of his kind nature.

His older sister, Cherie', has been one of my dearest friends since the college married ward when we served in the Relief Society Presidency together. And the hardest part of the weekend was trying to decide whether to leave my family and drive back up north early so I could be there for her at the funeral. I asked Carolynn and Summer for advice, since they have both lost a family member, and they said that she may need me more later on after things have quieted down. So I went to spend the day with her two weeks later. I think we both needed that visit. We had a really good talk and shared testimony of how we know we WILL see John again. She's amazing to me how she's clinging to her Savior and her testimony of Him at this time. I love you Cherie'!

Changes and Leaves

This happened back in September, but I haven't blogged about it yet, and I feel like I should since it's had such a huge effect on me...

After 5 years of serving as the Primary Music Leader in our ward, I was released. I didn't know what to think. I have had that calling since the moment we moved to Salt Lake. Although I'm 27 years old, I felt like I belong in primary. You all know ME. My 3 greatest passions are the Gospel, teaching children, and music. I felt so at home in that calling. For the next few weeks, I cried. a. lot. But my new calling has brought me a different kind of joy. I'm less exhausted on Sundays, but it keeps me busier all around. I'm the 1st counselor in the Young Women's Presidency, and I'm LOVING it. The girls I work with are amazing. They are strong. Some have dealt with abuse, divorce, and death, but they love their Savior and rely on him so completely. It's such a powerful example to me. They're also a lot fun. Whoever thought that teenagers were just as much fun as 4 year olds? (Besides Aliese, who always knew she would teach the older grades, while I preferred to teach the younger ones.)

Anyway, these are some pics from a service activity last month where we raked leaves for some of the elderly in our neighborhood. Of course, after we raked up big piles of leaves, we had to jump in them, too!

Allie

Melanie

Jon and Emily
Emily laid down and said, "Look mom, I'm cute. Take a picture." Can you tell she has a blogging mama? haha
Then Melanie insisted I jump in the pile too, and I'm so glad I did. It was such a blast...until Emily doggy piled on me.
The kids really were a big help. After we raked up most of the leaves, the kids would pick up the last few individual leaves and put them in the bag. Jonny even used daddy's work gloves to help.
Good times!