December Highlights

 

~ December 2013 ~

*  The month of December always seems to be super crazy, yet super fun.  We hit all the parties and practices that we could.
*  Jeremy and I took the kids to Las Vegas this year for the NFR.  It was a fast but fun weekend.  Trey was able to meet his all time hero, Trevor Brazile and McKenna came home thinking Cody Teel is a pretty cute bull rider.  Ally and Lottie were good about going shopping and hitting the Cowboy Christmas'.
*  I celebrated my 37th birthday in Las Vegas.  We ate at Red Lobster and then Jeremy, McKenna, Trey, and I went to the rodeo.  Rod and JoAnn stayed back with the little girls.  They took them to Walmart to buy cupcakes and party blowers so they could surprise me when we got back to the room.
*  Jeremy drove us home Sunday night from Las Vegas, and then turned around and drove back down to work at the Christensen Arms booth at the Country Christmas at the Sands Hotel.  When we arrived, there was several men with security questioning the salesman that Jeremy was supposed to replace.  What happened was one of the employee with the Sands Hotel stole four of the Christensen Arms guns, by the end of the day, the lady over the show told Jeremy and Javelin to clean up the booth and head home, that they were not welcome at the Country Christmas show.  She was blaming the loss of the guns on Christensen Arms, not her own employee.  So, Jeremy ended up staying the night and going to the Rodeo with Rod, JoAnn and Dillon and then her turned around and drove back home on Tuesday morning.
*  Jeremy turned 40 this month.  I wanted to do something fun and exciting for him, but he had intentions of being in Vegas for work on the actual day of his birthday.  Needless to say, he ended up coming home kind of unexpectedly, so there wasn't anything planned.  Oh well, I worried that if I did surprise him, that it would be pay back when I turned 40, so maybe it worked out okay!
*  There was one full week in December that we had something every single night.  It started off with the Anderson Family Christmas party on Sunday.  Monday, we celebrated Trey's 10th birthday, Tuesday was Christmas Eve dinner at Rod and JoAnn's, Wednesday was Christmas, Thursday was the Okerlund Family Christmas party, Friday was the Dance Works Studio Christmas recital, Saturday was Trey's Little Britches Rodeo, and Sunday was the Donaldson Insurance Christmas party.  Needless to say, come Monday we were all pretty relieved to stay home, because on Tuesday, we had one more party to bring in the New Year!
*  The kids last day of school for 2013 was December 20th.  They had 10 fun filled days of Christmas vacation.
*  Trey and Allyson had their annual GVES Christmas Program.  Both of them have been singing their Christmas songs for weeks now, so it was fun to see them finally perform them.
*  McKenna had her YW in Excellence program this month.  She took photos and a display of things from her Hopi Reservation volunteer project. 
*  Ally danced twice at half time this month with her Dance Work tiny jazz class.
*  McKenna participated in the hoop shoot tryout at the GV Middle School.  She was ranked as one of the top in the school to move on to the next level.  She decided that rather than participating in the final round that allows the kids to move on to the region level, she would rather go to Vegas for the NFR.
*  I has a room mom and helped with Trey's class Christmas party.  It was fun to watch the kids play games, make a Christmas craft and eat snacks.  It was fun for me to go and be with Trey, not only for his Christmas party, but to take treats for the class to eat as part of his birthday celebration.
*  McKenna and Trey had their Christmas piano recital.  They both did a great job, which means all their hard work and time spent practicing has paid off!
*  Trey celebrated his 10th birthday this month.  I can't believe how fast the last 10 years have gone by.  He had a fun day, which started out with birthday pancakes, no school, family birthday party, and the opening of presents.  And to top it off, Marshall was able to sleep over so that made the day even better to hang out with him!
*  We went to the Gunnison 5th Ward Christmas party.  The kids all had their chance to sit on Santa's lap, we enjoyed a great dinner, and then watch the Christmas story put on by the primary kids.  Trey had the part of playing Samuel the Lamanite, while Ally and Lottie were part of the angels.  It was a cute program.
*  Trey had his first sleepover at Shea Anderson's house this month.
*  Jeremy and Trey made a trip to Wayne County to check on cows and fix fence.
*  McKenna went to Halle Bjergaarrd's birthday party.  These group of girls had so much fun sledding, going to the Frozen movie, and then ended with a sleepover.  Why they call it a sleepover over is beyond me, she said they stayed up most the night laughing and playing.
* Our elf on the shelf, Hiccup showed up and watched over us all month long.  It is always so fun for the kids to wake up and look to see what the crazy elf is up to each morning.
*  I love the month of December, it truly brings out the best in all of us.  I try to keep the kids focused on remembering the true meaning of Christmas.  I started the month out with a family home evening to where I wanted the kids to pick out one person in their grade to be extra special too this month.  They all had a someone picked out  and their goal was to say hi to them or even a simple smile, because it is the little things that mean the most.


*****MONTHLY HIGHLIGHTS**********
I decided in January of this year to start a monthly highlight post.  A lot of what I write about may have already been its own separate post with pictures, but so many times there may be something that we do or feelings I want to share that I cannot portray in pictures.  Therefore I have decided to create this monthly highlight for me as a way to record our outings and activities.  Another reason that I have decided to do this monthly post is because for Christmas 2012, my Aunt Janet gave each of the Okerlund grandchildren, a typed copy of my Grandma Helen's  journal.  In her journal, she had just written the little things that she did each day, and oh how it made me feel good when she wrote little things about me.  Not very often did she mention me specifically by name, but to know what she did in the month that might have included me was so fun to read, so with that in mind, I want to dedicate this year of monthly highlight posts to her, my Grandma Helen Larsen Okerlund.  Also, this year I included a picture of each month of the 2013 calendar that Ally made for me for Christmas in preschool.  I thought it would be a fun topper for each month.

Fun Fact about McKenna in 2013

*  McKenna is in the 7th Grade at Gunnison Valley Middle School.
*  She is a beautiful young woman.
*  Her eye lashes are long and amazing.  Now that she wears mascara, she has a lot of people ask her if she has eye lash extensions.
*  She is photogenic.
*  She is obsessed with Justin Bieber.
*  Her dream came true this summer when she was able to see Justin Bieber live in concert.
*  She whistles a lot.
*  She sings a lot and when she is not signing, she is whistling.
*  Some of her friends are Julie Snyder, Abby Jensen, Tiandra Taylor, Taryn Thompson.
*  Her favorite colors are pink and green.
*  McKenna likes to be up to date on her fashion.
*  Loves to have acrylic nails on.
*  Loves to go to Young Women's Activities.
*  Her favorite movie is Justin Bieber, Never Say Never.
*  Is totally obsessed with Justin Bieber.
*  She is 5'3 1/2" tall.
*  McKenna weighs 125 pounds.
*  She is allergic to Zithromax.
*  Loves to SnapChat her friends.
*  McKenna loves to post and look at Instagram.
*  McKenna has an Ipod 5, Kindle Fire, and an Ipod 2.  She loves her technology.
*  She dreams of being famous someday!
*  McKenna wants to marry Justin Bieber.
*  She has a lot of friends.

Fun Facts about Trey in 2013

*  Wants to win a World Championship at the NFR someday.
*  He is a whiz kid at math.
*  Battles mom and dad when asked to read!
*  His favorite app to play on his Ipod is Mind Craft.  It is amazing to watch him build his arenas, houses, tree huts, restaurants, swimming pools, etc.
*  Trey is very athletic.
*  He likes to big brother his little sisters.  For some reason he is happy when they whine!
*  He is in the fourth grade.
*  His best friends are Shea Anderson and Kort Sorensen.
*  Loves to rope!
*  He still likes to build arenas and ranches out of his folding fences.  Usually he builds them so they surround his bed, therefore creating a maze to get in bed.
*  Started roping in the Little Britches Rodeo.  The events he did at Little Britches was team roping, flag races and tried breakaway a few times.
*  All he want to do is team rope!

Fun Facts about Allyson in 2013

*  Ally will occasionally ask, "Mom, why is Justin Bieber so hot?"
*  Draws, draws, and draws.
*  Will set at the counter and coloring in a coloring book for hours.
*  She is signed up to take Tiny Jazz and Tiny Tumbling this year with Dance Works Studio.
*  Loves school!
*  Her favorite princess is Tiana off the movie 'Princess and the Frog'.
*  Ally's favorite color is pink.
*  Some of her words that she says that will put a smile on your face is . . . Homak (for Mohawk), Puckcake (for Cupcake)
*  Loves to get kisses from her dad.  She grits her teeth when she says, "I love your beard!"  Of course, it makes her dad's day!
*  Loves to play Candyland.
*  Allyson is very photogenic.
*  She is good about going to bed and falling to sleep on her own!

Fun Facts about Tyra Lottie in 2013

*  She weighs
*  She is    inches tall.
*  Lottie likes to drink from her sippy cup.  She does this shake test every time you hand her cup to her.  By doing the shake test, she can tell whether or not she needs more milked added to her cup.
*  Loves Dora the Explorer.  Calls her do do do Dora!
*  When asked how old she is, she will tell you 5!
*  Loves our dog Izzy, to the point to she malls her and lets the dog lick her face.
*  She still sleeps in her crib, however most nights, she ends up between Jeremy and I.  (I know, bad habit, but Jeremy tells me it's okay since she is the last!)
*  She likes to pout and taddle tales on who is being mean.
*  Lottie will blame Ally on the little things, like if something is dirty or out of place, she will say "Ally did it!"
* Loves to go to church!
* Of all four kids, she has been known to color on more walls and tables, than the other three put together.
*  Is finally somewhat potty trained (September 2013).  She does however, like a diaper on if she needs to do number 2! 
*  Likes to sing "Do as I am doing, Follow, Follow Me!"  She just sing the follow, follow me, while she does the actions.
*  When Tyra wants to say her prayers, she says, "Dear fauder".  She always wants someone to help her and instead of repeating the short sentence, she always says the last word.
*  Tyra's nicknames are Lottie, Lotsie, Yatzee, Lotters, Lots.
*  Has the natural curly hair in the back.  Her top is pretty straight. 
*  Likes to play in the bathtub.
*  When she pouts, she will fold her arms, put her chin down, and blame someone for being mean.
*  Loves to wear pants when everyone else is wearing pants.  If we try to put her in shorts, she will take them off and go find her pants.  Of course she has to wear her boots with her pants.
*  Wants to be a cowboy for Halloween.  We have tried to convince her to be a princess, kitty, and Doc McStuffins, and she tells us a cowboy.  She has practically wore out the Halloween costume magazine looking at the cowboys!  A definite daddy's girl!
*  Loves to be rocked to sleep.  She will come and get me and say, "Momma, rock-a-me"  How can you pass that up?
*  When she is getting dressed, if her panties start to come down with her pants, she quickly comments, "Don't see my bum!"
*  One morning I wrapped a doll blanket around her neck so it looked like a cape.  I had some towels folded on the floor and she was showing off her jumping skills with the cape one and pretending to be 'Super Why'.  Well in the midst of her jumping, she would announce who she was so this is how it went. . .   "I Super Why, no I Santa, no I Jesus".  I thought McKenna and I would die laughing.
*  She has this bear that we have to take everywhere.  It sleeps with us, goes to church with us, goes for car rides with us.  There is something about the softness of the bear that Tyra loves.   And boy can she get mad if you mess with her bear!
*  Some of her favorite movies are 'Despicable Me', 'Monsters University', 'Shrek', 'Brave', and 'Tangled'.  She will lay on her famous spot on the floor or on the couch and watch movies all day if I would let her.
*

Wrapping It All Up!

Just a glimpse of what the kids received for Christmas 2013!
 

 

 



 

Okerlund Family Christmas Party

One of the best things about Christmas is getting together with family and this year was no exception to being one of the best Christmas' ever.  We decided as a family this year to move the Christmas party from Christmas day to the day after Christmas, which worked out great, plus as a bonus we through our first annual Bingo game.  It ended up being a fun and exciting way to end the Christmas holiday.  Our kids love to get together with their cousins, especially when they have the opportunity to exchange gifts, they look forward to giving as much as receiving.

The party started with our traditional turkey dinner prepared by Grandpa and Grandma Okerlund.  The meals consists of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, beans, rolls, and Grandma's yummy three layered Christmas salad, plus lots of appetizers.  There is always plenty to eat and no one ever leaves this party hungry.   There is always lots of yummy pies for afterwards, but that is always comes in after the gifts are open and everyone has wound down for the day.
 

 

After dinner was served the gifts exchange began.  We started off with the cousins giving to each other.  McKenna received lotion, lip gloss, and a book from Kambree.  Trey received a pair of the popular socks from Marshall.  Ally was so excited to receive real makeup and brush set from Morgan, while Lottie received a cute outfit from Porter.  Lottie gave Tara the doll Anna off of the movie Frozen,  McKenna gave Brynn two necklaces, Ally gave Jaden a iTunes gift card, and Trey gave Cannon a really cute Cars puzzle set.  

 



The kids are always spoiled at this party, especially from Grandma and Grandpa O.  The always have fun opening up their surprises from them.  Trey received socks, shirt, and Duck Dynasty figurines set, while McKenna received a pair of Nike lounge pants, head bands, iTunes cards.  The little girls each got their own really cute book sets with a couple shirts each.   

 

 

After the majority of the presents were open amongst the grandkids and cousins, we were able to present our gift from all of us kids to Grandpa and Grandma O.  I was in charge of putting the gift together year and I had so much fun doing it.  We gave them several gift cards, like a Visa Gift Card, Costco Gift Card, a Cabellas Gift Card, Sizzler Dining Card, Applebees Gift Card as well as a small gift basket full of goodies.  The most rewarding gift though was the old window with personalized vinyl sayings on it as well as the magnetic tree with photos of all the grandkids on it.  

 

 

After all the opening of the presents was done, Lottie decided she wanted to be a present.  Somehow she and got Trevor into gifting, she seemed to give the gift that keeps on giving. It was fun to watch Lottie and her expression every time she was opened up!
 

 

 

 

This year we decided to start a new tradition and play bingo.  This ended up being so much fun for everyone.  As you can see below, there were a lot of prizes, this way everyone would walk away as a winner.  Each family was to spend $30 in prizes, whether it be one big prize for $30 or numerous prizes for what ever $30 would buy.  Grandpa and Grandma went above and beyond for prizes, they had prizes of all sorts of sizes, they had stuff for adults, teens, and the younger kids.

 

This game of bingo is a game that Tyler and Ashley have played at some of their other family parties, so they took charge of calling out the numbers and keeping everyone in line!  Everyone received their own bingo card and a pen to stark keeping track.  It wasn't long before Jason was the first one to callout BINGO!  After that, a few more numbers were called out and soon we had several winners.  We then started with new cards over and over, which made the game that much longer.  The fun thing about the game was you could pick a prize from the middle or steal a gift that someone else had already been opened.  Some of the prizes that kept being stolen was the large candy bags, clay pigeons, necklaces, lotions, and games.  Everyone loved it!

 

 

Our little family made a haul at this year's bingo game.

It is definitely a tradition that we all vote to play every year at Christmas.   

 

One of the best Christmas presents that we got as a family this year was a baby Erin.  This little doll was born to Tyler and Ashley on December 2nd and we are so fortunate to get to spend Christmas with her.  We all had to take turns holding her, fighting over who would get to hold her next!

A huge shout out to Grandpa and Grandma O for such an awesome Christmas party.  We are already excited to see what next year's party will bring!

 

Christmas Day

Well after a night of not much sleep, 7:00 am seemed to roll around pretty quickly.  However, there isn't anyone in the house that is more excited for Christmas than this mom.  I love Christmas morning and always have since I was little.  I remember struggling as a little girl trying to settle down enough to finally get to sleep and now that I am an adult, those feelings have not changed. 

 

But lucky for us in this household, I have four kids that share that same excitement!  The anticipation of walking around the corner to the family room on Christmas morning just brings butterflies to your stomachs!  Just watching their first reaction is priceless.

 

 

 

Santa Clause must has dumped his sleigh in our front room, because these kids got everything they asked for plus some.  But isn't that what Christmas is all about, the surprises just add to all the excitement.  I just love the magic of the day.

 



 

 

 

Shortly after we had all the presents unwrapped, Grandpa Rod and Grandma JoAnn, Rick & Kallie and Dillon walked down to see what the kids got.  I think Rick and Dillon act just like little kids again, they love to get in and play with the toys from Christmas morning.

 

 

After seeing all that the kids got for Christmas, we went up to Rod and JoAnn's for their traditional Christmas morning breakfast.  Everyone loves biscuits and gravy, quiche, bacon, and orange juice.  Afterwards, the kids wanted to head back to home to play with their stuff.

 



 

Lottie was wore completely out, so she cuddle up with her bear, blanket, and pillow and before we knew it, she was out.  This was of course one of her four naps she had today.

 

McKenna wanted to mix something up in her Easy Bake Oven. She told me a while back that she really wanted one of these when she was little and for some reason Santa never did bring her one, so fortunately enough, Santa surprised her with one this year.  She and Kallie made chocolate chip cookies, and let me tell you what, they were no bigger than the size of a quarter. 

 

And of course, you got to let the boys be boys.  Rick, Dillon, and Trey went right to work putting together the Playmobil farm set that Santa brought Trey.  There were sure a lot of pieces, so it was good they all worked together.

 

After a while, we decided that it would be fun to go see what Eric and Jenna's kids got for Christmas, so we all loaded up and made the trip to Genola.  The kids were all sound asleep when we hit the road, the morning already had wore them out! It was so fun to hang out with them on Christmas Day.  The kids were able to exchange gifts and then had plenty of time to hang out with their cousins.  It was a nice break for the adults just to sit and visit.

 

 

 

 Back home we made it, which meant back to playing for these kids.  All four of them had so much fun going through all their stuff and playing with their stuff together. 

 

Once it started to get dark, we make our traditional trip to Salina.  We always go to Kim and Darlene's for dinner on Christmas Day and then end up making a final stop at Justin and Tammy's to hang out with them.  I love Christmas, but more than anything I love what Christmas represents as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.  May we always remember the holiday is more about his presence than all the presents!  Merry Christmas.