Family Night Downtown

Last night we had a fun family night in Downtown Las Vegas.
We started off with the Fashion Show Mall. Didn't really have a successful shopping trip, but we now remember why we don't go to the mall very often (especially on a holiday week).
Next up we headed to the Bellagio to see the Floral Christmas display. It was so neat.
Of course I forgot my camera, so I had Ryan take a couple shots with his phone.
They had a cool water fountain tunnel (you can see the streams behind the kids)The snowmen were made of white carnations and colored rice and berries
They just had beautiful giant decorations.. it was a fun change of pace for us.The evening ended with dinner at Outback.
The kids are so fun to be with.
I just love to be with my little family.
We are never lacking in laughs or love!

Christmas Through the Years

One of the comments in my last post got me to thinking.... (thanks a lot Kathy)
Do I REALLY have a photo of the kids each year on Christmas Eve?
I mean, can I truly call it a tradition?
So I did some investigating and lo and behold I do!
It IS a Family tradition for us at Christmas. And one that the kids dread.
Ryan even said to the kids this year, when they were mumbling about taking the photo's, that the only way they are going to get out of it is to replace themselves with kids of their own!
(Although, to be honest, I don't think it became an actual Christmas Eve tradition until 1999)
Then I dug a little deeper and found a photo for every year Ryan and I have been married. (Except 1994 - no clue what happened that year).
So here it is.... A slide show of the Dennett's on Christmas Eve from 1990 to 2008

Christmas Eve fun

It's always been a tradition in my family to get together for dinner on Christmas Eve. Most often we have a little Nativity play, but since the kids have gotten older, we've switched to a white elephant gift exchange. It's such a fun time for all of us to hang out with our cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles!

Traditionally on Christmas eve I take a photo of the kids (usually in their pj's) in front of the tree. They tried to escape the tradition this year, but I didn't back down. I captured a fun series of photo's of them and just had to share.
What a joy these two are in my life!

Christmas Wishes

With the packages all wrapped
It's time to stop a while.
To sip some hot cocoa, (with marshmallows)
Just sit back and SMILE.
For the treats are delivered,
The house is all aglow
The cards are in the mail
We even had some snow!
The last advent pocket is open
With the babe placed in his bed
To help us all remember
What President Monson has said.

Find JOY in the Journey
Seek out for the good.
Enjoy every moment,
Just as Jesus would.

For at this special time
When we think of those we love,
Remember how much we are blessed
From our Father up above.

And so a special wish
To my family and friends
Have a wonderful Christmas season
and a JOY that NEVER ends!

Merry Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree

Here's another post that is extremely late...
I took a break on Dec 4th to put up our tree. Actually, the tree had been up since the 1st, but I had no opportunity to get it decorated any sooner. That, and I was having short tree syndrome. I'm so used to our 9 ft tree that this 7 1/2 foot tree, although beautiful, just felt tiny to me. We debated about returning the tree to get a larger one, but it was from Robert's in Cedar City. Ryan braved the store at 6am on the day after Thanksgiving to get us this new flocked tree. I'd always wanted one so couldn't wait to decorate it.
I started the process by plugging in the tree.... aaaaarrrrgh...one strand of lights didn't work. So I spent an hour replacing bulbs to try and find the broken one. No luck, so I just wound another strand on top of the dead one....
Moving on... next I laid out all the decorations I had picked up.
I guess I went a little crazy picking up new decorations in red and silver. I'm so used to buying decorations for a 9 foot tree that I went a bit overboard.
The kids gave up helping when they felt there was no more room for any more ornaments, but I kept going. Filling every little nook and cranny I could find.

Here's the completed Tree

and topper
We didn't get out all our decorations this year, but we couldn't forget the Advent Calendar. I made this when the kids were little. They enjoy it so much even today.
I made this frame a few years ago that is filled with fun holiday photo's of the kids. I added the vinyl letters this year and think it adds a festive touch. I just love looking at photo's of the kids when they were little, it makes me soo happy!The kids put up the stockings and misc Santa decor, Ryan put out some lights outside and today I finished the decor with greenery on the stairway and the nativity set. I think that's about it for our decorating this year. No village, no extras, just what's needed and expected.
The kids seem ok with this plan. Hopefully next year I'll have less projects and more time to focus on the decorating.

Stake Christmas Party

I know...I'm a little behind with posting this, but this party is part of the reason I've been behind on my blog posts lately.
I'm not quite sure how I got involved in this little project... but I'm sure glad it's done. It turned out very well and everyone seemed to have a great time.
I made my famous Chocolate dipped Cream cheese sugar cookies in snowflake shapes,Chocolate covered popcorn and mint chocolate snowflake suckers. My mom came out one afternoon and helped me bang out a ton more desserts ...Brownie and Peanut Butter truffles, Macaroons and Filled Cupcakes (Thanks Mom!)

I was able to pull out most the decorations I used for our ward party a couple years ago. Everything looked so beautiful in the blue and whites.
The Ornaments were created by cutting silver vinyl words on my Cricut and adhering them to the ornament. So fun to do.

Now I can concentrate on my own holiday decorating....(more photo's to come of that)

SNOW DAY!!

No Way! My kids are jumping off the ceiling they are so excited for their first snow day EVER! The chances for this to happen in Las Vegas is so rare....the kids are calling it a miracle.
We plan to hang out and soak in the relaxing Christmas Weather!
Happy Snow Day!

Traditions

Tonight we celebrated two family traditions.
The first is a continuation of Parker's birthday celebration. He got to choose where we went out for dinner tonight. He chose Outback, and my Mom and Dad joined us.
Parker made us promise that none of us would sneak off and tell the waiter it was his birthday. He didn't want the staff to sing to him. So we didn't, but the waiter noticed the birthday card on the table and brought him out a treat anyway...complete with singing!
Parker couldn't get mad at us because we didn't say anything just like we promised!

The other family Tradition we did is attend the Forgotten Carols by Michael McLean. We've rarely missed a year since I was in the choir back in 1995. We all love the story the songs and the feeling we get when we attend this fabulous play. We even watched the DVD the night before to get in the spirit!
After the play, Parker went through the line and got autographs of all the performers. He was a little nervous because when Michael McLean asked him how old he was he said "I'm 10" then had to quickly correct himself to say 11.
It was a wonderful night of Family Traditions!

Happy Birthday Parker

I can't believe that my baby turns 11 years old today. Seems like only yesterday I was bringing my little 5 lb 13 oz baby boy home. Parker is such a sweet little boy. He brings so much love and life to our family. I'm so honored to be his mother.
Happy Birthday my little man!
I love you to pieces!

Breakfast with Santa

Our School's annual Breakfast with Santa was a HUGE success.
We served about 600 people a pancake breakfast. It was pretty fun.
We also took 300 photo's of kids with Santa and the Grinch.


Parker and his friend had a sleepover Friday night and stayed up until 4am! They had planned to help at the breakfast so they didn't get much sleep.
Miranda also slept over at a friend's house and awoke nice and early to help.
This is the first year Ryan was able to attend so I put him to work! He was a fabulous photographer!

My parents even came out and were up to their elbows in Pancake batter and sausages. Thanks everyone for helping out this one last time!!!

Here we come a Caroling

Parker had his Choir Holiday concert tonight. They did a fabulous job as usual.

Parker played the drum for one of the numbers. He did a great job and had such a fun time.I just love nights of fun Holiday Festivities!

Fa la la la la

Parker had his first Holiday Choir concert at the Opportunity Village Magical Forest on Friday evening.
Miranda opted out to spend some quality time with her friends, so we invited Brecken to come along to keep Parker company.
Miranda has had many performances at this magical place and we thought we had done our time. But we put on our happy face and set out to brave the cold weather.
The kids sang wonderfully and when they were finished, Ryan and I were heading for the exit, but Parker had other plans.
With money in hand, Parker and Brecken set off to buy their tickets and raced off to the super slide.
The next stop was the merry-go-round
Aren't those the cutest little buttons
All aboard...
The whole gang's here
We even ran into a celebrity.. (that's Dana Wagner from channel 3 news in the back)
And Parker couldn't leave without one final ride on the Super Duper SlideIt actually ended up to be a fun night. Ryan and I did our fare share of people watching and even walked through the "forest" twice!
The best part of the night was when Ryan turned to me and said
"We need to go to Disneyland....... tomorrow"
OK so we didn't go to Disneyland, but the fact that he's even thinking about it is enough to make me sing...Fa, La La La La!