OUR MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY BIRTHDAY

I finally am getting around to adding some pics from the holidays!!! We had a nice and quiet Christmas and like a lot of you we got a lot of snow!!! It still looks like a white Christmas out there. I thought for sure Ciara would love all of the wrapping paper, but she didn't quite get it this year . . . . maybe next year?! Ky, Dal and Ciara came to our room at 6:04 am Ciara saying "present, present" over and over. I think the kids may have woke her up so they could get out to the presents. There was a doll stroller for Ciara that was sitting next to some gifts that was for Ciara and as soon as she saw it she didn't care about anything else. She just wanted to sit in it!!! I finally pushed the stroller with her in it to her presents and she opened one but eventually Dad ended up opening her gifts for her. Ky and Dal enjoyed their Christmas and Dallin has barely put his MP3 down since then. Ky is at the age where clothes make the best gifts and other teenage kind of things. It makes shopping for her super easy.

2 days later we had Ciara's 2nd birthday!!! She understood opening gifts better so she opened her gifts but once the paper came off she would just want to play with whatever she opened! It was a lot of fun and very cute. She had her 2 year check up on Friday and it went well. The doctor put her in the 66 percentile of her height and 3-5% of her weight. Not to worry though, all of our kids are tall and thin. She is healthy and developing normally, and to me that is all that really counts anyway.

I hope everybody enjoyed their Christmas! And are you ready for another New Year? It seems like each year goes by too quickly. I'm not one who really sets goals for the new year, they are just always on going. I do hope we are able to finish most of our yard this year though!!! ( Good Luck to Us! )

Have a great and safe New Year!!!

Christmas Photos

MERRY CHRISTMAS

We would like to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas!!! Our Christmas Eve has been kicked off with a tradition of the kids opening their Christmas PJ's. This year Grandma Osborn made them and they were very excited for them. Ciara even wanted her picture taken! (WOW!!!)

We hope that you all have been able to enjoy the spirit of the season. I wish it was always so easy to focus on this special spirit. I am so grateful to celebrate the birth of our Savior and to remember the greatest gift that has ever been given to mankind. We are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives, and are blessed each day because of the gospel. I am thankful for our Savior and his great sacrifice and what it means to each of us and that through the atonement we will have the wonderful opportunity of eternal families and eternal joy! I can't think of anything greater than this gift of an eternal family .... even on the not-so-great days!!! May your Christmas be filled with joy and peace and we wish you a Happy New Year!

Love, The Ogden's

THE OFFICIAL START

Of the crazy Christmas season began about 2 weeks ago. I know it is crazy for everybody but we are normally pretty relaxed during this time, until this year. I thought that we were good this year so we signed the kids up for hunter safety. The class began last Tuesday. Not the best timing but thought it should be okay, then it happens . . .

Ky has musical theatre practice everyday after school!

Ky also has a dance concert, orchestra concert, and school play!

Dallin has basketball games!

Throw in a church calling, activities, and meetings!

Mix in a little hair appointment

and top it all off with the FLU!!!

That's the way it goes though right! Needless to say that our Christmas season has turned quite busy and I'm so grateful today is the last day of school (at least for a couple of days) and that I already finished my Christmas shopping! PHEWWW

Early Monday morning Ciara woke up throwing up and continued to do so for the whole morning and most of the day. Every time that we thought she was getting better she starts throwing up again. Apparently last Sunday the Nursery leaders had to send some kids home because they were throwing up, I guess that was just a little late!!! LOL She woke up in the middle of the night again this morning throwing up again and this time she got company from her big brother. Dallin now has the flu too and that is the way to start Christmas break! If you've got to be sick it's better to find it out at home rather than at school.

Ciara thought that she wanted to eat this morning so I made her some oatmeal and she had a pop-tart and she was just sitting in her chair staring into space. I could tell she was so tired and tried taking her to lay down but she did not want to leave her chair. Finally after about an hour she fell asleep in it and I tried moving her again and she still did not want to move, so she took a nice long nap in her high chair for about 2 hours! I guess she will sleep somewhere besides her bed if she has been sick for several days!

I do enjoy this time of year so much! Even the craziness and the sickness because it is still great to just feel the great spirit that everybody seems to have.

CHRISTMAS BOX SATURDAY

Have you all read the "Christmas Box" by Richard Paul Evans? It is a fabulous story with a wonderful message. I first read the book years ago when it was new and read it at least once a year (usually around Christmas). I love the message but now it has new meaning for our family. The book talks about a statue of a angel child in a cemetery in Salt Lake. This angel actually exists there, the original was destroyed after a flood, but after the book it was built again and placed in the cemetery. This angel is dedicated to all parents who have lost a child. They have since built more and have had them placed at cemeteries all over the world. The one closest to us is in Baby Land at the Spanish Fork Cemetery.

Each year on December 6th at each of these statues there are services held for anybody who has lost a child. We attended it last year while our wounds were still fresh and did it again this year. It will be our family tradition for a long time I'm sure. It is nice to be able to go there and have others there that know and understand your feelings of loss and to just remember. There is always a speaker, a musical number, candle lighting and moment of silence, and then we each place a flower on and around the angel. It is a beautiful and peaceful ceremony. If you are aware of others who have lost a child I would recommend that you share this with them. Click here to find a location near you.

Also on Saturday we did some family pics. I have a friend who has an awesome talent of photography so we had her come to our town to take some pics. We don't very often look at our town and think it's pretty, actually I don't think anybody has ever thought that, but it does make for a great back drop for pictures. Especially if you like old, outdoors, and farm kind of stuff. As you know Ciara isn't picture friendly and Saturday was no different, but I have gotten to see a few of the pics and they are FABULOUS!!! Yes I really said fabulous! Here are a few of them.

All right, so anybody else wanting some awesome pictures too?

Here is where you need to go...

Kristina Curtis Photography

You can see some of her other work there as well. It is all really great!!! And pricing is really great too!

THE SPOTTED ZEBRA BOUTIQUE

Have you heard of

THE SPOTTED ZEBRA BOUTIQUE?

If not then it is time to head over to their website

http://www.thespottedzebraboutique.blogspot.com/

This is the next Craft Fair I am participating in and I am super excited!

Check out their other vendors, because there will be some super cute things there.

You will find some fabulous things that will make super Christmas presents!

They are also doing a GIVE-AWAY each day until the fair next Friday!!!

Log on to their website for details!

Today's give away is some of our hair clips!

Be sure to check back each day for a new give-away!

Map of location

THE CHRISTMAS TREE

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had a very enjoyable and quiet Thanksgiving at home. Randy's dad had brought us a large turkey breast roast a couple weeks ago and I decided to use that for our Thanksgiving turkey. I knew I would be busy getting ready for the craft fair and didn't want to spend hours and hours in the kitchen. I was worried about it though because I am one of those who bastes the turkey every 30 minutes and this turkey is suppose to cook in the bag. It was the most FABULOUS turkey I've ever had! It had a great flavor and was very moist and tender! I don't think I will be doing a whole turkey again.

It is a family tradition to set up our Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, so we pulled everything out last night. We got the tree set up and Ciara was loving it!!! This is when it starts to get fun for her too. She walked around with an ornament for about 15 minutes trying to find a place to put it on the tree and then she would put it on and take it off and look some more. It was so cute. Ky and Dal had a lot of fun watching her too! Then when I pulled out the tree skirt she got really excited. She said "oh pretty dress!" I laid it under the tree and she immediately laid down on it and pretended to go to sleep. Then she grabbed her blankets and went back to just lay there and stare at the tree. First thing this morning she wanted the tree lights back on. She really likes the tree. Last year she loved the ornaments and trying to chew on them, but hopefully this year they will stay in one piece!