Family Christmas BASH!

 *NOTE: Christmas party + family = A LOT of pictures in this post!!

The holidays....I LOVE THEM. We had our third annual "Wilkerson Family Bash" this year, but instead of doing the "same ol" thing...I chose to shake things up a bit. I rented the bowling alley, bought a bunch of pizza's and we all came dressed in our UGLY SWEATER'S for a great holiday CONTEST. It was SOOO much fun that I think we might just do it again, and maybe even again and AGAIN!! It was easy preparation and easy clean up, everyone had time to eat, bowl and visit....and someone ELSE got to vacuum up and clean the bathroom when we all left~ NOW thats the way to PARTY!

 Kim and Halle enjoying a little bit of pizza and some "girl chat"

 Mike grabbing a ball to knock over some pins~

 Dayna in her DARLING AFLAC DUCK SWEATER

 Kenron playing legos at the bowling alley

 Erik "sharing" what he had for dinner....while waiting for his turn to bowl 

 I bowled a little, but spent most of my time visiting and taking pictures...I wasn't 

very good with the ball!

 Jack's ball, headed straight for a strike!

 My three boys, not very often we get them all together...life is too busy anymore

so it was so nice to have every single person at the party!

 Dayna and Jack enjoying the night

 Kim showing off her adorable sweater!

 ....and Halle (bless her heart) drops the ball....AGAIN

 Dana and Kenron in their fun sweaters

 Me and the girls.....#2

 ....#3

 ...and the first born

 Cam and Erik discussing bowling technique

 There goes the ball....down the lane

THE UGLY SWEATER CONTEST:

 

 Contestant "Dad"

Contestant Erik (he couldn't find a sweater)

 Contestant Dayna

 Contestant Jack

 

 Contestant Halle

 Contestant "Red Neck" Christmas Cam

 Contestant Mike

 Contestant Kim

 Contestant Dana, Kenron and Todd

 Contestant "mom"

 The entire family in at the bowling alley (some already took their sweaters off)

and the winner is............................

CONTESTANT JACK....WOO HOO!!!

He won the "uGLy sWEaTEr" TROPHY (to be brought back every year) and $20 bucks!!

I'm so glad I have such a fun and quirky group of kids...they are the best!! They make my world turn and I love them to pieces! Can't wait for our next get together! 

Let the painting begin~

We are nearing the end of a LONG 2 year bathroom renovation, a day I've 

waited for an eternity for, or so it seems. I am the kind of girl that likes to have 

everything DONE when a project is complete...in this case where its the bathroom, that means

having all the "extra's done too. I got this vanity from my grandmother years ago and its been 

painted a few times...BUT alas, I wanted to paint it AGAIN, to match my new bathroom where 

it will be my "make up" vanity.

I love "distressed, antiqued" furniture...hence the reason this piece was done the way it was!

WALAA....I LOVE IT!

 This old filing cabnit that I bought at a second hand store will house my hair assecories as well as hair product...so it HAD to be painted to match as well. 

I am loving the way they both turned out and I'm anxiously awaiting when I can put them in 

the bathroom and get the thrill that comes from a finished project...its been a long time coming!

Pictures of the "COMPLETED Project" to come SOON!

La La La....La La La....

Halle is enrolled in the guitar class at school...which she loves. I don't know

if its the "guitar playing" that she loves most or the great teacher

that she has, either way its been one of her favorite classes. 

Every Christmas they put on a music concert, the guitar class plays a few fun

Christmas numbers they have been working on, This year the girls all dressed up like 

"Who's" from "The Grinch that Stole Christmas", the boys dressed up like Mr. Grinch himself.

The concert was a HUGE success and Halle did an outstanding job!

Its so fun watching your kids do things they enjoy and are successful at.

Here's to many hours of practice, lots of blistered fingers and stressful nights learning

new songs........Great JOB Halle!

Presenting "Bye Bye Birdie"...Duchesne High School~

Last month Halle participated in the DHS performance of "Bye Bye Birdie". The kids did an OUTSTANDING job and Halle had a wonderful time! There were months of practicing, late nights studying and tired...feet dragging mornings, but she loved every single minute of it!

This scene with the "sad girls" was one of my favorite!!

Dancing and singing was much of the show...and it was so much fun!

Here's Halle in her "curlers and robe", singing "kids~"

Halle and her friends, Mitchell, Jessica and Hyrum~

It was such a fun play and I got to see it all 4 nights....Every night was just fabulous!

Halle LIVES for drama class every year and is already missing practice and 

spending hours with all her friends working on the play....BUT I HAVE TO SAY, I'm really glad to have our life back, free nights, piano practice, homework before 11pm, dinner together and time to relax. 

Christmas Past...........

The Christmas season is in full swing at our house, my shopping is done,

 the socks are all hung, the Christmas carols 

are heard playing in the background and the projects continue to pile up. 

As I sat writing my "Christmas TO DO list" the other day, 

I paused for a moment and tried to think of 

what I like most about Christmas.....

Is it the songs sung by my favorite artists, is it the Christmas classics that I watch

every year, is it the smell of the evergreens all covered in lights?....

I like all that and so much more!!

I am a person who enjoys reminiscing about days gone by. I have wonderful memories of Christmas's as a child, and I also have many special memories of Christmas's with my children. Growing up as a child, in a house of 6 children with a very limited income didn't mean that we lacked for Christmas presents

or Christmas spirit. My parents always made sure that the season was filled with many memory making opportunities and traditions. Each year we attended our church Christmas dinner and program. We watched the nativity program presented many different people in the ward, sang Christmas carols and waited for Santa to come. Each year we got a small brown paper sack filled with nuts, hard candy and an orange from the Jolly Ol' Elf....oh how I loved my orange. Mom and Dad always bought a case of oranges during the holidays...which is one of my favorite memories. The smell of an orange being peeled still takes me right back to being a kid at Christmas. Another memory I have is going "tree hunting". We always took a big pot of chili, hot chocolate and a load of enthusiasm as we hunted for the "perfect Christmas tree". We usually spent a lot of time in the car, driving down snow packed roads until we came upon the PERFECT tree. Then came the decorating with all the mis-matched decorations made at various stages of our lives, setting up the nativity and other decorations....those were the days. Fun, simple and never to be forgotten. I don't remember many presents that I received Christmas morning but I do remember the feeling of love that was in the the air. All my siblings and I got along for just ONE DAY. There was never a fight or a cross word, it was a "Christmas miracle".

When I started my own family, we carried on some of my family traditions, but mostly started our own. We tried the "tree hunting" thing, but at the time we didn't have a truck so we had to wait until one of our parents went to hunt for theirs and that was usually well into December (which for me is TOO LATE). One year, after we had our own truck, we loaded up the family and went for the long ride into the mountains to find our tree....although it was a ton of fun, cleaning up the sap from my carpet WAS NOT, so I nixed the idea and got fake trees. The kids still talk about that trip with such fond memories that it almost makes me feel guilty for stopping the tradition. We  have a "Brownie", his name is Darby. Santa drops him off at our house Thanksgiving night. He lives with us, makes sure the kids are good and leaves treats and goodies around to remind them that he is watching all the good things they do. He reports all of their good deeds to Santa as well as their naughty deeds...making little kids watch their "P's" and "Q's". Its a tradition that our children, as they leave and start their own lives, have carried on. I love to see these traditions continue. Its fun to watch the things they do with their brownies and how they have made the tradition stick in their homes.

We always have a GIANT, MAMMOTH sized breakfast Christmas morning and invite all of Deron's family over. The kids love it and we continue to do it every year. I used to love watching my little ones run down the stairs to open presents, to watch their enthusiasm bubble over as they found a gift they had been asking for. To watch their eyes light up as they gave Deron and I our sweet gifts that they made in school and see how their faces just beamed. I loved watching them dress up as Mary, Joseph and the wisemen and act out the REAL CHRISTMAS STORY each Christmas Eve, open their Christmas pajamas and head off to slumber...the little things like that are the things that I miss now that they are gone. We still have one at home, one that came home from college (so technically 2 kids here), but they don't get all giddy about running down the stairs Christmas morning, they don't want to act out the nativity and they don't want to play games on Christmas day....life is a little different, not bad, just different. I'm so glad I have such wonderful, happy memories of the Christmas holidays, from the time I was a wee little one until now, being a mom of 6 great kids. Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, to celebrate His life and all that He has done for us. What a wonderful time of year, what a wonderful time to bring His love into our families  our traditions and our lives. 

Crafty Girl Time~

Last Saturday me, my mom, my sister and some of my sister-in-laws, all got together for a FULL DAY OF CRAFTING. We each brought a craft for everyone to make. We laughed, we glued, we painted, and we glued some more...it was such a FUN DAY...blisters, painted speckled clothes and everything!

The cousins hung out doing the "Gungam" (spelling most likely not right) dance and singing karaoke. They kept us laughing for a good part of the day! Its so fun to watch them get together and goof off, play and interact with each other the way that they do, they are such a crazy, wonderful group of girls!

We busily made craft after craft and ended up with some

super cute and creative decor for our homes~

We made these darling little "sock snowmen"...EASY, but so fun to make!

A "Merry Days and Silent Night" sign....

Block "packages".....

A Christmas Centerpiece.....

and these cool Christmas Lace Lights!

We all agreed that a "girls craft day" needs to be held MUCH MORE often.
It was relaxing and fun just hanging out with my family...which doesn't seem to happen
like it use to. We used to plan "family get together's" almost monthly/bi-monthly, but we all got busy with our own families, our own lives and our own stuff and its hard to find that extra minute to squeeze in YET another activity. It was a great day full of lots of fun memories!