A year in review...

Wow... another year over! It seems like 2009 came and went so quickly! I can not believe that it is over already!

I have been looking back on the year, and for the most part, I am ready for it to be over! At the same time, it means I am a year older & my kids are a year older! Not sure which of those makes me more sad!?!

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Here are a few stats from our family in the year 2009:

5 - Months it took Mat to find and start his new job

20 - Lbs I have gained since we started the journey of moving (Thanks a lot stress...and chocolate)

4 - Teeth lost by Kathryn

2 - Binkis taken away by the Binki Fairy

3 - New Church Callings (Ashley - Librarian first, then Primary Sec. Mat - Deacons Adv.)

100 - Posts blogged!

1 - New Niece! Yay!

4 - School Plays Kat was in

8 - Visits down to Vegas by Family and Friends (we were pretty lucky!)

3 - Trips we were able to make up to Utah!

2 - Place Kat got in Reflections for her Photos

14 - Days of consecutive crafting

126 - Posts made in 2009

3724 - Miles put on our car just driving up to Utah!

8 - Wedding Anniversary!

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I hope the next year brings lots of Joy and Happiness to all of our family and friends! I think it has been a rough year for most, and hopefully it gets better in 2010!

Wilson Fam Christmas

Christmas Morning!

Merry Christmas!
The girls slept in until about 7:30am! That was a great way to start the day! When Em woke up she didn't even remember that it was Christmas, which was fine with me! I was able to kind of get myself ready for the day! When Kat woke up, she definitely knew it was Christmas morning! She got everyone up and ready to open presents! Once Em remembered about presents she was hard to keep out of the room where they were!

The girls were very excited to see if Santa had come and brought them some gifts!

Em got a new bike! She has been asking for one for months! While we were opening presents, she kept getting up and running into the hall where we had put the bike. She would ride it up and down the hall until we called her back in to open up some more presents!

She also got the Tinkerbell Treehouse she asked Santa for!

Grandma and Grandpa got her lots of clothes (that she desperately needed!) and the new 'Tinkerbell' movie!

Kat got 'Disney Channel Sing It!' for the Wii! I don't know if she was happy or not!

I think she was!!!

She also got clothes from Grandma and Grandpa!

After opening presents, we got ready for the day and then headed over to Great Grandma and Grandpa Wilson's house with the rest of the Wilson siblings.

Grandma and Grandpa Wilson always give the girls gifts. This year Kat got a daring sparkling scarf! And Em got a cute outfit! So sweet of them!

Silly Sarah!

Christmas Eve Night

It has been a Chugg Family tradition to go to the movies on Christmas Eve for about 20 years now. This year we went and saw 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel'. It wasn't the best movie ever, but the girls liked it and the songs were fun!

After the movie, we went home and the girls got to open one present - new jammies! Another Chugg Family Tradition! This year I picked out and bought all of the jammies for my family and my parents since we stayed with them.

My mom acting sooo surprised!

Mat always has the dumbest faces in pictures! He does it intentionally, so I will intentionally post it on my blog! :)

My mom and I had matching jammies.

Mat and my dad also matched! How cute!

The girls didn't match exactly, but they were the same color.

We were then off to dream of sugarplums!

(The adults really went and spent an hour or two wrapping all of the presents!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Eve Morning

Christmas Eve is my niece, Ellie's birthday. We usually go out to eat for breakfast as a way to celebrate her birthday separate from Christmas Eve festivities. She usually chooses IHOP - it's her favorite! We got up early and met Jen and the girls along with their Grandpa Dan at the Layton IHOP. We had yummy pancakes and waffles! Mmmmm!

After breakfast, Mat and I headed out to the 'Greats' in North Ogden. First we stopped by Great Grandma and Grandpa Chugg's house. We had a nice visit with them and the girls got cute lap pillows for the car rides! The girls also got spoiled with treats and little special somethings that Grandma has been saving up for them from all of the parties and fun events we have missed out on!

I love my grandparents so much! I know that they are getting older, but they are still pushing on and I am grateful that we are able to visit with them!

We then headed to Grandma B's house. She is so cute! She has had surgery on both knees in the past year or so, and she is still up and running (ok, not literally!) around!

(I left the camera in the car - dang it!)

We had a nice visit with her and Mat's Aunt Jan. The girls got princess snow globes from Grandma B! Thanks for the singing toys! :)

Grandpa B happened to be at the barn feeding the cows, so we were able to see him and chat for a few minutes in the cold! Usually we have a hard time tracking him down at Christmas, so it was good to catch up with him! The girls thought the cows were pretty disgusting! I just thought it was freakin' cold! Love the Utah winters!

Work Wives!

We met up with Mat's old co-workers on Wed for lunch at Olive Garden! Tiff, Melissa (with her babe Ronan), Bob (hiding in the back), Mat and I, and Karissa (holding Ro's Avatar toy!).

We had fun visiting and catching up.

I call the girls Mat's 'Work Wives' because he was with them at work more than he was at home with me! :) Plus, they would dish to him about all sorts of stuff and he would try to give them advice on things!!! They are all sweet and I have enjoyed getting to know them. Too bad we moved away, other wise I would get to dish to them about Mat! And I am sure he would love that! :P

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Wednesday night I got to meet up with my BFF's too! Kara, Kristin, and I went and got some Chinese and caught each other up on everything! Then we went back to Kristin's house and hung out and watched some good ol' MTV! It is nice to be able to hang out with people that I have known for so long and feel so comfortable with! Every time we get together it is just like ol' times. I love these girlies and am so glad that we are still BFF's!

Soup's On!

Tuesday night we had some fun with Danny, Jen & the girls! Ellie, Ryan and Izzie came over to play with Kat and Em at my mom's house. The cousins haven't seen each other for a while so it is fun to see them play together! Ellie and Ryan have gotten so tall! And Izzie is as silly as ever!

After they played for a while we had yummy Baked Potato Soup that Grandma made in red and green soup bread bowls! It was yummy and warmed us up on a snowy, cold night!

Silly Izzie! She is so funny! She makes crazy faces every time you try to take a pic of her!

After dinner we drove out to see the lights at Layton Park. We stayed in the car and drove around! It was WAY too cold to get out of the car! (Yes, our blood is much thinner from living in Vegas!) Then we all went back to Grandma's house for hot cocoa! It was a fun night spent with Danny, Jen and the girls!

Christmas

Today at church we had our Christmas Program. The chapel was full an the overfill was overflowing! There were a lot of faces I had never seen before and many familiar ones too. I was amazed at the turn out! The program was filled with mostly songs about Christmas and Christ. I love Christmas Songs and Hymns. I think music speaks in way nothing else can. Music can soften Spirits and bring emotions out that you didn't know you had. The Senior Primary sang "I wonder when He comes Again" and it made me tear up!

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After the program, the Bishop stood and gave his thoughts on the Season. His mother passed away last week and he told how he was so sad the first half of the day she passed. It was the same day as his dad's birthday. He then realized that his mom was now with his dad and that they were celebrating together. He spoke about how Christmas is more than a holiday celebrating Christ. Christ's birth is one of the most important things that has ever happened to this world, and to us. It is part of the plan of happiness, the plan of Salvation. Christ's birth was an important part of the Plan. If He would never have been born, He could never have taken on all of our sins and Died for us!
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I have been thinking a lot of Mary this week. I can not imagine what she went through in her lifetime. She has to be one of the most courageous women ever to have lived! She was visited by an angel and told she would carry the Savior of the World! She gave birth in the lowliest of places! I can not imagine having a child in a stable! With no doctors, no friends, no family but her loving husband, Joseph. To also know and understand that her beautiful Son would have to die to save us all! The love that Mary had for her Son, for her Father, and for all of us! I believe she had to love us almost as much as Jesus did! To give her Son to die for all mankind! Simply amazing and courageous! As a mother myself I can not imagine all that she went through! I think there is special place for her in heaven!

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I love my Church calling. I am the Sec. in the Primary. I serve with amazing women and beautiful children! I am mostly a 'behind the scenes' kind of person. I don't conduct or do Sharing Time. I do a lot of stuff that no one really ever knows about. But the Children in Primary have touched my testimony in so many ways! They are so smart and so amazing! Their testimonies make mine grow every week and I love each and every one of them! I am grateful to be able to serve them and hopefully help them become stronger in the Gospel!

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I am so thankful for this time of year! What other time can you openly rejoice for Jesus? What other time of the year can celebrate with strangers and friends alike over something religiously based? The world tries to take Christ out of everything. You have to censor things at work and at school. But during the holidays, it seems that the censoring is lightened and we are all brothers and sisters celebrating Our Saviors Birth! Some may not understand the importance of it. Some may only celebrate for the trees and the presents. However, maybe, just maybe, we can help change that a little with our testimonies of Christ,with our examples of love, and our message that Christmas is more!

Merry Christmas!

It's Over!

I give up. I thought I could do it. I thought I would be able to stick it out. It seemed easy in the beginning, but as the days went on, it got harder. I can't blame anyone but myself. I guess I got a little lazy. Life got in the way and I couldn't keep up.

No more days of Christmas Craft.

I got to 14, I figure that is pretty good. Right?

Kind of like the 12 days of Christmas, you can only come up with so many ideas!

The girls were kind of over it too. My ideas became too similar, and it wasn't worth it!

Life is a little hectic this week. Work, Primary, packing for Utah, finishing up Christmas shopping and all things Christmas-y! I am sure we will still get in some more Christmas crafts, just not every day!

No excuses, I got lazy. That's the bottom line.

14th Day of Christmas Craft!

On the fourteenth day of Christmas, my girls made for me....

Popsicle Trees, Stars, and whatever else they could come up with!

Originally I had planned on making the Christmas Trees from Family Fun Mag. But the girls were actually into crafting today, so I let them go with it and be creative.

Em wanted her 'E' for her name. She also wanted a 'sparkly' star. (No surprise there! Glitter makes everything Fancy!) She also wanted to make a ladder!?!? So I helped her put together a ladder!

Em has so mush concentration while she is paining; it is so cute! She bites her bottom lip a lot when she is working!

Kat also made an 'E' for a neighbor girl that she decided to do a 'secret elf' thing to. Her name is Elise and Kat designed it specially for her! :)
Kat also did a Christmas tree, decorated with stickers. A picture that says 'I <3 U' for me for Christmas! A 'sparkly' star for the tree. And a house. It doesn't look like a house, and it took a ton of guesses before I figured out what it was suppose to be! But YAY for creativity! :p

It was a good craft day today. They painted and crafted for more than an hour! And even though I needed to be cleaning, we had a good time. It really is fun to craft with them. I love seeing their ideas and what they come up with. What I will do with all of the wonderful 'treasures' has yet to be seen!

13th Day of Christmas

On the thirteenth day of Christmas, my girls made for me....

(Yup, we are still going! I haven't given up yet!)

Mini Felt Stockings!

We got a pattern off of the Family Fun website. We hot glued the pieces together and the girls decorated them. Kat is going to use hers for a 'Secret Elf' gift. She is giving it to a friend of hers after we fill it full of treats.

Em made hers like a snowman. That's what she told me and I guess I can see it after she was done with it! I am sure she will play with it for her barbies or something!

It was a fun Sunday afternoon craft. Only took about ten minutes for me to get the pattern, cut them out, and glue them together. The girls are getting crafted-out I think. They only glued and glittered for about ten minutes. Might have to come up with something a little different for a few days!