Christmas time 2009

Christmas Eve...

Festivities started at Grandpa and Grandma Trumans. We ate great soups...


...the kids got dressed for the nativity


...and we all enjoyed the show...
Lucy was Mary. She was so sweet and gentle, the perfect Mary!
The Nativity...
Here are two of the wise men, Sam and Abby. We didn't have enough boys, so Abby volunteered to be a wise man! You are awesome Abby!
Then, home to open our new PJs and get ready for bed...

Christmas morning!!!






I think everyone was happy. Especially these girls. They scored with the make-up and dress up clothes! In fact Jessica wore her dress up clothes and crown the whole day!
After presents we headed back to Grandpa and Grandmas for breakfast and the cousin present exchange.
My ears hurt just looking at this picture of her clip on earrings that she wore most of the day!
Mark's parents gave him and each of his siblings a bound book of all their mission letters (all five of them served missions.) The books include the letters that they wrote home and also the letters that the family wrote them each week. It is such great history to have! I can't wait to read it and it will also be so great for our kids to read someday.

Mark and Zach enjoying their gifts...
Bowler Christmas Party

Saturday we headed up to Gunlock for the annual Bowler Christmas party with Mark's Aunts, Uncles and cousins. This is something we look forward to each year. We ate (of course) and played games. Game number one was Family Feud.

Then the younger kids (the second cousins) played the present game...

And then the first cousins played the game...

In the Bowler family, the Christmas party always ends with group pictures. To get a group shot, we put the cameras on a table and set the timers. My camera didn't go off with the others so I had to reset it. It still wasn't working so just as I was running to check out the camera, it went off. This was the first shot. I love every one's expressions! :)
Here's the second shot, I just had to fix my hair a little! :)
Phew!! Here's the gang! We got it!
The Christmas season is over. It makes me sad every year at this time when we take down the Christmas decorations and the house feels a little empty. But I look forward to a new year, to new goals and new experiences. I also know, from experience, that Christmas will be here again in a blink of the eye! Merry Christmas 2009!

Macco Bowl....BYU vs. Oregon State

The game was last night here in Las Vegas. Someone gave us tickets to the game. Mark had to work late so I took the oldest three kids. They also had some friends there. It was FREEZING!!!
We also got passes to go on the field before the game.
That was fun for the boys to be so close to those huge guys!

We were really right next to them as they practiced before the game.

It's funny because these pictures almost look like I photoshopped them into the picture, but I didn't. :)

Service men from Nellis Air Force base rolled out this HUGE flag to cover the whole field during the National Anthem. It was awesome. The only problem was the wind was soooo strong it seriously almost blew away. The service men were holding on with all their might. BYU band members even joined in on the side to help because it was so hard to hold.
We blew the Beavers away! It was great!!
GO BYU!!!

The Week Before Christmas....

There were lots of school activities, as usual. Gingerbread houses in Tommy's class (and all of them, but this is the only one I attended.)

Megan's singing program...

Megan's cute Kindergarten class...

...and her teacher, Mrs. Pavlov. She is the most amazing Kindergarten teacher.
Here's Sam's program...
and I attended Tommy's program (all the kids programs were on different days!) but the memory card on my camera is defective and I can't get the pictures off. But he did a great job!

Then Friday we did our "last day of school before Christmas break" tradition. Every year our kids have a half day and Mark is off, so we pick them up from school and head to the mall to see the "real" Santa. Santa even said to us, "Wow, you guys again? You have been here every year!" He started at this mall 6 years ago and we have been there every year. Just wait until our kids are all teenagers sitting on his lap! Ha Ha!
We had a great time. We saw Santa, ate lunch, watched a little Santa show and the kids LOVED walking through the mall. I know we are quite a show to watch because they don't just walk, they act like they are at Disneyland. They run, play and have a great time. We also stopped in Brookstone and they kids had a blast trying all the cool gadgets. I think we were in there about 45 mins. Thank goodness the workers were really nice. It's amazing the things that will entertain my kids.....man, we really need to get out more! :)

Truman Orthodontics Christmas Party

This year, Mark's staff (and spouses) just wanted to go to dinner and come back to our house for games and dessert. Mark is so lucky to have such great staff. They are great workers and a ton of fun!We played the present game. There were a lot of laughs...
And a lot of attempts to get the gift card in the last box...

I don't usually win many things, but wouldn't you know, I won!
We also played, "Let's Make a Deal." Mark was a host with all the cash...
Some of the couples had a hard time deciding which offer to take...
But again, there was lots of laughter!
We also played Battle of the Sexes (girls won) :) And the staff did a gift exchange.

Oh yeah, and we ate a ton of dessert!
It was such a good time!

Matchy-Match Cousins

I just picked up Jessica's cousin for a play date and she had on the EXACT same outfit as Jessica! What are the chances???

Basketball

The season is over. Mark coached Tom's team again. They were the Celtics.

Way to go boys!

He had his last game in this league and the same day had his first game in a different league. Mark is not the coach, but Tommy has a great team. He is now part of the Cougar team. GO COUGARS!! :)

Christmas Lights

We put up the Christmas lights a couple weeks ago.

Just like last year, Rachel was up helping her dad.

But unlike last year, all the other kids wanted to get up on the roof too.

So they did.
I promise, the kids were very supervised by me and walked very slowly and scooted on their bums. Our roof is not steep, especially not as steep as it looks from the angle that I am taking these shots. Please don't turn me in for having my kids up on the roof! :)
Rach even took some fish crackers up on the roof to have a snack. The girls enjoyed them while watching dad work.
The whole family, minus me, putting up Christmas lights.
Oh yeah, Mia watched from below too!