Christmas Happenings

We had so much fun over Christmas so I thought I should post some happenings. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents with all the family.
Brax, Maggie, Burke, Ellie, Josie and Cora.
My sister Molly and her family came from Missouri for two weeks and it was so fun to have them here. Rebecca wasn't there yet for this picture and we forgot to take one when she came. Duh!!

After our lesson about Christmas we went out on a caroling hayride. It was so fun!!! It was cold, but so fun to carol together to the neighbors.

Me, Brad and Ash.

Rebecca and Colby

Molly and Burke

Brigham and Lily. This is sheer excitement.

This is just one of my favorite pictures from Christmas day. My sweet Bradley.

What is better on Christmas than p.j.s and cousins?

Classic cousin pic. Brad, Ash, Maggie, Josie, Savannah and Ellie.

On Christmas day we had a surprise visit from Santa Claus. He was very tired after such a long night. It was so fun to see the reaction of the kids when he showed up. They weren't sure what to think of him, but they were excited he came.

Our favorite winter activity is to pull the kids on sleds behind the four wheeler. This is about a week after Christmas when it snowed a ton.

The kids can't get enough of this.

Nothing like a lap full of snow to cheer you up!

Ricky took it up a notch and used 5 sleds this year instead of three. We had Molly's girls with us and they had a blast!

Ash and I played in the snow longer than anyone else. I am a snow lover and loved playing with my little buddy!

This was perhaps my favorite day of Christmas break. We went to Sundance on New Year's Eve and it was the BOMB!!! The snow was amazing and I got to be with my dad, Molly and Ricky. All I can say is I love Skiing.

My own personal heaven would be to have all of my kids old enough to ski and spending time together doing just that. We saw a family getting out of a suburban and there were like 6 snowboards on the ground. Someday that will be my family only with skis of course.

The evening of New Year's Eve we went to Salt Lake to a Pow Wow were we saw Tanner perform. It was so neat to see him do what he loves to do. His mom made all of his costume by hand. It is beautiful! It was so neat to participate in his life.

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!!!!!!

Our family had a true Christmas miracle this year. Many of you may remember the story about my parents trying to adopt a baby boy 20 years ago. When I was 11 years old my family had the opportunity to adopt Native American baby boy. You can imagine that in a family with four daughters, this was a HUGE deal. We got him and named him Tanner Jack Christianson and loved him with all our hearts. Then when he was 3 months old he was taken away from us. Because of tribal laws, we were not able to legally adopt him and so we lost him. As you can imagine, it broke our hearts, and my parents were devastated. We were able to see him a few times after that, and we knew that he had cerebral palsey pretty bad. After he was about one and a half, we never saw him again. We heard that his grandmother had taken him to a reservation and that was all we knew. My parents felt very strongly that he had died, and so to us we had lost our little brother.
Well, two days ago on Christmas Eve, my parents had the most amazingly happy shock of their life! A woman came over and asked if my dad was Jack Christianson and she had pictures of her son, Tanner Jack. It was indeed the Tanner that we had lost and she has had him for the last 10 years, living in Alpine, UT. Can you believe it??? For 10 years the son my parents had lost was living only 15 minutes away!! We don't know much about the first ten years of his life before she found him and took Tanner into her home and family. This woman's best friend attended an adoption conference my dad spoke at a few months ago at UVU. He told his experience about losing Tanner 20 years ago and this woman thought for sure it had to be the same Tanner. They put the pieces together and realized that it was indeed the same person. Tanner had no idea that we had ever had him. He didn't know that he had a family that loved him and wanted to keep him very much.
On top of that great news, my parents called today and said that Tanner was coming over to visit and could we come over to meet him. Stupid question! So, we went to my parents home and got to see this brother we haven't seen in 20 years that we thought was dead. It was awesome! He was so funny and told us all about what he does and really neat things about the Navajo culture. He is very involved with that and plays his drum at Pow Wow's often. In fact, he invited us to come and see him perform on New Year's Eve. I am really in a state of shock that this is really happening. I am so happy for my parents. This is such a blessing for them at this time of life. They have been called to serve as mission president and will be leaving for three years and it is such a blessing to have found Tanner before then. Who knows if it would have happened after.
I have an absolute testimony that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. My parents have prayed for 20 years that they could know something about this lost son, and by the hand of God it has finally happened. They were put in the right place at the right time and people were put in their way to put the pieces of the story together. I know that Heavenly Father has a purpose in all things, even when trials are so hard and we can't understand why, he knows what we need and he always has a purpose in trying us. I love Him for that. I am so grateful to see and meet Tanner. He is an amazing person!

I have so fallen off the blog bandwagon!!
We have had so much going on the last couple of months that now I feel like I can never catch up!! I have also been having issues with my computers and pictures and what not. Anyway, for anyone who cares, here is a summary of what we've been up to; hopefully some pics to follow soon:
-went to Jackson Hole
-went to Montana for two weeks
-school started
-went to Montana for labor day
-celebrated Ellie's 5th birthday
-started and finished flag football
-went camping
-just living everyday life

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Let me just start by saying that this is probably my favorite holiday. I look forward to it all year and it is always gone too fast. That being said, pardon the length of this post, but, I love America and the chance to celebrate our freedom!!

Since we moved back to Utah 4 years ago we started the tradtion of going to the ballon fest the day before the 4th. It is such an early morning, but so fun to see all of the balloons blow up and then take off. The kids love it, and they hardly know where to look first. As cheesy as it sounds, I find myself teary eyed every year as I watch the kids so happy as we do something that can only be done once a year. In fact, I find myself choked up a lot on this day as I will explain farther down the page.

This balloon went right over us; I had to duck so I wouldn't get hit by the basket. It was awesome!!

Parade

No 4th of July would be complete without the Provo City parade. Again another early morning, but there is serious competition to get a good spot. This year Ricky tried something new. If you notice the tent in the top picture of this post you will realize that people actually sleep out to save there spot for the parade. Crazy? This year Ricky joined those crazy people and took Brax, Burke, Ellie and Ash and they campled out all night on the side of University Ave. They actually did get some sleep despite the rain at 1:00 in the morning. This is one of those things I get teary about because the kids will never forget the year the slept on the side of the road to get a good spot. So Fun!!

Ellie loves these little crown things they sell every year. Since she is the only girl she gets one without having to ask more than once.

At the beginning of the parade they had all of the emergency vehicles with their sirens on. Holy Moley it was so LOUD!! For like 5 minutes you coudn't hear anything but sirens. It was great! Ashton was in heaven and we could barely get him to sit down for this picture. He jumped and pointed and yelled with joy at sight of endless fire engines.

Annual BBQ
After the parade we always head to my parents for a BBQ witht he neighbors who are like family which ends in a water fight without fail.

Before everything got started we had a snake cathing party in the backyard. There are two garden snakes that live under the patio and all the grandsons wanted my dad to catch them. To do what with I don't know. So, my dad put the hose under there to force them out. All of us womenfolk thought it was mean and that they would drown for sure. But as you can see it worked and the both came out and were terrified I am sure.

This was the highlight of the afternoon for Braxton. Since he has a broken arm he couldn't play outside with everyone because he couldn't get wet and the kids are so crazy. He actually fell on the stairs and hurt his arm, so he opted to stay inside and watch a movie. Thankfully he made the most of the snake situation which he totally enjoyed!

Bradley was a hoot to watch. Ther was a slip n slide fort he kids and he thought it was the neatest thing. He would walk on it and slip and then he woul laugh and laugh at himself. He is a water baby and could't get enough of everything going on.

This is a perfect picture of summer to me. Sitting on the sidewalk eating popsicles. Does it get better than that?

Stadium of Fire
At the last minute we decided to go to the Stadium of Fire. I love going to this and go as often as we can. This is one of those times when I am emotional the whole time! My favorite thing about the Stadium of Fire is when the F-16's fly over. I love seeing them because it means that we are free and there are people protecting us. There is nothing that can immitate the noise and the rush that comes with those jets. It is awesome to me!

This is just us waiting for the show to begin. So much anticipation!

The main perfomers for the night were the Jonas Brothers. As they are on the Disney Channel all the time the kids were excited. We pummed up for the concert by listening to their popular songs all week long in the car. It was so fun to know almost every song they sang and the kids loved it. Ellie was singing and was thirlled when they played her favorite song "Year 3000." This is her with Joe Jonas in the background.

The neatest thing they did all night, to me, was the retirement of a giant flag that nearly covered the football field. The had probably 20 soldiers each carrying an American flag walk in and line either side of a pathway. Then they had another 20 or so soldiers slowly walk in this ginormous rolled up flag which they walk to a big torch to burn. It was dead silent as they slowly walked in; you could have heard a pin drop. All of my kids, even Ash watched reverently as they waked it in and placed it in the torch to burn. As you can guess, I was nearly a puddle. Thankfully the lady next to me was just as emotional. As soon as they lit the flag on fire, a choir started singing patriotic hymns and the fireworks started and were unbelievable! It was grand if that can even describe it. I love fireworks, and even watching them I get emotional. I have such a deep love for America and the freedoms we enjoy. Simple things like watching fireworks with my family. We are so blessed to be Americans. God Bless the USA!!

Summer Bummer !!

We have had the first broken bone in our family. Braxton broke his arm three weeks ago and it is a major bummer for everyone!!! He fractured his arm right above the elbow playing football. Boys will be boys! We are very grateful that he did not have to have surgery as it was a pretty bad break. He even got by without having a hard cast on it so he is much more mobile. He has been really good about it and the good news is he only has three weeks to go and then we will be back at the pool 3 days a week. Fun times!!

T-BALL

Burke had his first t-ball game last week and he did great! He loves being part of a team and of course running the bases. I am pretty sure he is the biggest kid on the team, but he doesn't care. He is shaping up to be a ball player!!

Last Day of School-YIPEE!!!

On the last day of school I too the kids on a hike up to Stewart Falls. This area is one of my favorite places! We had lots of fun and the kids did awesome! They all made it to the top with very little complaining.

I love the mountains and want to teach my kids to love being outdoors. They seem to have lots of fun and enjoy it.

It was a beautiful day and the kids had fun exploring finding walking sticks and throwing rocks.

Ashton was very proud of the sick he found.

Bradley was so good. He sat in the pack and kicked his feet. He was happy to be carried along looking around at nature and watching the other kids.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Ellie had her first dance recital this week and it was darling!! She looked so stinking cute in her costume I could hardly stand it! The theme for the whole thing was the Wizard of OZ and she danced to somewhere over the rainbow. She loved it and did great!!

She is willing to pose at just about any time.

I loved this picture so I threw it in.

Kindergarten Graduate

Burke loved kindergarten and he did great!! He made knew friends and enjoyed going to school. He can't wait to go all day next year and eat in the cafeteria.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASH!!!!

Ashton has been looking forward to his birthday for weeks! He would ask me everyday if it was summer and could we go swimming for his happy birthday. Thankfully the weather held out and we were able to have a fabulous party at the pool!

He had so much fun being the center of attention for the day. He asked me a couple of times to sing him happy birthday again, which I did happily! What a sweetie!!

Ashton loves trains, cars and anything that moves. We got him a little train set which he loves and plays with every chance he gets!

Memorial Day
Every year for memorial day we go out to Wellington, UT to decorate graves. Where is Wellington you may ask? It is a bitty little town next to Price, UT and there is pretty much nothing there. However, all of my Pinegar relatives are buried there so we go every year. It is a fun thing to do, and it is a great opportunity to teach my kids about their ancestors. This year however, it was raining and cold, all day. We went to Price for a picnic and the next thing we know all of the kids are soaked, bare foot having the time of their life in the rain. I figured it had to be documented. They will never forget this day in Price.

Mine and Rebecca's kids, minus Brigham and our littlest ones.

Ashton and Lily. They may look innocent, but they are trouble with a capital T and partners in crime!

BRADLEY IS ONE!!!

About a week before Brad's birthday we had birthday treats at my moms for all the May birthdays. This was Bradley's first experience with a cupcake.

He really wasn't too sure what to think of it. He didn't seem to think it was that great.

On his actual birthday he still didn't want anything to do with it. He touched it like it might hurt him, and he would barely take a bite. Silly kid!! I am so grateful for my sweet Brad. He is so good and has brought so much joy to our family. I can't believe he is one, but YEAH!!

Brad definitely had plenty of attention on his special day!! Happy Birthday!