Santa Claus is Coming to Town....

And boy did he ever come!  The kids had a great Christmas.  Not only did Santa not disappoint, but Grandma and Grandpa got to come and spend Christmas with us!  It was so nice to have them here.  I'm not sure how much fun it was for them though.  We had a few "sickies" here over the holiday.  The flu bug and strep (sp?) throat paid us a visit.  (Hopefully Grandma and Grandpa didn't go home with those little extras).  Everyone is feeling better now, thankfully, and we hope that all of you had a wonderful and healthy Christmas.

Yeates Family Christmas Party

Talent, talent and more talent....okay, so I'm a little partial.

Okay, so my kids continue to surprise me with their talents and abilities.  As their mother, I figure I get the right to brag them up a little.  This last week, Belle performed in the Festival of Trees.  She is such a beautiful dancer.  She has always loved music, whether she is dancing to it or singing it.  In fact, she is just drawn to the arts in general.  That kid can draw, paint or create anything from her imagination--(which is no small feat for those of you who know her)!  And I can't forget the fact that she and Isaac are becoming quite the little pianists as well.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Belle and Ike entered a Christmas Art Contest at school.  It was for three different school districts, grades K-10.  Each school was limited to 100 entries--I couldn't even guess how many entries there were total.  And yep,  you guessed it!  We had a winner!  Belle's piece was selected to be displayed in the Springville Art Museum for the month of December (along with the other winners).  Last Saturday there was an awards ceremony and each winner received a certificate and a small cash prize.  It was so fun to see her picture among all the amazing art work.  We are so proud of you Belle!  We are so proud of you too Isaac!  We can't all be winners every time, and Isaac was so happy for his sister and was very gracious even though his picture was not selected.  Maybe next time buddy!  Your picture was awesome.

I also thought it would be fun to post Belle's new love........oil painting!  She has a little friend in the neighborhood who oil paints and has been giving Belle a few lessons.  This is Belle's very first painting, and I have to say it is pretty darn good!  (Her little friend did help her with some of the trickier parts-like the shadowing.)  She is taking it to school to enter in the Christmas Talent Show.  Like I said, talent, talent and more talent!  Sure wish I could take credit for some of it, but all this artistic ability comes from her dad.  Way to go DAD!

Thanksgiving Fun

     For as many years as I can remember, my mother has graciously cooked Thanksgiving dinner for our entire family.  I don't have any memories of Thanksgiving dinner at anybody else's house--although my older siblings remember a few at other places.  I guess that is what happens when you are as good a cook as my mom is--you get stuck doing it year after year! (Since I've been married, we alternate years between the families.  And I have to say, Jason's mom is an awesome cook too!  Between my wonderful mothers, I have never had to cook a Thanksgiving dinner--I'm spoiled, I know. :))  

     Anyway, this year, in hopes of giving my parents a break, we invited my side of the family over to our house for the big meal.  It was my first time doing a turkey, and I was a bit nervous.  But, I think it turned out okay.  My sisters helped bring some of the yummy dishes and we finished it off with my mom's award winning pumpkin chiffon pie (the best ever)!  After stuffing ourselves, we worked off a few calories by playing the Wii.  Even Grandma got in on the fun--she can bowl a pretty mean game!  The only thing that would have made this day better was if my nephew Josh and my siblings, Matt, Mike, Sara and their families could have been there. We missed you all so much!  Love you guys!

Let it Snow!

 

 Thanksgiving weekend we headed up to the mountains for some family pictures.  It was so beautiful seeing everything covered in snow.  (I wish we had some of that white stuff down here in the valley!)  Anyway, thanks to our great neighbor and friend, Jimmy Anderson, we have some of this fun experience caught on camera.  Now the hard part...picking one to send to all of you with our Christmas cards.

Little Mama

So, Sabrina totally loves playing with dolls.  She has one in arm at all times.  Her new favorite thing to do is climb in the doll cradle with all of the babies and go "rocky".  While she is in there, she will hug, kiss, sing to, and feed them.  The funniest part, is that her babies are always crying.  She is constantly telling me "baby cry--oh sad".  I try to tell her that they are happy, but she insists they are sad.  It doesn't matter what I say or do, the dolls are always crying and in need of her comforting.  Too sweet!  

Okay, here it goes!

Okay, here it goes...I am finally making an attempt at blogging. I have a couple of sisters who have become pros at this stuff and have been trying to convince me to try for some time now. So, please be patient as I fumble my way through this.

I thought that I would start with some cute halloween pictures of the kids. Enjoy!