Christmas 2012

This year we spent Christmas with just our little family. We missed family most especially my Grandma Carla's Christmas eve, but the stressful month needed to end with a low stress stay at home Christmas. It was just right.

Made our own turkey for the first time. We felt like such grown ups. Also real cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, rolls, Poe(Polynesian dessert), corn from G&G Orton's garden.  I think that was it.

When the button pops the turkey is done!

This picture fills a yearning of my little piggy tailed girl-self 20 odd years ago to have a

freckled face boy raiding the chocolate box.  I Love it. Love him.

 But lets be honest he is waaay better than any of my imaginary children were.

  Nativity with the Thuesons.  

Thus I present the disturbers of the peace.

 These two cousins are the naughtiest sheep of Christmas ever. 

Bells on two year olds? Does NOT make for a Silent night.

Christmas Eve jamma's from Grandma Colette.

 Santa Came!

4 hours later... still holding his beloved Woody.

 Cache picked out his own shoes a month before and was pleading to get them.  I made him wait till Christmas. Isn't that not suppose to happen until the teen years?  This boy has his own style. He is leaving my baseball shirts and cowboy boots in the dust. He also made and wrapped presents for me and Devin himself. It was probably my favorite gift to open.

Gage received a homemade gift from Cache too. 

A race car out of a toilet paper roll and stolen milk caps.

The case of the cap less milk jugs was solved!

Naomi was the hardest NOT to spoil.

Only because she just squeals over everything pink and sparkly and everything is:  "So so so SOOO cute and my favoritist."  Her spoils included  pony castle and car, a baby, pink sparkle purse and pink sparkle tights. Cache picked her out a Hello Kitty Charm for her charm bracelet. Here she is smelling her new mittens. She said they smelled like ice cream.

 I want to always remember: 

• Gage not putting down his Woody for days. Also talking to Woody,hugging him and saying:"Howdy howdy howdy." ALSO, when Gage opened up a Toy story Wii game, he screamed "Whoa!" Then grabbed Woody and put Woody's face up to the Game and then looked Woody back in the face and kept telling Woody all about the game and kept making Woody look at the game. So funny. NO ONE gets as excited as Gage. It's not even possible. 
• Waking up to Naomi's giant eyes in my face telling me Santa came. We had blocked the living room with chairs because I really really wanted to see their first expressions. I laughed: "Did you sneak in there?" N: "No I dust peeked through the chairs and he brought:" (And proceeded to list everything in the room.) Just imagining her craning her neck through the legs of the chairs so excited, and long enough to see and memorize everything in the room, was so funny to us.  She then said: "Santa brought me a baby doll, and I didn't ask him for it, but I really wanted one. He knowed it from my brain! And he knowed I would love her."
• Cache carefully watching us open his gifts. He really wanted us to like them. So sweet. Growing up.
• Nay colored a picture of cars and wrapped it all up for her gift to Gage. He accidently ripped the picture right in half when unwrapping it... buckets of tears and wailing from Naomi ensued. And that's how it is daily in this house. 

Smiling in his sleep.
Worth the months of planning to try and make a magical Christmas.

Other Christmas vacation happenings in no particular order:

Naomi came up with most all this on her own. Including the sleeping pile of animal crackers.

I did help Naomi with her Angel.  As I was talking her through it, little did I know that Gage was working and frosting away behind me.

"Mom! I did it self me! Uh Angel."

He was SO proud  of sticking that white gumdrop and man on top to make an angel.

I was impressed too!

Cache did his own while I was in the shower.

 Drive to help Cache through his winter asthma. Cold air helps.

 The early weeks of December were stressful and I think my kids felt it. Drama.

 Love a man that can cook!

Sugar cookie making.  I decided to let them eat their own and remake

another batch for the neighbors. It was only sanitary.

Christmas devotional.

Cache is not well in these pictures. Except the last one where he is laughing at Devin behind me, his smiles are 100% fake. Sweet boy, smiling because he knows I love pictures. He couldn't even speak.

t'was merry and bright.

Yes it t'was.

2 FALL Trips : Grandma's farewell and BYU.

This fall we took 2 road trips to Idaho/Utah.
Favorite Memories:(mixture of both trips)

• My mom drove through with my bro's so we five Ortons jumped in the suburban. 8 people, one car... true rode trippin it.  
• Eating at Brick Oven.
• Being at BYU campus again with Devin. Love that campus.
• Hanging out at Karli and Pat's home for conference. We love them and their ping pong ball eating crazy pit bull Zoey.  

(Orton #1 grandchild and #22 grandchild, conference cuddling)

• Joey sitting in the back of the van with my kids, reading C.S Lewis Screw Tape letters and simultaneously busting out gut laughs at Shrek with the kids.
• Gage calling Joey "Grandma" all weekend.

• Cache asked me if he could see his first house.  *Choke back tears.* "Of course!"  He reminded us about 10 times during the trip to remember to take him to see it.

Devin re-creating when he brought Cache home. Cache was not a fan of Dad's humor. 

• Uncle Steve's Birthday.  Uncle Steve and Aunt Raquel and their 8 awesome kids. Love my cousins! They are each the nicest people on the planet. Truly.
• Sleeping in Grandma and Grandpa's bedroom and remembering conversation with Grandpa there.
• Naomi walking around the house looking at all the pictures from Tahiti and saying: "Does this Hawaii Grandma house have a Grandpa?"  Yes it does Naomi and Grandpa Childers would have thought you were a kick in the pants.
• Staying up till 2 am around Aunt Raquel's round table talking and eating ice cream  with Kev, Nat, Alisa her husband Scott,  Nick, Sarah and Devin.  I think we covered over 100 different topics.
• The gorgeous Autumn colors of Logan and Aunt Raquel's house in Grace Idaho.      

(My cousin Kevin's oldest 3 and Naomi) 

Playing before church.

• Naomi riding a day ahead with my parents(2nd trip) and by the time we joined her she had a new pony and 4 new sparkly skirts my Aunts and mom got for her.  They say she is an excellent shopping partner. (She is.)
• The pride and admiration I felt so strongly for my 81 year old grandmother when she stood in front of the congregation at church, trembling because she was so nervous but so determined to give her farewell address.

By the end her shakes were gone and she strongly and tearfully declared her love for the Savior and the Gospel and her love for the Missionaries that taught her the Gospel when she was little and still living on the Islands.
Her love for the Savior is one of the most beautiful things about her.
How many 81 year old women pack up by their own self to go work on an island? I know it was hard for her to leave her house where she felt closer to Grandpa, but felt as we all did that she was suppose to go.
She is brave. She is little. She is selfless. She is beautiful. She is everything Heavenly Father intended his daughters to be.
She is magnificent and I am humbled to be her Granddaughter.

Every time we visit Grandma Childers she says to me: (About Naomi) "That girl is a Tahitian."

I'm not sure what about Naomi's blue eyes and light brown hair say that, so it must be in her attitude. 

Or her addiction to her orange mu mu?

 Then her and Nay eat all the fruit in the house. 

Snuck this pic from around the corner of them having a conversation.

Grandma always calls her "Naomi Titaua" and reminds me that Naomi's middle name means white flower.  This time she asked me to: "Every once in a while put a white flower behind her ear just like dat. And that will be so soo nice.. Will you do zat Amie?" 

 Grandma's room looks like this everywhere. I love it.

More memories:

• Pumpkin Poe.  (Tahitian dessert) YUM!
• Morning walk in the country woods with Devin and Gage.  Oh the fall colors steal my heart.

Saying Goodbye. (My Uncle Joe)

• Laughing at Grandma and Aunt Gisele. This side of the family is really good at laughing at themselves and making life light even when it really, really isn't.  Love them!

• The traditional Childers goodbye. They gather on the porch Yell GoodBYE so loud your heart stops. You always leave knowing you are loved. Never too many to love in that family.

 I love that Grandma and Joey are holding hands. 

Proud of our two Missionaries.

Joe and Doris. This time it's grandson Joe not Grandpa Joe.

No doubt Grandpa is beaming in heaven with pride.
Wonderful wonderful trips!