Fun with cousins this Christmas

All of my family came out to our house for Christmas this year, (except of course, my brother Reed, who is on his mission.) We had my parents, 7 of my 8 siblings, 3 spouses and 4 nieces and nephews for a grand total of 22 people in our house including us. It was a blast! We loved having everyone here and being all together. Our kids had so much fun with all the cousins & aunts and uncles.

Here are some of the cousin pictures, and I have many more of other festivities that I'll be posting soon as well.

Finger Painting

Bubble Bath

(Think we could squeeze anymore in there?)

Princess Photo Shoot-by Aunt Melanie

Totally amazing Tutus made by Aunt Jen

Dallin was very sad the night before the last of the family left. He said, "I can't even think of anything fun to do without them. And I can't even say their names because I start to cry." Daphne woke up early the morning they left because she didn't want to miss out on saying goodbye. She must have woken me up three times before we went downstairs to hug Nona & Papa and the last of the aunts and uncles and wave goodbye.

The house seems quiet and a little empty now with everyone gone home. When I said this to Arthur he said, "Are you kidding? We have four little crazys running around!"

I never thought four kids could feel seem so still.

Letters to Santa

When Santa gets these letters, he might notice they are all in the same handwriting. That is because Dallin helped write them all. And he was rather persuasive in getting the other kids to ask for stuff that he would enjoy playing with too. I couldn't help but notice that each letter, including Daphne's, included a Lego Star Wars set in the wish list. Does Daphne ever play Lego Star Wars? no. And is she capable of writing her own letter to Santa? Yes. But if she wrote her own letter, there would probably be zero chance of Santa bringing her a Lego star wars set for Christmas (a set that would most likely be neglected unless Dallin took it under his wing.) He's a thinker, that one. But don't worry. I think we all know Santa will not be bringing Daphne a Lego set. He knows, after all.

Sean & Daphne go Skiing!

On Dec. 12, Arthur took Sean & Daphne up for their first ski trip.

I asked Sean what he did on the ski trip and he said, "Pizzas and French Fries. The Pizzas make you stop and the French Fries make you go."

Sean on the magic carpet. Before they left that morning, Daphne told me she wasn't sure she wanted to go skiing. I asked her why not? and she said she was afraid of falling off the magic carpet. (She was envisioning Aladdin's magic carpet.) When I told her, "It doesn't fly above the ground. It just pulls you up the mountain," she felt better about the situation.

Waiting for their turn down the slope with Daddy.

What a great dad these guys have. He took turns working with them all day, and he'd even forgotten his gloves at home, so his hands were FROZEN!!! He probably needed all those extra hot chocolate breaks as much as the kids just to thaw out his fingers! Thanks for making it such a fun day for them, Arthur.

Opening Weekend

I wish I had more pictures to post of this, but I felt weird because nobody else had their cameras out. I wasn't sure if maybe it was a breach of proper theater etiquette, (e.g. I totally missed the memo about opening night gifts from the cast members to each other, I got cookies, candies, a rose, a small pouch containing a key, and some wild flower seeds that had been cross-stitched with the show's name and running dates! . . . and I didn't bring anything for anybody. How lame am I?) Or maybe nobody else cared enough to take pictures . . . I guess when you've been in 41 shows, (yes, there is someone in our cast who has been in 41 shows) you don't really feel compelled to document each one. But since this is a rarity for me, I snapped a few anyway.

Me and Robert. Robert plays Ben Weatherstaff, and he and I are fellow staff members at Misselthwaite Manor. :)

The Ayah, and Collin (April and Trent) getting their make-up done. Ayah has really cool eyes, and Collin just looks very sickly and pale.

A bunch of the ladies in the dressing room.

From left to right, we have Lina (who happens to be my voice teacher--she was asked to fill in last minute) -- one of the ghosts at Misselthwaite, Claire--Lilly Craven, Riannon-- another ghost, Kathy--Mrs. Medlock, Lindsay--Rose, Mary's horrible mother who dies at the beginning of the show, and Paula--the nurse. It's been fun getting to know these people.

Lillie, Me, and Corey, aka Mary, Martha, and Dickon

Dickon and I are brother and sister in the show, and it worked out that we kind of look like each other. He is 13 years old, and he was amazed when I told him that I actually have a 13 year-old brother in real life. That little Lillie who plays Mary is 9 years old, and does a super job! Seriously--you'll be amazed.

Thanks so much to all of you who came to support me opening weekend. It meant so much to me to have all of that support--When I came out for my first scene on Friday night, I heard lots of whispers from my friends pointing out to their kids, "There's Sharee, look there she is." And it made me smile the rest of the night. I really appreciate you all coming out to see it, and I appreciate all of you who are coming sometime in the next two weekends!!! You won't be disappointed. :)

Gingerbread Party

Earlier this month, Daphne and her brothers were invited to a cute Gingerbread party put on by a girl in Daphne's 1st Grade class. It was really cute! I thought it would be a fun idea to do with some of our friends. On another year when I have energy for something like that. Here are pictures from the festivities.

Here are the kids working on their gingerbread houses.

Daphne and her friend Amy

This is Amy's Grandma. The party was at her house, and she has a huge collection of Santas. Hayden took a liking to her, and followed her all over her house while she found cool Santas for him to look at. This one dances when you turn him on, and Hayden thought he was AWESOME!

Amy had a little present for each child who came (wow!) and the kids couldn't wait to open it when we got home. They were all different Santa ornaments--very cute.

Thanks for the festive time, Amy!

Round & Round the Christmas Tree

We listened to a little Bing Crosby Christmas music while we decorated this week. Dallin & Daphne had school off on Thursday and Friday for parent teacher conferences, so we used the time to trim the tree and get the other decorations up.

My kids really love this little red bench with the santa and snowman friends. They took a bunch of pictures of themselves next to it, so I finally took one of them all where we could actually see their faces. :) (Dallin is VERY excited about being a cub scout--can you tell? -- Are there rules about wearing your uniform whenever you feel like it?)

In my blog title, I'm quoting a Bing Crosby song I grew up listening to at Christmas time. Well, the next part of the song goes: "Presents hanging there for you and me. One for you and two for me, Oh what a Christmas day!" Whenever that part comes, my kids always say, "He's so selfish! I can't believe he says one for you and TWO for me!" And the reason that makes me laugh, is I remember saying the EXACT same thing with my sisters growing up. Timeless. We know how to call 'em, huh, girls?

Sean dancing. :)

I put together this little display on the front entryway landing, and the kids kept putting all these cheesy stuffed animals up there. I would move them, and then the next time I'd walk by the stairs, they were back.

Finally, I let the cheesy stuffed animals sit by Santa and the snowman on the red bench. This satisfied the kids, and I reclaimed my landing. :)

Here is our family room in all it's Christmas glory.

And that is our beautiful tree from the mountains.