Paradise?

Yesterday, I saw a "Paradise Tours" bus driving down a street near my home. As I watched it driving down the road, I laughed right out loud. It just seemed oddly out of place. (Since we don't live in Hawaii, I'm not used to seeing busses with the word "Paradise" on them driving around town.) Now, I love a lot of things about living here in Albuquerque--I love the mountains and the sunsets, the roadrunners and the desert brush that turns golden in the afternoon. I love Balloon Fiesta, and green chili and the wonderful weather we enjoy. I can agree with "Land of Enchantment." But Paradise ? . . . Let's not get carried away.

Family Pics 2009

Don't feel bad if you didn't get a Christmas card from us this year. Nobody did, because they didn't happen. But we did manage to squeeze in a family picture before the year ended. My friend Erin was so kind to come out into the FREEZING COLD and take these family pics for us while we had everyone together. Thanks so much Erin!

The 8 Stone Cousins

( I can't believe we actually got one where everyone had pleasant expressions on their faces!)

All of us except Reed, of course.

We missed him, but know he's exactly where he's supposed to be.

Christmas Festivities 2009

For the first time since we've been married, Arthur and I had Christmas at our home. We couldn't travel since I had performances on the 26th and 27th. So my wonderful family all came out here! They all had long drives, coming from California, Idaho, Oregon, and Kentucky!

Sugar Cookies

Dancing

Hayden thought he'd died and gone to heaven with

all the goodies laying around for him to sneak into.

Our Christmas Eve tradition of reinacting the Nativity is one of my favorites. Our costumes were a little . . . different this year because I don't have real ones like my mom, so Melanie got creative with our dress-up bin.

really creative.

Thanks for directing the show, Mel. You are brilliant!

cousin Kyrie, the angel

(I'm having fun playing around with my new iphoto special effects. :)

I told Arthur that we need a bigger mantel to hang up the stockings. He said, "The mantel is fine, Sharee, we just have too many stockings." We had 22 stockings!

( I wish I had a better shot--this one is kind-of blurry.)

Christmas Morning:

Preparing the feast:

Hayden LOVED eating the pomegranates while Mom and I shelled them. He shoved fistful after fistful into his mouth like they were candy. Thanks for bringing those out, Mom.

They are such a treat!

Mom made these aprons for all of her girls. We loved them!

traditional fake laugh.

We just have too much fun when we get together.

Arthur, carving the turkey

mmm, the pomegranate salad and homemade rolls. so delicious.

Thanks so much for coming out guys. I know it was hundreds and hundreds of miles for you all to drive, but we are so grateful you all made the effort to be here. I especially appreciate all the help with meals, dishes, laundry, cleaning, etc. We loved having you all here at our home, and can't wait for the next party!

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.