The Dancing Chars

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Merry Christmas

I am so excited to go home for Christmas this year. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday, and not just for the gifts. (Come on, we all like gifts!) There are so many traditions that my family did that I have kept up even when we weren't able to spend Christmas at home (aka: my moms house) plus we have added a few. It is just so much fun!!

This year Erline, Ree, Dan, I-ball, Steven, Tina, Hyrum, Johnny and new baby Elizabeth will all be there on Christmas at my moms. We will be spending Christmas Eve at Kirks. Kirk and Kelsey will be leaving on Christmas morning to California for a wee Honeymoon. We will miss them but I am pretty sure they won't really miss us.

This year will be really fun to watch Charlee. She loves to open presents and really gets into it. She knows who Santa is and that he will bring her presents to Grandmas house in Idaho. She says "Gramma ho." And she knows who baby Jesus is, too. She likes to put a small doiley (I have no idea how to spell that) on her Little People Jesus because he is cold and puts him in his house (the stable).

We wish everyone a
Merry Christmas!!!!

We Also Sing! Performance Pictures

Here are some pictures from the We Also Sing! Chior performance that I am in. I did not bring my camera so I did not get a good picture of me all ready to sing. But someones husband took a lot of pics and then they were posted on the We Also Sing! blog. These were the only pics of me. It was such an awesome experience. I can't wait to do it again next year!
I am in the middle row, 5th person in. My friend Paige is nest to me, the 4th person in.

Kirk and Kelsey Are Married !!!!!

On November 29th Kirk and Kelsey were sealed for all Time and Eternity in the Twin Falls Temple. It was a beautiful ceremony and I only wish them all the happiness in the world!!

Waiting

There was a lot of time to kill in between the Temple and the ring ceremony, Here are a few shots I took while waiting.Kirk getting a peek at the goods, now that it is OK.
Charlee with Grandma Strader. I don't know where the creepy smile came from!

Mr. Horny!

I-ball eating babys breath with Charlee. They needed a little snack.

The Ring Ceremony

After the were sealed in the Temple, Kirk and Kelsey had a ring ceremoy for those family and friends who did not attend the sealing. It was a nice ceremony. Charlee and Kate ( Kelseys neice) were little flower girls. Of course, Charlee had a melt down right when it was starting. (It was nap time) Lynn gave her his phone to calm her down, and it worked. She is holding the cell phone and Kate it holding Charlees wrist. They were so cute together!!Kesey being wasked down the aisle by her sons Austin and Wesley. (Sorry its a crappy picture)
Kirk sucking out Kelseys tonsils.

The beaming bride!!

Kirks Kar

Of course no wedding should be without the time honored tradition of decorating the car. So Erline, Me, Lynn and Ree did just so, but we had to hurry and do it after the ring ceremony. They would be heading over to the hotel where the reception was and they were going to stay the night there too. We were nice. We only used window paint,some crepe paper, TP (from Erlines hotel room) and some cans tied to the back.
It was a really windy day and a lot of the TP had blown off by the time they came out to the car. I guess we didn't "go green" very well!

Kirk and Kelseys' Reception

Their reception was really nice. It was a winter theme and the people who decorated it all did a really nice job. It was really dim, so a lot of the pictures didn't turn out really well and most of them that did were really dark. Here is their first dance.And here is when they cut the cake. They were nice to each other. No smooshing the cake into each others faces!
Here is Kirk, Kelsey, Austin and Wesley.

No wedding is complete without all of us posing retardedly (I don't think thats even a word but thats what we are doing) for the camera!

More Reception Pics

Ree sampling the smorgasbord (I can't spell) of food.I-ball dancing with her dad, Daniel.
Kirk and I-ball.

And of course, Charlee showing everyone her world!

More Reception Pics

Charlee trying to copy her cousin Karter. She looks a little intense, however!Karter and Charlee dancing. It was so cute.
Little I-ball (aka Ireland) cutting a rug on the dance floor!

I unfortunatly missed this but Lynn got a picture of Kirk doing a little break dancing. What a big nerd!!!

Any way it was a great reception and we all had a lot of fun.

Day After Turky Day; Day Before Kirks Wedding

After having a fun Thanksgiving day, it was time to get ready for Kirk and Kelseys wedding. I was sooooo tired, that I went with Kirk while he ran around and did some last minute errands. I did get some pictures of Charlee and I-ball with Grandma Strader. This was the best one. No matter how my mom moved her head, it was still behind Charlee or I-balls noggin. Charlee loves her cousin I-ball.

We left my moms house to get to Kevin and Jackies so that I could make Kelseys bouquet. It took me 3 hours. I got done at 1 am. I was so glad when I was done, since I had been up since 3:30 am. Here is the finished bouquet.

Thanksgiving 2008

We went home to Idaho (yes, that will always be home to me) for Thanksgiving this year. We went to Lynns parents house in Paul and played Rock Band, ate lunch, played Rock Band, chatted and played Rock Band. I liked the drums but there was fighting between Karter and Charlee as to who got the drum sticks, so the drums went bye bye. I was highly disapointed. Charlee and Karter went outside to play. Here they are on the swing. Karter went for a swim in the pond in the back. I was glad Charlee didn't, what a mess!

We went to Twin to my moms house for dinner. It was fun to see Ree, Dan, I-ball, Steven, Tina, Hyrum and Jonny. (Tina is accually due in a week with a girl, Elizabeth Diane) Hyrum and Charlee had fun eating olives. Thank goodnes neither one of them puked the olives up.

Is she flipping me off?

I accually stayed over at my moms (we stayed with Kevin and Jackie in Jerome) and went to sleep at one and got up at 3:30 to go shopping with Ree. It was a lot of fun. I was sooooo tired but it was worth it.

So Thankful

I just want to write down some things that I am thankful for this year.

I am so thankful to have had my dad in my life for 29 years. Sure, I wish it would have been longer, but I KNOW that he is always with me. I know that he does watch over Charlee.

I am thankful that Charlee knows who he is even though she never met him in this life. I miss him so much but I know that I will see him again someday. I am sooooooo thankful for Lynn. We have had 9 years of ups and downs, but we are still together and I love him more now than ever.

I am thankful that he is such a hard worker so that I am able to be a full-time mom.

I am so thankful to be living close to my family. When I found out I was pregnant with Charlee, I was a little sad that I would be going through this pregnancy with out my brothers and sisters and my parents around. Yes, I have Lynn but I wanted to be around the rest of my family as well.

So I am grateful that Charlee gets to grow up around her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. She even knows all of their names and who belongs to who.

So that brings me to my Ball Baby. I am so thankful to have her in my life. After two years of trying and then finally getting pregnant, I know that there has to be a reason it took so long. We would like to give Charlee a brother or sister but Heavenly Father must have other plans for us right now. I love her more than I could ever express. ( Charlee, 2 months old )I am thankful to live here in Utah, near Erline. She has helped us out so much and Charlee loves her Aunt Erline very much!!! I have also enjoyed being able to spend time with her, too.

I also want to give a shout out to my BFF, Katie Vaughan. Katie, I am so thankful for your friendship. I am so lucky to have a friend that I can tell everything to and not get judged in return. You have done a lot for me. I love ya, Kraft-E.

I am thankful to live in America, for rainy days, for Cafe Rio, for French Bread Pizza, for great visiting teachers, being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, for scrapbooking stores, for Target, for the BOM, for my whole family......................

There is too much to name, but I am so thankful for so much.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Fun With a Black Crayon

Lynn was board one evening and thought it would be fun to give Charlee a goatee and a uni-brow with a black crayon. Ok, it was my idea for the uni-brow, but it WAS funny. Charlee did not think so. It really does not feel good to be drawn on with a crayon, I know this from experience. She is doing the Karate Kid stance here.

This is such a beautiful picture of my daughter. We should use it for our Christmas cards. Ya?

I still think she looks cute.

My Little Flower Girl

In August Charlee was the flower girl for her Uncle Kieths wedding. I did not have a picture but my SIL, Jackie, posted the pictures she took on her blog so I borrowed this pic of Char. She doesn't look too thrilled, but still soooo cute. This was the first time I curled her hair.

My Day Just Got Made!!!!!!

So, in an earlier post I talked about this awsome gift show called Oh! Sweet Sadie. Well their first show is tomorrow, so during the week before the shows they have contests almost everyday to win something that one of the vendors has donated. All you have to do is to leave a comment and they do a random drawing of those that left a comment. I did not win anything during the fall contests but thought "Why not enter all of the holiday ones too?" I think this was the fifth contest that I entered for the holiday show this week. So today when I checked my email I went to http://www.ohsweetsadie.com and there it was, MY NAME. It is a cute childrens bag from Tika Kids that has a special place to hold crayons and it comes with a metal board that you can use anything magnetic on or you can use dry erase markers on it. They also sell games and other things you can buy to add to it. This will be a perfect church bag for Char for Christmas. I saw them at the fall show, but there was soooo much cute stuff to choose from and I couldn't get it all!!! I acually was going to buy a church bag for Char but now I have one!!!!!!!!! Tika Kids has a shop at http://www.tikakids.etsy.com if you would like to check them out.

I am so exited, It also made me in a better mood too. When I got the mail today there was a letter from the moving company saying that our claim was denied on our piano. So we get nothing and the piano doesn't get fixed either. So I was pretty bummed. This just made my day!!!!

It may seem strange to be excited about this, but when you live pay check to paycheck, and with the economy is in the state it is in, and trying to get out of debt and wanting to give your child everything....it is just nice to get something for free. The third contest was for some really cute snowflalke stamps from My Cute Stamps! that I really wanted, and did not win. This is even better,cuz it is for my daughter. Thank you Oh! Sweet Sadie and Tika Kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry Lynn

I just have to post these pictures. Lynn is somewhat of a "holiday party pooper". He was passing out the candy at the trunker treat and looking MISERABLE. So I put my witch hat on his head and after I took a few pictures he started to smile and laugh. Of course the hat came off very quickly when I was done. He has such a great smile. I wish he would do it more often.