Little Known Fact

Wise men, shepherds and a drummer boy weren't the ONLY ones there.

(You'd think that one of my kids would have placed Godzilla in the Nativity, right? Nope. It was my hubby. Yet another reason why I truly LOVE this man.)

Merry Christmas!

Respect, A Christmas (I Mean Winter) Concert, and a Little Adam Sandler

Zack was chosen to be student of the month! His teacher chose him from all of his classmates because he exemplifies the pillar of RESPECT. Makes a mother proud.

He, along with the other three kids who were chosen from his grade, got to sit on the stage after having their names called and have their lunch, along with an ice cream treat, in front of the entire 5th and 6th grade. (I am still debating in my head whether that is a good reward or not. My "head" jury is still out on that one. Zack seemed to like it.) He also came home with a lotta loot in the form of gift certificates. Matt is a coupon kind of guy, so that went over pretty well at our house.

Hooray for Zack, the respectful one! He also gets props for calling me up on the stage to sit with him. One of the other moms came up to see her son and he told her NOT to sit down with him, he was too embarassed! Shame on that boy.


No, it's not a CHRISTMAS concert, folks! Say it with me...WIN-TER CON-CERT. The second graders put on a great concert singing their WINTER songs for us. Dylan especially liked the Hanukkah song. (Not the Adam Sandler version - the one where they count down the eight days. Though the Adam Sandler version would have been truly awesome.)

Look at him singing his heart out! What form! Nice open mouth! Focusing on the director! Do you think his mom is a voice teacher? Anyway, on the right are his two church buddies Jackie and Brynley. I love that they got to be next to one another.



Here's the whole 2nd grade. Dylan is smack in the middle with the big black arrow pointing at his head. I love Elementary concerts! Truly!

And just for fun, here's Adam Sandler's newest version of the Hanukkah song.

Now THAT'S Honesty.

He didn't even ASK for anything.

Wait, wait...so does this mean we don't have to buy anything?

Step Aside Everyone, and Just Hand Me the Mom of the Year Award NOW.

My kiddos loved these!

First, take canned biscuits or crescent rolls and cut into thin strips like this:
Then, wrap the strips around the hot dog like THIS:

Bake as directed on the biscuit or crescent roll can. Use mustard or ketchup for dots for the eyes, and viola! A mummy!!

Happy Halloween to all!

Scary!

There are ZOMBIES living in my house.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Happy Mothers Day

(Thanks for the laugh, Mindi. You always find the best stuff!)

Happy Earth Day

Let's take good care of her, shall we?

Our New Little Family and Everyone Should Have a Husband Like Mine

Meet the newest little additions to our family. Webkinz.

L to R: Bearydare, Leo, MattKong, Maggie Moo and JoJo.

I am not sure how the initial Webkinz craze passed us by, but it has caught up to us thanks to Aunt Tishele and her flawless Christmas gift giving. She gave Webkinz to Zack and Dylan, and then Zack wanted to buy one for Matt for Christmas, so he got one. Then I didn't want to be left out of it all, so I got the little cow for myself. It's great fun.

Next, I neglected to get a picture of the beautiful tulips (my favs) that Matt had sent to me before Christmas, but I did snap a picture of the note. He's a pretty darn good guy.

From All of Us...

The gentle genius,


the creative one,


the thinker,


and the dreamer.


May 2009 bring you ALL GOOD THINGS. Happy New Year!

Ahh, Christmas.

What a great Christmas! Lots of fun gifts, and it has been great spending time with friends and family. Here are a few of our favorite things...

Matt came through for me, as always! He is the BEST gift giver. This is a Kenneth Cole watch. This picture does NOT do it justice. It is simply beautiful. I love it. And him.


Wahoo! Lego Batman for Dylan! Can you see the twinkle in his eye?


A DS game for the Zackster. Happiness.


Dylan, caught in mid-howl after opening the new Star Wars Leapster game. Yea - he pretty much did this after opening EVERY gift. He is quite enthusiastic!


Zack got Matt a Webkin! He loves it. It is a silver-backed gorilla, and I think it looks JUST like Matt :) Only Matt isn't that hairy. Not even close.


I am a trekkie and I'm proud. Don't be a hater.


Santa Claus ate his cookies, but he always seems to leave a few crumbs for me to clean up.


How the Grinch Stole Christmas - for the DS! Who knew they even MADE that game??


Happy, happy children in robes from Poppi and Gigi.


Zack loves comics! Being the brainiac he is, these encyclopedias will be great for him.


We are enjoying spending time together while we are all off work for a couple of weeks. It has been a good time to reflect on the year, laugh together, snuggle up and love each other, enjoy being with friends, and to be thankful for all of our many blessings. Bring on 2009!

Christmas Eve at Grami Snow's

We kept up the "Christmas at Grami Snow's" tradition again this year. Lots of food, fun, and COUSINS COUSINS COUSINS everywhere.

Talia LOVES Zack. She hung on him quite a bit, and I think he liked it. I caught him smiling about it most of the time.



The kids acted out the Nativity as Grami recited the story from memory. Tessa (above) was the angel. Too cute. Although I imagine the REAL angel wasn't being held up in the air by a parent. :)

Meet Mary. Well, it's really Talia. Isn't she the cutest little toothless Mary you have ever seen?


Carter and Zack - two of the three Wise Guys, I mean Wise MEN. The pre-teens of the bunch. Heaven help us all.


Dylan - a shepherd.


The whole gang. Click on the picture to see it close up, and to see who is who.


It's always fun to gather with the family! FYI - Kathi (mom to all the "T" kids, with the exception of Tanner) has a whole Nativity kit - all the costumes in Ziploc bags, all filed in a box nice and neat. She is supermom. I am thinking that would be a GREAT Christmas present for next year for me to give someone. Now if only I could find someone to make it FOR me...

From Our Family to Yours...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

May the knowledge that our Savior Jesus Christ was born on earth to live and die for us bring you comfort, peace and joy this Christmas season.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given...And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace..."

These Are a Few of My Favorite (Christmas) Things

We finally got our tree up and decorated on Wednesday night. I love getting all the ornaments out and hearing the kids say, "ooh! I remember this one!" or "this one is yours, Dylan" or "This is a weird ornament Mom, it must be yours."

I thought it might be fun to post a few of my favorite ornaments from our very ecclectic Christmas ornament collection.

First and foremost, my absolute FAVORITE ornament is my Commander Riker ornament. My friend Sheryl in North Carolina got this for me many years ago. I love and adore it. If you don't know who Commander Riker is, well then I just don't even know why we are friends.


We've had this for a year or two. I LOVE the abomidable snow monster! No Christmas would be complete without him.


R2D2 on the Christmas tree. This is one of Dylan's favorites. We like our space shows around here :)


OK, this is one of those that the kids (and probably Matt) think is weird. It's a pig in a car. I like it. Deal with it, family.


An M&M (Matt's favorite, due to his initials) dressed as General Grievous from Star Wars. Too funny not to buy last year!


Zack's great uncle Don Smith carved this Santa by hand. I somehow got away with TWO of them, and I love them both! Completely original and amazing. I can only dream of having talent like that! We've had this ornament for at least 10 years and I hope to pass it on to Zack.


I just giggled when I saw this ornament - I had to have it! A reindeer mom baking cookies. It's me! Only I never remember to wear an apron, and usually end up with flour all over my shirt.


Another one of my favorites. This is very sparkly and catches the light really well. Santa with wings. I don't know why he has wings, but I like it anyway!


I bought this one several years ago because the boy here looks just like Zack. It has broken in about 3 places, but I just keep on gluing it back together. Sentimental old me! Don't you think it looks like Zack, though?


I wish these photographed better. They are really beautiful and sparkly! I have them all over my tree and I LOVE them. They are very elegant and go really well with all the Star Wars ornaments we have (insert sarcasm here).


Another M&M - this time as Bobba Fett. May the force be with you. And you. And you.


Zachary hanging an ornament on the tree.


The Grinch! The kids love this one. We actually got this one from a Wendy's with a kids meal (can you believe it??) several years back. When you squeeze him, his heart is supposed to light up. I am SO sad to report that when we took him out this year, his heart no longer lights up. Booooo! I am sure we'll keep him though.


Dylan placing ornaments on the tree.


Let the Christmas festivities begin!!

The Land of Far, Far Away

We're still alive!

We just returned from a wonderful, fantastic, exhausting family reunion/Thanksgiving feast/celebration of Grandpa Pratt's birthday in Pine Valley, Utah. We had a wonderful time! 58 of us crazy Pratt descendants all gathered together to enjoy one another's company and get re-acquainted. The kids all ran and played, the adults all talked and ATE (and ate and ate and ate...) and a good time was had by all. I am on the run today, but thought I would post a few pics of the get-together before I go out into the lone and dreary world today (It's foggy here!). More posts and photos of the week to come!

Kiddos playing games in the cabin. Clockwise from top: Zack, Mia, Kelly, Addi and Dylan. Cousin fun!


My mom and dad. LOVE them!


Zack and Dylan traveling down the road that led away from our cabin. Pine Valley is incredibly beautiful.


Pine Valley Dixie College cabin. It was HUUUUGE!


My sisters Ali and Savannah, with my mom and Dad. How cute are they?