Festival of Tolman Trees

CHRISTMAS TRADITION #1: Decorating the Children's Trees

Every year, this is one of the first Christmas traditions our family participates in, and one of my favorites! For more information on how this tradition started, READ THIS. This was Kanyon's first year decorating his own tree. With all four boys decorating the four trees, my living room looked like the makings of a "Festival of Trees"!! The boys each displayed their completed decorated trees in their room this year, and they loved it! They loved the twinkling lights at night, they loved admiring and rearranging their ornaments during the day, and they loved showing their special trees to friends and neighbors, especially Kanyon. During the holiday season, Kanyon was excited to tell anybody who stopped by about his "Ki-Ka-Kee", and then he'd take them by the hand and lead them down the hall to his bedroom and point out his Christmas tree to them!!!

10 Goals for 2010

1. go to the temple 6 times

2. read the entire Book of Mormon

3. lose 36 pounds and maintain that weight

4. go out once a month with other ladies

5. finish the England scrapbook

6. pay off my local credit card

7. lower and maintain my inbox to less than 50 emails at all times

8. catch up and maintain ordering photos within six months of being taken

9. make something new & different with every food item we grow

10. forgive someone who hurt me

Say Cheese!

Kanyon wanted to take pictures with my camera the day after Thanksgiving. In a matter of 15 minutes, he'd taken almost 100 pictures. Most of the pictures were of inanimate objects, such as: chairs, the floor, outlets, light fixtures, walls, etc. And most of the photos were blurry because he was taking photos so fast with a moving hand. But he managed to walk around the house taking photos of everyone as well. And the photos prove that everyone smiled happily for him.I enjoy taking photos of my family members, but seriously every time I bring out the camera and tell my boys or my husband that I want a picture, this is the procedure: I hear groans, I have photos of people with frowning faces, I make threats, and then I get ONE good picture with smiles.
I'm thinking from now on if I want a cheerful picture of somebody in my family, I'll just give the camera to Kanyon and have him do it for me! Because everybody's more than happy to smile for him!!!

Black Friday

After Thanksgiving festivities wrapped up in Pocatello, we headed to Tremonton to spend the rest of the weekend. Josh's cousin was getting married and we wanted to go to her reception on Friday evening. Friday was a busy day for us, starting with shopping super early that morning!

Black Friday has its share of memories in my mind. The first year I tried it was 2000. We lived in Chubbuck, and I was determined to save a little money by going to get some deals. Josh stayed home in bed to take care of Ammon and I was out of the house after 5:00am, which is strange and rare for me. I was inexperienced and had no idea what I was doing. I had five different stores to go to for various things. Little did I know what to expect!!! It was overwhelming, and the amount of people were crazy. Out of the five stores that I went to with a list of six things to get, I succeeded with only obtaining two things from my list. I went home a little disappointed and resolved to never do it again.

But in 2004, things changed. Every year, we rotate between spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Tolman family and the Perkins family. Thanksgiving 2004 was with the Perkins'. Josh and I were in the market for a new TV, and there was some great deals advertised for Black Friday. So, learning from my mistake before, we went TOGETHER and had a REAL game plan: we separated in the stores, we had different items to individually get, we had different stores to go to in a certain order. It worked. We came home with a TV and a stereo, and many other gifts for ourselves and gifts for Christmas. It was a real success!!! After that, we were hooked!!! Now, whenever we go to Utah for Thanksgiving, we do Black Friday because my mom is willing to babysit the kids in the wee hours of the morning.

2004 was the year that the lady passed out and got trampled on in Wal-Mart.

2006 was the year we set Tawna up on an early morning blind-date with John. He slept in, then she fell asleep. But at least the breakfast at I-Hop in Ogden was good.

2008 was the year we ate breakfast in Logan at I-Hop in between the madness, waiting for our last stop Hastings to open.

And 2009 was the year that we got our flat screen TV, spent an hour in the line at Wal-Mart, went to 3 ShopKo's looking for the camera I wanted but never could find.

After the madness, we went to the Ogden temple together at 7:00am, and enjoyed a breakfast at Denny's after. It was nice to spend some quiet time alone together, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a crazy morning, and by the time we got back to Tremonton, we were exhausted. But for some reason, we decided to drive to Logan and do a little more regular shopping. Which is a crazy day to do regular shopping because there's SO many people!!! We woke up at 4:00am that morning to get started, and finally by 3:00 we were done shopping! I'm so grateful for my parents who are willing to watch my boys, because we could never achieve all that we needed to do with children in tow!

They played games, did puzzles, watched the Lord of the Rings movies, and decorated cookies in our absence. And they loved every minute of it!!!That evening, Josh and I went to his cousin's beautiful reception. It was nice to meet Stephanie's husband and to visit with Glade and Debbie, who we both love. Afterwards, my sisters and I tried to carry on last year's tradition by going to the movies together. And even though Trina had already seen New Moon, I hadn't, so she came along with me to that one. It was awesome and I'm so glad she came with me!

The next morning, we headed for home. It was a wonderful holiday weekend being able to spend time with both families and creating wonderful memories! (But I'll admit that I was also happy to sleep in my own bed again!)

Thanksgiving 2009

Josh's sister Tiffany and her husband Scott hosted the Tolmans for Thanksgiving this year, and it was wonderful! The food was absolutely delicious, the company was comfortably grand, and the entertainment was so delightful.

When we first arrived, the boys loved playing with their cousins' giant homemade castle. Their granddad made it for them a few years ago, and it's always a hit with our boys!! They played and played with it until dinner was ready.

Feeding 20 people can be difficult, but they were prepared! The house was decorated so cute with crepe paper, the table settings were beautiful, and the food was cooked perfectly. They served ham and turkey, mashed potatoes and rice, gravy, and stuffing, Kathy brought rolls and salads, and Alyssa brought a salad.

I made cheesecake and fresh pumpkin pies for dessert, Scott made his famous cherry pies, and Tiffany tried a new cranberry/apple crumble. We were so full afterwards! SO much good food!

After dinner, we had a family talent show. Because I'm teaching Ammon his piano lessons this year, and since right now he is my only student, his piano performance served as his winter piano recital.

His cousins also performed: Joel on the piano, Coral on the piano, Jessalyn on the flute and the oboe, and Aysha read an original story. Their whole family concluded by singing "The Family is of God". It was such a nice show!The boys wrapped up the day by playing Wii with their cousins. We all had a great time, and I'm so grateful for Scott and Tiffany's willingness to host this time around!

Monster Comparison

Cookie Monster is Blue

Colored Monster has blue lips

Cookie Monster acts like a monster when he sees cookies

Colored Monster acts like a monster when he finds markers

Cookie Monster destroys cookies by gobbling them whole

Colored Monster destroys things by coloring on them with markers

Cookie Monster lives on Sesame Street

Colored Monster lives in the Tolman house

Cookie Monster says "Rraaarrrghh"

Colored Monster says "Rraaarrrghh"

(no difference there)

We have a winner!!!

Our elementary school adopted the motto "FRYS-Friendly Responsible Youth Staying Safe" three years ago. Each year, they hold a contest for kids to design a poster that illustrates the motto. They have a panel of judges that chooses the best poster from each grade. This year, Micah won from the kindergarten with this picture:
After the winners are chosen, they are treated to a pizza party during the lunch hour. They get to eat pizza and breadsticks and pop. After the eating is done, they color an identical poster to the one that was chosen with paints onto a larger canvas. After that's all done, the pictures are framed and remain in the halls of the school.

I love Micah's artistic abilities! He loves to draw and color. He creates the cutest little stick figures--they look like Mr. Potato Head. They are so adorable! His poster is of him helping another child on the playground. So cute! He was thrilled that he won the contest! This is the poster that is now framed and displayed in the school:

Good Job Micah!

Another Special Some"bunny"

In Mrs. Casterson's Kindergarten class, each child gets to take home the class mascot "Huckleberry" bunny for one weekend. Along with Huckleberry, the child gets a special book to read to the bunny, a journal to write the weekend adventures in, and a poster to make that highlights the child's life. Micah had previously brought the bunny home at the beginning of October. Jonah couldn't wait for his turn, and it finally it came in the middle of November!

We loved having the bunny in our home again! It was a beautiful fall weekend, and the bunny watched us as we raked leaves and started the burn pile on fire. Jonah took really good care of it, and loved reading to it and carrying it around and sleeping with it at night. Jonah helped me make his special poster by choosing what photos to put on it, what information to write on it, and he colored his name at the top with a little help from Kanyon.

On Monday, when he returned to school, Jonah was the "Special Somebunny" in the class for the day. He chose me to be his special visitor, and he picked the book that I read to the class. I talked about the photos on Jonah's poster, and then I read "Cookie's Week".

The book is about a cat that gets into mischief all over the house. We talked about how our cats stay outdoors, but Jonah's little brother Kanyon gets into a lot of things inside the house just like in the book. To go along with the book's theme, Jonah brought a few stuffed cats from home to show the class.

After reading the story about Cookie the Cat, we treated everyone to cookies!

On Jonah's poster, we listed some of his favorite activities, which include: playing with cars, playing with his brothers, playing in the dirt pile, riding his bike, riding 4-wheelers, going camping and hiking, finding sticks to make bigger fires, breaking ice in the ditch during the winter, and helping his mom clean the house. Jonah's a great helper and he enjoys having a good time!

It was so fun spotlighting Jonah in his class! And I know he really liked it, too!

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2009 Goals Summary

PHYSICAL: Swim past the rock island in Williams Lake
[completed]

(you can see the island way behind Ammon in this picture)

SPIRITUAL: Go to the temple at least 5 times
[completed]

(Rexburg twice, Idaho Falls, Logan, and Ogden)

EDUCATIONAL: Read the Book of Mormon
[unfinished--I started off strong, but never made it past 1 Nephi]

PERSONAL: Grow a successful garden and pumpkin patch and eat or preserve the crops
[completed]

One of our delicious giant radishes

Hobo Dinner with home-grown potatoes, carrots, and onions

Yummy home-grown green beans with bacon

Spaghetti Salad with home-grown cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes

Glazed Carrots

Yummy Corn on the Cob

Dehydrating Apples

My first attempt at Pumpkin Puree - One large pumpkin made enough for 20 pies!

Spiced Apple/Pear Freezer Jam - made with fruit off our trees

My first attempt ever at Applesauce

FINANCIAL: Pay off my new laptop
[completed]
FUN: Finish the England Vacation scrapbook
[unfinished--I did a few more pages in it, but I haven't scrapbooked in over 9 months]