School Christmas Concert

The kids had a fun last day of school before the winter break. They made gingerbread houses, watched the Polar Express, partied with their school friends, and then ended the day with a Christmas Concert. It was a madhouse. Soooo many people came to see the kids perform. They, of course, did a fabulous job singing all their songs.

Gage and Amberly heading out the door to school with the gifts they made for their teachers.Oops, the picture is sideways. These are Gage's two best friends from school. Garrett and Justice. They have been friends since Kindergarten. They are waiting patiently for their turn to perform.

Amberly, waiting for her turn. Isn't she a cutie!?! We were in the back. This is the best picture we got!

So proud after their wonderful singing!

12 Years!!!

12 years ago we were sealed together forever. It rained the entire day. The ENTIRE day! We have very few pictures of our day because of the rain. On the bright side we were told that rain is good luck on your wedding day. It must be true because it's been a wonderful 12 years. We have much to be thankful for as we look back over the years and we look forward to many more wonderful things to come.

Annual Gingerbread Village

It has become a fun tradition these last few years to make gingerbread houses. Fun, quality, family time during the holidays. Honestly, I think the kids ate as much candy as they put on the houses!

Our little Village We obviously didn't get our hair done for pics tonight.PLEASE can I have more candy?!?!? Carrigan's house Amberly's house Mom's house Gage's houseDad's houseAfter the kids went to bed, Tiffin went to town and made a bigger house just for fun!

Gage's School Project

Gage was assigned his first "real" school project. His class has been studying India and each student was to make a poster telling facts about India. He was so excited about this project and very proud of his work. His teacher raved about how well he did during his presentation to the class. Way to go Gage!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Say Cheese! -- Family Pictures

Finally!!! Pictures of our family. We have been wanting to have pictures taken for a loooong time! We think they turned out pretty cute! Thanks Bryan, Karin, and Tami...we LOVE them!

Decking the Halls!

We have a tradition of decorating our tree on the first FHE night after Thanksgiving. This year was no different. The house still isn't unpacked but we have our tree up. Priorities people! Mom and the kids "fluffed" the tree. Dad got the lights working. And then the ornaments came out! It's so fun to see the kids faces light up as they dig through the ornament boxes and find familiar ones. Our tree is loaded with ornaments that we have made in years past at school or home and ornaments that Grandma makes for them each year. The tree brings back sweet memories of Christmases past. We love our tree!

We Moved!!

Things have been pretty hectic around here. We recently sold our home and over Thanksgiving weekend moved into another. We lived there for almost 5 years. Gage was only 3, Amberly 1, and Carrigan a brand new baby when we moved in! Crazy how quickly time goes by. We will miss our home but look forward to making new memories in our new home.

GoodbyeHello.

Thanksgiving 2009

We are stuffed!!! That's what you're supposed to do on Thanksgiving right!?! We started out the morning with a turkey pancake breakfast. Kimball then went off to play football while the kids and I watched the Parade on TV. They love watching it as much as I do. Then off to Mommer and Papa's we went for a day filled with fun!

Our Turkey Pancakes. Gobble Gobble!Uncle Jay brought rockets! The kids loved running after the parachute man that came out of the rockets. It was windy that day so they did ALOT of running! They were good and hungry for Thanksgiving dinner! Cousins!!!!!

Emmalin cuddling with Mommer. So cute! (Thanks Ash for the pictures)

After dinner Papa brought out huge trays filled with candy! The kids (and adults) were in heaven. It was a fun and YUMMY Thanksgiving!

We are Thankful!!!

It's the night before Thanksgiving. My Candied Coconut Sweet Potatoes are baking in the oven for tomorrow's feast. Everyone else in the family is sound asleep. The house is quiet and I can sit and reflect on the many things I am thankful for this year. Life hasn't been perfect. Who's is!?! But, even with it's ups and downs I can say "We have truly been blessed"!!!

This is "Mr. Gobble". He is a turkey we made a few weeks ago during Family Home Evening. We drew pictures and wrote down things that we are thankful for on the feathers. Things like food, home, family, temple, Dad's graduation, Dad's job, the scriptures, friends, school, and more. He has been sitting proudly on a shelf reminding us to be thankful for our blessings. We are looking forward to tomorrow -- a day of Thanksgiving! Parades, football games, family gatherings, fabulous food. Lot's to be thankful for...

Jesse Tree Ornament Exchange

Last night the Wilkins Family held our 2nd Annual Jesse Tree Ornament Exchange. A few years ago my Mom thought it would be fun if each family made an ornament that reflected a scripture or gospel theme important to their family that year. For our November FHE we explain our ornament and give each family one. At the end we all have 9 new ornaments. We have enjoyed this new tradition and hope to continue it. 1. Mom and Dad -- D&C 64:9-10 (4-give and 4-get)
2. Kimball, Tiffin and family -- 2 Nephi 2:26-27 (Don't leave life to chance. Make good choices.)
3. Rob, Heidi and family -- Genesis 1:27 (Adam and Eve, the Creation)
4. Nathan, Amanda and family -- Mosiah 4:13 (Live peaceably)
5. Michael, Allison and family -- Ether 3 (The Brother of Jared, Faith)
6. Scott, Katie and family -- Galations 5:13 (by LOVE serve one another)
7. Ben and family -- D&C 121:34-36 (Keys of the Priesthood)
8. Patrick, Kelli and family -- Hymn #294 (Love at home)
9. Mike and Kristi -- D&C 85:3 (Tithing)

Carrigan's 5th Birthday!

Carrigan turned 5 today and she couldn't be happier! She has really gotten into Country music lately. In fact, she has decided that she wants to be a Country Music Star when she grows up. So...she decided to have a "Pink Taylor Swift" birthday. She could hardly wait until her Dad, brother, and sister got home from work and school. She wanted to open her presents so badly. She was desperately hoping for a guitar! Yay! A Tinker Bell blanket. She was excited because she loves Tinker Bell but it wasn't the guitar she was hoping for...She tore into another gift and there it was. Her much anticipated guitar. She screamed she was so excited! Can you see it in her face how excited she is?!

Posing with her Taylor Swift poster and her pink guitar cake...

Blowing out candles!

While eating birthday cake we discovered that we have quite the talented family. Check us out!

Happy Birthday Carrigan! We love you 5 year-old!!!!!

The MBA Graduate!!

We are so proud of our Dad! He had earned his Bachelors Degree in Communications from ASU but wanted to further his education and get his Masters Degree in Business. The University of Phoenix was the perfect fit and so off to school he went. It's been a long haul and alot of time away from the family, so we are looking forward to him being home more. He won't miss the all-nighters or the worrying about papers and grades, but he enjoyed learning new things and will miss school. Here are several pictures from the day (thanks Bryan for being such an awesome photographer).