New Year's Eve

It's already happening. Trevin and McKade would rather spend New Year's Eve with friends than with their amazing parents. They both went to the Jacobsen's and had the best time having air soft wars, watching movies, playing games and eating junk food. Since it was just the 4 of us, Brett and I decided to take the girls to a movie and dinner. We saw "We Bought a Zoo" and took the girls to Iggy's. The girls went to be about 10:30 and because we had to go pick up the boys we had to stay up until midnight. We spent New Year's Day at my dad's house enjoying a yummy turkey lunch and just vegging on the couch.

Merry Christmas

Christmas came and went this year and I actually enjoyed Christmas this year. We scaled way back on gifts and the kids didn't even notice. The girls were happy with their iPods and the boys were happy with the airsoft guns. We spent a lot of time with family, went to a lot of movies and just enjoyed the holiday.

Christmas Staycation

The kids had a full two weeks off from school for Christmas break this year and with Brett changing jobs he had some vacation time to burn. We decided to try something new this year and reserved a hotel room downtown for one night. The plan was to go to the Grand America for a Christmas scavenger hunt, go to the Gateway for dinner, go to temple square to see the light and then let the kids swim at the hotel. We had a great time on the scavenger hunt and ended up with a really yummy cookie. We headed to the Gateway and ate dinner at Z'Tejas and then tried to find somewhere to park to go look at the lights. Downtown was very crowded and after driving around the block several times without finding a parking spot the kids said they would much rather head back to the hotel and go swimming. We spent 3 hours at the pool that we had all to ourselves and then we headed back to the room and the kids played card games until we convinced them it was time for bed. The kids loved this so much we may make this an annual tradition.

Family Christmas Party

We had our annual Cromer family Christmas party. It's always a good time and especially fun for the kids now that they are all getting older. I had to snap a picture of them all hanging out on the stairs. These are the "Cool Kids".

JAZZ GAME

Because the NBA was in a lockout the regular season didn't start on time. They finally came to an agreement and the season started about 2 months late. The Utah Jazz held a free scrimmage to show their appreciation for their fans. We decided to make the trek downtown and take advantage of it. It was a lot of fun and I can't believe how many people showed up.

Christmas Concerts

This week the kids had their Christmas concerts at school. Trevin's was the first night and his was a guitar, choir, orchestra and band combined concert. Brynlee had hers the next night and then McKade's was the night after that. That meant three extra trips to the school every night but as always the kids were well prepared and it sure helps to get into the Christmas spirit.

Hats

Trevin's first sewing project in his CTE class were fleece hats and scarves. He took enough fleece to make 3 scarves and 2 hats. I was surprised by how well his hat turned out. He said he actually enjoyed the sewing project. What a silly kid.

Brynlee's Solo

Brynlee was asked to perform her solo at the Azurette Competition Preview Showcase. We only had 3 days notice and had to throw a costume together because hers wasn't ready yet. It took a lot of courage for her to get up in front of a lot of her peers and perform. She said she was really scared but hopefully this was a way to get rid of her jitters before she actually has to compete.

Guitar

Trevin has the opportunity to take Guitar as one of his classes this year and I am surprised by how much he has enjoyed it. Their first concert was combined with choir, dance, orchestra and band. Their teacher put together a whole show based on "The Phantom of the Opera". I was amazed by how quickly all these kids were able to learn. Trevin is really enjoying it and has asked for a nice guitar for Christmas this year.

Field Trip

I was able to tag along on a field trip with Trevin and his CTE class. They went to Thanksgiving Point and had the chance to experience many different career fields. My favorite part was when they learned how to extract DNA from a strawberry. It was fun to watch them all work together as a team to make sure they got it exactly right and at the end we were treated with a Strawberry smoothie. It was an exhausting but fun afternoon.

Spanish Luncheon

At the end of every quarter Trevin's Spanish teacher holds a luncheon for all those kids who had zero missing assignments for the quarter. There were 27 students who earned this and only 6 of them were boys. I am so proud of Trevin's hard work. The lunch was catered and the kids feasted on Chicken pasta, salad and donuts. Hard work does pay off.

Happy Birthday Trevin!

Today we officially enter the teenage years in our home. Trevin turns 13. Instead of a big birthday party he wanted everyone to go out to dinner. He chose Iggy's, of course. There is nothing better than football and food. I can't believe how time has flown. Where did all those years go? I swear that just yesterday we were these young, scared parents bringing their first baby home from the hospital wondering what we were going to do now. I am so proud of the young man he is turning into and can't wait to see what the future holds. Happy Birthday Trevin!

Halloween

Halloween lasted several days at our house this year. We had school parades, pumpkin painting parties and then the actual holiday itself. We went with Pa and Joanie to The Garden After Dark at Red Butte Gardens. They had a bunch of activities for everyone. The kids painted pumpkins and got their faces painted. We decided to forgo carving pumpkins this year and painted. It was a lot less messy and the kids actually got to do it themselves. Harlee had a fun pre-school party and it was another busy time of the year for us.

Harlee

Harlee is loving dance and tumbling this year. She is in a 5-7 Ballet/Jazz combo class and is doing a great job keeping up even though she is the youngest in her class. She also loves her tumbling class. She can do a mean back walkover and keeps telling me how bad she wants to be able to do an aerial and back handspring. They were getting rid of some of the trophys at the studio and Teresa made a big deal of it in tumbling. The girls had to do a trick and then she presented them with her trophy. Harlee was so excited. The trophy is almost as big as she is.

Teacher Work Day and UEA

The kids had the entire week off of school this week for Teacher Work Days and UEA. We didn't have anything major planned. The boys went to the Haunted Village with Pa and Joanie and had the crap scared out of them. My mom came over and the kids decorated sugar cookies and we made it to a playoff game for High School Football. It was a pretty low key week, just the way I like them.