Christmas Dance Recital

The girl's had their Christmas dance recital.  Unfortunately I didn't get good photos of them in action.  We did however, record it, so at least we have that, thanks to Jeff. 

 Bailee danced to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  Her group was really cute and Bailee did very well remembering the choreography.  She was quite nervous and adamant that she was not going on stage and not going to dance.  Thankfully she did, though.  I told her she'd be sad and regret it later if she didn't.  She loved it so much that she wanted to go up and perform it again.  I'm so glad that she enjoyed herself. :) 

Madison danced to Silent Night by Josh Groban, he does a very pretty and powerful rendition.  Madison and her group did great as well.  She was nervous, but all went well and she had a good time.  I wish I would have gotten a good photo of Madison.  A little girl sitting in front of me had reindeer antlers on, so that made it a little tricky. ;)

Ashton was a bit of a handful, the program went for about 2 hours.  Thankfully I brought snacks and treats to help distract him.  Jeff got up and walked around with him too.  Anyway, we had a very nice time and look forward to their next recital. 



Christmas Duty

We went to our ward Christmas party.  The food was good and the company was good.  Too bad Jeff had a late night at work and wasn't able to come.  Ashton enjoyed eating cupcakes, there were some yummy ones.  I brought his highchair which helped a lot.  I got praises from a couple of my friends, one even told me I'm a genius, ha ha!  That I'm not, but every once in awhile I have a decent idea. ;)

We sat by our friends. (Ryann and Nicole, and other ones who weren't in the picture)

And we saw Saint Nick.



Got that Christmas duty marked off my list.  Hope the kids enjoyed it more than I did.  I know, Bah Humbug. 

Good Idea, Mom

The girls really enjoyed decorating the gingerbread houses this year.

I hot glued the houses together instead of trying to stick 'em together with frosting, which is a pain.  The houses stayed together much better.  They might be less authentic, but who cares.  I didn't even get any 2nd degree burns while gluing them.  I've gotten enough blisters from the hot glue gun lately, thanks to my crafts.

I love Christmas time!

The Tree Is Up

We got the tree up and decorated a week or so ago.  The girls wore me down and wanted some peace, so I gave in and put it up.

Up went the tree and down came the ornaments.  Ashton has broken three so far, argh!  What's a mom to do?  He thinks they're balls and this boy loves to throw balls.  I'm crossing my fingers there won't be any more that go crashing to the floor.

Christmas Day

The kids got up at a very decent time, 7:30 am, which allowed me time to get the cinnamon rolls and breakfast pizza made before things got crazy.  The kids waited very patiently for Grandma and Grandpa Litton and Jill and Justin to arrive.

The present opening frenzy begins!

Madison was so happy to get a sleep mask.

Aunt Jill entertained us with live music.

Jill and Justin made good use of Ashton's new quilt.

Grandpa Kenny and Grandma Jeanne (who unfortunately we didn't get a picture of) visited us that afternoon.  We had a great Christmas!

Madison's tent

Bailee's tent

The girls have really enjoyed the tents and toys they received.

Ash and I playing with his new toys.

Rockin' around the Christmas tree.

Christmas Weekend

 Grandpa Rust was the only one paying any attention to the camera.

This was the beginning of our Christmas weekend, The Rust Family Christmas Party.  Ashton and I almost didn't make it.  He had vomited a few times Friday morning, I thought for sure he had a stomach virus.  After his nap he felt much better and we were able to go.  We went to Falcon's Ledge this year.  Although, I kept wanting to call it Pelican Brief, which is a movie starring Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts.  Jeff was excited that they might be there.  Much to his dismay, they weren't. ;)

Ashton was the youngest child and therefore the first one to get to open the "kids" gifts.  He had fun shaking the maraca!  We really liked the lodge other than it being fffreezing cold there and having to hike to the parking area, brrrr!

We had dinner on Christmas Eve with my parents.  I made Stromboli and EVERYONE liked it, yay!

The 3 amigos in their brand new Christmas pj's.

Madison read us Twas the Night Before Christmas and The Christmas Story.  She did a great job!

It's About Time

My cute little reindeer boy.

Yippy, I finally figured out how to upload our photos from the camera.  It was really tough, ;)  I plugged the camera into the tower via the usb cord and viola, an uploading we went.  It was the cameras photo viewing program that had been causing all the problems, so I bypassed it.  Pretty boring eh? Let's move on.

Here we were, way back on Dec. 10th (2011).  We had a family Christmas party at Jeff's parents house and a little party for Ashton too.  He's enjoying his cake in this photo, he sure has a sweet tooth.  Too bad my hand is blocking the birthday boys face.

I just love the gift bag on Jeff's dad's (Ken's) head! 

After the party, we headed down to Riverwoods in Provo to see Santa.  He's a sweet Santa.

This was Ashton's first time seeing Old St. Nick, and he wasn't scared a bit.  Yay!

Kisses of Christmas Past?

Three days till our annual Rust family Christmas party.  This dandy of a photo was taken a few years ago by my cousin, Daisy.  It's a picture of Bailee on the right, being smooched by my cousin Brynlee at the Christmas party.  Wowza!! I love how my aunt Ginger is assisting in the smooch :-O  (There must be some mistletoe hung above them!)



(Sorry for the small photo, I lose picture quality when I enlarge it) :)

I'm Obsessed...

with the scent of pine, real pine.

We went to Lowes yesterday and I bought this wreath and the garland above.  Love em!  They smell wonderful!  And the bonus was, they were on sale plus I got an additional 30% off. 

Our three trees.  We've had some issues this year with lights not working as you can see on the tree on the left, half the strand works and half doesn't.  Sorry folks, I'm not restringing new lights and redecorating the tree (again).  We also had some falling trees, timber!  The red and white one fell over at least 4 or 5 times, due to children and wobbliness.  We shifted the trees around and solved the problems, whew!

My Favorite Time of Year

We had a nice family home evening lesson last week.  The only bad part was that Jeff wasn't here with us, he was away working.  We missed him, as always.  He works so hard for our family.  We are very blessed to have such a wonderful father and husband to take care of us.  We watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas, which I haven't seen in years.  The movie captured Madison's attention (Bailee's not so much, but a little bit :).  After the movie we bore our testimonies.  Madison went first and began bearing her testimony, she got emotional right away, saying that she misses Jesus and wants to see him again.  She cried for a little bit so I hugged her until she calmed down.  I explained to her that we'll see him again one day, but right now is our time to be on earth to learn and grow.  I told her that's why we read the scriptures, go to church & the temple and pray, so that we can feel close to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  I'm thankful that Madison, at this young age, already has a testimony of and love for our Redeemer, Jesus Christ and for our Father in Heaven. 

Tonight for fhe, I'm hoping we're able to reenact The Nativity, as a family.  Madison had requested this, and this thought had already crossed my mind.  I'd better go get working on it. 

~~

There are so many Christmas songs I love.  I especially love the last verse of this song.

Away In a Manger

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.
The stars in the sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus no crying he makes.
I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle til morning is nigh.

Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
And take us to heaven, to live with Thee there.

She Blinded Me with Science....

Well, not really science, more like technology.  Bad news...there might not be any family photos on this post. ;)  We got us a new computer, yippy yay yay yahoooo!  It's so much faster and cooler, I love it!  I'm still setting it up how we like it, which includes reinstalling the photo stuff.  I'm the geek at our house, I get to set up most of the electronics.  I'm also pretty good with directions (my nickname in the car is Navigator) and I don't enjoy endless shopping (in other words I'm a man!!) .  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy getting new things, clothes, jewelry, etc., within reason, but too much browsing/shopping wears me out!  There's me in a nutshell! ;)  Well, some of me.  It's weird talking about myself.  Enough.

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(I found a family photo) Us playing in the snow a couple of winters ago.  Jeff made the snow cave, Madison's in the cave and I'm on it. 

What's going on around the Redford home???  Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!  Ashton's 1st Birthday is also coming up on the 15th and Jeff's Birthday is on the 29th.  December is a very busy month!

I L-O-V-E my snowflake flannel sheets!  I can't wait for bedtime.