The Merriest Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas with all the activities. Christmas Eve Day the kids got to go sledding with Tim and Uncle Rick. I stayed home and got the Christmas Cookies ready for Santa. Then Christmas Eve we had the annual dinner at mom's house. Prime Rib this year!!!! Shrimp, garlic potatoes, ultimate creamed corn, and fresh rolls to complete the meal. This year was special since Grandpa and Grandma Bisel got to join us. It is wonderful that we get to share special times with them!!! At the Christmas Eve dinner we always have the "program." The kids had been practicing at my house all day. Literally they started at 6:30 AM!!! Tess was the conductor and she would make them stand and sit after each song. Ellie and Luke wrote the lyrics to a song and then Ellie sang a solo with Luke accompanying on the saxophone!!! At one point Noah joined in on the piano. Always a spectacular show from each family member. The kids were then allowed to open their Christmas Eve gifts from Grandpa and Grandma. PJ's and their own special nativity set. We came right home and sprinkled the reindeer food Aunt Patrice gave the kids in the front yard!!! It must have worked because Santa found us and delivered everything and more than we needed. What Santa didn't bring Grandpa and Grandma McNeil made up for as well as all the Aunts and Uncles and cousins. We have such a tight family and the gifts were great but it was the time we spent together that I enjoyed the most!!!!! Tim gave me a huge canvas framed picture of Christ. I really love it and I think that getting it on Christmas made it extremely special. I love my family, I love my kids, I love my husband. I love this time of year!! Hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. we will be in Idaho to celebrate with our Butikofer family. We can't wait to see our new cousin Luke Taylor!!!

The Man of my Dreams!!!

It is hard to believe that 11 short years ago I was standing on the side of 1-15 South of Santaquin in the dark wondering if I was really going to make it to the temple to get married or not?(If you don't know what I am talking about I am sorry!) Who knew that would be the beginning of an adventure of a lifetime.
Three children, a dozen cars, and to many dead pets later I still wake up every morning with the man of my dreams. We have built such a great life together I can't imagine what the next 11 years will bring.
We would love to spend the weekend in Manti, but all of the Christmas programs landed on this week and I am not sure I could relax enough to really enjoy it. When we went last year, on our ten years anniversary, we ended up as the witness couple and I cried the whole session. I feel so blessed to have Tim not only as my eternal companion but as my soul mate, my best friend, and mostly the father of my three beautiful girls. He works so hard to make me happy and never once, ok just once, complains about all of the "tasks" that I give him! When I was in college in Cedar City, I could not settle down for a minute with one guy. But the instant I started dating Tim I knew exactly that I could never find anyone better!!!
I love to watch him in everything that he does from using the squegee on the shower door to making chocolate chip cookies, he does it with such PERFECTION there is no doubt it will turn out right. One of my favorite things is to watch him put pretend make-up on the girls in church to try to keep them quiet or fall asleep.

Only Tim would know exactly where the eyeliner and mascara should go. I could go on and on about him but if you have ever seen him in a pair of Wrangler and boots ...enough said.! I love you with all my HEART, Happy Anniversary!

One Month Later!!!

Well I am finally at a point where I can let go of an hour and blog! Sorry to all who really missed my children, sorry to all of those who don't even have a blog and get after those of us who do, and sorry to my mother who thinks something is truly wrong with me. I just have a little stress and I need to stay on top of it. So here are the top ten reasons I haven't blogged lately (good and bad)

10. In November I was busy finishing a room in my basements so that some more of my siblings would have a place to stay. Painting, going to pick out carpet, and then sanding and re-staining the bedroom furniture!

9. I got sick! This really knocked me out! I had fluid in my ears and sinuses and every time I stood up I went into orbit. (Vertigo-seriously) The doctor even wrote me a prescription for bed rest. Although that did me no good. Giselle did take pitty on me and teach some of my dance classes! Thanks!

8. One word-Thanksgiving! If you have not checked out my siblings blogs then you have no idea what I am talking about however we pack two weeks worth of activities into 2 days!

7. Second Word-Turkey! Since we did have 3 turkeys for Thanksgiving and Tim bought and I cooked the 23 pound bird, I had a little left over in the fridge. Knowing that Bella and Zeke had plenty Thanksgiving "left overs!!!" I decided not to let my turkey go to waist. Therefore I went on a 24 hour turkey cooking bonanza! I made 3 casseroles, 2 turkey pot pies, turkey soup, and turkey a'la king! Then I had to deliver it to grandparents and random people in the ward who had just had babies!

6. Programs- (Now I will sound like my mom for a moment.) I am preparing and planning 3, yes 3 Christmas programs. 1. Primary Christmas program: Not sure how the chorister gets to plan and write and teach the songs and come up with the costumes but in Francis 2nd this year it happened. 2. Stake Children's Choir: Again I got this one from my mom. So we aren't just singing we are playing bells and everything in between. 3. Of course the Body Motion Christmas Concert. Enough said, if you saw the Halloween show you would know that I have a lot of work to make it every bit as good! The good news is that they all are in a matter of 8 days apart so after that week I should feel relived. (December 11th, December 16th and December 19th)Mark your calendar there will be no blogging that week I am sure!!!

5. Mia and Tess- Well Tess' pre-school teacher took a major leave of absence so I have had to find things to do to entertain Tess since she starts asking me at 6:45 "Where are we going today?" She isn't entertained by me tell her "We are going to the play room so you can watch Mommy play on the computer!"

4. DVR- Tim finally did it! We now are the proud owners of a dish! Therefore I record shows and I can watch them later! Sorry we just got it 2 weeks ago so I the newness hasn't worn off yet!

3. Being the MOM! Enough said!

2. Shoveling snow! Finally we got a great snow storm and I tried to surprise my husband before he got home from work and have the majority of the snow removal done. There are some people who can verify this next statement. In doing so I felt like to have to remove the snow to the same level as Tim. Efficient and meticulously! Therefore it took me half of the day!

1. I had to get my tree up so I could have some really good pictures. I know I am the last McNeil child to do so, even though it is only December 2nd but I think you know what a fun and competitive group we are. Do it and do it the best. Therefore I had to get a gigantic artificial tree. I took me a while to find the "PERFECT ONE" but I did it. A few people have asked me if it is real! YEAH!

So there you have it, the reasons it has been one month since my last post. Take it or leave it!

We have the 9 foot tree in the front room and then three little ones in the family room. I obviously am a control freak (Monica) because as the girls decorated the tree I quickly moved them as they turned around to get the next ornament!

You Better Watch Out!

You better watch out.. you better not cry- I'm telling you why!
We had a very interesting morning at the old Butikofer homestead. It is not rare for us to see a deer or two out by our house (Hench the hundreds of dollars in trees, flower, and strawberries that get eaten!!) BUT normally we do not see any bucks. Believe it or not Prancer and his harem were at our house this morning! I found this the PERFECT opportunity to tell the children that "Santa must have sent Prancer to figure out how to get to our house since Christmas will be coming!!! And the rest of the deer must be listening at our windows to see if we are being nice and talking kindly to each other." It went better than I thought. Ellie went out of control, I know you can't imagine this, saying that then the deer run down into the trees in the holler and tell the elves what we are doing. LOVE IT! Boy that Santa Baby can come in SOOOOOO handy! So you better be good for goodness sake!
I know you can't see this but the buck had 4 points and he was HUGE!!!

For those of you who forgot the names you have for Christmas...Here is the list! (Thanks MOM!)
Rob-Patrice
Billie Jo-Chelsea
Tim-Allen
Rick-Rob
Max-Billie Jo
Olivia-Noah
Allen-Rick
Noah-Max
Patrice-Olivia
Chelsea-Giselle
Giselle-Tim
And girls, Patrice and mom included, I have thought of two different craft projects that we can do over Thanksgiving. (Sorry Max you have a child now and you have to tend him!) 1st: The board with hooks on that says "The stockings were hung..." I think Olivia may have this? 2nd: A Christmas picture frame. I got one from my friend for my Birthday, a little decoupage and some paper and we are good to go. What do you think?

It's Great to be Eight!!!

Well we made it! Even though I was still scrapbooking at 3:00 am the night before we made it to the stake center and had the baptism all over by 10:30 am. There were so many family members who made the long journey to support Ellie I felt so fortunate. She looked beautiful and had the day she deserved. She also had two other kids from her primary class that were baptized as well. The one interesting fact of the day was that the water heater went bazurk and the water was HOT!!! When Ellie went in she said it felt like a hot tub! When she came out and I helped her take off her wet clothes they were still hot.



Sunday was a great day as well. Chelsea and Max had Jack blessed in our ward since everyone was here for the baptism. Max did such a nice job and Jack just slept right through it all. Then we had Max and his family come over and we had a lunch at our house. It was just what every McNeil likes; FOOD FAMILY and then a little more FOOD! Ribs anyone?

Trick-or-Treat!

We had a great Halloween! The girls all cooperated so well and we scored some great loot! I was in charge of Ellie's class party and spend all day doing that. Tess also had a pre-school party and Mia just went with the flow all day. The other mother that helped with the school party invited us to go trick-or-treating with them in their neighborhood. They get this wagon and drive the kids around Wild Willow.(You don't get that in Vegas!) The kids loved it and I thought they deserved to get as much candy as possible now that all of their teeth are fixed (for the time being). Mia loved saying "trick-or-treat" which made the people love her even more and put twice as much candy in her bag. I am sure it weighed ten pounds by the end of the night and she said "it's to heavy mom!" Then we left our friends to make a few important family stops. The fudge fairy AKA: Aunt Dixie was the top of Tim's list. Once we got there we received bags of fudge and caramel and caramel popcorn. SCORE!!! Then on to mom's. The girls had to do some poses in front of the "Halloween" tree. Mom had this cute vinyl lettering saying that read, "Grandmas act like they don't know who you are on Halloween!" She played that role right up. Ellie of course got into the character or a cat. Mia tried to act like a cat even though she was a lady bug and Tess was just a cute cowgirl. Last stop of the night was Aunt Jo and Uncle Bill. Full size candy bars for those who go the extra mile. Tim is rationing the candy to the kids so I am sure we will still have plenty when everyone gets here on Friday! Love you all.... 48 hours and counting!!!

Way to much fun in the SUN!

We had an awesome weekend in Southern Utah with everyone! I love being with my sisters and the guys even enjoy spending time together. We probably overwhelmed Chelsea and Jack. Tess was right by Chelsea's side every moment of the day. We had a great time celebrating our birthday. Mom even sent dinner down with Dad and Rob so I didn't really have to cook. We wore the girls out on Monday. (Actually we wore out ourselves entertaining the girls) We started at McDonald's for breakfast. (The only meal I EVER eat there!) Then on to St. George for the Fiesta Fun Center, lunch, and then to the Corn Maze. Let me just tell you the corn maze was awesome! I will definitely make this a tradition. The girls ran non-stop and we wanted to capture every moment so I took A LOT pictures.





I have so much going on this week I knew I had to get these on today otherwise between being the room mom for the Halloween party or preparing for the baptism I would not get it done. The funniest part of the farm is that we were running around in short sleeve shirts acting like it was summer and all of these people were dressed in coats and sweaters. I guess it has cooled down from the 100's and they think that 75 is cold. I love the weather there!!!

Our Little Girl Turns 8

There are many moments that I can remember in my life. Being baptized and confirmed is one of them. I remember my mom had made a beautiful white dress for me and that when I entered the water my dress floated over the top. I also remember how warm the water was and that it made me feel so at peace. For the last few weeks I have been trying to prepare for this moment but I am not sure that I am quite ready to watch my little girl take such a big step in her life. She is growing into such a pretty young girl and it breaks my heart sometimes to think that I have a child so old and mature. These pictures capture the little "spirit" that Ellie has. She is such an emotional child both good and bad. I love how serious she is at times and how crazy she is the next minute. She loves life and it shows in her eyes. I fight back the tears daily as I watch her walk to the bus stop and pray about all the things that I hope she will become in her life and hope that I have a big enough influence on her to direct her the right way. For that reason I am so excited for her to get baptized and be able to have the holy ghost to comfort her and aide her in each day and trial she faces. Thank you to every person that has contributed to her baptism book. I hope this is a special time for her.

Happy Birthday Surprise!!!

OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW!!!!






Well I can take it- start now giving me all the crap that you want. I am the most spoiled wife in the world. Wednesday night after our Halloween dance show, I pulled in my garage (after three days of preparing for our Halloween show: warn out and beat) to find a HUGE birthday surprise! The only thing in my life I said that I wanted for my birthday! Anyone who knows our house and the amount of laundry that we do can certify that this is a NECESSITY! I was so excited I helped Tim bring them up the stairs. ( I don't recommend that for anyone with a bad back!) and started doing laundry at mid-night. Since I had taken a three day break from laundry to work on the show, I thought I should get going on the piles! As you can see I am just down to the towels and sheets and it is only noon! I love it! We are headed to St. George for an extended weekend so I hope to have pictures of Jack and us loving 80 degree weather instead of the recent pictures of the snowman building in the back yard. If you want to see pictures of the dance show you will have to visit www.earlandbilliesue.blogspot.com/or http://lauragines.blogspot.com/ . I just was a little busy to snap my own shots!

What I did Over the weekend!

Selfish!!! That is all I can say about myself this weekend. I went to a scrapbook retreat with my friend. I have the greatest husband in the world to let me go all Friday night and Saturday to just do scrapbooking stuff. Then when I returned on Saturday night the kids were in bed, the house was clean (although I left it in good shape on Friday) and he was folding the whites (my biggest dread in the world!) On top of all that he winterized the garage and organized everything (no one is surprised by this) but he did it while watching the girls. I did some WAY cute pages and also two cute craft projects that I am sure my sister's will die over. I am ready to have a craft day sister's so let me know when you are ready. (After the Halloween show and Baptism though!!!) Happy Weekend to everyone!




Second part SHOUT OUT TO JACK! For anyone who did not know: my little sister Chelsea had her baby. Jack Robert Johnson! He is the cutest baby! Here are the pictures to prove it!

Happy Birthday Chelsea!

Chelsea is just the star of the week! It is her 25th birthday today and I miss her soooooooo badly! I remember exactly where I was on my twenty-fifth and Chelsea was there is celebrate it with me. Thanks Chelsea for returning the favor. I am very homesick for you and the rest of your family!!! From here on out you can celebrate you birthday with your son and it is VERY special. I love and miss you tons. I am starting my blog, again, just for you!!!