December 23rd, 2012

• Brynn fell off the monkey bars last Friday...and hurt her right arm. (Sound familiar? Yeah, same thing Addy did in October!) She favored it all weekend so on Monday I took her in to get it checked out. Nope, not broken! Thank goodness. Brynn was kind of bummed though, she thought a cast would be very cool.
• Todd and I have enjoyed teaching the 9 year olds in primary this year. We are really going to miss them in 2013 so we held a Christmas Party for our class. We got them Happy Meals and played Minute-To-Win-It games. It was a good time. Even Sebastian, who is in a wheelchair and doesn't really talk, was laughing the whole time. We really have been blessed to teach these great kids; Victoria, Sebastian, Madison, Freddy, Elliott, and Alyssa. 
• Wednesday was Addy's last day of school before Christmas vacation. Todd met me at the school in the afternoon for their sing-a-long. The 1st graders were super cute and sang one song in English and one song in Chinese. Afterwards I had volunteered to help with the class Christmas Party. It was so fun to be a part of. I loved watching and hearing how the Chinese class worked since I only am able to volunteer with the Mrs. Helm, the English teacher. The kids are no longer allowed to speak English to Mrs. Ackerson, the Chinese teacher  but the kids are completely comfortable with it. It seriously amazes me and probably always will.

• Thursday we planned on meeting with our friends the Johns family to sing carols at a nursing home. Unfortunately we got our locations mixed up so the kids missed out but we instead went to the library and finished our birthday/Christmas shopping for Dad. We drove up to the outlets and I took the kids to Johnny Rockets. Yum! The kids and I loved the 50's type diner.

• Bodee makes me giggle:)

• Thursday evening we drove up to Draper to visit with our friends Shawn and Katie Ross. We hadn't seen them since the summer and we have missed them. The kids had a super time playing with their friends too.
• Bryan and Suzie's family and our family went in together for Cathy's gift. We were trying to find a time we could all meet up to give her the present and it all kind of worked out that we would meet up for an adult only dinner on Saturday night. Since Todd's birthday was also being celebrated he picked the Thai House in Lehi. We had a great time. Todd even commented that it was "one of the best times he's had with his siblings in a really long time." We just really enjoyed ourselves. These people are why I love Todd's family so much! (Kate was sick so Taylor came in her place. He really is a super kid...and getting so grown up:) 

• Kids in their Christmas outfits just before church on Christmas Sunday. They sang with the primary the Nativity Song in sacrament meeting. 

• I love Bodee's face in this one so I had to add it in. (He's laughing, not crying) 

•  Christmas cut-out cookie making in full swing! 

• A few weeks ago I found some Hostess cupcakes in a vending machine. Had to buy them since Hostess is gone. We finally ate them this week. Just knowing they no longer exist is weird.

• Todd drove up with his parents to visit his Uncle Craig a couple of times this week who is recovering from surgery. He appreciated both the time with his parents and visiting with his Uncle. We all pray he recovers quickly.
• Sunday evening we headed up to Temple Square to see the lights. It was pretty mild out which was a bonus with such small kids. Besides Bodee sticking his gloved hand in the water within the first five minutes, therefore having to strap him into the stroller, it was a beautiful, spiritual evening. We love being able to continue these traditions with our kids.

December 16th, 2012

• This was a week of Christmas cheer! I sent out all of our cards and the girls were great little elves and delivered all of our neighbor gifts. 'Tis the season! This is a copy of our Christmas letter:

YEAR IN NUMBERS 2012

24 soccer and basketball games the girls played in

208 miles Jen ran to train for the St. George Marathon

101 Chinese words Addy can now speak

17 Date nights Todd took Jen on

8548 miles traveled to Disneyland, Wisconsin and New York City

152 times Bodee has watched Toy Story 1, 2, & 3

39 trips to the swimming pool

423 times Brynn has asked “WHY?”

54 wrestling matches started by Dad

7500 smiles shared

1076 uncontrollable belly laughs

1 giant Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Love, The Bassetts

• For Girl Scouts on Thursday the girls held a mini food drive and gathered 52 cans of food! I was so proud of them. Even 6 and 7 year olds can make a difference! These girls are so fun to have in a troop together.
• Brynn had her first assessment in preschool this week. She only forgot one letter of the alphabet and because of that she was the best in the class in that area. Super job!
• Friday night was our Ward Christmas Party. One member in our ward smoked brisket for two days and then added his own special sauce. Definitely the best church party food we'd ever had! They also had a talent show which was fun entertainment.
• Saturday was Addy's last basketball game for the season. She has come SO FAR in the last two months! She shoots great(thanks to her many hours of practicing on the hoop on our street), plays awesome defense, and works hard out on the court! Todd and I are so proud of her.

• Emma, Coach Steve (Emma's Dad), Addy, and Alyssa (The neighbor girls that were on Addy's team)

• We went to the mall on Saturday night and let the kids sit on Santa's lap again. (We didn't buy pictures and they wouldn't let us use our own camera.) The kids also begged to ride the little train around the mall. We splurged...we're suckers:) Bodee really loved it though. He kept making train sounds and laughing. Cute little dude!

• Played Monopoly with Addy tonight for the first time. I love Monopoly and I'm so glad I finally have someone to play it with. Although we didn't finish the game when we ended she was beating me:)
• I don't often get personal on this blog but Friday's tragedy at the Elementary School in Connecticut was heartbreaking. I can only imagine what those families are going through. It has served as a personal reminder to cherish and treasure the moments with my husband and children every day.

December 9th, 2012

• Monday for Family Home Evening we went to Alpine to visit a live Nativity. We kept hearing about how awesome it was and Monday was the last evening it was being put on so we bundled up the kids and went out. It was super awesome. Live animals like sheep, camels, and donkeys for the kids to pet. Roman guards to "keep everyone in line", a Jerusalem market with dozens of demonstrations and of course a live nativity scene. Luckily we went early because the line was enormous when we were leaving but it was a touching experience.
• Here is the crew with the three wise men.

• We stopped at Wendy's on the way home. Here is Boden doing is current "huggy" thing. He hugs you really tight while saying "huggy, huggy!" Luckily for him he's darn cute because most days by the time Todd gets home I'm just grateful Bodee has made it alive one more day:) He is completely and utterly a two year old boy!

• On Thursday for Activity Days I let the girls make homemade lip gloss. They then put in it little containers and then wrap them up for gifts. It was a lot of fun but as a self reminder... Vaseline gets EVERYWHERE and never fully comes off, especially with 20 girls. LOL! Always an adventure!
• It snowed a lot this weekend. Brynn spent TWO hours outside rolling a HUGE snowball. She didn't want to make a snowman, just a HUGE snowball. Funny girl! She did it.

• Friday night was Todd's work Christmas Party at Prime Steakhouse in Park City. It was DELICIOUS, the kind of dinner we would never go to on our own. Todd works with really fun people so the company was great. Todd's boss not only treated the couples to a wonderful meal but also gave each wife a generous gift card to Nordstrom. Wow! (Plus a fancy date night with my hubby)...Merry Christmas to us!
• Saturday was the Bassett Family Christmas Party. Cathy went above and beyond and provided everyone with a great party! The kids decorated cookies, played BINGO and other games, filled neighbor gifts, and got to visit with Santa. 
• Here are cupcakes to celebrate Todd's December Birthday.

• These are our pictures with Santa. Unfortunately Brynn's was actually a movie, not a still picture...sorry Brynn:)
• Bodee was ALL ABOUT Santa this year. Super cute! He couldn't wait to sit on Santa's Lap. He asked for a Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. Brynn asked for twin baby dolls (right from the hospital) and a double baby stroller and a camera with games on it. Addy asked for dangle earrings and the game Operation.

December 2nd, 2012

• We all started to feel the Christmas spirit this week! We sure do love this time of year.
• Bodee finally got a real hair cut. He needed it. Bad. He sat still so well during the cut. Here he is with his goofy smile and one huge, yummy cookie.

• I was gone three nights this week due to working draft nights for boys recreation basketball and Girl Scout leadership meetings. This meant Todd had to pick up a lot of the night time slack and he did great. It always gets a little crazy when the normal schedule is off.
• On Friday night we had nothing planned so we drove over to Thanksgiving Point for some ice cream after dinner. Lucky for us they had real reindeer there. How cool! Too bad it was raining out pretty hard:)

• This is how I found Bodee the other day. All curled up hiding in cabinet. Oh, and don't forget the girly shoes he has on. Haha!

• Saturday Addy was invited to celebrate her cousin Sage's 8th Birthday! Aunt Suzie took them to a real salon and they got their hair, nails, and make-up done! How cool is that?! Then Sage chose to go to IHOP for lunch. (I wonder if Addy influenced that decision?) Here they are looking adorable!

• Sunday evening we had Grandma and Grandpa Bassett over for dinner. Bodee LOVED wrestling around Grandpa. He just can't get enough of that man.