I Hate When Christmas Is Over!

Christmas Eve at Nannie and Papa's. Mylee had to help everyone open their gifts...she thinks she is the expert at un-wrapping them.

Funny story about my Dad, he was almost mugged this year during his Christmas shopping but a security guard pulled his gun and frightened the bad guys away! Glad your ok Dad! You could have taken them anyway you know?!






Nannie makes the best home-made waffles. We had Christmas Eve a day early at my parents house this year. We wanted to make sure that all the cousins could be there before some of them went off to their Dad's for the holidays. It was delicious and full of happy memories!














Is that a candy cane or a shepard's crook? Every year Nannie gets the kids an ornament...Mom, I think I am going to need a bigger tree!!
















It is so appropriate that Annie received a star for her Christmas ornament this year. She is definitely the star of her own show everyday... it usually involves running around with no diaper because she ditched it somewhere around the house, pulling her sister's hair, or putting her brother's lego creations in her mouth.













The Christmas Kid! I've never seen a kid more excited about an ornament. She loved it because it was so sparkly.


















Visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.













Christmas morning!









There is a story behind this...the year Brody and I were first married I made him this awful ugly pillowcase with horses on it in my beginning sewing class at Ricks. It dawned his pillow for 11 years and then it started to get thread-bare and ripped. Brody made the comment one day how bummed he was about his pillow case because it reminded him how much his young bride cared for him. I thought well, I'll make him a new one and show him how much his old bride cares for him. ...yes it still has horses on it but it is a huge improvement on the last one.










Sunset on Christmas Day.


Here's to a special year for us all, full of family, love, and good times!!
I love you all!!

Snow Day

There is no better way to spend a snow day then with family...especially if it involves lots of snow, lots of kids, a snow mobile with a tube hooked on the back and plenty of hot cocoa. Good times!!





Emma and Annie















Holly and Graham














Roarke and Kenedee















Annie...what a cute snow bunny!


















Miles, Rope, and Cache












Avery, Mylee, and Paisley...yes they would throw these but they also enjoyed eating them as well.









Random photo of Lindsay, Me, Kendra, and Kysa scoping out the hot spots to go shop on black friday. Thanksgiving, as always, was great! Thanks for the picture Aunt Cody!

The Best Class

In September I started taking an institute class called "Positive Parenting". It has been such an amazing experience for me. I felt like I should share a little of what I learned because it has helped me so much. I don't know about you, but sometimes I wish there was a parenting manual for dummies that I could refer to when I am at my wits end with things. My most favorite class was the very first one...it was called "A House of Order." Go figure that having an organized house would make you a better parent! The best tip I learned from that class was to put my family on a schedule. Duh!! Our teacher told us to wake up a half-hour earlier then our children and take time to read the scriptures, say morning prayers, maybe shower, get dressed and.....(dramatic pause)...get ready to parent! This SINGLE act has been huge for me! Not only do I feel better because I started my day off with a good spiritual boost but I seem to be on top of things more. I get more done in the first two hours of my day than I would normally get done in an entire day. The other thing that really changed me was her advice to be DONE with all chores (except dinner of course) by the time your children get home from school so that you are available to them for the rest of the evening. This has made such a sweet change in my relationship with Roper. I feel as though he feels more important to me. Another cool thing that has really helped me is the lesson on teaching your children to work. Our teacher showed us a chore chart that she had made for her 5 year old son and it went something like this 1) make your bed 2) give mom the biggest kiss you have ever given 3) have your big sister help you get dressed 4) brush your teeth 5) run up and down the stairs 3 times saying "I'm the king!, I'm the king!" 6) dust the living room furniture 7) Mom needs a bear hug! So....I tried this very thing with Roper. I have the chart waiting for him when he gets home from school and he can't wait to see what silly things I am going to have him do. One day I left off anything that had to do with giving me kisses or hugs and he said, "Mom, don't I need to give you a kiss and a hug?" It totally filled my cup!! Anyway, I could go on and on about this class. I just felt the need to share it because it has made me enjoy parenting and my unique role as a mother even more.
Love to all,
Meckenzie

P.S. The pictures are of Roper pushing a penny across the floor...this was one of his chores and we were laughing so hard while he was doing it that I had to snap a picture to remember, and of Halloween...we had bugs and a storm trooper at our house!

Brody's YouTube Debut

If you've ever wondered what a hard day at work means for Brody well...look no further! Who would have thought growing crops could be so cool!! Can you find Brody? Check out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEgFglwrSxg

Birthday Bash for Dad!

Dad and Roper...best buddies!


















Annie and Uncle Zak...best buddies!






















Grandpa waiting for his best buddy...german chocolate cake!



















Mylee and her best buddie...silky...and her Dad of course.

Happy Happy Birthday Dad!! We love you!

College Game Day- BSU vs Oregon State

football + blue and orange =The ULTIMATE Father and Son time!!

It's been a while

I know it's been a while and I apologize to all of my avid blog followers...(Hi Mom and Lindsay l.o.l.) Instead of a lengthy blog I decided I would just post some pictures that describe the fun that we had "in a nutshell" this summer.


Annie celebrated her first birthday! We had a blast at Aunt Tee and Uncle Mike's.





Roper celebrated his 9th birthday at Grandma's house. It was quite a "Lego" celebration!















We spent a lot of time soaking up the sun and having fun in the water. (This was at Aunt Lindsay's house)
















I cut my hair...actually I have cut it even shorter since this picture.











Grandma Hessing celebrated her 89th birthday. All of her 8 sons were there. (can you imagine raising 8 boys...grandma, you are AMAZING!)













The Miller Family Reunion was soooo much fun! How blessed we are to have a family that loves to spend time together and knows how to have fun!












Trip to the zoo with ALL of the Hessing grandkids. (My mom was beaming!)













Roper's coach pitch baseball. Even though they didn't win many games they sure played hard and had a good time.










Boise State Football was an excellent way to end the summer. We spent the opening game at Rich and Lindsay's.










I think spray painted blue and orange hair is very becoming on my parents...especially you Dad.









The summer of 2010 was an awesome one! Roper has started 3rd grade and loves his new teacher. He's really into Star Wars right now...especially Star Wars the Clone Wars. He also loves to read and I am so excited because he recently started the Harry Potter books!!

Mylee has really come into her own...sometimes that is good and sometimes not so good! She loves horses! We laugh because everytime we take her riding she cries hysterically when it is time to get off. She always waves and says good bye to the horses whenever we pull out of the driveway to leave. She also likes to ride on her Daddy's back and lead him around like a horse all over the house. (Brody secretly loves this as well)

Annie can currently say these words..."Hi, Ta-dah, uh-oh, cracker, and No." She loves her mama (I finally got one!) and she loves to read books.

Brody is just finishing up another 8 weeks of school towards his Masters. We can't wait for the spring so he can finally be done! I'm so proud of him.

Meckenzie is loving the fact that she is not pregnant and is not nursing....did I just say that! Yes, I did! No offense to all of my prego and lactating family members and friends but after a few years of non-stop pregnancy and nursing I love just having my body for me for a moment. Yes, we plan on more children but for now this is soooo nice. As for what I have been up to, well it's the same old-same old but I am loving life.

Now that I have updated everyone and feel as though I just sent you all a christmas brag letter...tee heee hee.... I will try to keep up with this blog a little better.
My love to you all,
Kenz

Ahhhhhhh!

For Valentine's Day, I found these cute dresses for the girls. I wanted to get a picture of all the kids on the couch together and Roper and Annie were more than happy to do so but Mylee...well she wasn't too pleased and she insisted on holding a transformers lunch box in the picture.








Mylee was more than happy to give me her best grin once picture time was over and she could play. She has so much personality and she gives the best hugs and kisses.










Annie loves to do anything and everything. She SERIOUSLY is the best baby! She didn't pose for this picture...on any given day and at any given moment this is what she looks like...grinning from ear to ear. When I see her, I think of the primary song.."I am like a star shining brightly..."!

The Viper!

We just experienced our first pinewood derby. Roper and Brody spent a whole Saturday cutting, sanding, building, and painting his derby car. Roper called it...The Viper! He painted a picture on the hood of his car of a snake with red eyes but unfortunately when we got to the derby we found out our car didn't weigh enough...so we had to put weights all over the hood. Rope didn't seem to care and even though he didn't win any of his races, we came home that night and he deemed his first pinewood derby experience as "the best ever!

What I'm up to

I have been on a two year break from singing pretty much. I sang for 3 years with an all women's choir called the Musettes based out of Nampa...and now I'm back! I really enjoy it. Some of the music we sing is not really my forte but, that's just because the ages in this group run from 20 to 80 years old. We do a lot of oldies (but goodies). I have made some really good friends in this group. Some of the ladies in the group have fought cancer, some have lost husbands, some are fighting major illnesses right now. We give hugs and words of encouragement and even take meals to one another. I guess you could say it is almost like a mini relief society. Anyway, I never really talk on the blog about what I am up to so I thought I would post this picture of the Musettes singing the National Anthem at the BSU mens' basketball game against Idaho. (I must say we were the definite HIT of the night...BSU stunk it up and lost by a landslide!

It's my party I can cry if I want to!!

I turned 2 on Wednesday, January 27th. I had a fever and wasn't feeling very well so Mommy took me to see the doctor and he said I had a sinus infection. We had a big party planned with uncles, aunts, and cousins but Mommy canceled the party and made me drink this awful medicine and put me to bed. Mommy said that we would celebrate my party on Friday but, I still wasn't feeling too hot on Friday...so...she made me blow out my candles and open presents with just me, Roper, Annie, and Daddy. I wasn't very happy with the whole situation until I realized that I got to rip paper off of boxes and there were toys inside!! My favorite toy was my barn. It ended up being a pretty good party...even if I was sick.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was at Nannie's house this year. We had our own live Nativity and as you can see most everyone wanted to be angels. Roper was a
shepard and Mylee was a donkey. Annie, being the only baby was obviously a shoe-in for the baby Jesus.








Papa read from the scriptures and we sang hymns and Nannie had a load of homemade candy for all of us to enjoy. I'd say Christmas Eve doesn't get any better than this.








Cari and the kids in their new jammies from Nannie and Papa.












The newly weds enjoying (with emphasis I might add) their first Christmas together. Ahhhhhh. Sigh. I remember the days back when....



















Not to be outdone......










Kysa and Taylor by the Christmas tree..oh so sweet