A rundown of the month of December...

So once again it has been awhile since I have taken the time to take a minute and make a post. December has been a very busy and exciting month for us, like most everyone else. We started the month off by decorating and getting a head start on Christmas. I love the Christmas season and the joy it brings to many people. I especially love watching the excitement in my kids. They look forward to counting down everyday until Christmas Day. I buy them the advent calendars each year. Every morning before they make sure to get a candy out of their calendar and are so happy that they are one day closer to the big day.

Chad and I enjoyed going to our Ward Christmas Dinner and also my Company Christmas Party. Our kids weren't invited to either, but didn't seem to mind letting Mom and Dad spend a couple nights away. We had a great time at both and enjoyed each others company.

If December isn't crazy enough as it is we also add in a couple birthdays. My birthday is on December 19th. This year it landed on a Saturday. It was a great day!!! My kids let me sleep in and then we just had a lazy day. We then opened presents and then went out to dinner with my Mom and Dad. We had a great night and enjoyed dinner at my favorite Mexican Restaurant, Don Padro's. Of course my Dad couldn't go without telling everyone that it was my birthday. The people at the Restaurant came out with a great big "Birthday Hat" that I was so lucky to get to wear and then they sang to me while banging lids together. Yes, it was so embarrassing and I will have to get him back for it. Thank goodness nobody had a camera to capture my embarrassment. It was a great day none the less. Thanks Chad, kids, Mom and Dad.

Tyus' Birthday is on December 23rd. I feel so bad that he has to celebrate his birthday 2 days before Christmas, but he doesn't seem to mind to much. He gets spoiled rotten and all attention is on him. He turned 9 this year. I can't believe it!! He is growing way to fast. He also gets to share his birthday with his cousin Caden. We had a party at Grandpa and Grandma Erickson's house this year. We ordered pizza and had cake and ice cream. All Tyus wanted to do for his birthday was go to the movies and see "Alvin and the Chipmunks- The Squeakquel." So after the party we took him to see the movie. He had a really good day and had fun celebrating it with all his family. He got a new 22 gun, PSP games, a hat, Bendaroos, a skateboard and a lot more. Thanks everyone for celebrating with us.

Tyus with his cake.
He likes the cartoon Tom and Jerry so his request was a Jerry cake. It took me forever to decorate because I'm not a cake decorator, but he liked it so that is all that matters.

"The Birthday Boys"
Caden-4 and Tyus-9

Opening Presents

Blowing out the candles... Make a wish!!!

We got to go to Tyus and Peyton's school and watch their school Christmas Program. Each class sang and danced and both boys did a great job. Peyton has been singing his songs to me all month and had them down by the night of the program. They also got to make gifts at school to give to us. They got to get them that night after the program and both Peyton and Tyus could hardly wait for us to see what they had made for us. Peyton made us open his that night and Tyus wanted to us to wait until Christmas morning. I just love the excitement Christmas brings to kids.

Tyus singing

Tyus dancing to one of the songs. He was lucky and got dance with his cousin Hailey

Tyus' with some of the kids in the Elementary

Peyton singing

Peyton with his Kindergarten Class

The kids have been practicing really hard for the "Annual Woodruff Ward Christmas Eve Progam." Ever year the primary kids put on a play and then we sing Christmas songs until Santa Clause comes. Bailey was asked to have one of the lead parts this year. She got to be the Elf. She had a lot of parts to memorize and she did a wonderful job. She looked so cute in her elf costume. Tyus was a Soldier and he played the part great. Peyton got to be a Teddy Bear and he was such a cute and cuddly looking bear. I look so forward to the program each year. The kids get so excited to see Santa Clause and it helps make the LONG night of Christmas Eve go a little quicker.

Peyton the Cuddly Teddy Bear

Tyus as a Soldier

Bailey the "Elf"

Peyton telling Santa everything he wants for Christmas

Tyus giving Santa his list

Christmas morning couldn't come fast enough. We sent the kids to bed around 11 pm with hopes that they would go to sleep. They decided that they needed to all sleep together in Bailey's room. We made the boys a bed on Bailey's floor. Chad and I went to bed shortly after but we kept hearing someone out in the living room. I guess Tyus was to excited and thought he needed to keep an eye on where Santa was. He was on the computer on the Santa Tracker seeing how much longer until he would be in Utah. The last time we told him to go to bed Santa was in Arizona. That is close to Utah and I think it scared him enough that he finally went to bed for good. He new that if he didn't Santa would skip over our house.

Tyus was the first one up in our house and he woke the other kids up at 7:30. The kids got spoiled as usual and had a great Christmas. Bailey got a lot of clothes, boots (that her dad just loves, NOT), a portable DVD player with movies, ect..... Tyus was excited about his IPod, PSP games and more....... Peyton wanted a DS and was excited to see it with a bunch of games, Monster Trucks being his favorite. He also was excited about the other toys and games he got. Santa always pulls through and puts big smiles on the kids faces.

Christmas Morning

Opening Presents

Christmas afternoon we enjoyed a family party with the Erickson family. We have a tradition in my family to spend Christmas at my Mom and Dads. All of my Brothers and Sister, Spouses and Kids were all there. We have a great time and enjoy each others company.

"The Boys"

At Grandpa and Grandmas's house

"The Girls"
At Grandpa and Grandma's house

Peyton opening his present from Grandpa and Grandma

The day after Christmas we went to Chad's Brothers house in Logan for his family Christmas

party. We had a wonderful dinner of homemade noodles and clam chowder. This is a tradition that they have in their family. We exchanged gifts and then played games. We had a great day and really enjoy being with family.

This pretty much raps up the month. We are so thankful for everything that we have been blessed with. Chad and I are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends that support us and our kids. We are thankful to live in a free country and to have all the luxuries of life that we take for granite each day. We are thankful to be able to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and remember the sacrifices that he made for us. We try to teach our kids the true meaning of Christmas and hope that they don't think that is all about the gifts. The year 2009 has been a great year for our family and we look forward to a wonderful year to come.

Christmas Tree Decorating.....

I usually like to get the Christmas decorations out the day after Thanksgiving. I love having them up all month, but when Christmas is over I like to take them down. It is also my tradition to get up WAY EARLY in the morning on the day after Thanksgiving to get as much Christmas shopping done as possible. This year I was up at 3 am and off the meet my sister-in-law Susie at our local Wal-Mart. I got everything I needed and felt great about being almost done with my Christmas shopping. I just have a few little odds and end things left to get.

When I got home from shopping I had intentions of going back to bed, but I guess I got my second wind because I decided to put the Christmas Tree and decorations up. Some of my nieces and a nephew had stayed the night with my boys the night of Thanksgiving sothey along with my boys helped me decorate. They were the best little helpers and we had a lot of fun decorating the house while we listened to Christmas music. I love getting into the Christmas spirit!!! I think it is one of my favorite times of year. I am worse then the kids when it comes to getting excited about Christmas!!!

(Bailey went to St. George to Katies house with Grandpa and Grandma Erickson this year for Thanksgiving, so she missed out on the tree decorating. I hope she won't be to mad that she missed out when she gets home.)

Tyus helping me put the Christmas Tree skirt under the tree


Peyton putting the first decoration on the tree

All of the kids putting their special little touches on!!
From left to right... Kaylee, Tyus, Peyton (on the chair), Jayden (in front of Peyton), and Jaycee


The final product. The kids did a great job decorating!!
Thanks guys for your help!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

We usually try to rotate between all of our families each year for Thanksgiving. Sometimes this seems to get pretty crazy, but seems to work out the best. We were going to go to my parents house this year, but ended up staying home and hosting dinner at our house. Chad's Grandma decided to move and was moving the day after Thanksgiving, so all of the family was here helping her so we decided it would work out best if we just had it here. We had a great day with great food. I intended on getting the camera out and taking pictures, but when the day was about over I realized I hadn't taken one picture. Oh well, I have never claimed to be a great picture taker!!

Halloween 2009

I am behind again!! SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!!!

I was going through my pictures and realized that I hadn't blogged about Halloween. I decided it was better late then never.

The kids each carved their own pumpkins. This is always a favorite for Halloween!!

Bailey thought that she may be to old to dress up this year until she found a cute Lady Bug costume. She decided it might be fun to do the Halloween thing one more year. She looked darling and I was glad she dressed up again. I don't want her to grow up to fast.



Tyus had a hard time deciding what he wanted to be. At first he wanted to dress up like a motorbiker, but decided against that when I told him that he couldn't ride his motorbike around town to go trick or treating. After looking long and hard for the perfect costume, he decided on a Warewolf costume. It turned out to be a great choice because he won a prize at the school carnival for the "Best Costume" contest.



Peyton wanted to be a skeleton. I thought it would be easy to find a skeleton costume, but to my surprise, there are many different kinds of skeletons. I figured his costume would be the easiest to find, but it ended up being the hardest because there where so many choices. He finally decided on one that looked scary.




They all looked super cute and we had a great night. We went to Grandpa and Grandma Ericksons house for our traditional Halloween dinner of Sloopy Jo's, Chips and Jello, with Caramel Apples for desert. The kids trick or treated with their cousins and their crazy Grandma that also likes to dress up with them.

Grandma the "Witch" with her grandkids

Hunting, Hunting and more Hunting!!!!

So our October consisted mostly of hunting!! Our family has always been big fans of hunting and we really enjoy being out in the mountains. Chad started doing security for Deseret Land and Livestock. It keeps him pretty busy, but he seems to enjoy it. The kids and I got to ride around with him one weekend. The kids had a great time hiking, playing in the little streams and having a fun family picnic.

Chad also has been lucky enough to guide a few hunters. I think if he had his way, he would do this for a full time job. To bad it isn't a year long thing!! He got some really good guys this year and loved every minute he has with them. All of the ones that he guided ended up getting their animal.

Aren't they an amazing animal?!?!

He also bought an Elk tag this year so that he could take the boys on a hunt. They had a great time going with their dad and thought that they were just as big as he was. A couple of times they had to walk for a ways and not one complaint was said by either Tyus or Peyton. They were troopers. While hunting they saw and even shot at an elk, but unfortunately the shot
was just to far and it missed the elk. The hunt ended up being unsuccessful but the best part of the whole thing was the time the boys got to spend with their dad.

The Mighty Hunters

Peyton posing with Dad's gun and his camo bag.
(He got the bag for his birthday in May and he keeps telling us that he is going to put meat in it. So when he got to go hunting he had to get his bag just in case they got an elk then he could put the meat in it to carry it off the hill.)


We went camping with Van, Jaime and their kids during the hunt. As you can see in the pictures, we got snowed on. Thank goodness for trailers!!! We had a great time and actually stayed really warm.

I was busy myself with a different group of hunters. For the last 3 years, Susie, my sister in-law, and I have cooked for hunters that come the month of October. They are from California and very, very nice men. I enjoy doing it so much!!! It keeps us busy, but they are the nicest people and they are just so happy with everything we fix for them. My kids enjoy when they get to have their mom back because it takes a lot of my time at nights away from them. They are great and really help me in any way that they can.

So as you can see the words HUNTING and HUNTERS has been in our vocabulary a lot this past month.

Bailey's Volleyball Season

BAILEY WITH TWO OF HER BEST FRIENDS, SHANDON AND EMILY

This is Bailey's first year in Jr. High. Usually 6th graders don't get to play sports, but this year they let them because the 7th grade doesn't have enough kids to make up the team. She was so excited to get to play Volleyball this year and she did very well. Her and her classmates did a very good job on the court every time they got a chance to play. The 6th grade team was the 7th grade B team so when they played other schools they were actually playing against 7th graders. They won most of their games and had a great time doing it. Bailey was the setter. She had one of the hardest positions on the court. She was so nervous the first couple of games but did great every time. I am so proud of her and her friends. They will be an awesome team when they get a little older. GREAT JOB GIRLS!!!!!

BAILEY SERVING THE BALL- SHE HAD A GREAT SERVE AND GOT IT OVER THE NET MOST OF THE TIME (action shots on my camera are so blurry. Sorry!!)

BUMP, SET, SPIKE IT!!!

SERVE RECEIVE- BE READY GIRLS !!!

ALL OF THE GIRLS HAD A HARD TIME WITH THE POSITION CHANGES, BUT THEY FINALLY GOT IT.

HUDDLE TIME- HOW ARE WE GOING TO BEAT THIS TEAM COACH????

BAILEY WITH HER TEAM- CHEERING ON THE 7TH GRADE TEAM

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I am so lucky to be able to go in once a week and help in Peyton's Kindergarten class. The kids are so cute and I really enjoy my time being in the classroom helping them. A couple of weeks ago I decided to stay and eat lunch with the kids after helping them. I was sitting by Peyton eating and he got a little closer to me and patted me on the shoulder. He said, "Hey mom, do you see that guy over there?" I looked over to one of the other tables that Peyton was talking about and saw his Principal, Mr. Lamborn. I said, "Yes, I see him." He said to me, "Did you know that he is our Trenchable and he is really mean." I said, "No he's not mean, he is very nice." Peyton then said, "But mom, he is like the Trenchable on Matilda. For those of you who have seen the movie Matilda will know that it is about a school and their Principal isn't very nice. Her name is Mrs. Trenchable and she does some pretty mean things to the kids. Peyton has watched this movie a million times and knows all the bad things that happen to the kids at that school.

After I had a little laugh to myself I explained to him that his name was Mr. Lamborn and he was a principal, not a trenchable. I then explained to him that on the movie Matilda they also had a principal but her name was Mrs. Trenchable. She was a very mean lady, but not all principals are mean. And I tried to help him understand that her name was Mrs. Trenchable and not that principals are trenchables. Mr. Lamborn is a very nice man and I don't want Peyton to be scared of him. I don't know if I convinced him or not but I hope he can at least relax a little when he is around him.

Kids comes up with some of the funniest things. I would love to just get inside one of their heads for a day to see all of the funny thoughts that go on in a day.

You've got to love the little characters!!!

September 16th 1995........

.......is where the Cornia story began. Chad and I have been married 14 years today. It hardly seems possible!! We have had many ups and downs through the years, but the ups have definitely out weighed the downs.

When we went into this adventure we were young and in love and didn't know our future. Really I don't even know that we cared to much what our future held as long as we were together. (I'm sure everyone knows what I mean when I say that) We had a lot of growing up to do together and a lot to learn about life. I am so glad that we took this journey on as a team.

We share 3 wonderful kid and a lot of great memories. I only look forward to the next 14 years to come.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH CHAD!!!! Thanks for providing the best life possible for me and the kids. Your the greatest in all of our eyes!

Chad surprised me with these beautiful Roses and a card.
We try to go out to dinner but usually don't buy much for our anniversaries, so I wasn't expecting this. We did go to dinner at our favorite steak house "Bon Rico" in Evanston too. We had a great night together!!!

Close up of the roses. Aren't they pretty??

HERO FOR A DAY!!!

Today Peyton got to be the "Hero For A Day" in his class. Each day a different kid gets to have this special day, and Peyton has really been looking forward to it. I got to go into his class and tell all his friends and classmates all about him. It was a lot of fun seeing the smile on his face as I told stories and showed pictures of him. He also got to choose his favorite story and we read it to the class. He chose "Who's Making That Smell." He almost knows it word for word, so it was fun for him to be able to help me read it. Mrs. Weston is such a fun teacher and does some really great things with the kids.

Mrs. Weston crowning Peyton "Hero For A Day"

Peyton giving everyone a high five while Mrs. Weston presents him to the class


I was so lucky to show off my little "HERO" I love this kid so much and I am so proud of him.
He is our "HERO" everyday

Peyton's favorite book that he shared with his class