Kids Favorites

I love to ask the kids a few of their favorite things so that we have them recorded each year. Don't have this for every year..but a few here and there. Here are a few of their favorite things for 2011

Kylee:
Candybar: Reeses peanut butter cups
Cereal: Captain crunch...no crunch balls
Dinner: Turkey steak
Dessert: 4 Layer pudding dessert
Memory: Swimming in the ocean in January with Uncle Bill's family
Holiday: Christmas

Emilee:
Candybar: Take 5
Cereal: Peanut Butter crunch
Dinner: Turkey steak
Dessert: Oreo pie
Memory: Dinseyland
Holiday: Christmas

Kade:
Candybar: Sour skittles
Cereal: Cookie crisp & Trix
Dinner: Steak
Dessert: Oreo pie
Memory: Washington DC
Holiday: Birthday, Christmas & 4th of July!!

Quincy:
Candybar: Hershey's cookies-n-cream
Cereal: Cookie crisp
Dinner: Chicken Taquitos
Dessert: 4 Layer pudding dessert
Memory: Swimming
Holiday: Christmas

Brinley:
Candybar: Tape gum
Cereal: Cookie crisp
Dinner: Nachos
Dessert: Popscicles
Memory: Swimming
Holiday: Christmas & Birthday

Christmas Day 2011

This year...as in years past...we have been blessed enough, mostly through points at Chris' work, that we are going on another trip for Christmas!! Back in October the kids started asking if there was any way that we could go somewhere together again instead of getting presents. We told them no. They even volunteered to earn part of the money themselves. Then miracles happened and more points showed up than we thought. When we got to figuring it out we could see that it would work. It was not a surprise this year...we had them help plan it. They of course wanted to go to Disneyland. We decided we did not want to be there during Christmas break this year because of the crowds, so we are going in January instead. So...for Christmas they each got one Santa gift, a pair of PJ's each that their mother found very cheap on black friday, and their favorite box of cereal. I am always amazed that this seems to be plenty and we have a great christmas every year!!

When you have 5 kids you can fill up a tree with presents with only a couple each...amazing how that works!
Santa was good and left them each a present wrapped in Disney wrapping paper!!
Waiting patiently on the stairs before they were allowed to enter the family room downstairs. Brinley was so funny this year. Kade had been working on us all week about letting him set his alarm and waking up at 6:00am. We told him 7 would be great! Well, little miss Brinley showed up on the side of my bed at 5:30!! She said she just couldn't stand it anymore and she needed to see what Santa had brought. She woke up Quincy and Kade when I sent her away and had them help convince us that it was time to get up. At 6:00 we finally realized that she was not going to let us get anymore sleep and she woke her big sisters up.


Kylee had a "getting ready for College" Christmas! She got a Bed-in-a-bag set (which she helped pay for) and some tupperware. She opened up the tupperware and said, "I got lids"?? That was the joke the rest of the day. It's hard to grow up...especially on Christmas!



Emilee always wants to be surprised. She would not tell Santa what she wanted...so she got a skin for her ipod and a shirt! She was happy and surprised. Mission accomplished!!

Kade gave Santa two ideas and wanted to be surprised to see which one he would get. Luckily Santa was smart and picked the one he was secretly hoping he would get!! He got a wii hunting game.

All Quincy has wanted for two months was a Figit Friend. Luckily Santa honored her wish...it was a little hard for Santa to do this! It looks like a purple alien and tells jokes and dances to music.

Brinley wanted a Baby Alive...the doll that eats and poops!! Oh how fun! Santa was also crazy enough to honor her request. She looooves it!

The kids drew names and traded gifts with each other. They did a great job with this. As a mother, this was probably my favorite part of getting ready for Christmas. The older three spent their own money and they spent a lot of time thinking about what the other person might want. Kylee gave Em this shirt and some lotion from Bath and Body Works.

Quincy gave Kade this big tin of popcorn that he has been drooling over every time we have walked past it in Walmart for the past month! See that big smile on his face!! She also made him a cute note on the inside of a rolled up wrapping paper tube with a picture of him and her together.

Brinley had Kylee and she gave her a big princess coloring book, some crayons and this cute picture that she drew of her and Kylee.

Kade had Brinley and he gave her a memory game that she loves, a big box on Nerds and a candy neclace.

Emilee had Quincy and she got her a huge fuzzy poster to color and a box of candy.

The kids were so nice and gave Chris and I this cute picture of them with their names signed around the picture. We got a basket full of hot cocoa, mugs and our favorite giant sized candy bars!! It was the biggest present under the tree!

Later that afternoon we went to Grandpa and Grandma's for Christmas Breakfast...which had to be at noon because of church! We exchanged gifts after we ate. Brinley and Quincy both got princess dolls for their present.

Kade got this cool watch from Grandpa and Grandma

Kylee and Emilee got clothes...every teenagers love. Kylee got a wool coat and Emilee got a hoodie and some pajama pants.

Grandma was one busy bee this year. She sewed us all these cool aprons!

Dad is modeling his "big bib". Grandma told everyone that the women's were aprons and the men's were bibs. I think that is appropriate.

What a bunch of macho guys in their bibs!!! Hahahaha

Christmas this year was on Sunday. I decided I wouldn't care if it was on Sunday every year. I loved going to church on Christmas morning. We had the choir program and the spirit was as strong as I think I have ever felt it. It was a wonderful spiritual feast and a great time to remember why we celebrate the day.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve had to be a little different this year. For as long as I can remember we have always celebrated Christmas Eve at my Grandpa and Grandma Hadley's house. Since Grandpa and Grandma are celebrating this year in heaven (I know my Grandpa is so thrilled to finally be there with my Grandma) we had to come up with a different plan. We decided to start the night off by meeting at Grandpa and Grandma Wyatt's house for a visit. We sang some Christmas songs and a few of the kids played a couple christmas songs on whatever instrument they are learning right now. Kade played his clarinet, Em played her saxaphone and Spencer played Grandpa's trumpet because his was home in Gunnison. I thought it was great. We had a nice visit and it was a great start to our evening.

Then we went to Grandpa Tom and Grandma Barb's house for dinner and a little Christmas Bingo. We ate a yummy ham dinner. The kids were pretty excited to play Bingo due to the large bowl of presents that could be won. Everyone played and it was fun.

I thought our first ever Christmas Eve on our own turned out great. We definately missed Grandpa and Grandma Hadley but knowing where they are and the magnificent celebration they are probably having this year...you can't feel too bad about them not being there. It was a great night.

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Christmas Letter 2011

This year Chris wrote our Christmas letter. I was so grateful. I was running out of time and was just going to send the Christmas cards without it...which would have been just fine by the way...but when I came home one day he had it all done. He is a great man!! I wanted to post it so that we could have it recorded to look back at in many years and see what our children were up to in 2011. Here it is:

I cannot believe that we have already made it through another year. It seems that the older I get the faster time seems to fly. Thank goodness for the Christmas Season which makes us stop and ponder all that we are grateful for, and all the wonderful blessings that we have been provided throughout the past year. Our children have been very busy, which in turn means that we have been very busy. =) We are truly blessed to have each one of them.

Kylee (17) is probably the busiest of all of our children, but that goes with the territory when you are a senior preparing for graduation. She finished up her 6th straight season of volleyball in November at the State 4a tournament at U.V.U. Even though they did not end the season with the wins they were hoping for, they still were able to win their region for the second straight year in a row. Kylee won the Defensive player of the year award, and has been so fun to watch. She has decided to pursue a career in Dental Hygiene and is currently trying to make a good decision on which school to attend. For now she will say goodbye to Volleyball and focus her attention on this next phase of life. We are very proud of her ability to show wisdom throughout all of this.

Emilee (14) is amazing. It seems that whatever she puts her mind to, she can accomplish. She has already shown us that she can be a wonderful artist. Her old teacher tells Kade (who has him now) that he had never had a better flutist. Now she has decided that she wants to try to play the Saxophone and she is doing wonderful. We are so proud of Emilee and her God given gifts. She is also following in her sister’s footsteps and is playing volleyball. However, she is going in a little different direction and playing the setter position rather than the middle blocker. Emilee never seems to have a shortage of things to do with her many friends, and their many activities as well.

Kade (11) is my little buddy. He and I have had a lot of fun this summer doing a few campouts. We even went on a backpacking trip up one of the many canyons here in Utah. It is fun to watch Kade grow up and see him start to see the important things in life. He is very in tune with some of the more important things of life, and I love having conversations with him about them. Now that being said, he can also be very annoying to his sisters. =) He loves to tease and try to get their attention in any way that he can. My Mom warned me that one day I too would have a child similar to me. It looks like mom was right again. =) Kade continues to love soccer, and will be playing again here very soon.

Quincy (8) is the darling of our little family. She is also showing a gift for music and the piano. I love to hear her practice her pieces and realize that she has come so far. She is finally healthy and it shows. She has energy to play with her friends, and also at times to fight with Kade. (Most of the time it has to do more with Kade than Quincy.) She is a very good sister to Brinley and they love to produce many imaginary activities that will last for hours. Quincy was baptized this year, and we were very proud of her and her decision.

Brinley (5) is 5 and going on 35. She says some of the funniest things. You can go to our blog and
see many of them. She is currently sitting here playing the piano and singing out loud “Mary had a
little lamb”, which her sister Quincy taught her. She is so smart, and picks up on things
so quickly. (She must get that from Michele.) She started Kindergarten this year and has
baffled her teachers with how to teach her. She will read just about anything that you put
in front of her, and she loves to get into her “Zone” and can be there for hours just
pretending she is writing and calculating, and also reading to her dolls. She is a bright
piece of sunshine in our home, and we love her dearly.

Michele and I keep busy with Work, Church, and Kids. It is fulfilling, but very tiring. We apologize for not keeping in better touch with all of you, but we want you to know that we are
thinking of each of you this special season. Thank you for the special relationships that we share and we hope that you have a wonderful Christmas season filled with Peace and Joy.
Love The Southwicks

Brinley's Broken Arm!!!!

One day after school Brinley came to the front door and instead of coming in like she does everyday she stood at the door and knocked. I thought she was being funny so I opened the door ready to scare her. She was standing there just sobbing. I picked her up and tried for a half an hour to get her to tell me what was wrong. She would not, she just sat on my lap and cried. Then she moved to Kylee's lap and she tried for another 15 minutes to get her to tell her what was wrong. Finally Kylee came and told me that she thought it might have something to do with her arm. She let me look at it for just a minute and it was swollen and would not straighten. I knew by the look of it that somthing was not right.

Emilee had 3 friends coming to eat homemade pizza (which I was in the process of making) and then we were supposed to drive them to the middle school dance. I called Chris to see when he was coming home and told him it looked like we were going to spend our Friday night in the ER. I finished the pizza while Brinley took a little nap on the couch...definatley our 5th child or I'm sure we would have rushed right to the hospital...and then we told Kylee to get the girls to the dance and headed for the hospital.

Brinley was so funny. She did not want anyone to ask her any questions or even look at her. She hated the whole process. They took x-rays and then put her arm in a splint. When the doctor came in to confirm that it was broken and she would need a cast...she started to cry. She did not want a cast. We left the hospital and took her to a dollar store where she got a prize for letting the doctor look at her arm. We had to bribe her, otherwise she was not going to let him look at or touch her!

The following Monday we went to get the cast. She chose pink and once again did not want anything to do with the doctors or nurses looking at or touching her. She insited that she was not going to school that day either!! The whole drawing attention to the cast she was wearing was far more painful for her than the actual break to her arm. The next day I made her go to school. She did not want me to take her or go and talk to her teacher. She did get on the bus and go though!! As a meddling mother I did go right in the house and call the school to give her teacher a heads up. I told her that if she was crying it was not because she was in pain, but just didn't want anybody making a big deal about her cast. As a very smart little 5 year old she solved her problem and came up with a great solution...she didn't take her coat off at school so no one knew!! Her teacher never said a word and luckily because of Christmas break she only had to go to a couple days of school.She got lucky and only had to wear the cast for 2 weeks!! She was so happy to have it off and be done with it!


Just for the record, she is the first broken bone in our family! Well, except for the time she fractured her scull by falling in the tub...which did not require a cast! Hopefully this is not a pattern of things to come!!

Ward Christmas Party

This year for our ward Christmas party we had dinner and then a couple special visitors...Santa and Mrs. Clause. This was Brinleys first experience sitting on Santas lap. She was scared and didn't think she wanted to do it, but then her little friend Kate talked her into standing in line with her. Both Quincy and Brinley sat on his lap and told them what they wanted. I tried to get all 5 of my kids up there for a picture, but the oldest 3 completely boycotted that idea!

Gingerbread Houses 2011

The kids favorite Christmas Tradition...making Gingerbread Houses!

Houses glued together...candy in bowls...almost ready to start!!

Diving in to create their masterpieces!

We had lots of fun and ate lots and lots of candy!! No wonder it is their favorite tradition!

Christmas Lights at Temple Square

At the beginning of December we sat down as a family and made a list of things we wanted to be sure to do during the Christmas holiday. The month seems to fly by and we miss opportunities if they are not on the calendar. On the first Friday in December we met Chris at the frontrunner station in Ogden to go to temple square. We brought sack lunches for dinner and ate them on the way there. We took trax to the temple. The temple was beautiful and we spent time going to both visitor centers. It was a cold night so we didn't spend too much time outside.
I'm pretty sure the hightlight of the night was riding the frontrunner. I would like to think it was the temple, but I'm pretty sure I would be fooling myself.





Great tradition...hopefully we can do this every year. It is great to start the season out with a trip to the temple!!!

Quincy

If you are around Quincy for very long you will see her do some kind of acrobatics. She is sooo flexible. She can drop into the splits both sideways and from the front. She loves to do backbends and can drop into them standing. She keeps begging her parents to do gymnastics...but she has not been successful yet!! Maybe someday. Her parents are loving that she is focusing on piano and becoming quite a good little piano player. Maybe if she practices really well it would show her parents that she could do both...hint, hint, hint!!

Brinley's Stories

Brinley is into writing stories. She has afternoon kindergarten so she has all morning to get into her "zone" as we call it. She reads books to herself and her dolls. She gets out the calculator and writes millions of numbers all over paper...which she knows exactly what each and every one means. Some days she gets out all of the card games and sorts them all over the couch. She is constantly pulling the paper and boxes out of our recycle bin in the garage to create something with them. She fills in the forms on all the junk mail. Hopefully she doesn't accidentally apply for something some day!! She writes stories and draws lots of pictures. My living room gets transformed every morning into whatever she feels like doing that day. She is a smart little whipper snapper...and I think there is a reason for that! She does not enjoy watching TV or movies or playing with most normal toys...but hand her some scrap paper, a calculator or a notebook and pen, and she is in heaven!!! Chris and I often look at each other and wonder where she came from and what in the world she will be when she grows up!!!

Here is a sample of some of her work. She wrote this story this morning...complete with Kindergarten phonics!

1. oun day sum wun wuz fiteeng with hr frend named britney the end. 2. ouns a pon a tim there ouz sum leftovrz frum last nit i ast if i kud havsum the end. 3. ouns a pon a tim mi frends kam ovr to mi haws to ask if i koud play i sed no they ast wiy be kuz i am sik they sed ok and they wokt awa the end.

In case you need an interpretation, the story says:
1. one day some one was fighting with her friend named Britney (interesting how close this name is to hers!!) the end. 2. Once upon a time there was some leftovers from last night I asked if I could have some the end. 3. Once upon a time my friends came over to my house to ask if I could play I said no they asked why because I am sick they said ok and they walked away the end.

Oh how I will miss not having any more spelling challenged 5 year olds!!!

The Great Eight! Kylee's varsity volleyball season

These are 8 amazing young women! They are an unusual group of girls...and have had a one of a kind experience. They have been on the same team for the past 6 years and have played together from 7th grade to their senior year. All 8 of them played varsity every game...which doesn't happen very often. We were the only team who always announced 8 seniors as our starting line-up! But more importantly, they are the best of friends. There are not 8 more kind, caring, fun girls in the world!! They are all beautiful inside and out. They have never said an unkind word to or about each other on or off the court...and that's saying a lot! Even when they are down in a game and the pressure is on you will only see and hear them building each other up. They cheer each other on in everything they do...volleyball, school, anything. I think that is why they have been so successful and had a great season. They are always positive and treat each other with love and respect.
Lacey, Shelby, Sommer, Savannah, Alexis, Allie, Kylee & Brooke...The Great 8!!

They got together and hired a photographer to take their pictures together. They got some fun shots. They have spent a lot of time together over the years. They did team retreats and camps, went to sadies dances all together (and played some awesome mud football both years), did lots of service projects together, attended football games together and spent countless hours together perfecting their volleyball skills at practices, club tournaments and season games.

For the past two years they have had the awesome opportunity to attend the state tournament at UVU. They have gone in both years as Region Champs!! Woohoo!! They didn't do as well this year as they had hoped...they all had their sights set on a state title...but they still had a good experience. They played hard and it was so sad to see this season come to an end. Volleyball has been a huge part of their lives and they will have great memories and friendships for years to come.

Walking out to the bus to leave for the State Tournament under their balloon arch!

The bus...decorated inside and out!!

Emilee, Quincy and Brinley came to wish Kylee good luck and see her off!!

All of the girls and families released purple and white balloons before they got on the bus.

A few shots of Kylee doing her thing at the State Tournament.

It has been so fun to watch her be so successful this year at something she has worked hard at for years. She had a great season. At the Volleyball banquet she received some of her stats. She led the team in blocks and the next person under her was 35 less! She also was 3rd in kills, only 1 under the 2nd place. She received the "defensive player of the year" award. This usually goes to the libro but this year her teamates and coaches voted that it go to her for her amazing ability to put up a great block.

Her coaches have really tried to encourage her to go on and play at the college level. They are pretty certain she could play and receive a volleyball scholarship. After a few weeks of painful thinking :) Kylee decided to keep all of the great experiences and memories close, but to wrap up this stage of her life and be done with volleyball. She feels like it's time to look to college and focus on that as her next stage. We are proud of her...it's not everybody that even has that decision to make. It says alot about her skill, desire and determination. Her parents think she has made a wise decision!!! I am excited to see all that this next phase of life will bring for her. Volleyball has taught her some important life lessons and she is a better person for all that she has learned over the past 6 years.

This was a statement from Kylee's coach that was printed in our local newspaper. I think it sums their team up beautifully...

"Harding said she is honored to have been able to coach such a special group of athletic talents with a real passion for the sport. She also commended their character, saying they were respectful, generous, kind and always looking for ways to serve others. They won't remember the win/loss at the end, said Harding. They are going to remember their teammates and the way they treated each other, and these girls get that."

Great Job Kylee...we are proud of you!!