Merry Christmas and happy new year from the Braegger Family!!!!

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We were busy with Christmas activities galore during December and had a wonderful Christmas holiday! Here is our house with the lights up. You can't really tell in this picture, but we have large white bulbs and red & green icicle lights on the roof, the holy family with baby Jesus under the star in front of the porch, and a family of deer to the righy of the front steps. There is also a big inflatable globe (with reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh going aound & around a Christmas tree inside) on the left side of our house. Not as decked out as Tony would like, but a good display of our Christmas spirit!

On Saturday the 15th, Tony, Faith, Tammy & I went to "Scrooge" at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse. They do such a great job! Faith especially loved Scrooge's song "I Hate People."

On Monday we went to Zoo Lights with Tammy, Brian, Tina & Zach. This is the first year they have done this and I was surprised at how nice the light displays were!

It was cold, but I much prefer hiking the zoo hills trying to keep warm than dying from the heat in the summer.

Christian and Faith loved seeing all the lights. We only saw one animal, fittingly enough, the snow leopard.
Here are Faith and Zach in front of an especially cool peacock. In addition to the lighted animal displays, they had a million lights on the trees making it beautifully twinkly.

On Tuesday I volunteered for Faith's kindergarten class where they were having a "Polar Express Day" party. All the kids came to school in their pajamas and we helped them with fun crafts like: making an 'I Spy' toy out of a water bottle, erasers shaped like candy canes, snowflakes, wreaths, etc., and rice; stringing a jingle bell from Santa's sleigh onto a boondogle string to make a necklace; and stringing beads onto a pipe cleaner and bending it into a candy cane shape as a tree ornament. They also got to watch part of the movie and have cookies and hot chocolate.

On Saturday, December 22nd we went to the Mitchell family Christmas party which was held at Tony's uncle Craig's house in Uintah. We had pizza and chatted with everyone and then the kids did a gift exchange. At the end we sang "Happy Birthday" to Grandma & Grandpa Mitchell (Grandma's birthday is Dec. 25th and Grandpa's is Jan. 3rd) and had cake and ice cream.


Here is Christian eating his bowl of chocolate ice cream with a fork. I don't know why he didn't want to use a spoon, but when he was nearly done and the rest of the ice cream had melted a little too much to get it on the fork, he just picked up the bowl and drank it!

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, We went to the Treehouse museum with Tammy and Zach. I helped Faith make this cool Santa Lucia crown with candles on it, and she did some other Christmas time crafts from around the world.



Christian sure enjoyed their fish tank.
We then went to a cute program at their theater where Santa Claus came!


When we went to leave, we saw that there was a huge blizzard going on outside! We called my mom to see if the Christmas Eve party was going to be held or not and if there was anything we could help with. We ended up picking up KFC to eat so that my dad wouldn't have to go out into the storm to pick up Chinese food like he had planned and also gave a ride to my Grandma Tesch.

We didn't know who would end up making it there, but Sarah, Joy and their families braved the weather to come! Eric was told probably not many would make it so he opted to stay home, but felt bad when he found out we were all there :(

We got some pictures with all of my parents' grandchildren together and I didn't succeed in getting any where the babies looked happy, I'll have to see if my dad or Sarah were luckier in their timing.



We then did our traditional nativity with the kids wearing the darling costumes Sarah made a few years back.

Faith got to start out being Mary, and then Celeste got a turn and Faith was an angel.






The three babies were the wisemen. Unfortunately, Noah and Christian were tired and cranky (Christian being the WORST) but they still looked adorable!




The script we use is a simplified version of Luke 2 with lots of songs added between the lines of dialog. Faith especially looks forward to doing this every year and started obsessing over getting to be Mary this year over five months ago.

It's not really Brendan's thing, but the girls LOVE dressing up!


Here is my early Christmas present--a new ring! My old one was missing a diamond and it would have been expensive to get fixed. This one was on super sale and I love it!




Christmas morning was fun at our house. To begin with, the kids didn't get up until 8:30!! That was truly a gift! Faith got a doll that swims, an American Idol microphone and a Hannah Montana wig from Santa and Christian got a rocking horse and a basketball hoop.




As you'll see in the following pictures, that wig was a hit!
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You know, I'm all for donning your gay apparel at Christmas, but I think sometimes you can go a bit too far!! ;D


















There's a cute Christmas smooch!

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In addition to a million fun toys, the kids got the most adorable clothes from my mom, Tony's mom and his sister Tammy!

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Even Tony's dad couldn't resist the temptation to see if blondes really do have more fun!

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By afternoon, my two little boys had pooped themselves out unwrapping all those gifts. They found a cozy spot on the sofa at his parents' house next to the fire and caught some z's.

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We had a wonderful Christmas and hope all of our friends reading this had a great holiday as well. Because of the move, I don't know where I've misplaced my address list and therefore I didn't get any Christmas cards sent out this year. Please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers and we wish you a new year filled with health, hope, happiness, and abundant blessings for you and your families.

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Unfortunately, right after Christmas Grandpa Mitchell had a heart attack and was in the hospital for a few days. His arteries are terrible and needed a quintuple bypass, but has decided that he would like to spend the time he has left at home and not in the hospital trying to recover from such a major surgery. He turned 92 on Thursday and we are glad that we have gotten to have him around for so long, he truly is a great guy.

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Also my Grandpa Quinn is not doing very well. When he was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago he found out that he has lung cancer and they gave him 3-6 months. Grandpa says that it was great news! (He has a terrible condition that is crystalizing his lungs and he was afraid that he would live for years and slowly suffocate.) He is enjoying spending time at home, visiting with friends and family. He's in good spirits and the medication they have him on is making him INSANELY talkative so we've been hearing all sorts of stories about his youth, time in the service and work at the Bank of Utah. He is still always cracking me up!

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Because of Grandpa Mitchell being in the hospital, Tony's mom cancelled her New Year's Eve party so we threw together a last minute get together at our house and had my mom & dad, Eric and Sierra over and Joy & Jordan except for the few hours that they were at their friends' house. We had ribs from Chili's, hot wings, my dad's clam chowder, cole slaw and the chocolate fountain going for dessert.

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We had a great year in 2007 with lots of changes and fun times and are looking forward to an awesome 2008!!

To begin with, we had a big snowstorm on Friday the 30th and Saturday the 1st. We ran right out after the snow had stopped (after being made completely crazy by Faith's whines of "can we go play in the snow, YET?!?") and Faith & I made a snowman while Tony shoveled the driveway.

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That evening was our Stake Christmas Festival. The first hour was outside and while Tony drove around with Christain asleep in the car, Faith and I enjoyed the festivities. They had: a live nativity with a miniature donkey, miniature horse, sheep and goat which you could pet; a craft table where you could make a jingle bell necklace; hay rides; cookies, hot chocolate & wassail; and freshly made cinnamon almonds. The second hour was a program in the chapel with an amazing choir and orchestra. Faith only made it through the first half hour, and then Tony came in with Christian and she was ready to go. We then drove through the Layton light display and got mint M&M shakes from Sonic.

On Tuesday the 4th, I dressed Christian up in his funny snowman hat & mittens and Crumpet in the light-up Christmas tree sweater my mom had gotten her for an early gift. They were quite a sight on the walk to the bus stop!

On the 5th Christain got ahold of Faith's loose glitter makeup and completely covered his face and hands as well as make several piles on the floor. This picture does absolutely no justice to how sparkly he really was!
December 6th was my mom's birthday, but my grandpa Quinn was in the hospital so it wasn't as happy as it could have been. Grandpa, as usual, had to tease the nurses. He kept accusing them of trying to get in the shower with him so they could check him out and when a female nurse asked if he was O.K. with the obviously gay male nurse he said, "That's fine, I used to be bisexual." When the nurse looked surprised he added, "I wanted sex twice a year and not just on my birthday." Ha, ha, grandpa, you keep us rolling in laughter!

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That day I took the kids to the doctor, Christian for his 15 month checkup and Faith to see if we can figure out why she feels a little sick almost every day. Faith knew Christian was getting shots and that she wouldn't have to get any but, unbeknownst to her, as the doctor and I were discussing her symptoms he decided to test her blood for anemia. The nurses walked in with the syringes and a lancet and asked Faith to hold out her finger. In her grown up voice (and with a condescending tone, no less) she said, "Oh, no, they're for him." The picture is of them in front of the waterfall in their doctor's office building just after they have thrown in all of my change.

On the 7th (which is my sister Sarah's oldest son Brendan's birthday!) Tammy took Faith, Zach and Christian to Teddy Bear Builders for a Christmas activity. The kids had a blast

choosing the animal, eyes, sounds and accessories and grooming them after they were stuffed.

Faith slept over at Braegger's Friday night, but Tony picked her up bright and early on Saturday to bring her to our ward Christmas breakfast with Santa. We had delicious eggs, ham, sausage and sweet breads and then the special visitor arrived. Both Faith and Christian were so excited to see him! Faith sat on his lap first and told him what she wanted, then Tony put Christian on the other side for a picture. Christian immediately broke down in sobs and Tony pulled him off right after this was snapped. As soon as he was in his dad's arms, he cheered right up and wanted to talk to Santa!

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That night we had our friends Ann & Mike over to our house with their kids for a Christmas party. We ate bread cubes and spinach dip as and appetizer, clam chowder or chicken noodle soup as the main course, and broke out the chocolate fountain for dessert. We put in strawberries, pineapple, bananas, pound cake, pretzels, cinnamon santas, and marshmallows. It was hit, especially with the kids. We talked while the kids played and then the guys broke out the Xbox. It was so fun getting together with them, I can't wait to do it again!!

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Also the 8th is Tony's dad's birthday, we like to pack 'em in around here!!

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Sunday the kids made crazy bubbles in the jetted tub and had fun making bubble hair and beards.

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We tried to go to "Journey to Bethlehem" (a live nativity event at a church in Layton) after church and a stop by mom & dad's for dinner, but we forgot Faith's coat :( Hopefully we make it next year.

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Last night we made sugar cookies for Family Home Evening. The kids sat up on the island and cut them out, well Faith cut them out and Christian made a mess and kept trying to eat the dough. They came out delicious!
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Countdown to Christmas: only two weeks left!

We sure have been packing in the holiday activities around here! Sat the 17th we started decorating for Christmas. I hear you moaning in protest, and believe me--I'm with you!!!! Tony, as we all know, is crazy and his largest obsession is with Christmas decor inside and out. We put up THREE full sized trees; one in the front living room, one in the family room and one in our bedroom. Faith & Christian each have 3 ft. trees in their rooms, our kitchen has our 5,4 & 3 ft. trio of alpine trees and the plant shelf above the entertainment center in the family room boasts a family of its own trees pictured here.

On to pictures with the correct holiday theme: Thanksgiving! Faith made a darling Indian costume at school on Mon the 19th. It consists of a headband with construction paper feathers, maccaroni neclace, formula can drum and paper sack vest all of which she expertly decorated. The next day she came home with a pilgrim collar and bonnet. They had dressed up for school lunch Thanksgiving feast--Faith's first lunch at school!

The day before Thanksgiving I was busy cleaning and cooking my take-along dishes and I let Faith borrow my camera. She LOVES taking pictures! She got this one of Christian and I wanted to post it because he absolutely adores books. Tons of times each day he brings me a book saying "BUP, BUP!" and I can't help but drop whatever I'm doing, set him on my lap and read him the bup . . . I mean book.

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She also took this picture of herself (the light blue things behind her are fairy wings).

Thanksgiving day was wonderful. First, here are Faith and her cousin (my sister Sarah's daughter) Alaura in thier costumes from school. Faith made the apron the day before at home entirely out of paper and tape.

Sarah had made these darling napkin holders with each of our pictures.


They were so cute!

The kids had a great time at the children's table, but Christian didn't eat much . . .

until Grandpa Peterson sat him on his lap.

We also had a wonderful dinner at Tony's parents' but for some reason forgot to get my camera out as much. I'm so mad at myself!! This is just after Tina put olives on Christian's fingers (and Tyler peeping from the background).

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That weekend we did some fun activities. Friday Tony, Faith & I went to the Disney movie "Enchanted." We all loved it,it was so cute! Saturday the three of us went to the "Nutcracker Ballet" at Weber State which was excellent! Faith very much enjoyed her first ballet and felt like such a big girl.

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Although Christian was left out of those two activites, don't feel bad for the little cutie! He had a great time with Grandma & Grandpa Braegger and Tammy on Friday and Grandma & Grandpa Peterson on Saturday, so he enjoyed himself as well.

Sunday night we went to the Ogden City park display and walked around looking in all the little houses. They also had done a tremendous job lighting the huge trees in the park.

After the park we went home, all snuggled up in the big bed and ate pomegranates.

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Tuesday the weather changed!! I had been wearing short-sleeved shirts and sandals but then in came a storm that started laying down snow! Here are Faith and her friend, Maura, running home from the bus stop through the snowflakes.

And finally, here is Christian cleaning up his mess with the swivel sweeper. I had just been using it and he saw me put it away. Next thing I knew, he had it back out and was sweeping away! Now that I know he can do it I'll have to start putting him to work all the time!!

I knew I was a little late getting in this blog entry, but I had no idea that it's been almost a month!! We have been busy with Halloween activities and playing outside enjoying the great weather. On Oct. 25th Faith and her friend, Maura, even set up a Kool-aid stand. They made just over a dollar each and even a non-family member (a construction worker working on the house next door) bought two cups! But I wonder who their best customer was . . . . . .
It was Christian and his five cups!! Of course the girls only gave him half an inch of Kool-aid in the cup for his quarter, but he enjoyed it to the fullest!

On Oct. 26th, Faith was lucky enough to get to go to the Hannah Montana consert, escorted by her dad. She screamed, danced and had a great time. And it only took about three days for Tony's hearing to return. That same night Christian and I went to mom & dad's ward trunk-or-treat. They have about fifteen people sign up to bring homemade soups for the dinner, making it one of my favorite fall events.
Christain was, of course, glued to my dad for the evening.

Awesome people stepped up and dressed for the occasion (I think coming as my regular self should have counted, being as that is scarier than any costume I could think of. But, alas, it was pointed out to me that I'm a party-pooper) Here are my sister Joy (and her unborn daughter, Lilly) as a basketball, her husband Jordan as a basketball player from a monster team, and her daughter Sierra as a cheerleader. I must point out that Joy MADE that adorable costume. You can't see the front very well in this picture, but the school name is "Peek-a-BOO Day Scare."

Here is my sister Sarah and her husband Brad in their seventies costumes, complete with afros. Great job! I was showing Tony's sister this picture and she couldn't even guess who they were!!

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Later that evening Christian & I joined Tammy & Zach in visiting the Dinosaur Park. I love to go there at Halloween when they have bloody limbs hanging out of the dinos' mouths, jack-o-lanterns, spider webs everywhere and a fog machine that is out of this world. Christian LOVED it and was making dinosaur noises back at them.

We had lots fun at our ward's Halloween carnival the next night, and Faith found a new way of keeping track of her brother. We ate spaghetti & meat balls and then went to the classrooms with the games. Faith did: eat the donut haning on a string, pin the bone on the skeleton, cake walk, fishing pond (Christian did this one, too!), decorating a pumpkin sugar cookie, musical tombstones, and a spook alley.

Monday the 29th, we met up with Joy's family at the Black Island Farms Corn Maze in Syracuse. We first watched the magic show, then did lots of slides, the baby corn maze (even the small one just about jiggled Christian's brains out riding in the stroller over that rough ground), played in the sandbox of dried corn, sat around the bonfire, teeter-tottered, Faith rode in a little farm train-like thing pulled by a tractor, and saw the farm animals. The picture is of Faith taking her brother up to one of the slides. We had a great time!

On the 30th I carved pumpkins with the kids. Christian loved pulling the "guts" out and even taste-tested some, I think.

Then we went to Lagoon for the last time this year :(

On Halloween night we first went trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood, then went over to Tony's parents' for homemade chili. After that Tony took the kids around their neighborhood with his mom, Tammy & Zach. The kids sure loaded up on the candy! Christian thought having people hand you candy that you can put in your bucket was the coolest thing, ever. He had a vise grip on the handle of that thing!!

Here is Faith with her aunt Tammy. (Another person cool enough to dress up! I tell you, I'm going to put in some effort and come up with a costume next year in an attempt to cool myself up.) We had a great Halloween night!

Faith's 6th birthday was Nov. 1st, but we celebrated with the family the Sunday afterward. We had some great cake and Faith got tons of nice gifts. Unfortunately, one of the main things she asked for and received were the AquaDots. Just a few days later the recall came out because the glue on them turns into GHB (the date rape drug) if ingested. But my mom got them exchanged for a Sleeping Beauty Barbie with magical color changing dress, and all is well.




I caught her in the other room practicing to be a singing star with her new "High School Musical" microphone.

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Funny side note, Faith has decided that her stage name when she becomes a famous singer will be "Princess Rocking Girl." Look for her new album out in stores in 7-10 years. :D

As I said at the beginning we have been enjoying the weather. One thing we love is riding bikes. Christian's favorite is playing in the dirt and Faith loves going over to her friends' and playing on the trampoline or the giant fancy swing set. I'm going to be sad when the weather turns cold and snowy!

Here is Faith in one of her favorite outfits she received for her birthday.

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Last week I took Faith in for her yearly check-up and she got a flu shot. She was terrified of getting the shot and afterward said it made her leg hurt. In the car on the way home she asked "Mom, how do people get wheelchairs?" HA, HA Faith, the drama queen.

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Mostly I spent last week reading the three books in the "Twilight" series: "Twilight", "New Moon", and "Eclipse". Girls, you have to check these out!!! (And I don't mean at the library, there are over 300 holds on each!!!!!)