On the seventh and eighth days of Christmas the elves brought:

On Sunday the elves brought little coloring/activity books (perfect for keeping them entertained during Sacrament meeting. On Monday the elves brought ring pops...a favorite around our house. On Sunday the boys told me the elves brought them a stupid book....(ouch). I told them that the elves wouldn't come anymore if they didn't like or thank the elves for what they brought but at church during Sacrament they were having a good time with them and said they really liked them (that's better). I can't believe Christmas is in only 4 days....I'm pretty excited. It is so fun to watch the kids be so happy on Christmas.

On the sixth day of Christmas the elves brought:

Fruit rollups. These are a big favorite at our house. They kids loved it. Connor didn't think he was going to get anything because he thought he wasn't being good enough but really he was pretty good yesterday. He was excited that he got something. (I think he just wanted to get a letter from Percy like Garrett did). We told him it was a bad thing if you got a letter. Tonight we have the Martinez Christmas party (Chelton's Mom's side of the family). That is always a good time.

On the fifth day of Christmas the elves brought:

Disney Pez....Kylie got Donald Duck, Garrett got Mickey Mouse and Connor got Goofy. The boys loved the candy and Kylie loved to play with the pez like toys. Tonight we are celebrating our anniversary and going to Temari (japanese restaraunt) for dinner and then finishing up our Christmas shopping (like we do every year). Thanks to my sister Mandee for watching my kids. All we have to do is get stocking stuff but I am excited to feel completely 100% done. I can't wait for the restaraunt either. It is awesome.

On the fourth day of Christmas the elves brought:

Airheads....they each got two in their shoe. Airheads are Connor's favorite treat...he was super excited.

9 years later

Well today me and Chelton celebrate our 9 year anniversary. We have gone through a lot in our 9 years of marriage. We have lived in 11 different places since being married and built 2 houses of our own. We have had 3 great children, many ups and downs in jobs and income, gone on some great trips including visiting Disneyland four times. We were married on a sunny (but still pretty cold) day back on December 16th of 2000. We were married in the Ogden temple. We had a luncheon at Chelton's parents house in Huntsville and then had our reception at our church house in Roy. It was a wonderful day. I am so lucky to have had the privilege of being married to the best man in the world for 9 years. I have been telling Chelton for a long time that for our 10th anniversary next year I want to go on a cruise so I guess we only have a year now to plan and pay for it. We really can't celebrate our anniversary until the weekend so we plan on going out on a date on Friday. Happy 9th Anniversary to us!!!!

On the third day of Christmas our elves brought:

Utah Jazz matchbox cars for Garrett and Connor and fridge alphabet magnets for Kylie. Garrett also got a letter from our elf. He was kind of a stinker yesterday and Dad had to call the elves and tell them not to come. He was better the rest of the night so he got a letter from our elf (who we found out his name is Percy). He told Garrett that if he didn't start acting better he would be on Santa's naughty list and that he couldn't bring anymore presents to his shoe. Hopefully Percy's letter helped and Garrett starts acting better.

On the second day of Christmas our elves brought...

Well the elves brought some push-pops. Funny story because when Connor woke up (uncharacteristically early) there was nothing in his shoe. I told Chelton (I mean the elf) to make sure he put them in their shoe before he came to bed but he fell asleep on the couch. I told Connor that dad had shown me what was in their shoe and forgot to put them back in. I went in the drawer and put them all in their shoe and then after they got their push pops they told me Kylie got glue. I guess I had grabbed a glue stick instead of the push pop and put it in her shoe. I told them that I had done that because again dad took them out to show me what they got and when I went to put them back I grabbed the glue instead. Well they are happy with their push pops and can't wait to see what's in their tomorrow.