Staying Busy!

This month has been just flying by! I really wanted to keep up on my posting but haven't had as much time as I thought. First off I wanted to remind everyone that today and tomorrow are the last days for you to get your donations to me for the homeless shelter. We are still in need of items to donate. All items can be new or used, so go through those coat closets and clean them out! Remember every little thing counts. We will be taking these items to the shelter on Friday.

GINGERBREAD HOUSES!

Every year my parents buy all the kids Gingerbread Houses. We like to try and decorate them for family home evening, but my kids were to excited to wait so we decided to decorate them on Thanksgiving. Darrin really helped them a lot more this year, And I know he enjoyed every minute of it! Each house had it's own personality! Abby wanted hers to look exactly like the picture, so I was glad that Darrin was the one helping her! When the kids were done they had tons of candy left so we let them eat it, yummy!

Houses in order from left to right

Kaiden~Madi~Abby

FAMILY HOME EVENING!

For family home evening a couple of weeks ago, the kids got to go and choose their ornaments. We went to Hallmark, they looked around forever. There are so many ornaments now that have lights or sing or play music and that kept them busy for a while. Madi decided on a really cute ornament with Mickey and Pluto in a little red car with a tree strapped to the roof and a wreath on the front. The minute Abby laid her eyes on her ornament she stopped ant nothing to get it. I wasn't to excited about spending $32.00 on 1 ornament , but we gave in, after all it was Mickey's House! It has mickey and Pluto standing out in front of his house looking at it all decorated with lights and snow and Santa and his reindeer on top. It plugs into the tree and lights up. It also has a little button that you push that plays music while the lights do a little light show. It is super cute. When we got it home and put it on the tree the kids all said "look it's Ed Kampers house!" Too funny!Kaiden looked and looked and just couldn't find an ornament that he really liked. I had bought a Captain Hook ornament that I thought was really cute, but he said it was stupid because it didn't do anything. I told him he could have it as his ornament until we find him one he really liked. He wasn't to happy about it but agreed when Darrin told him he would try and find him a BYU ornament!When we were done ornament shopping we went home and had some ice cream and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas!

Darrin's parents took us and all the adults out to dinner for our Birthdays on Saturday night. We wanted to go to Ruby River but they were all booked up, so we decided to go to Chili's because they would accept our reservation for 12 people. There was sooo much food. My favorite thing is always their chips and salsa! I could eat it everyday. Oh by the way did I mention my Birthday is on Christmas, hint, hint! The food was yummy and it was so fun to get together without all of the kids to talk. We look forward to it every year! Thanks so much Ruth and Stu, it was fun!

Another tradition we have is every year we go out to Spanish Fork to see the festival of the lights. If you have never been before I would recommend it. It is so much better than Thanksgiving point and is only $5 a car! So Monday night the kids got in their jammies and we took them to get ice cream cones , and then we headed out to the lights. It was perfect it wasn't to busy and there was snow on the ground! Each year we always try and pick out the new stuff they get, it's always fun!

Tuesday night my parents took us out for dinner to celebrate our Birthdays, We went to The Spaghetti Factory, because everyone seems to like that place, especially my picky kids. My brother and his family came, my parents, and us. After dinner we went back to my parents house for some homemade german chocolate cake and presents. They gave us some new phones! Now when you call I might actually answer the phone. It came with 4 different colored phones the kids all claimed 1 of their own so that only leaves me with 1, we'll see how that goes. I also got a new griddle, and a picture I have been wanting FOREVER called "A Light Unto the Gentiles" by Greg Olsen. I really want the huge canvas {like the one in the Salt Lake Temple} or the one hanging in my favorite aunt Marianne's house {did I mention my Birthday is on Christmas?} but it is way out of my price range. But I'm so happy to at least have a smaller version for now, and I cant wait to get it framed! Thanks sooooo much mom and dad. Dinner was awesome and the presents were nice to!Christmas is coming soo fast, it always does when your old like me! I'm enjoying the season and doing fun things with my family! For the most part we are done shopping and I couldn't be more excited. I can't wait to see my kids on Christmas morning. To me that is the best Christmas/Birthday present a mom could have! I spoil them rotten cause I love them and that's what makes me happy! Darrin and I both were spoiled growing up, so were both on the same paige when it comes to spoiling the kids, it's fun!! I hope everyone has a Wonderful Christmas! Take time to enjoy your family and friends, and don't forget to give to think of the others around us that might be in need! Even the smallest act of kindness can help!

The Best Neighbor Gift Ever!

My cute little friend Amy gave me the cutest neighbor gift ever! I love it and it is displayed as we speak! And for those of you who don't know who the best neighbor ever is?............... Here is a picture for your viewing pleasure!

Thanks Amy!

Neighbor Gifts!

Dear friends and neighbors…

This year, more than ever, we are aware of the struggles of those around us. In lieu of our traditional “neighbor gifts” we have decided to donate to a family homeless shelter, The Road Home. If you would like to participate, we are collecting the following desperately needed necessities: coats, gloves, hats, or anything to keep warm, also socks and underware; however any contribution is welcome and appreciated, ie. canned goods, cash donations, blankets, new toys, etc. All items can be new or used except socks, underware, and toys. We will be collecting these items until Thursday December 18th, and delivering the items to the shelter on Friday the 19th. If you would like to donate, feel free to drop them off at our home or we are happy to pick them up as well. Even the smallest donation can help us remember the true meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!
Love The Haun Family

Catching Up!

Wow, It has been forever since I last blogged! I wanted to start way back with Thanksgiving. For Thanksgiving we went to my parents house first. We had the best Thanksgiving dinner with my mom and dad, My brother and his family, our family, and my grandma Olsen. It was a much smaller group this time, but we really enjoyed it! The food was wonderful! After dinner we went to Payson for pie at Darrin's parents house. We did lots of talking and eating! We also sat down and planned out our attack for Black Friday shopping!

The next morning I woke up at about 3:15. I got ready real quick and went and picked up Sarah and my mom. We went to Wal-mart first. I got everything I went there for! After Wal-mart we headed over to Target. Tammy was already standing in line, it was a good thing too because they really cracked down on security this year and wouldn't let you even sneak up to the front like I have in past years! It was all really crazy and a lot of fun! My car was jammed packed! Whoo Hoo! I didn't shop as long as I usually do this year, because I knew Darrin wanted to go and look for a TV. I took Sarah home and then met Darrin at my mom's house. She watched the kids for us while we went back out and shopped! It was a long day! We did end up getting a new TV for Christmas! it is sooo nice. I still like my old one that broke, and it was sad wheeling it out to the truck. Of course we or should I say Darrin couldn't wait until Christmas to set it up! It looks a little weird not having a stand to put it on, we just set it on our coffee table until we get a new built in to put it on! Maybe that will be my, I mean our Christmas present next year!

Darrin's work party was on Thursday night. We went to the Golden Corral, not my favorite but the salad was good. They always do fun little games and drawings. Darrin won us a backpack {Disneyland here we come!} And I actually won one of the big items this year!!! I was really wanting the GPS, but I won 2 tickets to the Jazz game! We will be on the 14th row! I can't wait! It was a fun night!

Friday I finally went and saw Twilight! I haven't finished the book yet, but I'm much more of a visual person anyways, so I just went and saw the movie. I didn't have any expectations, so I really liked it! Darrin and I also did some shopping after the movie! I'm so excited because we are almost done! That night was our ward party. Abby had been looking forward to seeing Santa all week, and was counting down the days. When we got there we had dinner and the kids did some crafts. It was finally time to see Santa! Madi of course was wayyy to cool to go and see Santa, Kaiden wanted nothing to do with him to, and Abby had a total meltdown. I really wanted to get a picture, even if she was crying. So the mean mom I am Drug her kicking and screaming to see him. I also convinced the other kids to come and take a picture to try and get Abby in there. It wasn't easy but we finally got a picture!

When we got home Abby said she was afraid of Santa because he had on glasses and she wasn't used to him wearing glasses? She also told me that she told him a secret. We didn't believe her because she was so terrified, but when I opened up my email to look at the pictures, I saw this......

I'm still wondering what she told him?

Saturday Darrin took Kaiden to work with him, so me and Madi headed to the mall! We meet Tammy, Brittany, and Brooke. We got lots of shopping done for Madi, so I'm 1 step closer to being done! Christmas is coming so fast! I can hardly wait. Hopefully I wont stay this busy, so I will have more time to blog. Enjoy your week!

I'm a Proud Mommy!

Every year at my kids school they have a turkey trot. This is where they have all the children from each grade race to win a turkey. This years winners would receive, 1st place~a turkey, 2nd place~a t~shirt, and 3rd place a big candy bar. They choose a boy winner and a girl winner from each grade. Kaiden has entered this for the last 2 years and always came in second place. A boy named Jose has always taken first place and Kaiden was mad. This year he was pumped and ready to go! His grade level was the last one to race. Kaiden ran as fast as he could, and believe it or not he came in first place! When he went to claim his lovely prized turkey they had ran out! He was so upset, they had even ran out of t~shirts, so all he got was a stupid candy bar. They told him when fall break was over they would give him a t~shirt. What a bummer, oh well at least he got the satisfaction of finally winning Jose! We are so proud of him!! You rock Kaiden!!

Let's Talk Turkey

If your looking for something fun and different to take to Thanksgiving this year, these cute little turkey cookies would be perfect! Get the recipe HERE.

Another fun idea are these marshmallow pilgrim hats. I think the kids would be so excited to see one of these sitting by their plate on Thanksgiving! So if your feeling domestic this Thanksgiving season give one of these a try! Happy almost turkey day!

Too Cute To Forget!

ABBY~ Mom when you die will you come back to life and be with me?

ME~ {short version of answer} When we die we go to the spirit world and wait for the resurrection. Then everyone will be resurrected and our family will live together again!

ABBY~ Do we get to come home and pack?

Too Funny!!

The Kid Tree~

One of my very favorite traditions is decorating the "Kid Tree" each year. What I mean by kid tree is, every year since we've been married we let each of the kids go shopping and pick out an ornament {or two} for the tree. Of course when the kids were younger they would choose the little character ornaments. Toy Story, Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty, Barbie, Batman, or Disney anything, just to name a few. This is why I call it the kid tree. We finally got around to decorating the kid tree last weekend. It was fun. We turned on Christmas music and decorated away! The kids always enjoy going through the boxes and pulling out all the ornaments they have picked out from previous years. Kaiden is glad he is a boy, because the girls sometimes can't remember which ornaments are theirs for sure so there is always a little drama until we get it figured out! I couldn't live with just one tree, especially one decorated with all kid ornaments, so that is why we have a second tree decorated with a much more traditional style. We love Christmas and can't wait for all the fun things we have planned! Christmas is a time for family and traditions and we plan on enjoying it all!

Decorating Fun!

Silly Abby!

Me and the Kids!

I love these guys!!

FYI~ Darrin was home that night, he just refused to have any pictures taken!

The Weekend Wrap Up Birthday Style!

Friday~

Madi's 13 Birthday was on Friday. She wanted to have a Christmas theme Birthday party/sleepover. She invited 6 of her friends, Madi Hipol, Haley M., Haley G., Kenzie, Laynie, and Brittany. We had pizza for dinner, and afterwards we had eggnog and candy cane ice cream. My mom also made Madi her favorite cake, homemade german chocolate, she loved it! Madi had told all her friends she wanted toe socks and scarfs, she got just what she wanted, and plenty of them. The girls played games, did crazy hair, drew on each others faces, ate lots of candy and popcorn, watched movies, and stayed up ALL NIGHT! The next morning I woke them up kind of early because Kaiden's Birthday was later that day and I had to clean up. We made pancakes and eggs for breakfast. The girls finished getting ready and then we took them home.

Present Time ! Yummy Cake!

Crazy Girls!


Saturday~
Today was Kaiden's Birthday party. We had told him it was a surprise all week long, so when Saturday was finally here he was really excited. Darrin and I went to pick up his cake that morning. When we got home and showed it to him he still didn't know where we were going. We had them put a rock climber on the cake. Any guesses as to where we were going? Kaiden had invited 9 of his friends and 10 showed up! When everyone arrived we sang Happy Birthday and had cake and ice cream. Kaiden opened up his presents next. He got so many great gifts. His favorite were a Webkin from his friend Madeline, and a $30 gift card from Sergio! It was now time to go rock climbing. I had rented the rock wall at the Legacy Center for an hour of climbing. The kids climbed and climbed until our time was finally up! They all had a lot of fun and Kaiden was surprised!

Cake!

More Cake!
Presents!
Rock Climbing!
Sunday~
More Birthdays!! Sunday was the Haun Birthday parties! We went to Darrin's parents house for dinner with his side of the family. We had ham and cheesy potatoes! We did lots of talking, and the kids did lots of playing! We had cake and ice cream and the kids opened presents. Kaiden got a Guitar Hero hand held game and a huge set of Bionicles. Madi got a cute scarf set, that included a hat, scarf, and gloves, and a toy called My Meeba? We all had lots of fun. Later that night we came home and decorated our other tree! Wow, another busy weekend for us, but were enjoying every minute of it!

Happy 13th Birthday Madi!

It's official, Madi is finally a teenager. I know she has been waiting for this for a while, but it has come way to quick! She has grown up so fast. Before we know it she will be driving! Too Scary!! I just wanted to let her know how much I appreciate all the things she does. She helps me out so much, And sometimes I don't always acknowledge it. She is a wonderful student and daughter she always does her best and we are so proud of the choices she has made! I hope you have a great Birthday Madi! We love you!!!

The Weekend Wrap Up!

Wow, this weekend was a busy one for us! Saturday morning Darrin took Kaiden to get a long overdue haircut. He took him to a new place called Cookie Cutters. This is now Kaiden's favorite place to get his hair cut. They let him play the xbox while he was getting his hair cut. I will never have to beg him to go for a hair cut again. When he was done they gave him a cookie cutter, a sucker, and a balloon! When they were done cutting his hair, Darrin and Kaiden were off to the BYU game. Me and the girls decided to go shopping for Madi's Birthday. We went to the Orem mall and shopped around for a while, and then we ate lunch at Chick~fil~A! Madi got lots of cute new clothes and some other fun things she has been wanting. I found lots of shoes I fell in love with, but I decided to wait until Christmas to get them. When we were done shopping we called the boys and asked them if they wanted to go and see High School Musical 3 with us. Kaiden wanted to go so we meet them at the movies. The movie was really good. It seemed a little bit more cheessy than the ones before, but I still loved it! {By the way, this movies is defiantly not recommended for dad's, Darrin slept through most of it!} After the movie we went to dinner for Kaiden's Birthday, Kaiden got really sick and just wanted to go home. We took him to my parents house and we headed back out to go and buy Kaiden's Birthday presents. What a long night.

Sunday morning it was up as usual, my parents were coming over for dinner later that night so I had to get some things ready. We went to church and then came home for dinner. We let Kaiden choose what he wanted, he of course chose Hawaiian Haystacks, and peanut butter cup ice cream my mom made a lemon bundt cake, and Madi made brownies. We ate and then sang Happy Birthday. We let Kaiden open up 1 present from us, and my parents gave Kaiden his present. He got his very first $50 bill from my parents and a ds game from us, that he has been wanting {Spongebob Square Pants drawn to life} He is having his Birthday Party on Saturday it will be fun, it's a surprise so I will tell ya more later! Madi's Birthday is on Friday and she is having a sleepover. If I can survive this weekend things will be great! Fun Times!!!

Happy Birthday Kaiderbug!

If I Were A Pin Collector.......

This cute little Black Friday shopping pin would be perfect for my collection! The problem is , I would have such a hard time deciding if I would rather be in Disneyland or shopping on Black Friday? I guess if World of Disney had the same sale prices as Wal~mart I would do all my shopping there, oh the money I would spend!! Happy Shopping!!

22 More Days........

Hey, did you know that there are only 22 more days until the biggest shopping day of the year?!!! Mark your calendars gal's it's just around the corner, and I cannot even describe how excited I am. The day after Thanksgiving sales officially begin my Holiday shopping season, and I plan on doing plenty of it! I know I'm not the only crazy mom out there that will push my way to the front, while getting screamed at by the ladies behind me who have been there since 3:00 in the morning, {I'm the smart one right? It's way to cold to stand out in those lines for that long!}Anyways it's all in fun, and I wouldn't even think about missing it! I would go even if there wasn't anything I wanted, it's just the whole experience that is fun! So if your looking for a die hard shopping buddy let me know, I'll show ya all my tricks! I'm sooo ready, are you?

I Can't Help Myself

Yesterday I started to get the Christmas itch, so I broke out the Christmas cds and started getting out my Christmas decorations! Me and Abby sung our hearts out! Madi said that if I set up my Christmas tree this early all her friends would make fun of her, so what do you think I did?............. I had Darrin get my Christmas tree, and we set that thing up! We have 2 Christmas trees, but for a couple of years now that darn pre-lit tree has given us so many problems. So this year we took off all the lights and re-strung the tree by hand. We decided to put that tree in our front room because it is bigger and nicer than the other tree. Now I have to go and buy a new pre-lit tree for our family room. I can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving to buy another tree and set it up, so I'm on the look out for a nice big decent priced tree! {any ideas?} Well I'm sure all the neighbors think I'm crazy, but you would think by now they would be used to all the Haun madness that goes on at our house during the holidays! I'm hoping to finish up all the decorating by the end of this week. Is it ever really too early?!

My Halloween Wrap Up!

Last week was a crazy week for us! We had so many fun things going on. Wednesday was our Young Women's Halloween party. We put the girls in charge of it this year and they had so many great ideas. We played the candy bar game, a game called Trick or Treat, and we had a good old fashioned cake walk! Many ladies in our ward donated cakes to give it that old carnival style feel, and the girls were so grateful! They had so much fun! We also had a costume contest, and to make it fair we let all the girls judge.

Here are the winners!
Madi won for most unique!

This is our 2nd counselor Bro. Moss glamming it up during the candy bar game!

A group picture of all of us!

Thursday night was our traditional pumpkin carving night! Every year the night before Halloween we have a sloppy joe dinner, a yummy dessert and of course we carve pumpkins. Everyone gets their own pumpkin to carve, and gets to choose what they want to carve on it. This year Madi choose a cool mummy, Kaiden choose the Grim Reaper, Abby choose Mickey as Dracula, I choose Minnie Mouse, and Darrin Choose a complicated picture of a guy holding a torch and bending over a diamond. They were a lot of fun to carve. I usually choose a really neat but hard to carve picture, but this year I really didn't want to be up all night so I choose a simple one, and encouraged everyone else to do the same. {it was a school night} Here is a picture of the finished pumpkins, I couldn't get a very good picture of them lit up, I guess I should figure out how to use that camera of mine. Friday was finally here HAPPY HALLOWEEN! The morning started out with getting Madi up and ready to go. They got to dress up in school, but she thought everyone would laugh at her devil egg costume so we searched through the Halloween tote and rounded up a Gypsy costume for her to wear to school. As soon as she was out the door we were off to my aunt Karen's house to get Kaiden's make up done for his costume. It took a little longer then expected but she finished and it looked great. It even stayed on until that night, Wow! She's amazing! After dropping Kaiden off at school we headed back home to make tortilla soup for dinner. When we finished I had just enough time to get Abby dressed in her costume for school. I dropped her off and went home to finish getting stuff ready for her school party. The kindergarten classes had a parade at school. I remember these when I was kid and I loved them so I wasn't going to miss Abby's. It was really cute, but over really quick. After their Parade it was time for their class party. I volunteered to help and did a craft. The kids made monster hands with green popcorn, candy corn fingernails, and a spider ring to finish it off.When the kids were all home from school, my brother, his wife, and kids came over to show off their costumes. They looked so cute, Breann even showed off her monkey impression!When Darrin got home from work, we ate dinner and the kids were off at about 5:30. Madi had huge plans to trick or treat all night. She ended up back home at about 8:45, which seemed late, because we hadn't had any trick or treaters after about 8:00. I hoped to have lots of kids this year, but it seemed a little slow. I think lots of people must have had Halloween Parties? Kaiden and Abby went trick or treating with the neighbors, so this was the first year I got to stay home and hand out candy, It was so fun to see everyone dressed up!
Me and Darrin as Alice and the Mad Hatter!

The Best Costume Ever!
Madi and her peeps, Trick~or~Treating at the neighbors!

Haley G.~ Haley M.~ Madi~ Kenzie

Sorting and counting candy, Priceless!

So that was our Halloween excitement for the year! Saturday we took everything that had to do with Halloween down. Darrin stayed home and we worked on putting up Christmas lights ALL DAY LONG! So you would think we are done right? Nope, we still have 5 1/2 trees left to wrap, and we still need to put up all our decorations. I'm hoping to slowly work on the trees and the rest of the outside decorations the rest of the week, and put up the trees and the inside decorations this weekend! Kaiden's birthday is this weekend and Madi's is next weekend, so we have lots of fun things going on. I'm looking forward to shopping with the girls and High School Musical 3 this weekend while the boys are at the BYU game! I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!