The South Family

Dear Child Services,

You may have noticed that Brynlie seems to be getting more than her fair share of war wounds. I assure you that we are not beating her and do not neglect her. She just thinks she is capable of doing anything that her sisters can do. Yes, there was a large amount of blood coming out of her nose and mouth last week, but that was because she fell off a kitchen chair and cut her nose open. I think all of the blood in her mouth was what dripped in there or she swallowed since we were never able to find a cut in the mouth itself. And the blood coming from her nose the next day? That was when she fell off a footstool and landed on the tile. Then there is the bruise on her forehead. I'm not sure where that one came from, but she does run into a lot of things. I just want to make you aware that we are trying our hardest to be good parents, but the kid has discovered climbing recently and she figured out how to climb the ladder on the bunk bed last night (thank you Amanda). We will try our hardest to not have any more trips to the ER with her this year.

Sincerely,

Aspen

Christmas this year was just perfect. Our whole family was able to be together, and be together for several days without anyone having to rush back to work. For the first time ever gifts were easy this year. There are certain people that I always find myself struggling to find the perfect gift for (mom and dad, George and Joyce, cough cough) and this year I found perfect gifts for all of the difficult ones on my list. At least I think they were perfect. I wanted to cut back on what we bought for the girls, and think that we were successful in doing that and still providing them with a great Christmas. Santa Claus did spoil them with a dollhouse, but the other gifts were kept simple. Grandma and Grandpa also helped to make sure that the girls got everything they wanted and more. All of the gifts that I received this year were just wonderful! Family pictures seemed to be the theme this year for me. Annie and Russ made me a beautiful magnet board of the Salt Lake Temple with 5 magnets with each of our five faces on one for Christmas Eve. My sibling gift from Kristi and Chuck was a calendar that they made with a different picture for each day. My mom made magnets for everyone with various faces of the girls and their cousins. Tawnie's mom Lou even joined in on the theme with a framed picture of the three girls that said "The Girls" on it. My Grandma and Grandpa Park were able to be with us this year and that was also very special.

Every year Mom asks that we put on a nativity program, and every year we "forget" to do it. This year she asked again and I decided that we would try and do it for her sake. I emailed all of the siblings asking that they please help and gave them all assignments. Nothing major, just gave everyone a part and told them to figure out their own costumes. I was SHOCKED when we got there and discovered that several had gone further than their linen closet to prepare for this. Annie bought a dress at D.I., Kristi made angel wings and a halo, and Sasha made a tin foil star for Taylor to wear. Russ even brought a beautiful "jeweled" box to use as his wise man gift. Everyone dressed up with no complaints and the night was wonderful. I didn't get many pictures so I'm hoping that mom will post the ones that Dad took, especially of the three wise men.

Since Vince and Meagan and Sasha and Jason had two places to be Christmas morning I very graciously offered to let the girls sleep in while they attended their other parties. My girls love Christmas, but they are just not morning people. I really thought that Kylie might finally be excited enough this year to wake up, but I still had to wake them up around 8:30. We got ready and went down the hill to my parents house a little before 10:00. The only bad part of Christmas was that Jared had to work that day (but we won't be complaining when that paycheck arrives!) and so he didn't get home until after all of the gifts were opened. He isn't really big on Christmas so he didn't care, and insisted that the girls not wait for him.

The two youngest Merrell cousins. There will be at least one more by next year and I'm guessing there will also be at least one more announcement of another cousin. Just not sure who will be making the announcement. Annie...Kristi...Sasha? Yes, Sasha you could be expecting another one in a year.

My Grandma and Grandpa Park with my parents.

Brynlie had a tough time this year. There were so many people and so much going on that she was overwhelmed...

Vince discovered that undressing her and putting her in the playpen helped tons. Being in the confined area really seemed to be what she needed. We just kept passing her gifts back to her.

Mom and Dad made a huge breakfast after we inspected what Santa had brought, and before we opened our other gifts.

Kylie and Sadie modeling their new bathrobes and towel twisties.

We had our annual Christmas cook off on Christmas day. Next year Mom promises that it won't end in a tie. But the girls did look cute in the aprons that she made for us.

Brynlie struggled with all of the people there, some she wasn't too familiar with. Annie was able to bond with her and that was so nice for me!

Our days and nights after Christmas were spent playing the new games Annie and Russ got for their Wii. Kylie loved the Wii fit and I'm afraid that a Wii is now on her list of wants.

The other fun past time was four wheeling and playing in the snow. Brynlie cried and cried to go outside and as soon as I let her she went straight for TJ's new 4-wheeler. She wasn't the least bit interested in the cold snow, just going for a ride.

There was so much snow. Christmas night it started to really come down and when Chuck, Kristi, me and the girls got ready to go up the the Haunted Mansion about midnight we realized that there was a lot of snow. Dad was asleep and was scheduled to officiate at the Temple all day the next day so we didn't want to wake him to plow the road up so we decided to brave the road in the mini-van. We made it ALMOST all the way to the top before we stopped and started going the other directions. Kristi and I helped the girls hike up to Grandma's house and woke Jared up to come help. He backed the van all the way back down the road and Chuck followed after him on foot, stopping at the garage near the bottom to get the 4-wheeler. The boys rode back up and once Jared got home he decided that he should plow the road for my dad, even though he had to be up at 5:00 for work. So he spent the next two hours out in the freezing cold with the tractor getting the roads clear for us. It turned out to be a very good thing since Dad woke up later than normal the next morning and didn't have the time he normally had to spend on the driveways.

Christmas is a lot of hard work!

Like I said before, this Christmas was perfect. I need to thank everyone for making it that way. Here are a couple of big thanks...

Russ and Grandpa for saving me and putting together the dollhouse that Santa brought.

Annie for bonding with Brynlie and keeping her entertained.

Mom and Dad for providing us with all of the food that we were able to can this year again.

Sasha for cutting Sadie and Brynlie's hair.

Mickala for being the expert on where everything was in the kitchen during the cook-off.

Vince and Meagan for waiting on Sunday to drive back with me.

Kristi and Chuck for keeping me company at the Haunted Mansion.

Dad for keeping the roads plowed so that we weren't all snowed in.

Chuck for driving us up the hill Christmas night. I'm pretty sure I would have driven off the side of the road and killed us all.

Mickala for being patient when my girls kept "exploring" your bedroom and eating your Swedish Fish.

Chuck for shoveling Grandma's stairs.

Grandma and Grandpa for the WONDERFUL Christmas present that I love!

Taylor for being so cute and letting me not be the only mommy of a crying baby this year.

Jared for working hard all week and being patient when he was asleep and we came in late and noisy.

Jason for teaching Kylie how to drive TJ's 4-wheeler. And scaring me half to death in the process!

TJ for so willingly sharing his 4-wheeler with Kylie and Sadie.

Dad for giving me the great idea for Mom's Christmas present.

And last, but definitely not least...

Mom, for all of her hard work, planning and preparation to make this Christmas such a memorable one. I was tempted to take a picture of one of the copies of our "schedule" for the week that she had posted around the house, but didn't. It is hard to have 20 people at your home anytime, but for a whole week, and the week of Christmas, and when you have one very sick day in the middle that is near impossible, but she pulled it off, yet again.
Thank you all for making this Christmas so special!