So...you're wondering, "Why would she post this picture?" Well, it kind of sums up our sledding experience today. The picture is a little off balance and there's good reason for it. As I was taking this picture, I heard Aaron yelling at me so I looked towards him and Bam!, my feet go flying out behind me, my boots hit Aaron in the head, I hit my chin on the ice and then my forehead, biting my lip in two places and scraping my chin. How long had we been sledding? Oh, maybe 10 minutes. I was ready to go home. But I decided I had to stay. About 3 minutes later, Emilee hits a tree and Rachel and Sarah almost hit the same tree. About 3 minutes before my episode Rachel pops her tube flying into the park below the hill. Okay...we move to another spot that's not too crowded and no trees in sight. Sarah pees her pants. I think we were there less than an hour. Now we're sitting at home drinking hot chocolate, my lip is swollen, and Sarah's in the tub. Are we going to go sledding anytime soon? It's going to take a lot of bribery to get me out. But maybe...

Christmas was great! On Christmas Eve we made sugar cookies for Santa and we cooked for our "appetizer" night. We made spinach/artichoke dip, hamburger dip, little smokies, cheese & crackers, chicken crispers, and pop. Brett's parents came over to eat with us and to watch the kids open their p.j.'s and gifts to eachother. It's funny to see what the kids pick out for eachother. They really do give it a lot of thought and pick things they know their siblings would like. After the presents, we watched our traditional "Polar Express." I love that movie! On Christmas morning we started opening up presents about 6:30. Rachel and Aaron were up in Aaron's room around 6:00 and then finally woke up Emilee and Sarah. They were so excited! Rachel and Aaron fell while running into the living room. Rachel got her camera, Aaron got a rifle gun that shoots rubberbands, Emilee got her webkinz, Sarah got her pollypockets, and of course, they got wii games. We had Christmas morning with our family and then went over to Brett's parents' house for breakfast and presents. Later that night my sister, Lisa, and her family came up from Clinton and we had Christmas dinner together. I like to do a Christmas thought on Christmas night and this year I asked my niece, Paige, to sing the song, "Christmas Is A Feeling" with me. I think it turned out great and I had so much fun singing with her. Thanks Paige! It is always a lot of fun to see my sister's family and I feel pretty lucky that her adult children still want to come to my house, especially when it's snowing - no let me rephrase that - especially when it's a blizzard outside!! We like white christmas's, but the snow that night was a little ridiculous! It feels like Christmas has gone by much too fast but I hope our family can keep the spirit of Christmas throughout the year.

Yea! School is out! We are all looking forward to Christmas and the holiday break! I'm definately looking forward to no homework for a while! Hope everyone has a happy holiday!

Wednesday was a sad day for our family. We decided to give our dog, Govey, to a family who would be able to give him more attention. We found a family who lives in Tooele and they met us in Layton to pick up Govey. I think they will be a great family for him. They have another dog named Addie who looks very spoiled, so Govey will have a friend to play with any time he wants. I also got an e-mail from the new owners letting me know how he was doing and I guess he has adjusted just fine. She also asked if he had been microchipped. Wow! He's really going to be taken care of! We all feel like it was the best thing to do for Govey and it's nice to know that he is loved and will be happy in his new home.

Right now the kids are busy writing their Christmas lists to Santa. I hope we're not too late! Items range from digital cameras, to legos, wii games, ponies, webkinz, and last but not least the beebee gun. Wow! Good luck, Aaron! We'll see what Santa decides to bring - with mom's permission, of course.

December 2nd was Aaron's birthday! Yea! He got to take some friends to the Aggie football game and then we had a family party. I think the best part of the day for him was getting Lego Star Wars, The Complete Saga (wii game). We have to pry him away from it some days!

After Thanksgiving Joe and Kami were able to come from Arizona for a visit. We had a lot of fun! We wish we could see them more!

Wow! It's been a long week and a half. I've been subbing quite a bit this last week. I was in Mrs. Coburn's kindergarten class from Thurs to Wednesday (she had a student teacher, so it wasn't bad at all). I had a break yesterday, and today I taught 5th at Woodruff and Monday and Tuesday will be in Aaron's class (Mrs. Romrell). Whew! It's been an adjustment going from being home most of the day and then going to full time. We're all hanging in there. It was fun being at Providence because the kids would come in and say hi to me and I would see them at lunch. Everything else with the family is going good too. Aaron is playing Jr. Mustang basketball, Rachel and Emilee are doing jump rope classes, and Sarah is doing dance with Melissa Jensen.

Saturday we went down to Lisa's and got to see Colt who was in from Virginia. It was a lot of fun. We miss him tons!

Well...today I started substitute teaching. I was in a Kindergarden class for half the day. It was a good breaking-in first day for me. I really did enjoy it though - it's nice to get back into the classroom and be thinking of different things I would want to do and wouldn't want to do in my own classroom. It was also nice to get away and not do "house" things, but I guess the dreaded laundry will still be there for me to catch up on. The kids have been excited for me and have been giving me suggestions on what I could do as a teacher. They also keep asking me if I'm going to sub in their class anytime soon. Sarah did pretty well today too, thanks to good neighbors who help me!

Halloween was a lot of fun! It was a busy day because we had our school Fall Carnival the same day. School was out for Parent/Teacher conferences (which went really well for all three) so we got to spend the whole day getting our costumes ready and carving pumpkins. Rachel was a vampire, Aaron was the Headless Horseman, Emilee was a wizard, and Sarah was a princess. I dressed up as a witch. Brett dressed up as Brett, ha, ha. We went to the carnival, had some chili with family, and did some trick-or-treating. I think the kids had a lot of fun. The weather was awesome - hopefully we'll get the same treatment next year!

Earlier this month we went to Gardener Village while mom was here. All the fall and Halloween decorations out, but it was a little cold. At least it wasn't raining like the weekend before when dad and Judith were here!

So now I'm going to backtrack just a little. A few weeks ago our family went down to Salem for Aaron's baseball tournament. His team did awesome! They were undeafeated (3-0) going into the championship game and Aaron had an awesome triple. You should have seen the grin on his face! His base coach actually told him to stay at second, but being Aaron he kept going while his mom was screaming at him to stay. The other team overthrew the ball and Aaron was safe. I guess it was the "luck of the McNeil" as Brett would say. They won 2nd place and all got bobble-head trophies. It was a really fun weekend!

Here it goes...I'm trying this new blog thing out and I think I've finally started getting the hang of it (thanks Chris!). It's actually kind of fun and even more addicting! I hope this will help everyone keep up to date on what's happening with the McNeils.