Family party

I know that Christmas is long over, but there are a few things that I wanted to  get on the blog. The Koltermann family Christmas party is always looked forward too. This year we were really excited to have grandma and grandpa home from their mission. We always do a live nativity with the kids. This year it was Brynli's turn to be Mary and Derek's turn to be Joseph. They were pretty excited about their roles. Sadie was a pretty crazy wiseman, and Kamryn really got into his shepherd's costume. He and Britnee made their beards all by themselves.

Grandma Kathy also likes to give the kids a chance to show their talents. She asked that at least one child from each family do some kind of talent. My kids each wanted to be the center of attention. First Kamryn played a couple of songs on the piano, one was a duet with Grandma.
Then Derek wanted to recite a poem that he learned for his Kindergarten Christmas program.
Then Camille sang, and Shaelyn sang and we all thought that was the end of the talent show, except Sadie. Sadie thought that she needed to sing. She wanted to sing the "ducky song". I didn't even know what she was talking about, but she went up and sang a song about a duck. It sounded a lot like twinkle, twinkle, little star, with the word duck in their every once in awhile. It was so cute. She was pretty proud of herself. 
Then Brynli couldn't be the only one of the family left out, so she sang "Jingle Bells". 
Then, in keeping with tradition, all the kids sang "Rudolph" and "Jingle Bells" with grandma's props. They all fight over the blinking nose, so we sang it a few times. Then the cousins exchange gifts and have a great time playing with each other. 

Traditions are such a great part of Christmas, and we all love the traditions of the Koltermann family Christmas party. 

Christmas Day

We had a good Christmas day. Grandma & grandpa Mansfield, andgreat grandma and grandpa Denney came over Christmas morning and watched the kids open  their presents. Everyone was excited with everything the got and had a lot of fun. Then later we went to grandma & grandpa Mansfields for a great dinner and more presents. Derek got sick, poor kid. He sat with a bowl in his lap trying to stay awake and watch everyone open presents. It's not fair that any kid has to be sick on Christmas. Sadie had so much fun on Christmas, that she still keeps asking if Santa can come again. She likes getting presents. Anyway here are a few pictures of our Christmas day. They best part was spending the day together as a family.                                                                                        

Christmas time fun

I've been a slacker in the blogger world. Even though it's a little late I want to show some pictures of some of the holiday festivities that I actually took pictures of.  First of all we got to help Grandma decorate her Christmas tree. Everyone enjoyed that.

We especially enjoyed Grandma's homemade eggnog. It's just not Christmas time until we've had some eggnog.

Then, about a week later we got to decorate our own tree. Again the kids all had a great time. We brought in a step stool so that not all the ornaments were at the bottom of the tree. We wanted to kids to be able to reach a little higher. As a result, we had lots of ornaments at the top of the tree and we had to finally take the stool away so they would put ornaments on the bottom of the tree. I  guess the idea of climbing high was just way to much fun.





We had our friends, the Reeves and the Beers, over for family night. The Reeves brought their chocolate fountain to enjoy. They kids really enjoyed it. They made a huge mess. But it was fun seeing them have so much fun. However, I think we will put the chocolate fountain away until the kids are a little older. Old enough to clean up their own messes.


After we cleaned up the mess of the chocolate fountain, we decided to make a new mess as we decorated gingerbread houses. We each did one house as a family. Sadie joined the Reeves family. I guess she figured they didn't have enough help. 





The boys decided our house needed more candy, so they just started dumping the candy on.
This is the final creation, before the house collapsed because it was too heavy.
Oh what fun holiday memories!

Playing quietly

                                                                                                

I was sitting downstairs, enjoying my Sunday afternoon as the kids played quietly upstairs. Then Kamryn comes down and says "Come see what Sadie's doing, and bring your camera so you can take her picture". I guess my first clue that she was into something that she wasn't suppose to be in, was the fact that she was playing quietly. Well as I went up to her room I found a white baby. She had covered herself in Desitin, diaper rash ointment. It was pretty funny, until I had to clean her up. That stuff is meant to stay on, and doesn't wash off very easily. I had to really scrub. Looking on the bright side, she should be rash free for a little while.

School Stuff

In honor of Grandparents Day, Derek's kindergarten class put on a program for their grandparents. They recited a few poems, sang some songs, and each child got to tell why they loved their grandparents. It was a very cute program. After they were finished with their program, they took their grandparents to their classroom and showed them some of the things they have done in school. Derek thought it was pretty great to have his Grandpa Wynn there. He loved showing him his school work. Wyatt and I just watched and let Derek and Grandpa have some one-on-one time. Grandparents are so important, and I'm so glad that my kids have wonderful grandparents. They really look up to them.

Kamryn's class went on a field trip to the Dinosaur museum, and the museum at the Western Park. I was able to go with them (thanks to Melanie for watching my other kids). I think it is the first field trip I have been on with any of my kids. It was a lot of fun. I even learned some things. When they gave them a little bit of free time to explore the hands on part of the museum, Kamryn and Austin started playing with the toy dinosaurs. When I first went to take their picture, Austin hid. I guess he didn't want anyone to see him playing with toys. He must have decided it wasn't so bad, because I did get this picture.  All the kids were really good, and I am glad that I was able to go with the fourth graders on their field trip.

Brynli loves pre-school and has done some fun things for the holi-days. They had a Thanks-giving feast and got to dress up as either a pilgrim or an indian. Brynli wanted to be an indian and was so excited about it. I think she makes a pretty cute little indian. They also got to decorate gingerbread houses. Brynli was pretty proud of her gingerbread house that she decorated all by herself.

Thanksgiving

Well, it's about time that I blog about Thanksgiving. We went out to Lehi to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year. It was the first holiday with mom and dad since they've been home from their mission. It was great to be all together as a family. We were only missing my oldest brother Bryce and his family. They live a little too far away to make it for all the family get togethers. We even had my Grandpa Davenport with us. I got a little carried away with pictures. Someone told me  once that on Thanksgiving it is better to take an individual picture of each person there, than to try and get everyone at the table. Well, it's a great idea, unless you have 25 people for dinner. That makes for a lot of pictures. We had lots of yummy food as usual. Wyatt had a little too much fun helping with the mashed potatoes.

After dinner we spent the day visiting, playing games, and of course looking through the adds to see what kind of shopping we wanted to do on Friday. Sadie even got in on the adds. She was showing Melanie everything that she wanted.
It was great being together with family. We have so many things to be thankful for, and I'm glad that we take a day to spend time with family and reflect of all of the blessings we have. We were extra thankful this year, because we got to have two Thanksgiving dinners. Wyatt's family had Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, because his mom had to work on Thanksgiving day. We made sure to make it back to Vernal in time for dinner. All of Wyatt's family was there and we had a great time with them too. I had taken so many pictures on Thursday, that I kind of forgot to take pictures on Sunday. I guess I'll have to wait until next year to get pictures of all of  the Mansfields.  Here is a picture of all the Koltermann family (minus Bryce, Brandi, and kids). I think it turned out pretty good. 
Since this is a Thanksgiving post, I think I should probably give thanks for at least a few things. I have so many blessings I can't begin to list them all, but I will list a few. 

 I am thankful for:  My wonderful husband, he really is the best match for me ever. My terrific kids, Kamryn, Derek, Brynli, and Sadie. They are the best. All my extended family, (my parents, Wyatt's parents, all of our siblings and their spouses, nieces, nephews, grandparents). Wyatt and I both have great families. We get along so well with everyone, I don't know how we got so lucky. I am thankful for good neighbors and friends. I am thankful for a living prophet who gives us guidance and direction. For the temple, that brings so much peace and perspective into my life. I am thankful for the gospel and especially for my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Husband Tag

My sister tagged me, so I guess everyone gets to learn a few things about my husband.

1. Where did you meet your husband? At Utah State University. We lived in the same apartment complex, in fact his apartment was directly below mine. Very convenient. 

2.How long did you date before you got married? 9 1/2 months

3. How long have you been married? a little over 12 years 

4. What does he do that surprises you? He never gets mad at me. Even if I try to pick a fight. We really have never had a fight in our 12 years of marriage, a few disagreements, but never a fight.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? His beautiful blue eyes.

6. What is his best quality? He is always so much fun and can make me laugh, but he also is very responsible about important things like family, work, and the gospel. Also, he is so likeable. Kids like him, adults like him, teenagers like him. He is a great husband and father. He is just a great guy.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Not really

8. What is his favortie food? Anything, he's easy to please.

9. What is his favorite sport? Motocross

10. When and where did you first kiss? At my apartment in Logan. It was about a week after our first date. I actually had been out with someone else. When my date dropped me off Wyatt came up to my apartment. We were just talking and hanging out and then he kissed me. (I didn't complain). I guess he felt that he needed to hurry and make his move to win me over. I guess it worked, but really the other guy was no competition.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? I don't know if we have one favorite thing, we like to do many things together. We love to go boating and biking. We also love to watch The Office or play the Wii together after our kids have gone to bed. 

12. Do you have any children? Yes, four

13. Does he have any hidden talents? I'm sure he does, but he is so good at hiding them, I don't even know what they are. (at least I can't think of any at the moment).

14. How old is he? 34

15. Who said I love you first? He did, of course!!!

16. What is his favorite music? I don't really know, I'm not much of a music person.

17. What do you admire most about him?  He has so much faith and doesn't worry about anything.  

18. What is his favorite color? Red

19. Will he read this? Probably, but I better add a picture. He doesn't like to read blogs, just look at the pictures.

20. Who will I tag next? Tari, Jamie, Peggy.