CHRISTMAS DAY!

AUBREE: Purse from Justice, Wimpy Kid Series, American Girl mini doll with books, microscope, Moon in my room (very cool toy! Its like a nightlight and it comes with a remote and it shows all the phases of the moon!) scooter, doll house, art kits, ds video game, body science kit, and Calico Criters

ADDISON: Purse from Justice, Calico Critters, art set, tea set, American Girl mini doll with book, scooter (A lot of the girls stuff was for them to share)

AUSTIN: Train set, art sets, spiderman car, turtle night light (another very cool toy. Its a nightlight that lights up his room with moons and stars) Monsters Inc., UP,

The girls went to bed early but didn't fall asleep until 9:30. Addie said she wasn't going to bed until we went to bed. It took us 2 hours just to put the doll house together and then the dang train set....! So around 1;30 as I'm laying things under the tree Austin bursts out of his room with a huge grin on his face! We give him something out of his stocking and sent him back to bed. Finally at 2;10am we crawl into bed to be woken up at 3;30am with screaming girls! They didn't go back to sleep! They played in the livingroom (which is right next to our room!) until they could see some sort of daylight.

Later on in the day here was my conversation with Addie:
ADDIE; I wonder what Santa is going to bring us on Christmas
ME; (still in a fog) Ummm what? Santa already came! Where do you think those came from (pointing to the pile of brand new toys!)
ADDIE; Those are just Christmas Eve presents! I wonder what Santa is going to bring me on Christmas Day!

She was confused since she got up so early and it was still dark that it was still Christmas Eve to her.

CHRISTMAS EVE!

ITS COLD IN UTAH

I miss California! We woke up Sunday to find everything covered in frost, not snow, FROST. But it made the trees look peety....

DAVE'S TRIP TO NEW YORK (without me!!!!!)

So here's pictures of Dave's trip. Pictures that I did not take. Pictures I have always wanted to take. These pictures were taken from a cell phone..GASP! So with a little photo editing I think some of them turned out decent.
Too bad it wasn't my camera...I'm not bitter...

POLAR EXPRESS BELL

One of our Christmas Eve traditions is to watch The Polar Express. I have wanted to do this in the past, but Ive been too lazy. This year I'm worried that its Aubree's last year believing in Santa so I made the 25 minute drive to our "local' craft store. I sprinkled some glitter over the bell and then I will sprinkle some more on top of the box when I lay them underneath the tree.

CHRISTMAS DECOR AT OUR HOUSE

I didn't take my annual trip to Tai Pan this year which saddens me very much. The bottom half of the tree is broken and missing several ornaments due to my 3 year old and David still refuses to put up outdoor Christmas lights (one of his good friend's dad was putting up lights and fell and killed himself so that's David's reason for not getting on the roof...OH P-A-LEEEE-S-EEEEE!!!)

MY 4 DAY PROJECT

The original plan was to paint the room the same color as the rest of the house, but at the last minute I decided to just go ahead and paint it pink. All one color so no taping involved. So i get to Home Depot and at the last minute change my mind to do the ceiling a different color. I chose a very light pink and then a darker pink for the walls. Of course David is worried that theirs going to be weird lines all over the place which of course stresses me out so after I pull the tape I take a fine small paintbrush and very carefully do touch ups all around the room. In the end, David didn't notice my imperfections and likes the color. And no I didn't get lazy by not finishing the rest of the walls, I'm still trying to convince David to do bead board. This is my way of convincing him: Painting the walls as if he's already said yes to the bead board cuz we're pretty much doing it.

SANTA AT KRAVERS

I took the kids to our local restaurant (hey its a small town, we only have one!), but their was hardly anyone there and so each of the kids got to spend a lot of time with him. So word on the street is they want their own computer and a puppy. I hope they're not too disappointed come Christmas morning...

Scared For Life...

All throughout Austin's life he has been tortured by his sisters, although he doesn't know it yet! His sisters have always loved dressing him up and making him attend their tea parties (notice he's in a doll stroller!) Now he just thinks its normal so when the girls are dancing in their ballet attire he runs and grabs a tu-tu. Oh well, something to show his girlfriends when he's older (Oh please be a girlfriend!!!!)

Ahhhh..I can almost hear the silence....

We're in the process of getting a bedroom done for the girls downstairs. No more late night giggling, fighting , me yelling "GO TO BED!!! You're going to wake up your brother and give me an aneurysm!!

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA

WoW! Is about all I can say. I took the girls to the concert last night and can honestly say I have never seen anything like it! The talent these people had were OUTRAGEOUS from the singing to the instruments. Aubree's eyes were glued to the stage while Addie fell asleep! How someone can sleep through laser lights, the stage on fire to electric guitars blaring is beyond me! She was awake for an amazing piano solo (I don't even know what to call it). After she was done, Addie turned to me and said "Holy cow mom! She was sooo good!"
It was a solid 2 1/2 hour show with a 20 minute grand finale. Hopefully I've started a tradition to go every year!

CHENEY CHRISTMAS LETTER

Since I've been blogging I don't send Christmas cards out anymore because, well lets face it, I hate buying stamps! So here's our family picture that I have no idea how it happened. I look way too giddy, mostly because out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Austin had finally started smiling!
Anyhoo. This year was pretty quiet. No big news, no major hospital trips, and we didn't go on any vacations! We've been in our house for 2 years now with no talk of a move which is a new record for us! 2 years is the longest we have lived anywhere!

DAVID: Is still working at American Express and is going on a business trip to New York City! It was a last minute trip so we didn't have time to save up for me to go ( I begged him to let me put it on a credit card but the dang accountant said NO!) He had season tickets again this year and even gave up the Airforce game so he could stay home and watch the kids while I went to New Moon (GASP!) (And for those of you who know David knows that that must have caused some contention around the house) He loves his calling at church teaching Elders Quorum and took a break this semester from school, but returns in January.

ME: (K so my pet peev in Christmas letters is when the person who is writing it puts their name there. We know its you! Its not a ghost writing it!) I got released from YW's after a year and I'm actually enjoying the break. I still watch Carson 4 days a week who is a cute little redheaded 2 year old. My biggest project this summer was the yard. I planted 6 trees and 40+ bushes (by myself! I want credit!) and 190 bulbs. Which of course led to my back killing me every morning (even now), but I am excited for Spring (mainly to see what I killed) I am now holding on to the final weeks of my 20's. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I never saw past 18 and thought the 2nd coming would've been here by now. Can I still shop at Forever 21 or do I need to start shopping at Coldwater Creek? Do I need to start buying anti-wrinkle cream? Last Spring my sister and I saw WICKED which was amazing! k-I'm boring, enough about me.

AUBREE: has been very busy this year. She just turned 9 and is definitely out of the Barbie and Disney Princess stage. She started her 3rd year of dance and finished her 2nd year of soccer. She's very excited to be starting basketball in a couple of weeks and enjoyed another year season going to the BYU games with her dad. Aubree is my little science nerd. She loves to know how things are made, loves bugs, and is finally enjoying reading. She's reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid and loves them! Aubree is my golden child (I know you're not supposed to have favorites, but when she cleans the whole house without you telling her to..COME ON!)

ADDISON: (giggle) what to say about my over-the-top drama queen girlie girl. She started Kindergarten this year and is doing very well. I'm excited to see how she does in school. She's funny how she reacts to boys her age. They will always say hi to her and she stomps off with a huge disgusting grimace on her face. Their are only a few boys that are allowed the pleasure of Addie saying "Hi" back to them. Addie started her 3rd year of dance and loves it. She is always showing me her dance moves in her 10th outfit of the day which is always a skirt with leggings. She went to her first Jazz game with her dad and came home thinking she was on top of the world.

AUSTIN: has come so far in just the last 6 months. He's in 2 preschools. One is the one where they have a speech therapist there to help him with his speech and the other is from a lady who does it out of her home (Who is AMAZING!) I just had Austin's parent teacher conference and they were thrilled with his accomplishments. Austin is obsessed with his ABC's, numbers, colors, and shapes. He loves to read books and point out everything that he knows. He loves doing flash cards and his homework. I asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he said "Flashcards!' He is also obsessed with Spiderman and wears his costume all day long! One time he tried to climb the wall and when he fell he looked back at us and asked "What happened?"

With that said, we hope everyone enjoys the rest of the year and keep in touch!

Love,
The Cheney's

NEW MOON REVIEW

Your welcome.

A little eye candy for the mama's.

New Moon is my least favorite out of the series so to be honest, I didn't have high hopes, especially after seeing it was getting 29% on Rotten Tomatoes.

I was pleasantly surprised. The special effects were a lot better, obviously given the bigger budget.
Here's just a few of my main thoughts;
*Jake was HOT
*In some of the scenes Bella looked like she had something coming out of her nose
*Edward was way hot in the parking lot scene in the very beginning
*Jake's hot
*Edward should never take his shirt off
*Sometimes I think Jake cares more for Bella than Edward
*Jakes hot
*The guys who played the wolves were scrawny
*Kristen Stewart was finally good at the acting thing since she had to be depressed most of the time
*Jake's hot
*Didn't like the soundtrack as much as twilight
*They did a pretty good job at keeping to the book (of course I probably wouldn't know since New Moon was the only book I didn't read twice
*Jake's hot
*What was up with the moaning in one of the kissing scenes!!
*Bella's nightmares were way overdone
*Finally the meadow scene I had pictured in my head the first time I read Twilight!
*Jake's hot
*I cannot wait until Eclipse


Jake's hot.

MESSING AROUND ON ADOBE

FAMILY BIRTHDAY PARTY

Finally Aubree's 2 days birthday extravaganza is over!! Last night was the family party with Dave's family and my sister and her kids. Aubree had to wait all day to open her presents which was driving her crazy (and me cuz I got to hear it all day!) I overheard her tell Addie: I can't wait to see what mom gave me cuz mom's give the best presents!
She got new scriptures (yes I know, this is more of a baptism present but they're so freak'in expensive that I've been trying to put that one off as much as I could!), a cute scripture case and scripture stickers. She got the first book of the Wimpy Kid Series (which I highly recommend. She hasn't been able to put the book down and she hates to read.) and a book kit to make her own book. And a cute sweater and necklace from GJensen's.
JUST A LITTLE ABOUT AUBREE:
Aubree is my golden child. I think their is one in every family and Aubree is mine. Sometimes when we come home from church I will go change out of my clothes and come back out to make dinner and during this time Aubree has cleaned the house! Cleaned her room, bathroom, and kitchen! Dave and I like to sleep in on Saturdays so Aubree plays mom for the morning making sure everyone is fed and Austin's diaper is changed into underwear. We never fight (I didn't think that was a big deal until I was talking to a friend of mine that has a 9 year old and they fight all the time!) Aubree is very respectful and I hardly have to discipline her. She is always trying to make me happy and is always asking me "Was I good today?"
Thank-you Aubree! What would we do without you!!

AUBREE'S SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

Aubree has never had a birthday party and after her best friend had a surprise party she has been BEGGING me for one! All this week she was begging me to throw her a party and I kept on saying no, even though I have had this planned for weeks!! David took Aubree and Addie to see The Christmas Carol and then took them shopping. So when she came back their were 8 giggly girls waiting downstairs! We made a music video and then watched it, painted faces, did nails, and played games. For the party favor I had Modena make Hanna Montana pillow cases for everyone so A HUGE THANK YOU!!!!!

AUBREE

HALLOWEEN

I love Halloween, but I am soooo glad its over! The kids had a really fun night trick or treating with the neighbors. At first Austin REFUSED to put on his costume and started falling asleep when it was time to go trick or treating, but when he saw what was going on he wanted to go. He was so tired and cranky and was curious to see how he would be when he got home. He came home all smiles! Uncle Shane and Aunt Rahndi came over and Rahndi was able to get his costume on and he hasn't taken it off since!

PICTURE OF THE KIDS

Here's a picture of the kids that I took at Gardner Village that I was saving incase I didn't get a good family picture for Christmas cards.

GREAT FRAME WEBSITE

So last Friday night Dave and I traveled all over Salt Lake to look for the perfect frame for our family picture (okay maybe it was just me. I have a thing with frames) After going to 6 different store on the way home I mentioned what I was looking for and he said a co-worker's dad made frames like that and has his own website. WHAT!!!!??
So as soon as I got home I did a google search and found the perfect frame in 3 minutes. The website is Barnwood Frames

FAMILY PICTURES

We had family pictures done at Wheeler Farm last weekend so sadly I cannot take credit for these. We had our amazing close friend who has an AMAZING camera take them.
First off I HATE family pictures!!! And who hates them more than me?! If you know David at all he's the first person who probably popped into your head. So what do I do?
SCHEDULE FAMILY PICTURES DURING THE BYU GAME!!! I really didn't do that on purpose, but I did think it was funny that it happened like that.
So anyways, back to the photo shoot. I hate them because I get soooooo stressed out from what to wear(even after all the stressing,changing twice, I still got the outfits screwed up! Overalls?!REALLY!) to every bribe I can think of for my kids. I think at one point during the photo shoot all 5 of us were crying. In the beginning Austin and Addie REFUSED to get their picture taken. Anytime JEB (our photographer. He has a really long name. When his wife emails me thats what she does so I got stuck doing it) so anytime JEB brought the camera up Austin would literally SCREAM in his face. As the shoot wore on Austin and Addie warmed up. And what does idiot mother bring for bribes?! SUCKERS!!! So almost every picture Austin has a sucker in his mouth. So now its time for family picture and yep, you've guessed it: AUSTIN HAS COMPLETELY LOST IT!! FULL BLOWN CRYING, SOBBING, YOU NAME IT! So a passerby gives Austin what she thinks will cheer him up. Oh yes on a NORMAL day this would have been GREAT, but on PICTURE DAY what does she give him?!?!: A FREAKIN COW BALLOON!!!!!! Not just a solid color, plain balloon A COW BALLOON THAT HE NOW REFUSES TO LET GO OF!!!!!!!!
So we get in our positions and JEB asks if he can have the balloon and he screams in his face again (JEB was used to it by now) So in my mind I am PRAYING like I have never prayed before in my life!!!!! Somehow JEB gets the balloon away and ties it to his tripod. So he takes a couple of pictures and we're done. Then JEB brings his camera over to me so I can look and says "I have no idea how this happened." I look at the picture and Austin is SMILING!! My prayer was answered! (Now I have to figure out how I am going to get to the temple 5x a month, pay extra tithing, and not yell at my kids as much....be careful when you are bargaining in prayers)
I'm not posting the family picture just yet. I'll post it the same time I send Christmas cards, but here's a few that turned out pretty good. Gotta love the ones of me and Dave! On the outside: Ahhh happy married couple. On the inside ME: Just please pretend your not mad at me and you shall be rewarded. DAVE: YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE ME WATCH A TAPED BYU GAME!!!!!
I will take credit for the photo editing though