Mac n Cheese

It is official - I make the world's best mac n cheese!
The pictures speak for themselves...
Come on over, we'll whip you up a box!

?Simple Machine?

Over the Christmas break Abby was given a school assignment to make a "simple machine." I decided that the title of the project is all relative.
She and Nick had a lot of fun making it together. I think that they did a great job and Nick got to go to the school on the day of the presentations and see her present her machine to the class.
They made an elevator using a pully.
Pretty awesome, huh?

Itty Bitty Ball - Tyler

This year is Tyler's first year to sign up for basketball. The 3 and 4 year-olds get to play what the city calls, "Itty Bitty Basketball." He loves it. They teach them early basketball skills and have them play mini-games against each other. There are no real teams, but the kids have so much fun - obviously!! It helps that he has his own basketball to go to just like Abby and Bry!

Choir

Abby sings with the Lehi Children's Choir. This year they did their normal holiday performance at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the American Fork Tabernacle. But, they were also asked to perform on the Sunday before Christmas at the Tabernacle on Temple Square. It was such a neat place to watch them sing. The atmosphere was incredible. So many people were there and everyone seemed so happy (except Emma and Grayce at times). Anyway, they only performed 3 of their numbers that night, but one of them was the one Abby had a solo part in - and she did so good. It was one of those payday moments as a parent. We are so proud of her for so many reasons, not the least of which is her ability to sing. She has a beautiful voice and it is fun for her to be able to sing in the choir.
Abby, Bryant, and Tyler were asked to sing together, "Picture a Christmas" from the Primary Songbook for our ward's Christmas Sacrament Meeting on the Sunday before Christmas. They each had solo parts and did great. So many people commented on how touched they were by their song - even Tyler piped right up and sang his parts so sweetly. It was really neat. (can you tell we are proud of them :)


The top picture is Abby with her choir director, Catherine Stambaugh. The bottom picture is of Abby's whole choir (she is in the older choir which makes up about 1/2 of the group) at the American Fork Tabernacle.

CHRISTMAS!

I am not going to bore you all with a long entry...
I know it is late, but I wanted to include a little about Christmas.

We have had tons of snow here this season.  It has been so much fun (even the shoveling has been a good workout).

Christmas Eve was filled with:

7-layer dip for dinner (special request of the kids).

New PJs for the kids.

Feeding the reindeer.

The nativity story and stickers.

Christmas morning was fun too (especially since we didn't get up until 8a.m., and we had to wake up Abby at that!!  Abby got her dolls, Bryant got a basketball game, Tyler got a new bike, Emma and Grayce got some tents and tunnels and bears too!

We stayed in Utah for Christmas. A couple of days after Christmas we went to Idaho for about 5 days.
It was full of fun visits with family and friends.
We went sledding - a special request of Bryant and Abby's.





We had fondue - a family tradition for the Axford's on New Year's Eve and we had a game day with cousins and grandparents.




Gram and Papa made Clam Chowder for Bryant (his favorite).

I also decided to try to expand my limited knitting abilities so Nick's mom is teaching me hats and socks!  Stayed tuned - I will let you know if they actually turn out wearable!
It was a lot of fun - from which we are still recovering!!!