Allison's Plastic Surgery

Allison went in last week for a little plastic surgery. She has had a skin tag on her ear since birth. Right after she was born they tried to tie it off but not all of it fell off. Derek worked with a plastic surgeon in December and they got to talking about it one day and he offered to remove it for us for free. She did great. After it was all done they wrapped her up to look "cool" and she milked it for a while. The stitches will probably come out today or tomorrow so I'll post a final picture soon.

Before

After with her 3 stitches

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

The day after Christmas my parents came down and took Derek, Jason and I to Terry Fator with them. We had a great time. He was really good. We always have a great time when they come to visit and we are always sad to see them good. I am very lucky to have such great parents who I love to be with. We had a weekend full of shopping, Cafe Rio, of course, lots of Rook games and celebrated Grandma's birthday at Macaroni Grill.

The dogs love Grandpa

Derek, Me, Deuce, Mom and Dad

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. We had a delicious turkey dinner on Christmas Eve, played chimes and read the nativity story. Christmas morning the kids were very excited. We talked Jason into sleeping at our house so he could witness the "magic" :)

This was Ava's gift to me and Derek. She was so excited to give it to us.

Jerrod and his new skeletal metal ring

Allison turns 10!

Allison turned double digits this year. She ended up having a fun birthday. I took her for a nice breakfast at IHOP and then she went and painted a ceramic piggy bank. Later that night we went to Memphis BBQ for dinner where they sang to her and gave her a big strawberry shortcake. After we got home she and Emma wanted to do facials so we spread some avocado/honey mixture on them. What a mess. The dogs loved it though. I can't believe how big she is getting!

Tallest Christmas Tree in U.S.

The M resort down the street from our house had the tallest tree in the U.S. all decorated for Christmas so we went and checked it out. It was right by their pool so I think the kids were more impressed with the cabanas you can rent out with their big flat screen t.v. and refrigerators!

Photo Shoot

We took the kids down the street for a quick photo shoot for a Christmas card. Here are a few that turned out kind of cute.

Ward Christmas Breakfast

Our ward had a Christmas breakfast with the theme of Polar Express. After breakfast all the kids got a ticket to go ride this fun train a family in our ward has and then they got dropped off at the "north pole" to see Santa. It was a lot of fun.

Piano Recital

On December 5th, the kids had their Christmas Piano Recital. They all did great. If we can figure out how to get the videos off of Derek's phone I will post them.

Allison playing a duet with her friend Atira.

Allison playing a duet with her teacher, Megan.

Their teacher, Megan, made these cute piano bags to carry their books in. We are very lucky to have such a great piano teacher!!