Merry Christmas from the Haynie's

It has been a pretty crazy December. I had sinus surgery on Dec 15th in hopes to have less migraines and less sinus infections...we are still crossing our fingers on that one. Then, on Dec.18th my Grandma Dalton passed away. Her funeral was yesterday. Although she was in poor health and is a better places reunited with her mom and dad and her 6 siblings, it is so sad to see my Gpa so lost without her. And, at the same time, it is so cute to see how much in love they were after 62 years of marriage. It was tender to hear him with their kids at the casket. He talked about how she would still tell him she loved him every night, and how she liked to hold hands with him as they were going to sleep. I am so grateful for the wonderful mother she was to my mom. She shaped my mom, who then shaped me, and I will be forever grateful for that.

It seems strange that it is already Christmas Eve, but here it is! So, here's our

Top 11 Exciting Things of 2011!

1. June joined our family 2 1/2 weeks early!

2. Carl went to India for 3 weeks!

3. Carl got a JOB!!! We are going to be moving to Dallas, TX in August to go work for PwC as a Consultant!

4. EmmaJane & CJ started preschool!

5. Emma Jane is learning how to read!

6. CJ became a great drawer!

7.Lived in Portland, OR for 3 months this summer

8. We all got to pick up star fish on the OR coast!

9. Moving back from OR made our 10th move in 6 1/2 years of marriage...and we'll be moving again in August! :) I am now a professional packer!

10. Carl played intramural coed soccer, soccer, and football this year!

11. I ran my first 1/2 marathon!

I hope you have a very merry Christmas. I hope you are able to be with family and to remember the reason for the season. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful that He came to this earth to show us the way and allowed us to return to our Heavenly Father again!

Best Christmas FHE EVER!!!

So, we just finished the Book of Mormon together as a family! At the beginning of this year, our stake president challenged each family to read it. We had a schedule, and everything. And, we just finished it this past week!

When your audience is a 3 and 4 year old, it can be a little difficult at times, but I am so very grateful that we did it. I was SHOCKED how much the kids got out of it. Who know that a 4 year old could explain and understand the pride cycle? Who knew that when they were bouncing around and you thought they weren't listening, they actually were! Seriously, it is amazing how much they have learned.

It has created a tradition in our family. Who would have thought that our kids would be asking us to read the scriptures to them? It really has become a part of our nightly routine, and although, it is often very challenging, it is amazing to see little ones develop a love for the scriptures.

...So, in honor of finishing the Book of Mormon as a family, we went up to temple square in Salt Lake city with Carl's parents and sister and their family. And, the highlight of the trip was the church history museum.

This just reminds me of all those pictures with Christ and little children. I just love this picture.

Here with "Father Christmas"...he had to explain what he was to all the kids. It was pretty funny.

EmmaJane with the Liahona.

Carl and EmmaJane writing on the "plates."

EmmaJane and CJ getting taught by the missionaries.

CJ building buildings in the time of Nephi.

EmmaJane with the Brass Plates.

This is angel Moroni. He is on every one of our temples. The lady said that this one is actually a couple of feet shorter than the actual ones they have on the temple. Pretty crazy!

It was the best place ever to go with the kids. It really brought the Book of Mormon to life. It was a great way to celebrate!

Christmas Traditions

Courtney and I are still working on Christmas traditions with the family (I think we change things every year), but this video has become one that we really like. My church's Stake Choir in Florida was really good and the director found out that the church's Luke II video went perfectly with Celine Dion's "Oh Holy Night". The words fit the video almost flawlessly. So when we got married I put edited the video and music together and put it on a DVD. We watch this video every Christmas Eve before the kids go to bed.

Getting into the spirit

One of carls cousins family came over to make gingerbead houses. It was a sticky mess. I think in the end, the parents made the houses and the kids got to eat candy while the parents weren't looking. Good times though.

CJ practicing for the Preschool Christmas Program

Christmas is fast approaching. I can just feel it...especially when the kids come home from preschool singing Christmas songs and advent calendars! CJ came home singing this song the other day. I can't wait for their program.

Is Thanksgiving Over All Ready?

Seriously, I can't believe it is over. The Thanksgiving break was so wonderful. It was so nice to have Carl around. We had a great, relaxing time with family. We were able to go up to Bountiful to visit my grandma, grandpa, Aunt Pam, and Uncle Ben. It was such a great visit.

Then, we had Thanksgiving dinner with Carl's parents and sister and her family. It was great. And, me and Anna and Cara and Wesley braved the mob of shoppers to go to Walmart's Black Friday sale. Talk about crazy! Remind me never to do that again b/c they were out of what I wanted. Then, I waited until their site went live to access the sale online. That was about 1:30am. Then, for the next hour, I was being teased with getting my item, and then, at the last minute the site would lose my page. In the end, still didn't get my item, but o well!

Saturday night, we went to Murray to visit my Aunt Kathy, Cousin Andrea, her husband David, and Aunt Jan and Uncle Rick. It was a lot of fun.

Tonight I went to Walmart, and the crazy holiday season has officially begun. I need to do more shopping online...

Here are some pics from my phone.

My helpers who helped me put up Christmas.

Emma Jane set up this shot. She saw a pic of her when she was this age with Mabel on the couch, and she was determined that June needed one too.

And, I just thought this was so cute. June just loved Gpa Dalton.

In the spirit of Thankgiving--The thing I am most grateful for these days is the fact that June just started sleeping through the night! Woo hoo!

And, Carl got a job offer with PwC in Dallas...so it looks like we are going to be Texans!

EmmaJane's Class Picture

If you can't tell, she's the 2nd from the top right.

I totally had to gently coax her into not wearing sweats and a t-shirt.

Thank you class pictures. The only day I get to pick what she gets to wear!

Birthdays, Black Cat, and a Black Eye

Carl turned 29 on Halloween. Carl got a ski pass, and now, he can't wait for the slopes to open up!

I took CJ to a play on the book, "How I became a Pirate."

Then, on Saturday, EmmaJane was getting a drink at the kitchen sink and found this in our window.

This is Danger, our neighbor's cat. He must have got in when the door was open while the kids were out playing the night before. Emma Jane was very excited. Mabel was not.

This beauty I got from CJ. I was bending down to ironically tell him to calm down, and he turned around really fast and jumped up in my face.

This is another look of it. I have been doing my other eye makeup to match it. And, it was really funny when the nurse at the kid's dr appt complemented my eye makeup. :)

June is so fun right now. She is just at such a fun stage. She loves to play with toys, and while she is in the bath, I can't get her to stop splashing.

Who wouldn't love hanging out with this face? Seriously.

Catching Up from our busy schedule!

This little ma'am turned 6 months, and we can't get enough of her. She is so stinkin' cute and sweet. She is so easy to make smile. She is a very happy little girl. She looks almost identical to EmmaJane's baby pictures...which is crazy! She is eating baby cereal like a champ! I can't feed her fast enough! And, ever since we got back from California, she learned a new trick....

wait for it.....

Yep, she now can sit up! Woo hoo! She is loving the new view! It just makes her feel so old.

For FHE, we carved pumpkins with the cousins...which was a blast! It is fun to have family so close

We have been to like 4 Halloween activities. We were the Pirate family, even baby June. CJ just loved having a sword, and him and EmmaJane have been going to town with the sword fights. I'll admit I have hid them a few times. :)

We went to Thanksgiving Point for a Halloween Carnival. The kids had a blast. That night CJ was a Ninja!

Today, I ran my first half marathon! The Provo Halloween Half Marathon. Woo Hoo! I've never done a Half before. It was a lot of fun...minus the running. :) People were all dressed up in Halloween costumes. We go dropped off at Aspen Grove, past Sundance ski resort, and ran 13.1 miles down through the mountains/canyon. It was so pretty, but super cold. It was like 30 degrees when we got up there.

EmmaJane running with me to the finish line! She was so excited when she saw me. She just started running.

Me--post finish line...Right now, my body is like "What did you just do?" But, now I can say I did a half marathon! Woo Hoo!

Fun With the Cousins!

We got back from a week of visiting family in LA on Wednesday. It was such a fun trip. I love watching cousins play. It is just so cute. I wish we could see each other more often. My kids love being with them too. It is cute. I stayed with Lindsey and forgot to take pictures at Brooke's, so most of these are with Lindsey's kids.

Isn't it great to have sisters? We are totally missing June in this picture. We have one of these pictures from the babies of 2007 where we are all sitting on the ground with our new babes. It is so fun that we have 2 sets of 3 girls born around the same time. I see pen pals and college roomies in the future.

Nana with EmmaJane and CJ. Seriously, isn't Nana gorgeous? Also, doesn't EmmaJane's and mom's eyes look the exact same color?

I smell trouble with a capital T! 6 kids under 5...not including the 3 babies that were also there.

Brenna, Baylie, CJ, Paisley, Sadie, and EmmaJane

Layla 8months, June 6 months

It was so cute. They would get so smiley and excited whenever they saw each other. It was like they knew each other in heaven and were so excited to see each other. Haven't you found that most babies like seeing other babies? They totally interact with them.

Uncle Nathan with the 2 Little Ones after the Bath.

3 Little monkeys sitting in a Tree: Sadie, Emma Jane, and Brenna.

2 Silly Monkeys in a Tree.

While we were there, we went to the best pumpkin patch ever. It had tons of inflatable slides, bounce houses, and kid rides. They made them some animal balloons that they LOVED, and of course, they made CJ a dinosaur!

They all went crazy in here. They would run at the walls as fast they could and bounce off the walls.

Everyone had so much fun on this ride...except for CJ who cried the whole time. Yes, the one who is obsessed with Dinosaurs and Airplane, go figure.

CJ, Brenna, Sadie, Dallas, and EmmaJane

Then, Aunt Lindsey, took some wonderful pictures with Nathan's camera, and then, he used his magic to make them so pretty! Thanks Lindsey and Nathan! You guys are awesome!

EmmaJane 4 1/2

CJ 3 1/2

June 6 months

Little/Big Messes

I know this is a horrible picture, but I saw this at the grocery store. I thought it really put things in perspective. I am constantly cleaning up messes multiple times throughout the day. What mom doesn't? But, I loved this because soon there won't be as many messes to clean up and what a sad day that will be.

I have been reading several books by Richard and Linda Eyre. They are amazing authors with such great insight into parenting. They talk a lot about the prime of parenting and how it is a short period of time, and by the time you have got it a little bit figured out, your kids are out of the house. 18 years is all you got. They talk about how up to age 11, kids pretty much still easily listen to their parents and like being with them. What precious time that is!

But for some reason it is so easy to get busy. It is so hard to enjoy the little moments. It is hard to stop and smell the roses when there is laundry to be done, dishes to be washed, messes to clean up, etc. And how precious and sweet and innocent these little ones are...most of the time. They really have such great hearts, and are so easy to give love and to forgive.

Before church on Sunday we were talking to EmmaJane about how important it is to love everyone just like Jesus did. We talked about a girl in her class that was a little handicapped. We talked of ways she could be nice to her and help her feel loved. Later that day after church, someone stopped me in the hall. They said that "EmmaJane had sat next to this girl and held her hand. And that she was being so sweet with her and had been taking care of her."

Kids really are the best examples of Christ...Now, if I could only remember that and those precious moments when they start fighting or hitting each other...

Taking After Good Ole Mom and Dad...

If you don't know, Carl and I love playing soccer. We both are currently on intramural soccer teams at BYU. Recently, EmmaJane and CJ have started soccer, and they are on the same team. They are so competitive...especially with each other. I love watching them play soccer. My favorite is when CJ gets the ball, he is in a zone. He is pretty good at dribbling but not the best at going toward the goal. He will just start going in any random direction. He'll even keep going like 20 feet out of bounds until the referee takes the ball away from him. It is so cute! I seriously love it!