The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

December has been insane...

Gingerbread house building with friends



Seth's holiday program

Wade's Jingle Jog



Our trip to Cedar for Sherisa's wedding (pic not of wedding--I didn't bring my camera :(.)
Rylee's first pigtails :)

Church the Sunday before Christmas
Roper Family Christmas Eve program (held on the 18th of December so we could come!)

SNOW!!! (in Cedar)


Salt Lake City for Christmas

Dinner at "The Old Spaghetti Factory"
Christmas lights at Temple Square




My Grandma and Grandpa hosted a traditional Rasmussen Christmas. I have spent 90% of the Christmases in my life at their house. It was fun to revisit my favorite tradition. Ben and I made dinner, we opened presents and enjoyed each other's company. My Uncle Craig also posed as Santa for the kids, which was a great addition to our celebration.

(LOVE this of Rylee...priceless and utterly hysterical!)









Matt, the kids and I stayed at "The Grand America" Hotel while we were in Salt Lake. We got a "sweet" deal on a suite and LOVED staying there--very fancy :). We brought a little Christmas tree from home and the kids didn't mind opening presents in a hotel one bit.




December was wonderfully busy. I'm glad we got to be together with both of our families in Utah, but I'm also glad it is over :). Until next year...

Not pictured: Holiday parties, Rasmussen family pictures, Wade's class party, Neighborhood gifts, hanging out with SUU best buddies

Elf on the Shelf

Have you ever heard of "Elf on the Shelf?" I hadn't until this year, but LOVED having this little addition to our holiday time. You can buy your Elf and his accompanying book at "Barnes and Noble" or "Pottery Barn." The book explains it all, but basically your Elf is sent from the North Pole to "watch" over your kids during the day to ensure they are behaving and reports back to Santa each night.

My kids totally ate this up! I didn't think they would buy it or care about it, but I was wrong. Seth (who is scared of the police and, I guess, Santa) was super into it. Each morning the Elf has moved to a different spot in your house because he had just returned from his "report" to Santa at the North Pole. Seth would fly out of bed and look for George (our Elf) first thing every morning.

George saved me from several long tantrums and other defiant moments from my kids. I wish they could come up with something that would work all year round. I will say this, George will be returning to the Roper house right after Halloween this next year :). We'll milk it as long as possible.

The Police

For whatever reason, Seth is scared to death of the police. Not only is he scared of the police, he is scared of his idea of going to jail. I don't know what has created these ideas in his little head, but have jumped all over the opportunity to use his fear to our advantage ( mean parents:).)

I found out about Seth's fear a few months ago when he went on a preschool field trip to "Build a Bear." My friends took him along with them because I had something else going on.

The field trip went as you might imagine: making a bear followed by lunch at the mall. While Seth and his pals piled into my friend's car, Seth proudly pulled a package of silly bands from his pocket to show off. Immediately, his friends were gasping, "where did you get those, did you steal them?" My friend overheard the conversation and asked Seth where he got them.

By this time, Seth realized that he was in trouble. He had stolen the sillybands. He started to cry--loudly. While crying, he also began negotiating with my friend begging her to "not tell my mom, we can just go back to Build a Bear and give the silly bands back and NOT tell my mom." They were already almost home and my friend had decided that I should decide what to do.

In the meantime, Seth and his friends had decided that he was going to have to go to jail. As soon as Wade walked in the door from school, Seth told him that, "he was going to jail." Wade was totally into this and had to hear every detail of the story. Both Wade and Seth wanted to know if Seth really would have to go to jail?

I told Seth that it was going to be up to the "Build a Bear" manager whether or not he had to go to jail. I told him that we would go to "Build a Bear" first thing in the morning and return the silly bands (my dad thought it was mean that I would wait until the next day--he worried that Seth would be worried sick all night.)

Right at 10am, the next morning, we went back to "Build a Bear." Seth had rehearsed what he was going to say to the manager and was ready. He nervously waited for his turn to talk to the manager. When he got his turn, he said what he had planned. He also asked her if he had to go to jail. The manager was really cute with him.

She thanked him for being honest and bringing them back. She even rewarded him for returning the silly bands by giving him one of her silly bands off her wrist. He was so excited, but most of all relieved. You could tell that the weight of the world was lifted from his shoulders (poor little guy.)
Seth's happy supporters, were glad for him too. Later that day, when Wade walked in from school, the first thing he said was, "whoo hoo, Seth, you didn't have to go to jail!" This was a good lesson learned for Seth, but also for Wade and both of their friends.

Since then, Matt and I have been able to use the police thing to our advantage. Whenever Seth is acting really naughty, throwing a tantrum or tries to tell a fib, I just tell him that I am going to call the police and have them come over to talk about it--works like a CHARM every time. I love it.

It will be a sad day when Seth realizes that he won't go to jail for telling his mom a lie or teasing his brother, but in the meantime, I will be using it.

Rylee is 1

I can hardly type the words...my baby girl is ONE!!! She has grown up so fast, the year has truly flown. Rylee is the best baby I cold have ever asked for and I still, STILL, cannot believe she is a SHE!

Unfortunately, she felt under the weather on her bday :( (which is the reason she is only wearing a diaper and diaper cover in these pics--she has a fever.) Her cousins were sick too, so her party was just a Roper affair. Although she was feeling yucky, she seemed to enjoy herself except for her birthday cake, she WOULD NOT have anything to do with it...
I tried putting a bit of frosting on her lips so she could see what she was missing, but it only made our fiery red head angrier. :) I actually don't blame her, it was store bought frosting (I should have thought better and made homemade for my little princess :).)

She did perk up when we moved onto presents...

and especially loved pushing around her new stroller!

Rylee has blessed our lives immensely this past year and I cannot imagine a life without her little personality. She holds true to the "red head" legend--lots of sass and opinion balled up into her little body! We LOVE the drama she adds to everything!

Ry's favorites at 1:

*her baby (bear hooked to a small blanket)

*music

*dancing

*peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

*pears

*marshmallows

*sippy cup of milk

*anything chocolate

*stroller rides

*being held (especially by mom :))

*shoes

*purses (putting anything with a handle on her wrist)

*Dora

*getting dressed head to toe (headband all the way down to her shoes)

Ry's doesn't like at 1:

*being held by anyone else when mom is around

*babysitters

*being told no (instant tears!)

*any kind of berry

*riding in the car a long time

What Ry is doing at 1:

*ALMOST walking (she is cruising and has taken a few steps)

*drinking from a sippy cup (no more bottles!)

*feeding herself

*says "uh-oh", "mama", "dada", "shoes", "bye"

*giving kisses

Such a fun year of so many firsts! I look forward to the lifetime of joy this little girl will bring to Matt and I. We love you, baby girl! Happy Birthday!

Wade's Birthday Party

As previously mentioned, we do birthday parties every other year on the years the kids turn an odd number. For you math whizzes :), 7 is an odd number so Wade got a party this year! We decided to do a combo party with his best friend Jackson and invited their entire 1st grade class, some friends from the ward and cousins! Lots and lots of kids made the party A LOT of fun!

We rented a huge bounce house and had the party at a nearby park. Pizza, pop, presents and cake in addition to soccer, bounce house bouncing and park slides kept all the kiddos entertained.


The high amount of party guests made it impossible for Wade and Jackson to open presents at the park, so we went to Jackson's house following the party to open presents for what seemed like an hour :). Wade and Jackson were in Heaven!!
The party was a lot of fun and the boys (and all the guests) seemed to have a great time! The mom's also loved the quick cleanup--parties at the park are the best! :)