Did Santa Claus Find You?

He Sure Found Us! The kids had a great Christmas. This is how Gavin spent the morning. Snugglin' with mom!

Gage loved his Monster Truck, and Tow Truck. It was all he asked for. Carter got a V-Smile and all the painting and art stuff you could ever need!

Katlyn finally got a DS. She was so happy. Mike kept telling her that she was dreaming if she thought she was getting one. Surprise!

Here are the Christmas Jammies! My mom always let us open our p.j.'s on Christmas Eve, and so we are keeping up the tradition.

Thanks to Autumn the kids had cookies to decorate for Santa! Mike took charge of this project, and the cookies turned out great. And don't forget the reindeer. We had plenty of carrots for them too! We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

More pictures of Gavin!

Christmas Outfits!

I am not a photographer at all but I wanted to get a few shots of the kids in their church clothes. Carter did not want his picture taken before church, but when we got home he decided he could handle it. Pretty cute!

It's Another Boy!

The Papa family would like to introduce to you the newest member of our family. Everyone meet Gavin Mac Papa. He was born on December 15th, just before 6pm. He weighed in at 6lb. 10oz. and was 18in. long. He took his dear little time getting here, mostly due to the fact that he was "sunny side-up," but it was all worth it. Somehow this birth was a little more emotional than the others for both Mike and I. Maybe because we knew it would be the last? I'm not quite sure, but it was amazing to see Gavin for the first time!

Most of you know that we did not find out the sex of the baby. We were not surprised at all that it was another boy, and although a little girl would have been great, somehow it all seemed right, and he fits perfectly. I highly recommend being surprised to anyone that can wait that long to know! It was a lot of fun.

We are very tired and very happy! I haven't been dressed in regular clothes but once since he was born, and I'm enjoing every minute of it. Mike was able to take two weeks off of work, and that has been a blessing. He has helped so much. My amazing mom also came and stayed for almost a week! I don't know what we would have done without her. Katlyn is going to miss being able to have someone sleep in her room with her. I believe that it is true when they say after three it's so much easier. I know that having our youngest pushing four helps, but the kids have been great with him, and are so gentle. Gage asks every day if we can keep him. I feel very complete and very blessed. There is nothing like bringing a little spirit into the world to put everything into perspective!

She sure makes me proud!

Yesterday, Katlyn Jordyn Papa bore her testimony for the first time all by herself! I cannot tell you how proud I am of her! I was just smiling away! Sacrament meeting was almost over, and she leaned over to me and said, "mom, does this sound good for my testimony?" She proceeded to tell me what she was going to say, and I said "Yes, that was really good." Then she said "o.k. could you move your leg because I'm going up there." It was so sweet to watch her walk really quickly up to the pulpit, and bear her little testimony. It was short, sweet and to the point. The way a testimony should be right. I wish I had her courage and simple, strong faith! She teaches me every day that I need to be more kind, loving, faithful, forgiving and more strong in the gospel. She and her brothers never let me forget that we need to have scriptures and prayer every night together, or Family Home Evening on Monday nights. (Even though both can turn into mass chaotic events sometimes!)

We also had tithing settlement last night, and Katlyn was able to say that she had paid a full tithe. The bishop talked to her about it and how important it is that we pay it to show that we are faithful, and to help the church have the things that it needs. She doesn't even question it. She just does it, because that is what we are taught to do. We were given papers showing our membership while we were there to make sure that they were right, and she also noticed that she was baptized 7 years to the day after we were sealed together in the Temple. She just thought that it was pretty neat that it happened that way even though we didn't plan it. She is such a large part of why we lived our lives in order to go to the Temple that day. I love her and her attentiveness to the things and people around her, and that she listens to the spirit and is so close to our Savior and wants so bad to do the things that He would have her do. I love you Katerbug!

Oh, The Excitement!

Every year on December 1st the kids get a big box from Grandma Colleen and Grandpa George. They are filled with wiggles and giggles cuz they know what's inside! They arrived on the day before Thanksgiving this year, and so they have been patiently waiting for tonight to come.

And the boxes are open! Katlyn was in the lead, getting hers out first, and Carter was close behind. Gage was a little more interested in Carters at first, but soon pulled and pulled until his box was finally empty!

This is what was inside! Grandma and Grandpa send the kids these amazing little gifts, one to open each day until Christmas. We hang them where everyone can see them, but the rule is no touching until it's time to go to bed! They look forward to it each day. Getting a present every day is so exciting don't you think? Carter and Gage got Motorcycles and Katlyn go a manicure set for day 1. We'll see what tomorrow brings! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for this thoughtful tradition. I know it takes a lot of time to make one for everyone, but we LOVE it, and we LOVE you too!

This is why we love going to Nana & Papa's for Thanksgiving

This is what it looked like outside on Thanksgiving day at Nana & Papa's house. The kids played outside all day long and loved it. There is nothing like being in Alpine while it's snowing, a fire going in the stove, and almost all of the family that you love all around you. We started off by having a Birthday Party for Mr. Bryson Cash, complete with a "Bindiana Jones Brown" cake, and homemade ice cream. Then we all stayed up way too late and had to listen to Papa and Uncle Gentry snore all night! Every morning that we are at Nana's, she makes sourdough waffles and homemade syrup. Delicious! We ate up, and the kids headed out to play while Brandy, Mom and I cooked away. We ate way too much food and made ourselves miserable. Then the boys went into town and bought a few guns, which has become a little tradition. Then they had to try them out. When they got back Papa taught all the kids how to reload bullets, which they all loved. Back at the house all the moms were sitting around the table doing a puzzle. We ended the day with all the kids sacked out on the floor, and all the adults regretting all the food consumption!
I always pack enough clothes for each day that we are in Alpine, but most of the time I spend every day in my p.j.'s. The best thing is that it doesn't matter, because we only see eachother. Alpine is for relaxing and enjoying eachother. I am so thankful for the families that Mike and I have and the memories that we make each time we are with them. I am so thankful that my children have so many cousins to look forward to seeing and playing with each holiday. We are so blessed! We all love it! We missed Amy and Misty and all their kidos but Christmas will be here soon! We hope to see the Woods, Papas, Larsons, & Curts before Santa comes! We also hope that Grandma Colleen & Grandpa George had fun in San Diego, and Grandma Debbie & Grandpa John had a blast on their Hawaiian Cruise! We LOVE YOU!