Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Chase Family!! I love this picture of my prized possessions...my kids!
We have had a great year and look forward to enjoying the next year together. We are so happy to have welcomed Brayden to our family. He is such a joy and a blessing to our family. Mattison and Kylee are learning new things each day. Mattison is LOVING school and can't get enough of it. Kylee loves having one on one time with mom and dad. She is a VERY energetic fireball. Brayden is as we say in our family, elevation sensitive (only likes to stand) but he is so cute anyway.

Billy and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary and are looking forward to eternity with each other. We have learned together and grown together. We have learned that no marriage will survive if Heavenly Father is not at the top of your priority list. We have been blessed with testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are blessed to have such amazing family and friends! We want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love Billy, Brianne, Mattison, Kylee and Brayden Chase

1st timers

So we have had a few 1st timers at our house these past few weeks. One of those being Kylee went on the potty!!! Wahoo!!!

Then my baby girl went on her first school bus ride.... wait a minute! Wrong baby girl. :)
>

There we go...here is MY baby girl getting on the school bus for her first field trip as a kindergartner. They went to a play called the "Ice Queen" and then went to Phoenix Children's museum. Mattison had a great time!

When I went to pick her up from school that day I immediately asked "What was your favorite part of the field trip?". With no hesitation Mattie says "The school bus!!" I said "Really? Why?"

Mattie says "Because you don't have to wear seat belts!". Oh the joys of a school bus. hee, hee
This is Mattie's amazing kindergarten teacher Mrs. McGinty going on her big adventure with her class. She said it was such a great success and all the kids really enjoyed and were so well behaved.

More 1st timers to be posted but I need to go get some stuff done around the house. To be continued tomorrow.

Gifts for Christ

So this Christmas season I have really had a lot of different feelings. Happiness, joy, excitement, dread, sadness and peace. Some may think a few of these adjectives are a misprint but they are not. I believe that there will be a day when I will come back and read some of my posts or a member of my family will and we will receive strength or understanding from it. This will probably be one of those posts. I have to say that I am typing this post while crying at the same time. Today has been interesting. This afternoon I went to wash my hands and the water was not coming out. For the first time in my life the water to my home was shut off. For me this is VERY embarrassing to state but I do it for a reason. As I realized what happened I went straight to my husband and asked him what we should do and how we were going to pay the bill so we could have our water turned back on right away. I said I was NOT going to call my parents or family and ask for help. I knew that as husband and wife we needed to find $100 and fast! So we sat and discussed it for quite a while. I sat in a chair and cried as I tried to think of what to do. I then knew what needed to be done and I cried even harder. I went to Billy and told him I knew what we needed to do to get the money. So we took all the ornaments off of our tree and put them in a box and returned our beautiful tree that we had bought last year back to Costco. I cried most of the time while we took them off while also trying to explain to my 5 year old daughter about why we were taking her decorated tree down. So it all worked out and we got the cash back for the tree and paid our bill. This whole Christmas season I have been really trying to teach my family that the very best gifts we can give for Christmas are gifts of service. These types of gifts don't usually cost money but they for sure give the best rewards! So this year as we celebrate we may not have everything we want but we will have everything we need! I'm so blessed to have such a great family who I love and who love me. I am especially grateful for my Savior who knows EXACTLY how I am feeling at this time in my life. I know there are so many people who are so much worse than our little family and I pray that I will take any opportunities I am given to serve them. I know that we are so blessed that my husband has a job and that we can be provided for. So at this time I am reminding myself what I have been really trying to teach my kids this Christmas season...the best gifts we can give to Christ for the celebration of his birth is service to those in need. Those who are so much worse off then us. Christmas isn't about the tree or the gifts underneath it, it's about the family that is kneeled in a circle praying to our Father in Heaven. Merry Christmas!!

P.S.
We will be going back on Saturday morning after we get Billy's paycheck and buying another tree from Costco with the money that we would have used to pay the water bill. So just a week without a tree but it will still be missed in the mean time. :)

Sharing & Gangsta Kyky

I love these cute moments! They both wanted to
sit in the pink chair so they decided well then why don't we both sit in it. If only they resolved all their conflicts this way. :)

Meet Gangsta Kyky! That binkie makes her look especially tough don't you think?She as so proud she put all these on all by herself. So cute!!!

It's Christmas Time!

So it is officially time to decorate the tree. Mattie was so excited to decorate the tree. She wouldn't stop talking about it until we got it out. This year I decided to let the girls be in charge
of decorating the tree. Billy put the decorations up on the high branches. I have to say they did a pretty good job. One of the best things about it is how proud the girls are of "their" tree.

As soon as Mattie wakes up she runs to the tree to turn the lights on. Then she says "Mommy isn't the tree beautiful?". It is so cute!
Honestly this is what Kylee was doing for a big part of the time.....digging through the boxes!
But here she is telling me about the ornament she put on the tree ALL BY HERSELF! She was so happy.
When Mattie got the angel out of its box she said to me "Mommy, the angel looks like me! She has blonde hair too!". I couldn't stop smiling because she was so excited.

Here is Billy doing his favorite part of the whole decorating experience...putting the angel on top of the tree. Looking good babe!This is what Brayden did while his sisters decorated the tree...chilled and hmmm what do you think those flared nostrils means? :) Good thing daddy is holding him. hee, hee
Now the real important thing here is to see how long the tree STAYS decorated with a very active 2 year old around the house. Merry Christmas everyone!