Merry Christmas!

This year has been so busy.....I didn't even find the time to type up the usual Christmas letter for our Christmas cards! So, I decided to post the 'letter' that I would've sent here on the blog....

We've had such an amazing year - 2 weddings, a grandchild, a trip to Disney World.....

Ethan is now a senior in High School - where does the time go?? He was able to play on the school soccer team this year (and managed to dislocate his OTHER shoulder in a game!). He attended Mitchell Community College for one of his high school classes - which was awesome for him! - a lot of driving for me. With the new minimum age for missionaries that was announce in Conference this past October, Ethan will be sending his papers in and possibly leaving right after graduation in June!

Dallin is a junior. He played for the school soccer team and was video taped (without him knowing it!) dancing to a song during a game warm up. It's a hilarious video that I wish I could figure out how to post here! (check back later - Tim might be able to teach me how to do it, or better yet, just post it for me)

Hayleigh is in 7th grade. She plays flute in the school band and is learning a lot of new things. She is now in the Young Women's program at church and LOVES it! Hayleigh is thinking she might play soccer for school in the spring, but isn't sure yet.

Kirsten is in 2nd grade and is such a joy! She keeps us all laughing! She does very well in school, although she still isn't overly fond of reading.

An update on the adult "kids" - Brandee and Scott are loving life in Utah! Brandee is an amazing math teacher and the students adore her. Scott and Brandee flew to Orlando in October and met us at Disney World - we all had an awesome time!

Kyle and Alex were married in October (and went to Disney World the week after we got back for their honeymoon!) They were sealed in the Washington DC Temple - it was such a beautiful day!

Tyler and Caitlin were married this past summer and baby Emmy was born October 1st! She is perfectly perfect!

Keenan is finishing up his last month of his mission to Salt Lake City - he'll be home in January - we are so EXCITED to see him!   From our family to yours - We Wish Y'all a Very Merry Christmas and A Blessed New Year!   The Watsons......

Lots of Fall Around Here

We have beautiful old beech trees in our yard - one in the front and one on the side of the house.  I've taken many photos of the one on the side of the house (and Tyler and Caitlin were married under it this past summer!).  Trees this size have A LOT of leaves.  A LOT! 

This year, the leaves got raked up and put on the garden area - what a chore!

Ducks!

I was going through the photos on my computer yesterday to take advantage of the 300 penny prints from Snapfish.  I take a lot of photos of the cows and sunsets and chickens, but not many of the ducks.  The ducks that live on our farm are so silly!  They will come to the house when called to finish loaves of bread...they will chase the chickens away from the scratch so they can be pigs...they will chase us too - but that doesn't last long; they get yelled at and chased themselves!  Currently, there is only one duck.  The other one was taken by a coyote - we are having problems with them here!  I noticed a single Canadian goose in the pond with the duck yesterday.  Maybe the two of them will become friends.

Senior Night!

                             Wow!  Ethan is a senior!  It's hard to believe.....the years go by so quickly!  

Kyle & Alex's Sealing

Kyle and Alex were sealed for time and all eternity in the Washington DC Temple on October 18, 2012.  Our dear friends, Andy and Rebecca, met us there and attended the sealing.  It was such a beautiful and sacred day!

Last Day at Disney

No photos from the last day at Disney...we went to Epcot and visited Canada, Norway, and Mexico.  And ate some more yummy stuff  - like filet mignon with wild mushroom sauce in Canada!  After Epcot, we went back to the resort and used up the rest of our Disney Dining Plan points (the Dining Plan is such a great deal!!) and then hit the road.  We were all tired....I ended up driving the last couple of hours and it was so hard to stay awake!  Especially with everyone else sleeping!

On Monday, it rained really hard, so no game and no practice :)  It was nice just to rest (and unpack).  Tuesday we had a game that we lost...Wednesday we had a game that we won! 

Family Disney Trip Day 4

On Saturday, we went to Hollywood Studios.  After Kirsten being incredibly scared of the Stitch ride/attraction at Magic Kingdom, I figured I was going to get out of riding the Rockn' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror.  No such luck!  She rode both of them and loved them!  I had a conversation on the elevator at the hotel later:

Me: Kirsten, how come you were so scared of Stitch, but you could ride the roller coaster and tower of terror? 

Kirsten: I know, right? 

She thought for a minute and then said "Stitch has too many arms.  It's disturbing."

Later that night, we went back to the Magic Kingdom for the classic Electric Main Street Parade.  I remember some of it from when I went with my grandparents when I was 4 years old! 

Of course, I ABSOLUTELY adore the Halloween decorations!!

Family Disney Trip Day 3

Animal Kingdom!  We saw the Festival of the Lion King (always an amazing show!) and went on Expedition Everest 2 times! Then we headed back over to Epcot to see Illuminations and enjoy some more yummy food! (Hayleigh had bratwurst - none of us were surprised!)

Family Disney Trip Day 2

On Thursday, Brandee and Scott arrived from Utah! We spent the day at the Magic Kingdom and went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. 

Family Disney Trip Day 1!

Ethan and Dallin in England

Enjoying Fish and Chips

Dallin

We left on Wednesday morning and arrived at the Happiest Place on Earth Wednesday afternoon.  On the way down, we got to around Troutman (about 15 minutes south of our place!) and Kirsten asked if we were almost there!  Silly Girl!  We checked into the hotel and went straight to Epcot, staying until after 11 PM.  It was hot in Florida - geez, how to people live there??  We had a great time at Epcot though, and enjoyed some yummy foods from different countries.  Hayleigh LOVED the bratwurst from Somerfest in Germany and Kirsten couldn't get enough of the chicken wraps from Morocco.

Baby Emmy!

Congratulations to Tyler and Caitlin!  Baby Emmy arrived on October 1st, 2012 and is as pretty and perfect as can be!

Baby Shower

(yes, the baby is here - she was born October 1st - and we are so excited!)

Since some people didn't want to know what gender the baby was, I didn't post the baby shower photos.  The shower was a lot of fun and so many friends and family members attended!

Baby Gift!

This is SO DARN CUTE!  Brandee made this for the soon-to-be-here baby!  Tyler and Caitlin LOVE it!

Tyler is 20!

(Banana Cream Pie!)

Patriot Day

Fashion Show

We have a dear friend who works at Belk in town and asked if the girls wanted to be part of the fashion show that Belk does before school starts.  Well, DUH!  Of course they did!  The girls spent about 2 hours picking out the clothes they wanted to wear for the show.  Kirsten ended up having me buy hers, but Hayleigh picked out something different.

Kirsten was chosen to be a clown in the activity after the fashion show!  She wasn't too fond of standing next to the real clown - they are just creepy, aren't they? 

Summer Soccer

It's so awesome that Kyle is able to play soccer again!  There's an adult league in Statesville that he plays for --- and yes, I have many photos of this same pose - and if you look closely, that is a CHARLOTTE SOCCER CLUB jersey!

Dallin - NIHS Raiders - West Iredell pre-season tournament

Ethan - NIHS Raiders - West Iredell pre-season tournament - SENIOR YEAR!!

Swimming, Swimming, Swimming...Just Keep Swimming....

 Hayleigh and Tyler

   Kirsten

Dallin (diving), Ethan, and Tyler

Ethan

Friends of ours from church have a beautiful pool that they invited us to use whenever we would like!  Isn't that awesome???  We took advantage of this offer several times this summer - one night, it was so beautiful out, that we kept swimming and ended up ordering pizza delivery and had a great time!