Chuck's Family Celebration

Isaac and cousin Caden.
Chuck's family party was the day after Christmas, but we ended up missing it because of the weather. We traveled a little past Cedar City and then turned around because the roads were too bad and at the speed we were traveling it would have taken us forever to get there. So we were sad we missed the party, but we were able to make it the next day and were there for Joseph's mission farewell.

Playing with the cousins.

Our little bit of Snow was nothing compared to what Grandma and Grandpa had at their home. The kids enjoyed sledding, sliding, and making snow angels. Luckily Grandma Jerri Lynn got the kids boots and snowpants for Christmas!

Christmas Morning

Uncle Brady had a wonderful Christmas idea for Grandma and Grandpa, we suprised them with a webcam converstaion. It was a lot of fun for all of us to be able to talk and see Brady, Audrey and the kids. Since we couldn't all be together this was the next best thing!

It looks like there was a lot of fun taking place in this room!

Isaac loved the wrapping paper and watching his brother and sister run around.

Samuel's favorite toy from Santa was his space shuttle. "Santa" was lucky to find one on Amazon and loved doing all the kids shopping this year on the internet!

Bella with her puppy.

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve this year. Here we are gathered around the tree, the kids in their new pj's. I made a personal rule years ago not be photographed in a grey and especially not in a grey sweater because it makes you look like a whale, but I thought it would be okay until I saw the picture. From now on I'm really sticking to my rule!

Grandma, Grandpa, Trina, Wes and Kambree were able to come back to our home for Christmas. We really stretched our celebration out this year! We took the kids to see the temple lights on Tuesday night.

Christmas Eve day we left Grandma at home with Samuel and Bella to make rice balls, while the rest of us did some last minute shopping and errands. The kids absolutely love this treat! I called to check on Grandma and she was really worn out. Of course all her Bella stories were just a typical day for me!

Our Christmas Eve meal took forever! My family likes to have shrimp and french fries, however we usually make them at my parents home with their monster fry daddy. I only have a fry baby so we could not really mass produce the meal. Instead we all hoovered around the kitchen island waiting for small portions to be done.

The kids acted out the nativity this year. Grandpa was the donkey and the camel. Grandma had to threaten him to be a calm ride for the kids so they wouldn't get too out of control.

Bella was Mary, Isaac was Joseph, Kambree was an angel and Samuel was the wise man. We need a few more cousins so we can have the rest of the parts!

Singing Christmas songs. Samuel and Bella sang Jingle Bells by themselves. Samuel knew all the words and Bella babbled and got a few words out. It was really cute! We had to do it a few times because Samuel would get mad when Grandpa tried to join in. He didn't want any help!

In Chuck's family they always got a game Christmas Eve and then played it that night so we are also going to do this for our family tradition. The kids really liked playing their bowling game.

And the new tradition that we are starting with our own family is making smores. I love this picture because it's snowing outside and we're roasting marshmallows over our fire pit!

Early Christmas

Our whole world was turned upside down this week as my mom called to tell us the doctors results of several tests she had taken. It's impossible to express the emotions that I felt as she told me the doctor thinks she may have kidney cancer. It really puts into perspective what is most important! And I can't really write too much more about it because it makes me want to cry - and I always try very hard not to cry! But mom, we all love you and know you can fight through this trial!

Since mom has another appointment with a speacialist this week, they are not sure they will be able to make it back down here for Christmas so we had an early celebration this weekend with Grandma and Grandpa giving the kids their gifts. What a joyful weekend to share time together as a family and watch the little ones get so excited.

Early Christmas

Grandma and Grandpa ordered a battery powered jeep for Samuel and Bella and had it shipped to our house several weeks ago. When it got here, the box was in pretty bad shape so we opened it and inspected things. We didn't see anything wrong so we taped the box back up and kept it in the garage until Friday evening. Grandpa and Chuck started to put it together and we discovered that the seat was badly broken. Oh what a mess! It was 9:30 p.m. and Chuck was on the phone with JC Penny since that's where they had ordered it from. Then the guys decided to make a late night shopping trip to see if they could find another one. They didn't get back until 1:00 a.m. and after going all over town they couldn't find one. So the next morning they took the jeep back to JC Penny's, Grandpa decided he liked the John Deere Gator better, and Wes was on the phone with various stores until he tracked this one down in Mesquite. After finally getting it to the house, it took my dad and I a couple of hours to assemble the thing while the guys were out watching the BYU game. The whole episode was quite a mess, but everything eventually worked out and the kids were overjoyed with their present!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Samuel was so excited when he uncovered the gator. He got inside and said, "What does it do?" Then he pushed on the gas and got a huge smile on his face as he realized that he could actually drive it around.

Bella has become fascinated with anything pink. Grandma's pillow case is bright pink (you can see it behind Bella). Well, Bella grabbed a hold of Grandma's pillow and decided it was hers. So thanks for leaving the pillowcase behind!

And a visit from Grandma wouldn't be complete without a trip to the dollar store. Even though there were many presents under the tree, Samuel still was insistent that Grandma take him to the Dollar Store. He looks forward to this little adventure everytime they come. And Bella really got in on the action this time as well. Of course everything she got was pink!

Snow Angel

One nice thing about all the snow was that I was able to take some really cute pictures of Bella in a Christmas dress that Trina got from one of her friends. Bella was having a great time just wondering around outside as I was snapping away. This is one of my favorites.

Cute Christmas Presents

Trina and I had too much fun taking Christmas pictures of Isaac and Kambree.

It was so fun to take pictures of them together. We were just laughing because it was next to impossible to get them to both look at us. They were having too much fun playing with each other, taking off their hats, and pulling on the boxes.

Let it Snow :(

I really don't like the snow! After going to college in Logan I decided I never needed to live somewhere where it snowed again. The freezing cold winters with frost on the inside of our apartment windows, yes the inside, the slippery campus sidewalks where you would see people fall down daily, the snow weighted trees that would dump their contents on you, the wind blowing down the hill as you tried to climb up, the feeling that you had frozen boogers in your nose - it ruined me on snow!

So Chuck was really surprised when he came home for lunch and saw the snowman in the backyard. He even asked me who had made it. Like the kids went out there themselves and threw this thing together. Yes, I pulled the bag of my winter clothes out of storage in the garage and bundled up. The poor kids don't have very warm clothes, but I do and I was using every piece of clothing I had to make sure I didn't get cold! And yes, I actually had fun playing in the snow. We weren't out there for too long, just long enough to get the feel of winter - now we hope the snow melts fast!

Look at all this snow!

Samuel and Bella were having fun when the snow first began yesterday jumping on the trampoline and throwing snowballs at me. I got this shot just before Samuel hit me!

Candy Making and Birthday

So it was my birthday this weekend. Let's just say I think I'm in my thirties! Trina and Wes came down to watch the kids while Chuck and I went to his work party and then helped with our kids Sunday because we had to talk in our ward. I was not excited to have to speak on my birthday, but I must say this is the first sacrament meeting that I have heard in years! It was actually really nice to sit up on the stand and enjoy the peace and quiet. Trina helped Samuel make me a cake, Chuck cooked me a delicious steak and helped the kids make muffins for breakfast. Chuck also bought me larger memory sticks for my big and little camera. Great thinking on his part - I need more memory for all the pictures I take. Chuck was figuring I probably had taken almost 20,000 pictures this year! Yes I did type that right. What can I say, I love pictures!

Trina and I carrying on the yearly Christmas tradition of candy making. She was commenting on Saturday how quick we were this year. I hated to break her bubble, but she went to bed early on Friday night and I stayed up another couple of hours making the turtles! I love the Christmas candy and am so glad each year if I don't ruin anything. I guess I've only really ruined the turtles the first year I made them without mom, but I get nervous about it every year. Everything turned out great and tastes wonderful!

Christmas Happenings

Okay so the picture doesn't look as bad as the gingerbread house looks in person. It's really a sorry sight and not just the decorating which is to be expected, but the whole construction. The directions said to build it and then wait 15 minutes while the frosting dried before decorating. Well, that's nice, but you can't wait that long with little ones so excited to decorate. So we figured waiting wasn't really that important - wrong! Shortly after the kids had lined the roof with the gumballs the roof opened up and almost all the gumdrops fell inside a gaping hole. Then the back started falling in, the people were falling over. Oh what a mess!

Me trying to hold the thing together while it dried. This has got to be one of the sorriest looking gingerbread houses ever created!

And the construction begins!

Live Nativity

We took the kids to the live nativity a couple of weeks ago. Samuel loved the music and keeps asking us if we can go again. We would love to take him again, but the weather has been too cold! I also love listening to the beautiful music and watching the nativity scene acted out. Each year I try hard not to tear up as Mary comes riding in on the donkey. After having kids of my own and hating to just ride in the car near the end of pregnancy I can't imagine the journey and circumstances she endured - and probably without a complaint.

There's a story behind this picture. As we were driving to watch the nativity we told the kids where we were going and Samuel who has not been there since last year said, "Oh that's where they have the waterfall and the river that runs out of the canyon." Chuck turned to me and asked what is he talking about. I wasn't sure, but thought he was obviously confused about something so we spent the next few minutes trying to get him straightened out telling him there was no waterfall or river there. Then we pulled in and stoped at the stop sign and what do we see, but the waterfall. Samuel then said, "See mom and dad I was right - there's the waterfall!" Then we realized the "river" was the water that runs down the stairs and along the walkway. What a memory this guy has!