Christmas this year was pretty relaxed. Prince's cousin, his wife and daughter visited from California, and we had a lot of fun with them. Between Chrstmas with my family and Christmas here the kids cleaned up! Ayo recieved the motherload of all things cars. Big trucks, little cars, even a semi truck that hauls cars! Me and Prince gave him a little gangster truck that jumps on hydrolics, and he LOVES that! Samarrah got lots of girlie things, a new bed set for her twin bed, a microphone, she enjoys interviewing us, a baking set so she can bake with mom, and lots of chapstick. We had a lot of fun apending time together as a family, and enjoying the Spirit of the season. Hope you all had a great Christmas!!!! We are looking forward to New Years and our Anniversary. Love you all!!!!
Christmas dinner on their new kids table Santa brought for them

Ayo's tons of cars!!

Samarrah with her loot...

Samarrahs bed set complete with 4 dollar canopy from D.I.

Christmas in Vegas

Last weekend we had an early Christmas in Vegas since everyone was in town for my brothers daughters blessing. It was a blast, it snowed like crazy, and we had we too much fun! Tyler, Brookelyn, and Isabelle were down from WA and we had so much fun with them. Samarrah and Ayo and Isabelle were so cute playing together. We had our Christmas dinner and presents on Saturday, and we recieved the MOST thoughtful gifts. We are so lucky to have such amazing family. It is always so sad when we have to leave. Here are a few pics of the weekend. Thanks to mom, dad, Tyler, Brookelyn, Alyson, Melany, Bryan and Michelle, we love you all SOOO much. P.S. not pictured is Saturday morning when me and my mom, Alyson, Melany, and Brookelyn woke up early and drove to St. George to go to Tai Pan and spend Christmas money. It was pretty much as good as in my dreams!!!!!!! I love Tai Pan!!!! P.S.S. So also that Sat. morning was grandkids pictures, and the guys had to take the kids alone, how we wish we could have been flies on the wall! The pictures turned out great!
all 4 grandkids, sorry it is a picture of a picture.

Samarrah and Ayo

In the snow with Grandma

Fun in the snow!

Christmas jammies (Samarrah, Ayo and Isabelle)

Christmas dinner

Ayo's favorite...his 4 wheeler he rides 24/7

Samarrahs new pink radio with diamond buttons

Christmas clothes

Samarrah's beautiful cape my mom made for her!

Let it Snow

So it has snowed one day every year that we have lived here and it has always been in February. But yesterday it snowed ALL
day, it was really neat. It did not start sticking to the ground till the sun started going down, but it was still so much fun!

The snow we had last night...


What we woke up to this morning...

Santaphobia!!

So I have finally found the official name for my childrens issue...Santaphobia! It is real, and my children are full of it. So tonight we went to our ward Christmas party and after dinner and the program we decided to sneak out the nearest exit before Santa showed up. We are leaving out the exit, and a member of the bishopric says" watch out Santa is coming through this door "next thing you know we are face to face with Santa in the doorway, Samarrah starts screaming and takes off running, I was holding Ayo so he did okay, but me and Prince are busting up while he picks her up and tries to calm her down. We could not have timed it worse. So we finally got out of there, and it was SNOWING outside. AHHH! it was so exciting. We drove the kids around to look at Christmas lights, and as we drove past the temple, Samarrah said " Mommy I think the temple is cold, the temple needs a jacket." it was adorable. It was so much fun!
So I cannot post without pictures so I included pictures of our tree, stockings, and the foam Santa house me and the kids made. Enjoy!

Temple lights

On Monday for FHE we took the kids to the temple to see the lights. It was really windy and the leaves falling from the trees looked like snow. It was lots of fun and a great reminder of what Christmas is really about.

Riding Along

now that Samarrah is tall enough to reach her pedals, Prince is trying to get her to do it. So here's to pedaling on her own, hopefully!

Christmas Card Rejects

So in an attempt to save big bucks we have started taking most of the kids pictures ourselves, we hope to one day have a fancy camera, but for now use our little digital. If we take enough eventually we get a good one. Well we decided to take the kids out and try to get some good Christmas card pictures. All did not go so well, we ended up with a few good ones that made it to the card, but to us the best are the rejects because they are full of personality. and you would figure it would be twice as hard with two kids, but it is like 20 times harder. So, here are a few of our Christmas card rejects!

Our definite favorite!


Mid-jump

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was so fun. My sister in law Michelle made a delicious meal. It was so relaxing to just hang out with family. We even went bowling for my mom's birthday on Saturday. It was Prince's first time and he did really well. After boxes of Christmas decorations and saying "Don't touch that tree" fifty times already I am starting to wish Thanksgiving had never ended.
Thanksgiving dinner

Traditional holiday breakfast of monkey bread.

My Dad and Ayo at the park.

Samarrah at the park

Prince doing all of the dinner dishes!

Splashing in the rain puddles in Grandma's backyard.

Prince bowling

The kids were great at the bowling alley because we kept them fed!

My mom's birthday was Friday. She is 50 but does not look a day over 30. She is pretty much the most amazing person I know. Happy Birthday Mom we love you!!!