Sledding

Since we don't get much snow where we live, we decided to head up the mountains to use those new sleds Santa gave us for Christmas. It was a two hour drive there and back, so it was quite a drive, but definitely worth it. At least for the big kids it was worth it. Jaron hated every moment of it! He didn't want his feet to touch the snow. We had to carry him every where, so after awhile Pete just took him back to the van. The other kids loved it and Shaylee was fearless. In fact at one point she got tired of waiting for me to go up the hill with her, so she took the sled and marched up the hill and went zipping down by herself! She is such a little spit fire! I think Brandon and Kenyon could have stayed there all day, it took me forever to gather them up to head back home. What a fun day and memory for the kids.


This is how Jaron enjoyed the sledding trip! In the van eating chips!


Who needs a sled?






Even crashing is fun!






What a cute little face! Gotta LOVE that smile!

New Year's Eve

Growing up, my parents always had New Year's Eve be a night that was just for the family. My sisters, brother and I always looked forward to NYE because it was so much fun and all about the kids. We played games, watched movies, ate yummy food and watched the ball drop in Times Square. So, last year when my parents were here we did the same thing and decided to continue that tradition and make NYE all about being together as a family.

We had a great time. We started the night by watching Pete's new movie he got for Christmas, "Night at the Museum 2". Then we played our new game we got from Santa called Blokus and some other games that the kids got for Christmas. Then we started jamming with our new Wii game Band Hero. We stopped playing that long enough to watch the ball drop in Times in Square and the continued jamming until about one in the morning. It was a late night, but the kids had such a great time, it was worth it to do it once a year. It is definitely a tradition we will continue.
















It's 2010! Happy New Year!

Pete singing Taylor Swift. You gotta have the hair in order to sing Taylor!

Our first snow fall

Well, it didn't come on Christmas day, but it did come during Christmas Vacation. We got a whopping two inches of snow that lasted for almost 24 hours. WOO HOO! It wasn't a lot, but the kids LOVED it. They went out as soon as it started and played until it got dark and then went out first thing in the morning to play some more before it all melted. They even took the new sleds Santa gave them and went sledding down out neighbors driveway. Hopefully we will get a little more before the winter is over. Shaylee keeps telling me she wants to build a snowman.

This was at the beginning of the night, we had about 2 in. by morning

Christmas Day

We had a great Christmas this year, with the exception of poor Shaylee who woke up at 4 am throwing up! Not a good way to start out Christmas day! Luckily she went back to sleep for a few more hours and then at 7 am she woke up again and I let her go get all her brothers up. We came down the stairs Christmas morning to a tree full of gifts from Santa Clause. Shaylee was able to open her presents and play a bit with her toys until after lunch and then the stomach bug really hit her HARD! Poor thing was down and out for the rest of Christmas Day and all of the day after. She was really sick. When she started feeling better, she asked when Christmas would come again. I think she felt kind of jipped because she wasn't feeling well. It was sad to have to tell her not for 364 more days baby doll!

We stayed at home for Christmas and all the kids enjoyed playing with their new toys. It was nice to be together as a family with nothing to do, but eat and have fun. We miss our family on Christmas day, but we are grateful for each other and the fun we have together as our own little family.

Christmas Eve

We always spend Christmas Eve with my sister, Gina and her family. This year we had it at Gina's house. We continue the traditions that we grew up with and hope to spread those traditions to our children. We start the night out with our traditional pizza and pop. YUM! And yes the pizza MUST be homemade. Then we have a little program with singing and stories and then the nativity. As girls, Gina and I always dressed up for the nativity, but Gina has these cute puppets that we use with our kids because it's easier and we don't have to figure out the outfits and who is going to be who. It works out really well and the puppet show is CRAZY, but the kids love it and it's a lot of fun. We then end the night by opening one present. Our kids always get something to do with bed time. PJ's, pillows, slippers and this year they got robes. Kenyon hid his eyes when Jaron and Shaylee opened their presents because he wanted his to be a surprise and he knew he would get the same thing they got. It was a fun night and I am so glad that I have a sister here to spend the holidays with.

Go COUGARS!!!!!!

Being a BYU alumni, I love BYU and am always excited when they do well in football. This year they were in the Las Vegas bowl playing Oregon State University. Since we live in Oregon territory it was fun to have some good friends cheering for BYU with us. We got together with some of these friends for the game, pizza and a birthday celebration on Tuesday December 22nd. Our whole family dressed in our BYU gear for the day to give the team a little luck and we enjoyed every moment of the stompin' we gave OSU! WOOT! WOOT! It was really fun to enjoy the game with such good company.

My kids earlier in the day in their BYU apparel
playing the computer together. TOO CUTE!

Shaylee enjoyed the game with her two best friends
(Kenyon told Shay that morning when she
put the shirt on that she wasn't wearing a
BYU shirt because it says, Brigham Young
University! I laughed and laughed and then
told him that's what BYU stands for.)

Jaron enjoyed the game giving his "deedee"
a ride in the stroller

The boys enjoyed the game playing with this group of kids.
Happy Birthday Mason!

Pete enjoyed the game cheering the loudest of anyone!

I enjoyed the game hanging with my best girlfriend!

Yummy, BYU cake

Jaron was beggin off of Hannah and she loves him so
much, she just feeds him the cake! YUM! YUM!

Shaylee's Dance Party

Shaylee had a dance party on her last day of dance for the year. They showed the parents what they do every week at dance class. She is using the bar this year and it was so cute watching those little girl's do all the different ballet positions. This was her last day at this dance studio since her dance teacher is moving all of her classes to a new dance studio. Shaylee's class will change to a ballet/tap combo. I am excited for her to be able to try out tap as well as ballet.