Santa Found Us

We had a Very Merry Christmas at our house! I guess Santa thought the kids were nice because he sure did spoil them!  And the kids spoiled Russell and I by not waking up until 7:30!

The kids with their socks. Santa filled them well. I bought Aiden and Jack pj's with shirts this year, even though they don't wear them, because I was hoping for some Christmas morning pictures with a shirt on this year...Jack went along, but Aiden didn't.

The kids in front of the tree and the presents...

 Jack got what he wanted! An "almost all terrain" vehicle as he calls it. He also loved his new skate board, his trek deck skate boards and his new c.d. player.

Eliza's big dream this year was a secret password journal...Santa heard her and delivered. She spent the whole day making up new passwords and then forgetting them :) She also loved her Selina Gomez cd, light up twinkle toe slippers, and tons of doll cloths.

Another year, another massive lego for Aiden! He was a happy clam down in the basement putting it together all day.  He finished at 10 p.m. that night. Aiden also liked his Harry Potter wizard chess set, another lego and his five new plaid shirts he special ordered.

We also got to party with the Jaussi's over Christmas.  Christmas eve was quite a fun night at the Toponce's. Here is my dad, Megan, Kenny, my mom and Hallie enjoying the festivities. We played bingo, pictionary, had a talent show and ate a lot of delicious food. 

Here are Eliza and Aiden in their new hats they got at Grandma Liston's party.

The best is when my mom dressed up in a Santa outfit for her and my dad's talent of bell ringing.

Here are the cousins in their new pajama's and Grandma in front! 
It is amazing all of the work and preparation it takes to get ready for Christmas and how fast the month flies. We had such a great time being with family and friends that it makes me sad to think we have wait for a whole other year for it to come again!

December

We have had a busy December with shopping, birthday's, parties, and getting ready for Santa.  But we have had some time for playing in the snow as well.

Aiden tried snowboarding for the first time this winter. He got a fifth grade pass from Ski Utah that lets him go to each ski resort in Utah three times and it only cost $25. He went to Sundance with Russell and had a great time.

He looks good with his helmet and goggles! 

 He met up with Kyler, who has a season pass this year, and they did a couple of runs together.

We also went up to the cabin and did some sledding.  Here are Eliza and Paige.

Jack loved racing down the hill!

Aiden and Eliza.

Jack is 5!

Jack had his big FIVE year old birthday on December 8th! I can hardly believe my baby is five. He had a fun day with a big birthday party during the day and Chuck E Cheese at night with the family and Aunt's Jean and Jane.

 Here is the party! What a fun and wild group of monkeys! They had a great time playing games, eating cupcakes and ice cream and running a muck of the house. 

 Jack is showing off one of his cool presents to Jace.

Here is Jack with his remote control helicopter that he had been asking for from his mom and dad for about three months!

Singing happy birthday to Jack.  He was so happy that all of his friends could be there on his big day.

Yep, buddy your five!!

Aiden's Birthday

It was Aiden's 11th birthday on Friday! He had a party at Grandma Liston's cabin last year and wanted to do that again this year.  So we loaded up two vans full of boys and went to party at the cabin.  They played, tag, and hide and seek, and WII, and the sign game.  They ate pizza and candy and drank soda. It was a crazy fun night.

Here is the group Ethan P, Issac, Ethan H, Skyler, Duncan Spencer, Kyler, Aiden, Jack and Adam.

Here they are flashing their signs...

Aiden opened his presents before we headed up to the cabin.  He was so happy and thought his friends picked out the perfect presents for him.  Russell and I got him Skylander's video game which he loved.

And here is Aiden and Skyler after they received their Arrow of Light awards at Pack Meeting.  These boys are now moving on to 11 year old scouts!

Happy Birthday Aiden!

Provo Beach Resort

We had a fun day after Thanksgiving.  We went to Provo Beach Resort and spent the whole day there with our cousins.  We had never been there and it was a lot of fun.  We got a deal on an all day pass that allowed you to do everything all day long, except for the flow rider you got an hour.

 Here are Russell and Aiden on the ropes course.  I went on it and had a bit of anxiety. It was scary all the way up there.  But these boys walked around like they were on the ground.  It think Aiden did this activity four or five times.  He loved it.

 Here I am on the flow rider. I am glad Russell got a picture because as soon as I would get on I would zoom up and off the top.  But I thought it was way fun and would want to do it again.  Maybe I would even try standing up! :)

 Here is Aiden catching a wave...

Look at Eliza's face!  She did it once and then sat down for the next 50 minutes until at the very end she did it two more times.  I am glad that she tried!

 Even Jack got into it.  He did really good, and it was fun to see him boogie board with the rest of us.  Russell couldn't do it because his back has been sore for about four weeks now and he didn't want to make it worse.

 Here are the boogie boarders waiting for our next wave!

We also had fun bowling.  Jack and I bowled two games and had a great time.

Here is Eliza on the ropes course.  She did it twice, although she was like her mom and thought it was scary.  The Provo Beach Resort also had miniature croquet, a big play land, a carousel, and arcade games.  We did it all.

One of my favorite parts of the day was when Joleen went into their clothing shop and found the swimming suits 75% off and told me to get in there.  We both bought swimming suits. I love to buy new suits, so that made me happy.

Pumpkin Carving

I had to get the pictures of us carving our pumpkins up before it is Christmas!

 Here I am pulling out the guts of Eliza's pumpkin.  I am such a nice mom. And Eliza is so cute.

Here is Jack and his giant pumpkin from Grandpa Jaussi's house.

 Here we are working away.

Eliza had a very creative flower idea that Russell brought to life.  It turned out really cute.

Here we are with our creations!

Halloween!

Halloween was great yesterday. The weather was perfect, the kids were cute and the candy kept coming!

 Eliza at the school costume parade.  She looked so cute with her long black hair....

 But when we went trick or treating she said the hair was too irritating.  She still looked awesome as a purple witch.  She wanted to be a purple witch since last Halloween, and we were glad that cousin Abbie had the perfect costume.  Thanks Abbie!

The Ninja, the Witch and the Indian.  They made a great team.

 It wouldn't be Halloween without a picture of these two cuties. They had a great time running around from door to door and harvesting the candy.

 The trick or treating crew meeting up at Grandma's house.  Eliza, Paige, Jace, Troy, Jack, Annabelle, Russell holding Luke and Gabe.

 Here is a picture of black hair Jack.  He shocked quite a few people with his black hair.  Including Russell at his preschool performance.  His own dad didn't recognize him for a second. Everybody is always just looking for the white hair!

Aiden was pretty low maintenance this year.  He pulled out his ninja costume from a couple of years ago and called it good.  He was most excited about getting candy. This was his first year that he got to run around with a group of friends and not with the family.  He had a great night and I am glad he got home safe and sound!

Hiking the Y

Over fall break we decided to hike up to the Y.  It was Eliza's idea, but once we started she denied ever wanting to do it.  It is a pretty steep trail.  But we all made it to the top and had a great time doing it.

Russell, Jack and Eliza taking a break on the trail and enjoying the view.

Eliza and Jack

 On the top of the Y. Aiden brought his friend Skyler and they got to the top way before us and back to the car in a flash as well.  So I am glad I got to see them for a few minutes at the top.

 Eliza, Skyler and Aiden.  The Y was all lit up for homecoming.

We tried to have a picnic dinner at the top but as you can see from Jack's hair it was quite windy so we didn't stay up there very long.

Eliza and her Dad.  What a fun night!