A Speedy Christmas

So this year our plan was to have our "Christmas day" on the 23rd, where Santa would come and Kevin would stay home from work and we would just relax and get ready for our flights to Disney that were supposed to be the 24th. Well nature had other plans and when we heard that big storms were abrewing on the 24th we called and the airline put us on flights now leaving the 23rd. Well we found this out late on the 22nd so it became a scramble to pack and hurry up and have a little Christmas (Santa came while we went to Target to take care of some banking business... you have to improvise sometimes as a parent) before we flew out. It was rushed and tiring and lacking in some tradition, but the kids loved their Santa gifts and we did get out the door on time and all was well... Here's a few pictures of our "Christmas morning" which took place about 6pm on the 22nd, after a not so traditional Christmas eve dinner of Hot Dogs at Target.

New Pajamas.

The girls got princess dresses, sunglasses and some other fun toys.

I got Tinkerbell pajamas- in keeping with our "Disney" theme.

Kevin got a BYU snuggie- really what could be better?

And Brayden got the DS he has been wanting for a long long time.

On the real Christmas day we were spoiled to be with every member of our family on my side. What better Christmas gift is there than that!

Merry Christmas to all...

This was our family Christmas Card this year. I totally underestimated the number of friends and family I have when I ordered these so my apologies to the many many many friends and family who have to enjoy the internet version. We love you and wish you all a Merry Christmas!

A New Winter Sport is Born... I call it Synchronized Sledding!

These kids have really benefited from our big dump of snow. They've got quite the set up going. It's providing hours of entertainment. It's a lot of fun to watch.
Here's another one of Brayden getting a better run at it :)

And then one of Kenna's slides.

Snow DayS

Winter is here and it has come with a bang. Tuesday of last week we got about 10 inches of snow and then on Wednesday the winds went crazy and blew the snow all over the place. Thursday continued the craziness with treacherous roads and bitter cold.
The result: not 1, not 2 but 3 Snow Days!
Interestingly, the kids were as excited about not having school on Tuesday as they were about going back to school on Friday.All of the above pictures were actually taken on Monday- before the big blizzard- only this last one was taken after. The kids (esspecially Brayden) did still play outside A LOT durring the snow days but it was just to cold for me to want to go out and take pictures.

Thank goodness for play doh.

In an attempt to curb the encroaching boredom on day 2 at home, I mixed up some play doh which turned out to be a huge hit. Makenna played with it pretty much all day, and as she did she raved over and over about how this was so amazing that we could actually make our own play doh. I guess that means its been a while...

Tis the Season

We bought one of those gingerbread house kits at Costco. It was the greatest thing. I was so happy to open the box to a preassembled gingerbread house. All it needed was some candy slapped on it and that was the perfect project for the kids. They had a great time... and Scott was quite a helper too.Then onto tonight... A family down the street throws a great Christmas party every year with Santa and presents and everything. Its a great chance for us to get our Santa pictures for the year... so here they are.I love her expression in this picture. Brielle was a bit leery of Santa at first... but by the end of the night she was hugging him, following him around, calling his name and climbing on his lap like they were best friends. It was pretty cute.Now some of the older kids at the party were too cool to sit on Santa's lap. I am sure glad Brayden isnt there yet. I dread those days.The Family Shot. I can't believe how old we all are!

And for some comic relief, I am throwing in this picture (below). Isn't this a great hat! She LOVES it because its a Dora hat and it just cracks me up every time she wears it.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

So how was our Thanksgiving weekend you ask? Well it was very lovely. We relaxed and enjoyed our time. We ate good fun, spent time with good friends, and had great weather.

Here is the feast.
Our crew turned out a bit smaller than anticipated as the Thomas' had to go to Utah for a family situation. We missed them and hope all is well. We were joined by the Hammer family and Scott.
The food turned out fabulously. We had an abundance of pies- reflective of our abundance of blessings. We have so much too be thankful for and we know it. I tried a new pie this year- it was called Maple Pear Heaven- it had a crumble topping. It was a nice alternative to the traditional apple. It may even be worth repeating.And then on to Black Friday. Kevin was the brave soul who woke up at 4 am to get to Walmart. He got almost everything on our list, including this basketball hoop. He spent the rest of the day setting it up. It took hmmm lets just say several hours.
And then he was on to the Christmas lights. We asked to borrow our neighbors ladder and because he is a nice guy or maybe didn't trust us on the ladder, proceeded to put up almost all our lights for us. We are blessed with great neighbors.
So if you remember our controversy over the lights last year, you will appreciate that we have lights on the top peaks this year... and since it wasn't Kevin on the ladder it looks like this year we both got what we wanted.

And while Kevin was outside with his projects all day I worked on finishing this cake (click here) for his co workers parents anniversary.

And then onto Saturday... We had a BYU Utah rivalry party to watch the game. We invited 5 families- some hard core Utah fans and some die hard Cougar fans. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a great time too- there were 16 of them total- P.A.R.T.Y. Here's a few cute pictures.

Go Cougars!

And now onto the beginning of Christmas...
I bought the kids a new tree this year so they could have their own to decorate as in years past. They put it up all by themselves and I had a great time watching them having so much fun. It is full of personality, this tree, and I had no stress while they did it-- just knowing that now I could do my tree my way on my own-- I know that's a bad mother attitude but the two tree system seems to work best for this household...
Brielle has thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas decorations. She has broken several ornaments but her favorite "decoration" is this singing Santa.

And it should be noted this went on for at least a good ten minutes.

And one last thing.

And now you may wonder why a picture of meat would round off my post this evening. Well, this is what may happen to you if you move to Nebraska- I never suspected - no not ever that for our Sunday dinner we would eat something my husband had shot the day before- seriously is this my life?

Well this is venison (a.k.a. deer meat). Kevin went hunting with a co worker and well - like I said...when you move your family to Nebraska... what else can you expect. So seriously if I hadn't known what I was eating, I wouldn't have been able to tell that it was anything different. It was actually (dare I say it) pretty good...

If you want to hear the hunting story or see pictures of Kevin with a dead deer- you'll have to talk to him. This is all I could stomach... hahaha.