Merry Christmas 2010

Christmas has come and passed once again!! I love this time of year. I love celebrating the birth of Christ. I love being home with my family. I love shopping. I love giving. I love partying! :) So a holiday that encompasses all of these things is PERFECT!!

On the 23rd we had to take our traditional trip to see the reindeer to make sure they are getting prepared for their big night!

Christmas Eve brought hyper kids and lots of food to eat!! We skyped with the Henze clan in Utah to open up the Christmas Eve gifts we exchange. It probably puts a bit of a damper on their end but we love it here! My kids are happy to see the cousin whose name they drew open their present they picked! Good times.

On our end we faithfully tracked Santa on Norad, opened our Christmas Eve pj's, read the Christmas story from the scriptures, and made sugar cookies for Santa.









Big morning arrives!

Brylee opening her baby doll from Santa...




Ethan opening his kung zhu battle arena and accessories from Santa..




Alexis has been dreaming for months of having ORANGE Converse shoes and asked Santa for them. He came through!!

Had a great morning opening the rest of the gifts as well. Lucky me...the kids didn't get up until after 8am! Here are a few shots from the morning..



















After presents we had a yummy bacon and eggs breakfast and then went and saw the movie Tangled (super cute!) Came home and played with toys and had a yummy turkey dinner. Apparently I messed up though because we had no dessert!! So next year I owe Alexis a really big, really yummy dessert!

Until we meet again Christmas!!

Christmas Activities

FA LA LA LA LA

'Tis the season for Christmas Activities!

We gathered the neighborhood kiddos and fam's and had an evening Polar Express style. I baked some cake trains and the kids had fun decorating them. After the train decorating we watched the Polar Express movie. I was horrified how many people had not seen this movie!

Bry ate SO much candy, she thought it was a blast!!


Megan and Alexis creating...



Can you say trouble? Ethan, Liam, Jordan and Cade

Girlies :) Hailey, Alexis, Megan and Zoe

After everyone finished their trains we put it together on my track!! I know it's pretty darn hokey, but I had a good time creating it.

These two cuties decided to have a little sampling of the train while everyone was getting ready to leave. I love the look they are both giving that snowman...I believe that his life ended shortly after this pic was taken!!

NEXT....on to school activities! I spent all day at the school on Friday participating in the big kiddos class parties. 4th grade was 1st and it was fabulous! They built "gingerbread" houses out of milk cartons, graham crackers, and a ton of candy. I love that I am able to go to these events and my kids are excited to have me come!!

Next was Ethan's party! It was a bit disorganized and chaotic, but the kids were happy that they weren't doing classwork and that Christmas Break was moments away!

E and his good buddy Cade. They are NOT class clowns at all :)

Love the HOLIDAYS! One week until Christmas! Bring it on!

USU v BSU

We took the two older kids to the USU v BSU today. Being USU alumni, we (of course) had to cheer for our Aggies even though we knew they would get whooped! We actually are calling it a win since they didn't get shut out :)

Ethan and I wearing our "opposing" team gear...

Freezing at the game!

Alexis..




Ethan....




We love doing stuff like this with our kids!!

SNOW DAY!

Well...anytime Boise gets over about 3 inches of snow they call a snow day...and that's exactly what happened today! Actually, this really was a pretty good storm for Boise with a lot of heavy, wet snow. Thane spent 6 (yes SIX) hours plowing people's driveways today. Kids and I played in the snow and ate pizza with friends.





Ethan spent the entire morning with Thane on the wheeler. Plus they gave "pony rides" later in the day.

I think this is the biggest snowman we have ever built!! Alexis did most of it by herself and she did a great job! Uncle Bob 2 has been born!

GOOD DAY! I love being lazy and skipping school, I love my kids' friends, I love my friends, and I love that I have a husband that takes care of the whole neighborhood! :)