Christmas Day

Christmas morning is always so exciting when you get to watch your children's face light up.  This Christmas was no exception.  After all the Santa excitement slowed down, we spent a few hours over at Grandma Val's and Grandpa Steve's where we opened a few more gifts, had a french toast breakfast, and just enjoyed our time with family.  The rest of the day was just spent relaxing and playing with the kids.  What a wonder Christmas season it had been.

Christmas Eve

We had such a wonderful time on Christmas Eve.  We had a big dinner at Grandma & Grandpa Dollar's house and then had a short program that Jessica put together.  We sang Christmas Carols as the grandkids acted out the parts of the Nativity.  Mike, Kelsey and Adam were Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus.  It was so fun to watch the kids get so excited to dress up and play the parts.  After the short program, we exchanged gifts and Grandpa & Grandma let the grandkids open their presents.  We arrived home around 7:30 where we let the boys open their new PJs and a new Christmas story that we read before they headed off to bed.  

Family Time at the Cabin

On Friday, Dec. 19th, we faced the snowstorm and headed to a cabin just past Heber.  The family all safely arrived by that evening despite all the snow and steep slippery roads.  Brian and Sara were the last to arrive.  We had to send a rescue team to show them the way since they got lost. We played games that night and had a big ham dinner.  

Saturday morning, Barrett and Brooke cooked a wonderful french toast breakfast and we all bundled up to go play in the snow.  We made a little sledding hill just outside the side door of the cabin.  The four-wheelers were great fun on the snow covered roads and acted as a great lift to the top of the steep road so we could ride the tubes to the bottom.  Dallin and Daxton had fun building snow caves and others just hiked around and tried out the snow shoes.  It was such a relaxing day.  

We played more games that afternoon and warmed up with hot chocolate.  I was able to get a lot of reading done and our boys enjoyed the skee-ball and ping-pong table in the basement. That night we relaxed with some delicious soup and snacks while we watched the disappointing Vegas Bowl.  

Sunday morning we hung around and slowly packed our bags.  After leaving the cabin, we stopped to attend Sacrament Meeting in Heber before heading home.  Thanks mom and dad for an awesome weekend with the Fam!

Thanksgiving Break

Thanksgiving break was sure fun this year.  On Wednesday morning we headed up to Idaho to spend the rest of the week with Uncle Bruce and Aunt Linda's family.  The four hour drive went quickly thanks to the iPod and iPhones that had many episodes of Avatar on them for the boys to watch.  

Since they had a full house, we took another 50 minute drive that night up to their Ranch where we got to stay in the cabin with Gary, Laura, and Tyler.  The boys thought this was really great and were excited to see the horses and cows.

Thursday morning we dropped Matt off in Idaho Falls where he met up with Aaron, Ryan, and My brother Devin and some of Jessica's family for a Turkey Bowl.  (Not often do you get to meet up with family from both sides when your out of town for Thanksgiving)  They had a good time and only minor injuries occurred.  We spent the rest of the morning at Bruce and Linda's cooking for the big meal.  About 2 PM we dug in for a delicious Thanksgiving feast!  The rest of the day we all visited and relaxed, watched a few old movies, and the cousins sure had a fun time playing together.  Late that night we headed back up to the cabin to get some sleep.

On Friday, everyone joined us up at the Ranch where we had left over turkey sandwiches for lunch, played games, watched some football, and let the little ones ride the four wheelers and horses.  They also helped uncle Bruce feed the horses and the cows.  We has some much fun!

We also had some cake to celebrate Ashley's birthday.   That night Gary & Laura and Bruce & Linda had a sleep-over at the cabin with the grandkids (8 kids ages 6 and under!).  The adult cousins went back to Bruce and Linda's for banana splits, a movie, and no kids (except for the 2 babies).  We even got to sleep in without the kids waking us up bright and early.  

Saturday we packed up and headed home.  Thanks, Bruce and Linda for a wonderful Thanksgiving break!

Matt was out of town this week and I was trying to think of some things to do with my boys to help pass the time.  We decided it would be fun to paint some pictures to hang on the wall in their play room.  They turned out great and I can't wait to get some frames so I can hang them up.  They were sure proud of their work and had a fun time doing it.

On Saturday, Matt decided he wanted to start up the grill and make some hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch.  We pulled a package of hot dogs out of the freezer to begin thawing out. A little while later, we returned to the kitchen to find Bradin enjoying the frozen, plastic covered hot dogs.  After asking him what he had done, he just replied "It was good, " in his sweet little inocent voice.  YUCK!!!

Yes, these hot dogs are still in the package and are frozen!  

Bradin didn't seem to care.

It is so fun living just two doors away from Jessica, Hayden, and their darling little Madi!  My boys just adore their little cousin.  They can't figure out why we can't name our little girl Madi or Madilyn.  We had so much fun seeing her on her first birthday.  We can't believe she is already ONE!  It was serious business picking out, wrapping, and delivering her present - the twins were very concerned that we had not remembered to bring it to the party.  They are so excited when she comes to play!  We love you Madi!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Madi - 1st Birthday

Can It be true?

At 3:30 this afternoon, Matt and I headed down to the doctor's office for my ultrasound.  I had butterflies in my stomach the whole way.  I was so excited to find out if this baby would be a boy or a girl.  My mind kept thinking girl, but my logic kept saying "no way" it will definitely be a boy.  At the end of the ultrasound, she finally broke the news that it was a girl.  I kept asking, "are you sure, are you sure......if I buy something pink, is there a chance I will have to take it back?  Are you sure?"  She guaranteed me it was a girl.  It doesn't really seem like it could be real, but we are so excited!  My boys were all right, today at lunch they all said they thought it would be a baby sister.  Well, I guess we will start hunting for a girl name.  Any suggestions you have are welcome!

Halloween

Austin, Alex, Dakota, Daxton, Wesley, Bradin

We had so much fun on Halloween.  After dressing the boys up in their costumes and sending Dakota and Daxton off to school, I took Austin and Bradin over to the elementary school to watch the costume parade.  The twins were fascinated with all of the different costumes.  Daxton looked so cute and had a big grin when he saw us.  After school, the boys could wait to go trick-or-treating.  Mike and Kelsey brought Alex and Wes over to go with us.  We joined our friends Ben and Alisha Brown and their three kids for a whole hour of spooky trick-or-treating fun.  The sprinkling rain added some additional excitement, and just after we knocked on the last door, the rain began to poor.  It was time to jump in the van and head over to visit the grandparents.  Our first stop was Grandma Val and Grandpa Steve's house for a bowl of hot chili and bread sticks.  Cameron was hosting a party for his friends, so it was fun to see all the decorations he had done (especially the garage transformed into a spooky dance hall).  The last stop was Grandma and Grandpa Dollar's house.  The boys always love visiting with them. (Thanks for the fun flashlights Grandma!)

Daxton (a knight in shining armor)

Dakota (a pirate)

Austin (Spiderman - or in his words "Spiderweb")

Bradin (a dragon)

Sugar Cookie Tradition

A few weeks before Halloween we had our second annual sugar cookie decorating party at Grandma Val's house.  This year she pre-made the dough so we could just start cooking.  The boys sure had fun frosting and decorating them.  Austin and Bradin spent the whole time working on their one cookie because they kept eating the candy off it and needing more.  Daxton and Dakota were very creative with the candy and sprinkles.  Daxton made all sorts of funny faces with his.  The best part was eating them when we were done, but Austin and Bradin didn't want to eat theirs (I think they had gotten to sick on the candy).  We delivered some of them to neighbors that night during family night and they were a hit.

Bradin's Alphabet Book

For those of you who don't know, I have found a love for digital scrapbooking.  I spend a lot of my spare moments (I really don't have many) trying to master Photoshop.  I have a million ideas of projects that I want to create, but I can't seem to figure out how to find the time to do all of them. I guess I will just have to be patient.  

The latest project I have been dreaming about is making ABC books for my twins.  I can't believe I actually finished them!  I had them printed and bound through Blurb.  Austin and Bradin have loved them.  It is so cute to see how excited they get as they look at them and tell about the pictures.  Hopefully it helps them to learn their letters (that was the goal).

Austin's Alphabet Book

Pinewood Derby Race

All four boys were so excited about the Pinewood Derby cars they designed and painted.  Matt helped make them with the finishing touches like the weight and wheels.  Daxton and Dakota were most excited to have flames on their cars.  

Our ward had a Pinewood Derby race at our Fall Festival last night.  After the Chili cook-off and some games for the kids, the ward gathered to watch the races begin.  Everyone was invited to participate.  (Last Wednesday Matt even helped the Young Women put the weights in their cars and drilled a couple of holes through his fingers. Don't worry, he is healing just fine!)

  

There were two tracks to race on.  The first was for cars that fell within BSA regulation, and the second was for modified cars (anything goes: motors, lots of weight, etc.)  It was so fun to see all the creativity. There were many ward members who participated.

Our boys cars were within BSA regulation.  Each of our cars won most of the rounds and were very fast.  It was so fun to see them gleam with excitement as their cars raced down the track. 

Daxton and Bradin raced for the championship.  Bradin's car won as the fastest car out of all the entries!  He was pretty excited when everyone started to cheer for him and he was awarded a large bowling trophy and a giant candy bar.

Dakota couldn't understand why he couldn't have a trophy as well; he even asked the event director if he could have one and complained all night that he needed one. We had to explain over and over the way competitions work.   All of the boys had a great time and couldn't wait to go home and play with their fast cars!