Family Fun

New Year's Eve Day was all about the kids.

We spent the day in Logan at the Family Fun Center and then to Fredrico's for lunch.

We all had a BLAST!! I love the holidays!

First Snow of the Year

If you know me, you know I HATE to be cold.

So needless to say, any winter sport is not my thing.

Taking a few pictures was bout my extent of participation in the following activities....

here are 2 of probably the 5 I took before it was too cold, and I went back inside.

Aaron and Amy took the kids on the big sled.... which we usually pull with the 4 wheeler. Aaron claims this big sled is too big for the 4 wheeler with this many people... I don't know if I buy that.... maybe this "hates to be too cold" thing runs in the family?

Cory took this on December 13th. One of our first big snow storms. I had to work that morning, so Cory let the kids go out to play. They were still out when I got home.... they had soooo much fun! (can you guess whether the Saturday chores got done FIRST before play?)

The Pouter

Gage absolutely loves to ride the skid loader with Grandpa.

His ears are fine tuned to the roar of the motor and the back up beeper.

He will come running and shouting.... "mom, grandpa's on the skid loader!" and is instantly rounding up the "gear" he needs to head out in the cold.... long before any of the rest of us can hear it.

Today was a repeat of those events.... but only after 10 or 15 minutes, Grandpa had to bring him back in cuz the loader got a flat, and he needed to go home to change it, and he would be back to get Gage. However, Gage just wasn't getting it, and immediately started to cry, ran in his room to pout, and this is what I found a few minutes later.....

Silly kid. Pouting doesn't pay..... it puts you to sleep!

Post Christmas Blues

Today I am having a little Christmas "Let Down" I guess you could call it. It's not really a depression, just sad to see it all end. I really enjoyed it this year. (strange since it started out like not feeling like Christmas to me, and feeling like I wanted another month before it came) I could have come away with not one gift for myself, and it would have been just as good. I LOVE that feeling of shopping for someone, and then giving it to them...... hoping it makes them happy. We really tried to have a more Christ centered Christmas this year, and more family activities. We spent more time than usual with each other, and I just don't want to see it end. I asked Cory last night... "Do you really have to go to work tomorrow?" I have really enjoyed just being at home with my family all day long, and soing activites and playing together day after day. I think we all should have this kind of "Vacation" every year. The kind where you stay at home, and everything else in life ceases, and you are just TOGETHER. Normal vacations consist of planning, traveling, running here or there to see this and that, and it's just busy and hectic. Not to mention a lot of work and money. I am liking the kind of Vacation where we just stay home and focus on each other and doing things together.

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Christmas Day

Christmas was a wonderful day.

We were all spoiled once again.... as you can see with every one's smiles.

The power was out for 4.5 hours in the afternoon. And we all had a wonderful 2 hour nap and then played games, read stories, and cleared snow. I even finished up our Christmas Turkey dinner on the Gas cook top the "old fashioned" way with pots and pans..... (no crock pots and microwaves!) and it turned out great, and the power came back on just as we were sitting down to eat.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is usually spent at my parents home, with yummy food, a "little present" game that has different amounts of cash hidden inside, and our usual family history story we get from mom and dad.

This year was a bit different. Most of my siblings didn't stay overnight, so it ended earlier than usual, and we exchanged gifts with the person we had drawn the name of on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day.

This year, one of the gifts we gave Mom & Dad was a little family book that I made. It had a section in it of each of their children and their families. It had a current family picture, a typed up testimony of each adult, and the 2 older grandchildren, a hand or footprint for each grandchild along with their name and age, and then a picture collage of each grandchild.

I think they liked it. I know I did. It was so good to actually read my Husband's testimony, since he refuses to share it publicly. I never heard complaints from my sister, but my brothers weren't very excited to do their part. Too bad for them, their good wives made them do it anyway.... Thanks for your help!