Sledding

A day or two after Christmas Josh's sister Becky and her husband Armando and their kids came up and spent some time with us. It was so fun to be with them!! We all went sledding one afternoon and it was so much fun!! Emma has only been sledding a few times and this was Jaxson's first time. They had such a great time. Jaxson wanted to go over and over and let me tell you, it wasn't easy getting that kid off the hill. Even though the park we went to was SO crowded, it was totally worth the great time we had.

Jaxson with his cousin Ethan. This great kid was so helpful with Jax.
The ants were marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah.
There's not much to say other than, yuck.

Thanks to whoever took this photo for cutting off my head!!

The silly looking guy in the orange hat is Josh's brother Danny and the one on the sled is Mando. It was hilarious to watch them try to hit the jump as they went down the hill. I didn't get any good photos, but all the guys got into a pretty good snow ball fight when we were done. Why is it that guys have to bring a competition into everything? Thanks guys for such a great afternoon!!

New Years Eve Olympics

So we tried something new for New Years last year. We had the first ever New Years Olympic Games. We divided everyone up into three teams, even the kids. Each team had to come up with a cheer. Then they decided which team members were going to participate in which event. Some of the events were, Ice fishing(bobbing for apples), the golden ring event(eating a doughnut off a string, snowman stuffing(each participant sees how many marshmellows they can shove in their mouth, and elf mud wresting(each participant is blindfolded and one of them tries to feed the other a cup of chocolate pudding) to name a few. Needless to say we had a blast. I can't remember why but my camera stopped working sometime in the middle of the games so I'll post the pictures that I have. If any of my family has more please send them to me!!


This is Steph and Adams team cheer

This is Jen and Blairs team cheer

I think Brian and Dad's team cheer is on moms camera with the rest of the photos, so mom, would you send them to me so I can post them. Please!!

Christmas 2009

So brace yourselves because this is a massively long post and it's going to be long. It happened a long time ago so if you don't want to read, I DON'T BLAME YOU!!! I have to do this though for my benefit, so I don't forget it. So this year, actually it was last year, we weren't going to go to Idaho Falls until after Christmas. A big part of it was that we knew that Emma was getting a dollhouse and there was NO WAY that we could fit it and all the rest of the gifts plus our luggage into the van. After realizing that we really did want to go early we called Santa and asked him if he would bring their big gifts a day or two early. He of course complied. So the kids got their big gifts early and we packed (more like shoved) everything else into our van and headed home. I am SO GLAD that we went early!! We were able to spend some fabulous time with my brothers and it was so nice to be home for the Holidays!!

GETTING SOME GIFTS EARLY: The night that Santa brought some gifts early Josh and I were in the living room helping get things ready. Some one knocked on our door but when we opened it all that was there was a box of gifts. Some sweet person wanted to make our Christmas better and left clothes and toys for the kids. It was so appreciated and I'm so grateful for examples like that who show my kids the way they should be. These are some photos of them opening their gifts early. We got to do so many fun things at Grandma and Grandpa's house because we went early!! One of them was we got to play in the snow. We haven't had much snow up here this winter so the kids had a blast playing in my parents backyard. Isaac LOVES the snow!!

Jaxson had a blast throwing the ball to Poacher. All I can say is that it's a good thing he had gloves on because that ball is NASTY!!I took Isaac inside earlier than the other kids and when I looked out the window I saw this. Josh is such a great daddy!! They had so much fun with him on the trampoline.
The power went out on Christmas eve day, but that didn't stop Uncle Mike from having fun. He pulled out his battery operated Ipod docking station and turned up the tunes. It was HILARIOUS watching him dance around with the kids!! Mike you are the greatest!! So are you Brian!! I am so glad I got to spend time and play games and just be with you guys!! I love you both tons!!

When the power came back on the kids helped Grandpa make the sugar cookies that they would decorate later that evening. Thanks for taking time to keep the traditions up with my kids Dad and Mom. I sure love you guys!!

CHRISTMAS EVE: Our family has a lot of traditions on Christmas eve. One of them is that we ALWAYS decorate sugar cookies. (I even had to make sure that I did on my mission) Everyone got into it and I'll tell you we had some pretty interesting cookies. What's sad is that the weirdest ones were done by the adults, not the kids.

Another tradition is that we always open a gift on Christmas Eve. Josh and I have changed it a little so that they always get some fun pajamas. A tradition that is really important to all of us is one that we have done ever since I can remember. There is a poem about the birth of Christ that is narrated by Burl Ives and comes with a book that you turn the pages as you listen to it. We couldn't find the book so we had to improvise but the spirit was there and that's all that mattered.

EGGNOG IS ALWAYS A MUST ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!

After one try, Isaac is now addicted to the stuff!!

It was so funny that on Christmas morning it was the adults waiting for the kids to wake up and not the other way around. I came up to find them all piled on the bed together. In the end Mike couldn't stand the anticipation and pounded on the floor to wake the kids up.

TIME TO OPEN GIFTS!!

I love that Isaac is finally at the age that he has fun ripping the paper off instead of looking at us and wondering what the heck we are doing. Emma was sooo excited about this. Needless to say it has taken a beating since it came out of the box.

Jaxson LOVES Thomas the train and was ecstatic to get a remote control Thomas.

PLAYTIME WITH GRANDPA HILL: After we opened gifts at my house on Christmas morning we headed over to Josh's parents house. Grandpa Hill wasted no time getting down on the floor to play. The kids love it when they can climb on Grandpa Hill's shoulder and have him flip them over into a pile of pillows. They have so much fun.

Isaac LOVES poacher!!! He thinks that he is the greatest thing in the world and tries to lay on him whenever he can. Poor Dog.

We had a great Christmas!! I realize every time that I am home that I have such a wonderful family!!

OK, so I know that it has been SO LONG since I have posted anything it has been just a little bit crazy around here!! I started babysitting full time and though it has been a good thing it leaves me with little time and no energy for other things like blogging. Even when I had last week off, because of sick kids all I wanted to do was get my house clean and relax. So, my goal this week is to get caught up. I have to start back at Christmas (I know that was a long, long time ago) but I want to do it for my own records. So you can check at the beginning of the week and see what happened over christmas, or you can hold out and check at the end of the week to see what's happening more recently. I will try to do better and thanks to all of you for caring about us!!
Love Ya!!