Can't forget the New Year!

I almost forgot about the New Years Bash we threw!  Of course, New Years was at around 9:00, so that we could put the kids to bed at a decent time, but they sure thought that they were awesome!  We had so much fun dancing, playing pool, Mario Kart (which the kids were actually pretty good at considering their ages and that they had never played any video games before!) and playing a wicked game of Twister!  Cheers to 2010, and here's to a BRAND NEW 2011!  Good times to come.

Poor Mal had no hubs to keep her company. :(  It's alright.  We snuggled on the couch while Cole snored on the ground to ring in the New Year!

Rach even joined us for a big for our "fake new year" Before she left for her dancy dance.

GRANDMA'S PARTY!!!

so while my dad and brothers were stuck in Nebraska, the Grandkids deemed it their duty to wake Grandma B up every morning so that she wouldn't be lonely.  I came in one morning to find this...

GRANDMA'S PARTY!!!

 Grandmas party consists of waking Grandma B up at an insane hour of the morning- which she only loves because someone is snuggling with her!  They are all so funny!  Payton wasn't up yet when i had taken this picture, but he joined shortly thereafter for his usual round of shooting everyone dead with his "finger gun".  Silly boy. 
   The kids were so cute.  After the first morning they did this, when they were getting ready to go to bed, I heard them talking all about their "plans" for the next mornings Grandmas party.  They had a chain of command when it came to waking each other up, and it was so cute to hear them talking about it!  Sounds like they've got everything figured out. :)

Christmas in Utah

So like I said earlier, we left on Christmas Day for Utah and went straight to Cole's family's in Richmond.  We had SOOOOOO much fun! It is like a little kids heaven up there, not to mention a DOG'S!  Gus had a great time too, and he was actually a marvelous traveler. We got us a good dog, we did.  Anyways, we had party after party at the Smiths.  We had a marvelous gift exchange on Sunday after church.  Everyone was able to be there but Spencer and Laura. They got stuck up in Gillette- where they live- because they dont' have enough help to run their SEARS store, so they stayed up there together.  So sad that they weren't there, but we tried to have some fun anyways.  The kids really enjoyed the gifts that they got, and Cole and I loved ours as well!  We got an ice cream maker from the Skinners and actually tried it out tonight, and it works GREAT!  So we are stoked about that.  The week was filled with LOTS of playing in the snow, sledding down the driveway, sledding behind the 4-wheeler (SOOOOO FUN!) and just being together.  Our kids were a little bit under the weather still from the past few weeks before Christmas, but that happens just about every time that we go to Utah, so we just expect it now!  That didn't stop us from having tons of fun.  We absolutely love being with each of our families, and wish that it could be for longer.  I wasn't able to get a ton of pictures- I forgot my camera (duh!) but we had a great time!  I'll try to get the pictures sometime soon to put on here, but for now you will just have to imagine all the pictures of the kids sledding, going on hay rides, helping feed the cows/horses, and all sorts of other fun stuff that we were able to do!
    On Wednesday afternoon, we headed down to the Miles' casa where we played and played even more!  We just went from party to party- just like we did at the Smiths.  Wednesday night, we had a wonderful gift exchange with my family where my parents gave us the news that they have been called to be MISSION PRESIDENTS!  That's 3 years away folks!  It's gonna be hard to have them gone for such a long time, but honestly, there is no one in the entire world that is more qualified for the job than my parents.  Those are some DANG lucky missionaries to get to have my parents as presidents- I'll tell you what.  I am so proud of them. They were called to be presidents somewhere presiding over a GERMAN speaking mission.  So my dad is stoked, because he served in Hamburg on his mission- so he already knows German.  My mom is freaking out a bit with leaving for 3 years, and having to learn another language, but she is going to be just fine.  It's going to be so weird not to have them around, but we are going to start saving our pennies so that we can go over and visit them at least once while they are out there.  Congrats Mom and Dad.  We couldn't be prouder of you, and think that you are the GREATEST example ever of faithful members of the church.  Our kids are already talking about how they want to serve missions just like Ammon and Alma, and Grandpa Dick and Grandma B. :)   
    We had a great New Years Eve but had to celebrate it WITHOUT my Dad, Ty and Bry!  They were stuck in Nebraska on a Goose Slaying trip.  And when I say slaying, I mean it in all seriousness. MAN did those dudes shoot alot of geese!  Doesn't sound like that much fun to me, but they always have so much fun, so whatever.  Cole wished that he could have been there with him, so I guess it must be some fun for those guys.  The boys were all supposed to be back on New Years Eve Day sometime in the afternoon, but it has been so cold and windy and just plain bad weather, that the airport there in Nebraska closed so they weren't able to get out until New Years Day finally!  Which was a good thing, because Court and Rock blessed their sweet little Libby Ruth on Saturday afternoon, and we really couldn't have done it without all of them.  The blessing was so great, and it was such a nice reason to all get together.  That Libby is the sweetest little thing ever, so we were grateful to be able to be a part of it all.  All in all, we had a wonderful vacation!  Lots of changes coming on the horizon, but all good ones, and we look forward to this new year of 2011 and to all of the blessings that it brings to our family!
    Alot sure has happened in this last year what with our little sweetheart Morgan being born, Lincoln turning 4, Payton turning 3, and a myriad of other things, and we consider ourselves the most blessed people in the world!  Our lives are awesome and we couldn't ask for more.  Here's to a fabulous 2010, and to an even better 2011! Let's just hope that time starts to slow down a little bit, because I really think that we might have skipped a few months this last year! HOLY SMOKES it went fast!  Anyways, rambling now.  Here's some photographic evidence of our wonderful trip. :)

Dick and Brenda eating the traditional layered Jell-O for Christmas Eve.  We weren't there, but I thought this picture was just too cute not to put in. LOVE them!

NOT the most flattering of the kids, but this is what we saw most of the time.

Diggin on the Spaghetti

The 'Smolder"!

Eating Court's noodles with "Special Sauce" :)

This picture makes no sense unless you look at the floor.  And you can't really even SEE how much food is on the floor!  It's a full time job picking up after the kids.  Whew!

For Christmas, Cole and I gave my parents all of their home videos converted to DVD's.  They loved it, and we spent a lot of time over the weekend watching the videos.  It's always so fun to reminisce. Thanks Michelle!  If anyone wants their video's done, let me know, Michelle does and AMAZING job!

I made this play tent for the Derrick kids.  Hopefully they like it!

I bit off a BIT more then I could chew this year with the Christmas projects. These animal puppets were SO dang cute though, and I couldn't pass making them for my kids and the Derricks.

Esplorin...

Showing off his cool toy from Grandma and Grandpa

Just a bit too busy to look at the camera. :)

President and Sister Miles right after they told us of their call.  We were all pretty shocked!

Just tryin to take it all in.  We don't look very happy do we?  Don't worry- we are!

What a wonderful vacation!  Back to reality.  The house is STILL a mess, and we've been home for a week now!  Ayeayeaye!

Christmas Day! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We had the wonderful opportunity to STAY HERE in Denver for Christmas this year!  Well, that is, we stayed in Denver until Christmas afternoon and the kids were just getting into playing with their toys, and then we hopped into the car and headed to Utah!  But it was SO much fun to be able to be here to open their presents and stuff.  They played and played and played- that is for sure!  We had so much fun. But let me back up a little bit!  We did lots of fun stuff before that. The month of December was PACKED, but unfortunately, we don't have tons of pictures, because my camera was out of batteries, and I couldn't find the charger. Then finally on Christmas Eve, I found the charger, and life was good again.  We went to the Botanical Gardens at Chattfield and saw their Christmas lights, we did the BOX each day (which the kids REALLY look forward to), ate lots of yummy food, took cookies/treats to people that we home/visit teach and a few of our neighbors and watched ALOT of Christmas shows!  WOW did we watch alot of Christmas shows. I was NOT very prepared for Christmas this year, and bit off a BIT more than I could chew in the craft/homemade gifts department, so we spent alot of time at home crafting and watching Christmas shows.  The kids were totally down with that, so i don't feel quite so guilty. 
    Christmas Eve has always been a really big deal to Cole and I, and this year did not disappoint.  It was SO much fun!  It was SUPER warm for most of the month of December, so we were able to actually go to the park and take the dog for a little walk and ride our bikes!  WHAT!  On Christmas Eve?!!?  It was so much fun though! We went to Wash Park which is pretty close to our house and biked around for a little bit, and then played on the swing set for a LONG time!  The kids had a blast, and it was fun to be able to get out and do stuff.  Then we came home and had our special fondue dinner.  We tried broth this year again.  I've tried it before, and didn't think that it was super yummy, but this year I spiced the broth all up and it was TO DIE FOR!  WE gobbled up so much food! The kids really loved the jell-o- of course- and we ate until we were about to pop.  Then the kids found the box- which was full of new Christmas Jammies- and we started the nights festivities.  We decorated pieces of paper to put on the couch so Santa would know where to leave the loot, we read Christmas stories (Cole is the BEST husband EVER and got me two new Christmas books. The Polar Express (which I have been wanting SO bad for the 7 Christmas's we've had together and just never bought) and the Limited Edition Charlie Brown Christmas.  Both are SOOO cute, and I am so glad that he bought them for me.  He knows the way to my heart, that's for sure!  After we read the Polar Express, we got out the carousel and told the Christmas Story from Luke 2.  The kids actually listened pretty well!  

Bread anyone?

Ready for the PARTAY!

THIS is what Lincoln had for dinner.  He feasted on 3 helpings of Jell-o!  Cant beat that!

What 3 year old likes shrimp!?  Payton does!  Holy smokes this kid can put it away!

Pretty smoggy shots because of the cooking pot (and the lens might be a bit dirty:) )

New Christmas Duds!

Showing all the jammies off together.  Isn't that the best shot of all three?!

Year of the Superhero!  Superman Jammies and Spiderman Slippers.

Enjoying the nativity

Reading from the "family bible" which he now calls it! :)  Silly Cole.

    Cole and I stayed up way to late helping Santa out and watching It's a Wonderful Life. Well, when I say we, I mean I.  Cole snored through the whole thing! Silly guy.  Christmas morning was SO much fun!  We had the best time ever.  The kids were opening presents for like 2 or 3 hours!  We didn't want to rush them at all, so they played and played in-between each present.  It was completely the year of the superhero!  The boys got SOOO much superhero/play guy stuff.  They love the makebelieve stuff with good guy/bad guy role play and play it all day!  So they were in HEAVEN!  Morgan got a few really cute toys that she played with all day.  She loved them!  Cole and I got some great stuff from Santa as well.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas, and this one was just as magical. 

Waiting to see if Santa came!

Checkin out the loot!  The light saber's were a BIG hit.

LOVIN the new zoo toy

Opening the Toy Story toys.

NOT looking at the camera because we are too excited to open and play with our toys.

Morgs got a new walking toy that she isn't quite into yet, but she will be excited...trust me. :)

The TJ...Cole LOVES getting pictures for Christmas, and these ones did the job!

   After we played with our fun stuff for a few hours, we packed up the car and headed to Utah.  The drive was really great, and we didn't have any problems, and we made it to Richmond just wonderfully!  More to come...

Ward Christmas Party

We had a pretty fun ward Christmas party this year!  Sometimes our activities struggle a little bit, but it's all good. :)  We love to go to them anyways!  It's really fun to be able to go to the activities and actually talk to someone instead of just running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.  (I may or may not actually do this on Sunday!  Sorry to those that are in my ward- it's what happens when you have 3 crazy kids, and no husband on Sundays!)  The entertainment aspect of the party struggled immensely, but the food was outstanding, and the company was wonderful!  Plus the kids got to sit on Santas lap- and this was the only time that they got to this whole Christmas season!  So it was worth it.  Lincoln sat on Santas lap for about 3 minutes just telling him EVERYTHING under the SUN that he wanted!  So dang cute.  We didn't have any screamers this year. Morgan even tried to pull off Ms. Claus' hair (and Santa's of course, but who doesn't!).  Such a silly girl.  She knew a fake wig when she saw one- that's for sure! 

Wait for it....

Mr. and Mrs. Claus were pretty enthralled with my baby girl...it's alright.  I am too.

Lincoln givin the big guy his list.  It was a long one!

Payton even got in on the action.

Payton has just about the best facial expressions and little antics you've ever seen!  He is SO hilarious.  Here he's explaining something to Santa that unfortunately, Santa didn't hear too well.  Hair was covering his ears I guess!

Goin for the gold!  Santa didn't want to let little Morgs go!  He did the same thing to Payton when we took him to the Christmas party 3 years ago when Payton was only 2 weeks old!