Last night of 2011

We rung in the New Year by celebrating at Amazing Jake's! Some of my family went, ate dinner and played the night away!!! It was so fun and the kids could've stayed all night if we let them...but with early church the next morning, we decided they should be in bed before midnight!;)

December???

How many places can children cool off by putting their feet in the pool...in late December!?

Grandson Sleepover

My mom had the boys over for a sleepover during Christmas Break and Parker was so excited to hang out with the big boys:) All the cousins close to him in age are girls, so he rarely plays with the older boys. Grandma said he was old enough to stay and he wanted to without any hesitation!:) When it was time for bed, ALL of them wanted to sleep in Grandma's bed with her, haha. Parker volunteered to sleep in the crib next to her bed, and the other 3 boys climbed in bed. I think my mom was happy to have one less boy in the bed and Parker got a kick out of laying in a baby crib...the joys of being on the small size for your age! This crib is already a mini crib, so I doubt many almost-5-year-olds would fit in it! My mom took this picture of him, you can see his foot sticking out through the bars. The next day when Parker was saying a blessing on the food, he said he was thankful he could spend the night at Grandma's. I have a feeling this is going to be the first of many sleepovers:)

Snow Fun

It is Christmas break and Matt had the day off so we decided to go play in the SNOW! We decided kind of last minute on Wednesday night, but were happy that my brother Rob and his kids, David and Kylie and their kids and Grandma all decided to join us! It was the perfect day, not cold at all(you will notice my husband isn't even wearing a jacket) and we didn't have to go too far past Payson to find the perfect spot! The kids had a blast! Well...most of them. Ryler played for a bit and before I knew it...he was undressing himself from the snow clothes, he was done! Haha. He liked watching from the back of Rob's truck more than getting wet in the snow;) Parker could have played all day! At one point his boots filled with snow and he was crying from the cold. I figured he was done, but instead we changed him into warm, dry clothes and boots and off he went again, he was loving it! Even Carden sat in the snow for a couple pictures. It was such a great day with our family, I am so glad we decided to go!

Fall in December

In Mesa, we get to enjoy the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees right around Christmas time. Maybe a bit later than most places, but we enjoy it just the same. The kids LOVE playing in the leaves at my moms house and on this particular day, my brother Rob was helping my mom by mowing up the leaves. The kids didn't like that one bit, so when he went inside for a break, they decided to "hide the lawn mower" so he couldn't mow up their fun pile of leaves! I thought it was so cute that they were attempting to bury the entire lawn mower! Haha

Christmas Day

Awhile back we wrote letters to Santa and Parker asked for a scooter and a light saber. Ryler was next and he asked for 2 flying scooters and a lightsaber. I thought it was so funny, because he was just trying to "one up" his brother:)

Well..Christmas morning we walk out to see what Santa brought. There are 2 matching scooters, unwrapped by the tree. Parker doesn't pay any attention to them and starts looking under the tree to see if there is a lightsaber. Meanwhile, Carden heads straight for the 2 scooters, saying "woohooo! 2 flying scooters, I got 2 flying scooters!" It was hilarious. Later, Parker gets on the scooter and says, "Why isn't it flying?" We had to explain that there was one for Parker and one for Ryler and that Santa thought it would be safer if they just pretended they flew;)t

After presents, we decided to hurry and get ready and try to make it to my mom's ward at 8am. We made it, a few minutes late. Church was very nice, my mom sung in the choir program and most of the kids were there. We went straight to my moms after church and ate yummy Waffles & Icecream! This was a tradition my whole life at my Grandma and Grandpa Brinton's house and since they have both passed away, we decided to carry on the tradition. 

Elizabeth Huber stopped by with lots of goodies and the kids were thrilled! Unfortunately the rest of her family wasn't feeling good, but we got a cute picture with Liz and the kids and we are so thankful to have them in our lives. 

The grandkids had so much fun opening presents and playing with their toys, the boys watched basketball, we laughed watching everyone do Just Dance 3 and just had a great day. For dinner that night, we had a delicious ham dinner and enjoyed time as a family.

It was definitely different this year without my dad. Not necessarily more difficult than other days, but it just felt like there was something missing all day. I miss my daddy so much and wish he was there to celebrate with us. My mom is amazing and had my brother Rob frame a picture with each grandkid and Grandpa as a Christmas gift. I know they will always treasure those pictures and I know they will always look up to their Grandpa.

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