Christmas Break 2011

  We had an extremely busy December.  We had fun with our shelf elf all month long and the kids had fun singing Christmas songs, making Christmas crafts and having lots of Christmas parties.  Isaac is loving Chess and he took time out of his busy Christmas vacation to try and teach Luke a few things about Chess.

 As soon as the kids were out of school we started playing ALL day long.  Exhausting, but so much fun!  We went to the dino museum and even though Oliver was freaked out by the Big green Friendly Dino, and the Shark attack, he enjoyed everything else!  (and we've been back since, and he walked right up to the shark. We are so proud of him for conquering his fears.)

We also had fun in Hooper! The kids had a blast with their traditional cousin bingo game!  And of course Grandma made new pajamas!!  Darn, we forgot to take a picture of them!

We had our first episode of Strep at our house over the break.  Poor Ruby.  But we managed to keep everyone else healthy and we still managed to have fun decorating cookies...Ruby crawled out of her sick bed to join us too!

 Oliver was his usual charming self every day...Did you know napkins can explode?

We decided to stay home for Christmas day this year and missed our fun Fillmore party in Mesa, but Grandma sent us a fun package with our ornaments inside.

We tried visiting Santa but he was 45 minutes late...and we were then late for a dinner date with our friends the Nobles, so we had to leave.  Before we left the line, the kids got to ride in the train that goes all over the mall.  I think they loved it!  As we were leaving, Santa decided to come back from his nap?? and gave the boys high fives. That's better than sitting on his lap, right?

And the best neighbor gift award goes to....The Wilcox Family!  What fun mustache suckers they gave us. The note said, "We hope your Christmas is Hairy and White!"

Christmas Eve we read from the scriptures the nativity story.  Then we got to read a new Christmas book, open new pajamas and then snuggle to watch a new movie.

Christmas morning with just the boys for a little bit--Ruby slept in and since she had been sick, we wanted to let her get her beauty sleep.

Lots and Lots of Christmas Joy!!

We really did have a happy morning and a happy Christmas day.  Kyle's parents even paid us a visit.

The kids talked Grandma and Grandpa Widdison into a beyblade battle and a tea party!

The day after Christmas we packed up the car and drove to Vegas.  We love visiting Parker, Lark and their kids.  They babysat for us and let us go out on the town.  We got to see an awesome cirque du soleil show and go to dinner and listen to Michael Jackson sing while the water fountains danced.

We were excited to get to Mesa to see the rest of our cousins.  Ruby had lots of fun with Cedric.  They are not kissing cousins, but close with their eskimo kisses.

We played and played and played in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard.

And when we got bored with that, we visited a fun park with cousins.  Ruby made Grandma and Grandpa play baby dinosaur a million times. They were mostly good sports.

 Aunt Jill and Cedric invited us to go to the Dino museum in downtown Mesa.  The Thatchers came too!  Our kids get along so well and we love to see them!  (We also went to the zoo with the Thatcher family, lost one kid, but managed to find him and still have a great time--still need to collage those pictures).

We were lucky enough to get to visit with some of my high school friends too!  Thanks Anna for being the best hostess in the world!!  It was fun seeing everyone!

New Years eve we partied with cousins, cheetos, and fireworks!

 (Oliver and Ruby decided they didn't want to celebrate with fireworks)

 Of course we did lots of visiting and got together for a nice family dinner for my sister Lisa's birthday.  I love seeing my family and seeing their beautiful families!!