HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I have never been good about sending Christmas Cards but I am sending out "New Years Cards" this year since my awesome sister-in-law took time out of her vacation to take some pictures for us. I don't want to ruin the fun out of getting a card so I'm not posting all the pictures yet, but had to share this picture of Sadie that was cropped out of one of the family pictures we took. It kind of shows how excited some of the family members were about taking pictures and how much fun it was getting them to cooperate!

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS!

At our ward Christmas Party we had Santa come and visit at the church. Sadie and Braden were excited to talk to him and tell them everything they wanted for Christmas. Although afterward Sadie did say that "Santa didn't read her mind" because he didn't know she wanted a puppy. I think that surprised her because she has been writing notes to him all the time. ;)

Mackenzie just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. She was reaching for me off to the side almost the whole time but we did manage to get a decent picture in spite of that!

Tis the Season

We are pretty excited about Christmas at our house! We started getting into the spirit of Christmas on our way back from our Thanksgiving trip. Near the top of the mountain, off HWY 80, we stopped to get our Silvertip tree. (I have to add here that thanks to my handy-dandy blog we were able to pull up the address from last year, had record of how big of a tree we had last year and how much we were charged since I forgot to get all that info together before we left for Idaho. I made sure to point that out to Jason since he is NOT a blogger fan.)

This time I knew better than to dress the kids in snow pants, coats, gloves and hats because it is pretty warm at the top of the mountain and especially when you are hiking up hills in search for the perfect 17 foot tree!

Aren't these kids so cute?

Here is the tree we picked in its natural environment - the one in the center.

Mackenzie and Braden helped me to guard our tree while Jason went to get a worker with a chainsaw. It was much taller than we needed but the worker cut it down for us and helped us measure the top part of the tree at the height we wanted.

Our tree, all decorated. 18 ft of tree takes some energy to decorate!

For FHE a couple last week we decorated our gingerbread village I bought at Walmart ($10 for 5 houses!)

It really took a contractor to figure out how to put the pieces together to make these houses! Braden and Sadie impressed me with their creativity, and Mackenzie exasperated me with her dumping candy and frosting all over the place. She just wanted to be a part of it but just too little to do much helping. She had fun putting some candy on the houses and then eating if off right away.

Since we have put out our Nativity set, all 3 kids love playing with it. I need to get a plastic set because I don't know how long this ceramic set will last with these kids!

Thanksgiving

We went to Idaho again this year for Thanksgiving and then a quick trip to Utah before we went home. The trip was awful this time. Mackenzie threw up constantly the way there and a couple times on the way back. She had a little cold and because she has reflux the mucus causes her to choke and throw up easily. Colds also flare up her asthma which is another nightmare.
(Side note: we are currently working with a GI specialist to hopefully figure out how we can help her reflux)


Anyway, back to Thanksgiving. We were able to have all my family (except Hyrum who is in Argentina) there to celebrate with us. Clint was only *sort of there* because his mind was on Makela in Brazil the whole time and talking with her on Skype alot of the time. We had an awesome dinner that Mary, Patty, Mom and I made while the guys all went out to the farm to shoot clay pigeons and such. Patty suggested next year we have the guys make dinner and the girls go out!





Sadie, Braden and Mackenzie had so much fun drinking up all the attention from Anties and Uncles. :)



We had fun playing games with the family, but didn't play as much as I thought we would because Mom was loosing. She hates loosing and decided it wasn't fun anymore. ;)


I also made gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. The gingerbread man cookies had run away (Again! He did it that last year too!) but he left clues for the kids to find him. They had a blast figuring out the clues and finding the cookies.


It seems like such a waste that we drive all that way and were so close to cousins and family that we didn't even see, but I am glad that we were able to get breakfast with my cousin Sharon and her little boy Ryley on Friday. She "supposedly" is pregnant but wasn't showing at all to my disappointment. ;) Can't wait to meet the Hawker addition next year!!


On Friday we also did some bowling.

I was reminded how bad I really am at any sport that requires a ball to play. It still was fun and I'm really glad I didn't hurt anyone when my bowling ball went flying off my fingers behind me instead of toward the pins like I was trying for. Ha, ha!



The kids had lots of fun picking out their bowling balls,



And rolling them down the ramp to watch their pins fall over.

Aubrey and Naomi were going strong long after Mackenzie decided she would rather just have Grandpa carry her everywhere instead of bowling.

Saturday was a trip to Utah to visit Jason's brother Chris and his family. Traci and I had fun catching up on the latest inside where it was warm while watching the kids and Jason and Chris play outside in the cold with their toys.

(Love how Jake has his hands over his ears in this picture.... that gas powered car is soooo loud!)



The kids loved their toys and of course wanted to stay. Too bad we don't live closer. :(


We also were able to see some friends that Jason originally met in New Mexico 10 years ago, that now live in Utah. We always enjoy seeing them and don't get to as often as we would like so we were able to meet at a restaurant for Lunch that day, along with Glenden and Patty and the twins.



I really wanted Jason to try this restaurant - a Brazilian restaurant - because of the unique way they cook and serve. They have a salad bar you can dish from but the meats are all on these big skewers that they cook over an open flame and every cut is freshly cut right off the skewer at your table.


They have multiple cuts of meats being served the whole time. And the meat is soooo good. It was so good seeing and talking with Ann and Dennis, and the kids got comfortable with them very quickly as well.


They always bring fun gifts for them when they see them which the kids love and we loved too since it kept them busy for the 11 hours to get home!

Before we left we stopped by Glenden and Patty's new house in UT.

It is going to be so nice for them to have their own place, and it is a beautiful area right above a lake that they can actually see from their back door window and a little park a couple houses down.

We drove to Reno that night and stayed at the Nugget so we could get our tree in the mountains on the way home. Just a little advice for anyone that might stay at the Nugget, pay the $15 for the upgrade to a better room, soooo worth it! We stayed there before and was completely disgusted at the room and the quality, but found the hotel rooms in the tower were much better. So nice to get a good nights sleep after a loooooooooong drive.

Pictures from our Christmas tree hunt to follow!

Suggestions?

My sister-in-law has offered to take pictures of my family when she comes to visit for Christmas so she can get some more practice using her new camera. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good location for pictures in December???? Please Comment! :)