Playing in the SnOw

We took the kids winter clothes to my parents so that they could play in the snow. We didn't get a chance to play until Sunday after church. We put Camden and Tahlia down for a nap and dressed Reagan and Kairi in their snow clothes. Grandpa had used his tractor and made a snow hill for them to play on.

Going to Artic Circle to get out of the house

Saturday afternoon, Mary had a great idea to take the kids and all go to Artic Circle to let the kids play and get a shake. It was so fun watching the kids play together.

Going to Idaho

The Friday after Christmas we drove to Idaho to see my side of the family for the weekend. The weather wasn't too bad, and the roads in Utah were worse than the Idaho roads. We got there safely in time for dinner. Mom made some yummy clam chowder, it really hit the spot. We woke up the next morning and had french toast and then opened the rest of the family exchange gifts. There weren't many but we had a great time. Mom got new quilting things and Camden and Dane found two aluminum poles and started swinging them like swords. We thought it was so cute! Reagan got her present from Dane... he gave her jewelry! Perfect gift! Kairi gave Dane the same Tonka Race ramp that Camden got. Dane figured out how to play with it really fast. Mom gave the kids new clothes, which they always are in need of. They are very cute. Mom and Dad gave each of their kids a massage from Leslie... that was the best gift ever! It made Leslie work, but we sure did relax... thanks Leslie! Tahlia got more gifts: Mary and Bryce gave her a cute oufit that's blue and brown, Leslie and Tyson gave her a cute sweater, and Megan gave her a super cute hat with ribbon running through it. She really scored this year! We had a pretty laid back morning watching the kids play and talk.


Dane and Camden playing with the race track.


Tahlia's cute hat from Meg.


Kairi's new sweater.


Reagan's new sweater.


Camden unwrapping new clothes. He was more interested in Dane's toy!


Tahlia got a very cute sweater dress from my mom!


Tahlia's cute sweater from Leslie and Tyson.


Tahlia's cute outfit from Mary and Bryce.


Reagan's jewelry from Dane.


Camden and Dane playing with the aluminum poles.

Christmas

Christmas started a little early at our house this year. Alan's parents wanted to see the kids open their gifts so they came over Tuesday night. The girls got dance lessons, half tap and half ballet, and dance shoes from them. Tahlia and Camden got some toys. We had fun opening and playing with thier new things. The girls had a great time trying out their new tap shoes! Then Christmas Eve Dustin, Alan's friend, came over and gave us some presents. He always gets the kids the best presents! He got the girls some really neat Barbie's that change color depending on the purse they put on. I have never seen them before! He got Camden a basketball hoop that hooks to the back of a door. I think Alan has had more fun with it than Camden has and Tahlia got a cute little Winnie the Pooh. After Dustin left, we let the kids open one present, of course if was pajamas, but they didn't know that. They were so excited! Then we had a yummy Christmas Eve dinner. When dinner was cleaned up the kids got their pajamas on and we went down stairs and watched Christmas cartoons until it was bed time.

We thought for sure that our kids would be up early on Christmas morning because they wake up early on a normal day. Alan makes a special christmas breakfast that takes over an hour to cook, so he got up early so that it could be cooking while we opened presents and then came back to bed. We waited and waited for our kids to get up, but they just kept sleeping. Finally about 7:30, which is late for them, they came into our room. They were so excited that Santa had come and wanted to run downstairs and get started. Alan and I made them wait until we had the babies diapers changed though. We decided to feed Tahlia before we opened presents, so Alan fed Tahlia while the girls went through their stockings. The girls go a necklace and bracelet, movie, Tinkerbell Pez, Barbie bag, chapstick, and candy in their stockings. Camden got a cool football, movie, and candy. By the time they had looked at everything Tahlia was finished eating. So they were ready to move to presents. Reagan wanted to just start opening so we had to slow her down, which of course was not her favorite idea. The kids had a great time opening there gifts from Santa, but they seemed to enjoy opening gifts from each other and the their cousins even more! They liked seeing people open the presents that they had bought and wrapped. That made me feel good that they weren't just thinking of themselves. When we finished opening gifts we started opening the packages and putting in batteries. Camden had kinda of been feeling sick, and at this point in the morning, he crawled up on Alan's lap and a few minutes later threw up all over Alan... Merry Christmas! It wasn't fun cleaning that up on Christmas morning, but he started to feel better after that. The kids played with their toys for awhile and then we got ready to go visit Alan's grandparents on both sides.

First, we went to the Doty's. We always have a Christmas lunch that is made by Alan's Uncle Donald. The food is always great and this year was no exception! We had a great time eating, opening presents, and enjoying one another's company. The kids had fun playing with toys from their Great Grandparents and fun playing with Michael. Around five o'clock it was time to go to the Jensen's. When we got there we opened a few more family exchange gifts. The kids got a few more toys and games. Great Grandma and Grandpa Jensen gave the girls leotards to wear to their dance class starting in January. They are so excited for that! We stayed at Jensen's and played Rock Band World Tour and a game called Curses. Both games are a lot of fun! We left around 9 for the hour drive home. They kids were very tired and so were Alan and I. We had a good and very big Christmas day!


The girls love their new dance shoes, Camden thought it would be fun to join too in his new soccer jersey and See-n-Say buddy (not doll!).


The kids in their new pajamas on Christmas Eve.


Cookies and chocolate milk for Santa.


Christmas morning before the unwrapping began.


The christmas stockings... we take up a whole couch now!


Reagan and Kairi looking at their stockings.


Tahlia and her stocking.


Camden dug as far as he could looking for that last little treasure.




Tahlia did really well opening present at 8 months old!


Camden and his soccer net... he loves to kick so now he has something to kick in to.


Reagan loves her camera!


Santa brought the girls an Easy Bake Oven.


Camden started getting presents to open... it didn't matter if they were his or not.


Kairi got a CD case to go with her CD Player from Trevor!


Camden got Cars cars from Bailey... this is when Camden wasn't feeling so good.


The tradition on my side of the family is that everyone gets the newest baby something for Christmas. Nancy and her family got Tahlia a cute jacket and tutu!


This is what we had to deal with Christmas morning. Alan had to shovel so that we could out.



The girls and their leotards.

Holiday Fun

We have had a lot of fun getting ready for Christmas this year. It all started the Monday after Thanksgiving. We put our Christmas tree up for family home evening and the kids loved it! Reagan and Kairi were a TON of help and Camden and Tahlia had fun just watching and touching anything they could. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't think to take pictures though. The following Monday we made a ginger bread house for family home evening. This is something we started doing last year and the girls love it! Last year Alan didn't help the "right" way so the girls didn't want him to help this year. He finally got a chance to help and guess what he did... he messed up! He dropped a tree, icing down, on the table. The girls have said he can't help next year at all. I think it's funny... and secretly I think Alan's ok with it because then he doesn't have to deal with the mess the fighting etc. Last night we invited Michael over to help decorate sugar cookies to leave out for Santa. The girls and I had made the cookies during nap time so that we could decorate them after dinner. They had a great time and have chosen favorites to leave out for Santa along with his chocolate milk. For some reason our girls think Santa likes chocolate milk, I think that has something to do with there dad! I forgot to take pictures of them frosting cookies. So I will take a picture of the cookies we set out for Santa tonight. We are all very excited about tomorrow. The kids can't wait to see what they get from Santa and Alan and I can't wait to see there faces!


Tahlia opened her stocking from my mom over Thanksgiving.


Tahlia looked a little crazy the night we made the ginger bread house. She loves her tongue.


They wanted to do things just right!


The girls waiting for me to put on more icing so they could attach more candy. (Notice Kairi's halloween shirt... she just had to wear it!)


The finished product.

First Hair Cute

Babies born into our family are not blessed with hair until they are between 18 months and 2 years. Camden's hair has been looking like it needed a hair cute for few weeks. It looked like he mostly needed it off of the top. So, while we were in Idaho for Thanksgiving my mom cut his hair. I was surprised by how much hair came off of his head! His hair is almost blonde and he has pretty pale skin so his haired blended well with his scalp. Mom cute it short in the back and on the sides and left it a little longer on the top. His hair seems to be wavy right now so it won't do any kind of a spike. He loved have it cut! He sat so still and seemed to really enjoy it. He looks so much better now! Now I just have to maintain it. He is going to need his hair cut more frequently than the girls do. That will be different for me, but I love little boy hair cuts!

Thanksgiving

I know Thanksgiving we several days ago now, but I'm just finding time to post about it. We went to Idaho this year to celebrate Thanksgiving with my side of the family. We left Wednesday after I finished teaching school. We had packed the night before so we were ready to go. We gave the girls Dramamine so that we wouldn't have any accidents on the way home (Our girls have a history of getting car sick!) and we were gone around 3:30. We decided to stop and eat on the way. We have stopped before but never in Malad! We thought that was a good goal to make it that far, but we will never do it again. What is in Malad? Nothing! I new this be we tried anyway. There were two places Burger King or Sub Way. We chose Sub Way but it wasn't the best food we have ever had. In the future we will stop earlier or push on to Pocatello. We arrived at my parents around 7:30 or 8:00 ( I can't remember now). We helped mom get ready for Thanksgiving the next day and went to bed. We woke up and were doing different tasks before we ate Thanksgiving dinner. I was mostly enjoying spending time with my family. The day started off cold but buy the early afternoon it was a really nice day. Bryce used my dad's riding lawn mower and gathered a pile of leaves for the kids to play in. What kids can resist a pile of leaves? They played for what seemed like hours. They buried themselves, they ran and jumped in the leaves and used rakes to keep the pile in tact. Reagan tried to play with the few leaves that had fallen from our one tree in front of our house, so this really made her day. Soon after that family started to arrive. We had a great dinner and enjoyed spending time with family that we see only a few times a year now. It is good to go home!

On Black Friday Mom, Megan, Leslie and I went shopping! We didn't brave the early crowds though, we left around 10:30. I was the only one with any kind of real list so they let me drag them to most of the stores. I didn't have much shopping left to do, but after Friday I was mostly done. It was fun to just be out with girls. I wish we could do more of these types of things together. Living away from family can be hard at time.

Saturday morning Bryce and Mary went to breakfast with Alan and I. It was fun to spend time with them. We went to a family diner and had some great food! Then we went to get some ingredients so that Mary could make a salad for dinner that night. Mom had made Lasagna before we got there so that we could have it during the holidays. After dinner we played a new game "Would you Rather..." Leslie has already posted info and pictures about this game on her blog. It was a fun game. Good thing we played with family. You have to perform challenges to win and some of them are INTERESTING! Mom had to hold a pickle as if it were a mustache, Megan had to perform a dance while humming a tune, Alan chose to wear my bra for a turn (not my best moment!), etc. I would only feel comfortable playing this game with family I think!

All in all we had a great trip. It was hard coming back Sunday to normal life. Now we are on to finalizing Christmas!




Kairi and Dane were burying Reagan in the pile of leaves.


This is what Camden was using to play in the leaves!