Christmas Surprise

Not long after the tree came down christmas day Sierra came into the living room with her sleeping stuff and said she was off to Grandma's. I told her it was too far to go and she insisted that it was ok, she'd just sleep in the car.She was dead serious too! Bob and I made a quick decision, called his parents to see what they were up to, and 2 hours later we were in the car heading to Colorado! It was fun and a surprise for the kids. They all slept in the car and less than 24 hours later we were pulling in to the Deseret Book parking lot to go in and see Grammy (who didn't know we were coming) What a SURPRISE!!! We were able to spend a few days with grandma and grandpa and a few days with Grammy and Grandpa.

I just HAD to capture this adorable picture of Ben and Sierra....the bed was a queen!

 We were able to go have dinner at Casa Bonita, an underground mexican restaraunt with cliff divers and caves.

 Andrew and Ben learned how to shoot a bow and arrow with grandpa.

 Daniel played hide and seek with grandpa. we also played lots of games and went sledding.

 And of course did a puzzle race on New Years Eve with Bobs parents.

Christmas Eve Fun

Daniel loves popcorn, so this was a frequent site....him hogging the popcorn tin

 I actually got ALL of the stockings done this year!!!

 For the past 4 years we have celebrated Christmas Eve with Dan and Lisa Miller, we provide the pinata. It's A LOT of fun! this poor green lantern ended up beheaded.

 Way to finish it off Zack!

 Of course then the madness begins...we like to make sure there are toys to help keep the kids occupied when they can't sleep on Christmas Eve.

 Our one and only christmas day picture that i could find and our one and only casualty.  While taking down the decorations, this poor ornament was broken;( it's Sierra's hand print they made in Nursery last year.

Fun Christmas break pictures

We had a lot of fun in the few days leading up to christmas, Our elf Jingle was up to no good.

There are no words sometimes to express about Ben.

Had to make sure this cutie got in

Grandma sent some 'snowballs' the kids LOVED throwing them at anyone and everyone that came in the house.

Ben's Christmas party

Ben's AMAZING teacher Mrs. Loomis had a christmas party for the class. They got to wear pjs, santa came, they ate yummy cookies and had hot chocolate! It was a lot of fun and I was able to join them!!

Christmas Cookies

This year the annual cookie making was done the day before school let out. Daniel couldn't get enough and Lisa was happy to oblige.

Stationery card

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A few fun pics of Daniel from the Fall

Daniel is just SO cute! We love taking pictures of him. Here are some from the past few months.

I had to capture his curls. I LOVE THEM!! I have yet to cut them, Andrews never came back the same, so I'm holding on with dear life to these.

 Sierra INSISTING that she can feed Daniel his yogurt....

 Learning to feed himself and just being cute

 he LOVES popcorn and found Bob's leftovers from the night before and decided he'd eat it for breakfast...so proud of himself.

 He stole a package from under the Christmas tree, usually he just runs around with it laughing and smiling, this time he climbed onto the couch and this is what I found.....I guess he'd decided that holding it was no longer good enough.

 Enjoying his Cutie orange, attempting to hide it from any scavengers (aka Sierra)

 SO mad that I wouldn't give him anymore

 Just another typical happy picture of our little guy enjoying grandmas blueberry muffins, I guess I did pretty good!

attempting to eat cereal with a serving fork. He saw it on the counte and BEGGED for it

 making christmas cookies at the Petersons with Lisa Miller

 Helping to bring groceries in from the garage! SO BIG!!!

Little Helpers

My kids love to help out around the house. Inside and out.

Sierra and Daniel helping with cupcakes...

 Ben admiring our dead tree.....

 The tree in our front yard has been DEAD for a while now. Several times a month we would have people stop by and offer to chop it down. We always told them that we were ok and would get around to it. Well, the day after Thanksgiving...it happened! Bob was out putting lights on the house and thought he'd see how dead it really was. As he pushed on it it WIGGLED! This prompted a pushing and pulling of the tree until it finally fell over!

Sierra hiding in the tree....

 Climbing on the tree...

 Ben hiding in the tree....

For some reason there are no pictures of Andrew, he was there and enjoying all the joy of a tree laying in our front yard.