New Years Eve aka Our Anniversary

Early in the day Luke and I were able to go out just the two of us to celebrate our anniversary thanks to his sister babysitting. We went to lunch, saw the new mission impossible movie and did a little shopping. It wasn't anything fancy but was perfect for us and I cherish every little moment we get just the two of us. It's crazy that we've been married for six years and I feel so lucky to have had such a wonderful man by my side for all that time.

So apparently we are getting to be duds for new years the older we get, but luckily this year we had these fun people over to save us. We played games, watched funny stuff on tv, and built this little fire in the backyard for smores. It ended up being pretty fun thanks to them.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Christmas Morning

What a fun Christmas morning we had this year. As usual we had to wake up the kids and surprisingly they were pretty happy even though they hadn't had much sleep. We always have a family prayer in my mom and dad's bedroom before starting all the chaos which is always a nice reminder of what the day is all about. Chalyn was so excited when she saw what Santa brought her that she ran straight to me jumping up and down saying "i got a bike, i got a bike, wow mom i got a bike". I was really glad she was so excited. And Beck went right up to his ball on the hoop and started shooting till we pried him away to open more gifts. They were both really cute and I loved watching their happy faces that morning. My favorite part was totally surprising Luke this year with a gun he had only dreamed about. He doesn't show his excitement very well he just gets quiet with a funny grin so when I saw that I knew I had done good. I spent a little more that our budget but it was totally worth it and he deserves it. I'm always amazed at how spoiled we all are and here are some of the things we each got.

Beckham-
Basketball hoop
car track
magnetic farm set
church clothes
cars, balls, bat, movies, books, etc

Chalyn-
Bike and helmet
ariel swim doll
belle doll
cabbage patch doll and diaper bag
pillow pet
Games, movies, books, etc

Luke-
Thompson Center "Bone Collector" Muzzleloader
duffle bag and other stuff for hunting
basketball
church clothes
clothes, socks, movies, etc.

Me-
clarisonic face brush (I really wanted it yay)
Nice perfume
Picture of Christ
Ipad cover
snuggie
scarf, clothes, movies,
-My parents gave me cake decorating stuff, a super soft blanket, and a really really nice knife set.


Chalyn snuggling with my dad before going in

They totally took off as soon as we let them.

Chalyn with her bike and Beck with his basketball hoop. We really could have stopped there and they would have been thrilled.

She was sooooo happy!

Luke pulling out his gun. I put it in another huge box so he wouldn't guess.

This ten dollar toy was the number one thing that she kept asking for.

Beck and his cars

My brother Jason bought tons of way cool toys for the kids this year. He's the best.

This is one of those cool toys he bought that Luke and I played with forever. They are magnets that you can build all kinds of stuff with.

Chalyn riding her bike the day after Christmas. It's way too big but she actually does really good on it so hopefully she just grows into it fast.


After opening all of our gifts we ate yummy breakfast and hung out with the rest of my siblings as they came that day, but the best part was having it on Sunday and being able to go to Church. It was the best feeling to celebrate Christs birth the right way and for my kids to get to feel the spirit that day. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and know how much you all mean to us in our lives.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always a very busy day for us but this year even a little more so. We woke up early to travel to st. George where we spent our morning fighting crowds to finish shopping and then made it to my moms where we cooked and prepared like crazy to get ready for dinner. Once we were done with all of the preparations the rest of the night although still busy went really well. All of my family, except one of my brothers and his family, were at my moms for our traditional Christmas eve dinner. This year we had prime rib, ham, shrimp, and all the amazing side dishes and it was oh so yummy! Then we always have all of the grandkids dress up and act out the nativity scene and this year was by far the least chaotic ever. The girls didn't fight over being mary, they all participated, no one cried and we even got a picture with every one of them before they scattered. It is so fun to watch as a narrator reads from the bible the story of Christs birth and it might just be my favorite Christmas tradition. After we were done with that around seven thirty we jumped in the car to head to cedar to visit with lots of Luke's family who had gotten together for dinner also. We played ping pong and then other fun games, gave Luke's parents their gifts, visited, ate lots of yummies and opened jammies before leaving a little after midnight to drive back to my moms where we stayed for Christmas. When we crawled into bed after three o'clock that morning we were exhausted to say the least but it was all oh so worth it.

This is what mom's house looks like before any party, and the kids always stake out their spots well in advance.

And Beck always messes up 90% of it and licks most of the spoons.

Me and my sweet Beckham

Chalyn and Maicey were the sheep this year and they were stoked!

We could not get Beck to let go of the baby Jesus so he walked around with it for about twenty minutes before we started, giving him kisses, patting him on the back and unwrapping and rewrapping his swaddling clothes. It was so so funny.

Beckham was the star and since he wouldn't let go of the baby he got to deliver him to mary at the right time, and made us all laugh.

The final scene with all of the kids

Watching LeeR and Janielle open their gifts

This year among other things we all gave them a big collage of all of their grandchildren

Yay for footie jammies!

The guys playing their usual Poker game

This is after midnight and all the other kids were crashing but Beck was still happy and going strong. He didn't even fall asleep on our way to St. George, he must have been way too excited for santa to come.

Other December Fun!

This year I really tried hard to make it feel like christmas and spent more time than usual doing fun activities and playing with my kids. We had a countdown that they pulled something out of everyday and sometimes they got a gift or a treat but it usually had a fun activity for all of us to do. Some of the things were: going to the live nativity, wrapping a gift for someone else, painting Christmas fingers and toes, baking cookies, making a foam nativity, christmas movie night with yummy popcorn and treats, coloring chritmas pages, putting up our own nativity. and obviously lots more fun things. It made me slow down a bit and take time everyday for my kids and helped us all remember the the true meaning of christmas. Here are some other things that made December fun for our family.

The weekend after Thanksgiving we went and cut down our own tree with Eric and Ashlie. NO I didn't get even one picture of it decorated in our house since we spent christmas at my moms, and YES I am really mad at myself for forgetting.

My sweet girl decorating her (sprinkle cookies)

Baking with my mom. I love this picture because this is where Chalyn is a major part of the time when we are in St. George, next to my mom, doing whatever grandma will let her do whether it's baking, watering flowers, washing their faces and putting on beauty cream, or chalyn's favorite... taking out grandma's eyes (contacts) She is always glued to my mom.

Just a fun little craft I did with my mom. This is before I added the finishing touches and embellishments though, so it's really lots cuter than this.

Luke and I took the kids to the temple visitor center and to see the lights a few days before Christmas. It definitely helped me feel the true spirit of it all and the kids LOVED climbing all those stairs.

The Big 4

I'm ready to get caught up on all of my holiday blogging and I get to start with my favorite event. Chalyn's birthday is December 11 and even though I wish she had a birthday in the summer (to spread out all of her gifts), I always get so excited for her birthday and this year was no exception. Ever since I took her to see The Little Mermaid at Tuachan this summer she has been just a tad bit obsessed with Ariel so I've known for a while that's what she wanted for her birthday. I didn't do a whole "party" per se, we just did dinner, one game, presents and cake and ice cream, but it was still such a joy to share her excitement as she played with all of her cousins and for her to shine as the center of attention on her special day. Chalyn is definitely one of a kind and her contagious smile and sweet personality fill me with more love and joy than I ever could have expected. She really is such a smart, silly, happy, energetic, persistent, loving and all around amazing little girl, and it is such an overwhelming privilege for me to be her mother.

The Beautiful Birthday Girl

Dinner Time

Beckham sat next to her most of the time she was opening gifts. They are so sweet together, and I love the little moments like this.

opening her barbie car

This is my sister helping the kids play the candy bar game

Cake and ice cream time. Poor Grant is always MAULED by the girls. ha ha

Her cake. I've found that I really enjoy making cakes I'm just not sure how to beat it next year.