Happy New Year!!

So New Year's came and went without us hardly noticing. We were on a plane and kept fleeing from the New Year. . . maybe that's not a good omen. Anyway, when we finally landed in Utah the New Year caught up to us. We were driving on the Legacy Highway and saw a ton of fireworks going off. Our first sighting of fireworks in some time. It was nice to be reminded that the New Year had indeed come.



This is Andrew waiting in an airport. One of his only moments of freedom the whole day.


This is that same waiting time. Evan was pretty tired by this point so it was fun for him to just sit and play his Dad's Ipod.


At Grandma and Grandpa Dance's house a picture is always taken of the cute kids on Sunday morning. Addison wasn't feeling well, but she still managed a week "cheese".


She got into it after awhile. Everyone else was ready to be done though.


The kids got to go sledding down the hill at my parents house. It's something they want to do again when they go to visit them again. They really like sledding. Too bad they don't have a cooler Mom who would take them somewhere to go sledding here in Ithaca!



This is our Niece Raven. Addison grew to really like her because she would carry her around. Addison likes that.


Harlie, another niece, decided we should have a party. She somehow roped me into helping her and once I was on board it was a party!! I'm not good at doing things half way, but compared to some of my other parties I've thrown I think we could consider this half way. The kids all made their own party hats, and invitations. I bought some punch balloons and a little present for each niece or nephew. They had fun.


We got to go to Salt Lake for the last couple of days of our trip. We went to temple square and toured around with the kids for a little bit.

We went to the Joseph Smith Memorial building and to the distribution center.


I love this picture of Addison "looking" at the temple.



Andrew is a pure cutie pie!!


I can't believe I got Brayden to sit still for a few seconds while I quickly snapped this picture.



Grandpa took our family picture for us.


Grandpa even got his picture taken by Evan.


We hiked through the snow, and Josh pushed a double stroller through snow, just so we could go to this cemetery. FYI - don't go to "This is the place" park in the winter time. BORING!! But we wanted to go so we could see these graves.



The graves mark a group of pioneers that had been buried in the Salt Lake Valley. In about 1987 they were building a building and found the remains of the forgotten cemetery. They moved the remains up to "this is the place" park for permanent burial. It turns out that they couldn't identify all the remains, but some they were and two of them were my ancestors. It was pretty neat. It was all part of the book that Josh wrote for me for Christmas (which I still need to take picture of and post about).


We got to see some REALLY GREAT friends of ours and hang out as much as we could.


WE LOVE YOU BRIAN AND ARIEL!!!

We also had some other GREAT friends of ours, the Tinlings, let us stay at their wonderful house. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures of them or the wonderful party they threw for us. We were very fortunate to get to see so many of our friends while there, and wished we could have seen more. Thank you so much for letting us stay!!! WE LOVE you guys too!!

It was a fun trip, and if it did anything, it taught me how much we miss everyone, and how sad I am to not get to be there for some of the greatest events happening in some of their lives (you know who you are!!)! We wish you luck and hope it all goes well!!

Hope to see everyone again soon!

Christmas

Christmas morning was full of hustle and bustle. We found Addison in dried throw-up at about 5:15 am, got her cleaned up and put to bed with us. That lasted about 5 minutes. The other kids woke up by 5:45, so we just decided to get up. I love this picture of the only sleepy head left!! :)




The bounce house was a hit, but Andrew was the one who loved it the most that morning. The other kids were so excited to see EVERYTHING that it was hard for them to calm down enough to enjoy it!


They would go back and forth between their stockings and the bounce house. However, later they were pretty excited to be able to set it up in their room. Evan was so surprised that we actually got to keep it and not return it somewhere.


Addison with her stocking contents.


Andrew started in on his apple as soon as he saw it.


I know that Addison had just thrown-up, but it seems to have been just a one time thing for most the kids, so I wasn't worried about her eating her stocking snacks. They were having a great morning!



Evan in his toy story wings and blanket. Brayden is also in his on the floor. I couldn't get one such things without getting it for the other!



Brayden and his puzzle. The ship zooms around the whole puzzle once it is put together. Brayden had fun with it.



Cute Addison getting in to whatever she can while everyone is distracted with presents.



I finally sat her on my lap to open up the rest of her presents. She's so cute.


Andrew doing the same thing as Addison. Wondering what he can get into!! He didn't know what to play with, unless Addison was playing with it first (and vise versa!).



I had Josh put Andrew on his lap to open the rest of his presents.



This is just a cute video of Addison and Andrew looking at stuff and walking around. I just like watching their little legs walk. They were happy for the freedom of the morning, usually they are contained more. It was very fun for them!


This is Evan and his guitar. He loved it and couldn't believe he had his very own guitar! Now to figure out how to teach him to play it when I don't even know myself!! Thank goodness for the internet!


I will post a little later about the present Josh got for me. It is SPECTACULAR!! Overall, we had a great Christmas and hope everyone else did too!!

Christmas Eve!

Oh Christmas Eve, how fun you are!! We had a great day today! We went caroling to deliver some goodies, made sugar cookies, and ate sugar cookies with hot chocolate!


The kids LOVED decorating the cookies.


Brayden is serious about his decorating!! :)


Both working hard.


The brown ones are actually hot chocolate chocolate chip sugar cookies. Pretty impressed with how good they were. I think they turned out to be everyone's favorite.
Every Christmas Eve after the Nativity story and our spiritual thoughts, and our singing, we all open one present. . . PJ'S!!! I make them each year, and this year was the year of red flannel backed satin!

Evan loved them!


Both boys are so cute!


Brayden calls them his slippery pajamas. He's been waiting awhile to get to wear them. He had to watch me make them the most out of anyone because he is home during the day. He's a good sport.


Here we all are!! Auto picture worked better than I thought it would. Don't you just LOVE Addison's cheese! She isn't crying here, she is saying cheese. She's so funny. Andrew on the other hand was just ready for bed. Aren't we a BRIGHT family this year!!

Now that the kids are in bed we got to play Santa. SO FUN!! I hope they are as excited as I am. I could wait to see how this all looked.


I put out the rest of the presents, and pull all the ones out from under the tree. This way it gives off a great effect. The kids will be surprised. You may be asking yourself. . . is that a bounce house? Why yes it is!! We found it for a GREAT deal on black friday and I COULD NOT resist. It blows up in less than a minute, and goes down in less than five minutes. It's not too loud, and it fits perfectly in our house! It isn't even as tall as I am so it is perfect for the kids!! SO EXCITED!! I forget how excited I get for them to get down here. I hope I can sleep.


Doesn't it just look so FUN!!

Well, we hope everyone has a great Christmas tomorrow!! I'll post about that later!


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Update before Christmas!

So, in order to not be behind when Christmas arrives, I must post a few pictures. It's been a fun month thus far. . . and the funnest part is yet to come!


This is me and my Princess. I, unfortunately, had already changed out of my Sunday clothes, but not Addison! She is so cute! I am really lucky to have her!


This handsome fellow is such a charmer!! He smiles for everyone and is SO sweet! We love him and are very grateful to have such a wonderful little boy!



These are two of my more favorite pictures of Addison in her cute dress.


This is what Addison wore on her Daddy's birthday. She looked beautiful once again!! (Thanks Abbe for the cute dresses!!)



This is Josh on his birthday! He got a Millennium Falcon from the kids. They all love it!
He also got some headphones and a new mouse. . . boring, but what he asked for!! I made him GIANT chocolate chip cookies instead of a cake. He loved them! Over all it was a good day, or so he says!! :)


This is Josh with his helper. She helped him open all his presents. Which is apparent below in the next pictures.


Andrew coming over for a turn.


Andrew wanted to help too. Addison only let him have the present for a few seconds, but he was happy with that.


See, he is just watching now. He didn't even try to take it back!! So sweet.


Did I already post this one??? Well, it's just super cute with that tongue out and all, so there it is again!!