Christmas part II

It's great to have large families!  We get to celebrate the holidays twice as long.  The week after Christmas we spent in Bountiful with all of Taylor's family.  One tradition is the family program.. It's required for each grandchild to perform a talent so they can get a present.  The older kids show videos of wrestling and drum playing while the little ones, sing, dance, play the piano, etc.  

I love this picture with Steve and Margaret at the head of all the chaos.  What  a legacy they have created with their posterity. 41 of us all together and 1 more boy on the way.  At least I have Margaret to lean on when I'm feeling picked on with 4 boys!  I still don't know how she did 7 boys under one roof!!

My boys did another scripture mastery song..  We are hoping to be a little better in the talent part next year!!  

Being up North requires lots of time in the snow.  My boys love playing in the snow! 

And luckily, Daddy loves it too so I can either stay home, or just be the picture taker.  I've got a pretty good life! :)

Sledding without Sleds!!!!  

This is our sweet cousin Matthew.  Luke and he are just 2 months apart and I hope they will be best of buddies growing up.

What a relaxing day!

Christmas was so much fun, and we all enjoyed spending time relaxing and playing with new toys.  The boys got some new leapster games to play while the 4-wheeler batteries were charging..

We all took some Christmas snoozes.  Ate lots of good food and lots of unhealthy yummy stuff too!  Couldn't ask for more

The day after Christmas my whole family was together for a family dinner and of course when the family gets together, all the cousins want to have sleep overs.. here is a picture of some of the cousins getting ready for bed.  4 peas in a pod!

It's A .....

Little Boys are so much fun we think we'll have another one!!

It was fun to open up our ultrasound on Christmas Day.. We weren't too shocked to see that it was another boy.  My kids were thrilled... they are begging me to have 5 boys so they can have a full basketball team..  We'll see about that. :)

If any of you know of support groups for mothers of all boys -- let me in! :)

Actually, I am not too disappointed, Sam will be happy to have a little buddy to wrestle and build forts with... I'm just getting a little out numbered here~

I guess this means we'll have to have a number 5.

Christmas Morning!

Christmas Morning was perfect.  The kids slept in -- which was VERY unusual, but I guess the whole holiday season was catching up.  My mom and I had to work really loud in the kitchen to get them up! I just can't sleep in on Christmas!!

We started with the family picture on the stairs....

Then the boys got to go check out their loot!  They got 2 main presents.. 1st was all the cowboy gear they could imagine including trick-ropes and a real roping steer head.

Sam of course was just happy to be alive and eating a candy cane all morning.

The next big gift were these ride on toys from Santa -- the boys were in HEAVEN!!  It was fun to be in St. George so they could enjoy the warm weather and drive the 4-wheelers to their hearts' content!

What a great morning we had!!

Christmas Eve

The Christmas Eve program has been a tradition for my family and I was so happy to have my kids be apart of it this year.  All the kids learn songs and get to be on stage to sing them.  If you participate in the program, Santa comes and gives you one present to "get you ready" for Christmas morning.  The kids all had a great time...

Brindee, Jacob, and Gavin

Their age group sang Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer

Hannah, Luke, and Laura

Their age group sang Santa's Coming To Town

The kids did such a great job, and were excited for their presents from Santa

Below is the ONLY picture I have of my Sister and me pregnant together.  She is due the middle of January, and I better get down to St. George before she has the baby so I can get a real prego picture of the two of us.  Our last sets of kids are all the same age and TOTAL buddies.  They could play for hours and never get sick of each other.  I was hoping for a girl just so that these last two could be as good of friends as the older ones.  But, not that lucky I guess..

PJs are a family tradition on Christmas Eve... The boys were happy about their Cowboy robes.. Thanks Heather for finding those!

A shot of the grandkids in their new Christmas Jammies.  Can't wait for tomorrow!

Ice Skating and getting ready for Christmas

Our little family tradition at our home is to string the small tree with Popcorn and Cranberries.  The boys were actually a big help this year and only poked themselves a couple times with the needle.  Luke holds the record for the best sewer around here.

Next on the Christmas agenda was Ice Skating.  It's nice living here in Utah County because there is ice skating just 10 minutes away.

They were very excited to start the process..

But soon realized they couldn't do much without daddy's help.  Being pregnant and holding sam -- I wasn't much help at all. :)

They loved it though and want to go back on a less crowded day so they can use the skate aids to help them.  They are cool little walker type tools that all the little kids were fighting over.  They had them all rented out by the time we arrived -- bummer.

We got to see Santa too...

Jake Loved it, and told Santa just what to bring (a 4-wheeler).

Sam was a little cautious, but didn't cry...

And this is as close as we could get Luke to Santa...  He liked him from afar. :)

Sleepy Sam

Cute little Sam .. Begging for a nap.  I love when my boys fall asleep at the table.  I know it just means I'm a bad parent, but I still think it's cute.  We sure love this boy.

Sam is our little sunshine.  He smiles all day long.  He loves to walk around and follows the boys everywhere.  I just think he is the cutest thing around!!

Seeing the Lights at Temple Square..

We got together with some Ohio Friends and ruffed the cold at Temple Square.  It was a lot of fun and very cold.  We saw the lights and the nativity and watched a short film to help us defrost at the visitors center. 

Although the adults were all freezing the kids didn't seem to mind.. They never do.  After the lights we stopped by the Crockets for hot cocoa and cinnamon rolls.  Yummy!

Good times with Good Company!!

 

Boy or Girl!!!???!

So I had my ultrasound on Wednesday --- the doctor knows what we are having, but I decided I wanted to wait for Christmas to find out.


I just had the doctor write it on piece of paper and put it in a sealed envelope. It's the only present we have under our tree right now!

I know it's kind of dorky -- but I was thinking since I can't wait an entire 9 months to find out (don't have that much will power), I would make it a special occasion anyway!

I'll post what we are having on or after Dec. 25th! Stay tuned...

Sam is Walking!!

He is following in big brother's footsteps so far!  9 1/2 months and he took his first steps. Just like Jacob.  He isn't walking as his primary mode of transportation, but he is getting better each day.  I love when they can walk!  They are so much happier.  No more scraping knees and picking up every little piece of lint they see in front of them!  On to bigger and better.

We sure love this kid -- who wouldn't???

Cold day outings!!

Our first real snow!  The boys were thrilled to play in it and we dug through the winter box and pulled out the gear.  Jake was very thoughtful to shovel the sidewalk for us -- hopefully that will carry over into the teenage years!
 

Our friends the Cleggs called and invited us to go to the BYU Bean museum since it was going to be a long cold day -- we were totally up for it! 

The museum, has live reptile shows that are free to the public and was a perfect way to entertain some rowdy boys.

Jake was totally into it as you can see...

Luke wasn't quite sure he liked all the life-size, life-like animals. But none-the-less enjoyed getting out of the house.

But, we couldn't forget our tradition of "snow ice-cream" when we got home.  We introduced it to the Cleggs.  I don't know if they liked it as much as we do, but it was a perfect treat for the perfect snowy day!!