Merry Christmas 2013

We woke up Christmas Eve morning to see "ruckus" the elf sip-lining across our room.

 Some people have naughty elves... we just have ruckus who just calmly wakes up in a different place each day.  He did get sick one night because of the human touch and he zip lined the last day (as in the picture) but other than those couple "crazy" things he was just very nice.  We love him and the kids do to.  I know there are so many haters out there, but if you just aren't crazy with your elf, it's easy and fun!!

 Taylor and I started the day off with a 6.5 mile run down the canyon.  It was BEAUTIFUL and the company was great.  We got cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate when we finished.  I love this tradition!


I didn't get a picture, but we spent the day at Sun Dance skiing.  It was SO fun and the weather was sunny and warm.  Perfect for my little munchkins.

 After skiing, we came home and Grammie and Grandpa joined us for dinner.  (didn't take pictures again).  We made yummy crepes.  Ham and Cheese and banana and strawberry with nutella and whip cream.  YUM!

 Then we spent time as a family talking about the true meaning of Christmas and reading the Christmas story. 

 RUCKUS was nice and left us all Christmas Pajamas (and slippers for the adults).  My boys are just in love with slicky cloths -- so our pjs were perfect and nate said he wouldn't take them off for all day and all night and all day. :)

 You'd never know it was 5:30 in the morning.  But these kiddos were super excited for Christmas!!!

 Luke

 Nate

 Sam

 Jake

 Felice

 Thanks to Felice we all got some AMAZING chinese gear.  It was SO sweet of her mom to send us all stuff. We loved it.  Nate wore his all day long.

And, the picture of the CHAOS that was about 1 hour after we started.  Fortunately, Taylor and I were able to sneak away for a much needed 2 hour nap.  I love the ages of my kids.  We said, "DO NOT COME INTO OUR ROOM FOR 2 HOURS."  It was the first time in history that they did it!!  So awesome.  I feel like we have finally arrived. :)  I have to say this is my best married Christmas yet.  Everything about the day and week was perfect.  ahh... so nice.  I am sad we have to wait another year.

Christmas with cousins...

This is just a dump of fun Christmas pictures...  we started in SG with my family.

Luke was nominated to be the MC, because he LOVES to be in front of an audience.  He did a great job introducing everyone!

Jake played the piano

Sam and Nate sang "Santa Claus is coming to town"

We got spoiled by Grandma with mini IPOD like music players and beanies with the book, "What does the fox say"

Jake and Luke got lego sets and banks with a ton of change to put in them.

Felice wasn't left out either and got a fun scarf and leggins.

Next we headed up to Heber with Taylor's family, to do the routine all over again.  The talents were spectacular as usual

And the nativity was very reverent.... (who am I kidding! nothing is reverent when you have 30 grandkids running around)  but we managed through it!

The best part was the family sing a long after dinner and the nativity.  Grandma played the piano and Grandpa led us in some Christmas Hymns. 

and of course... when we are with the Nadaulds, we have to get out the machines....

Poor Taylor, so exhausted from entertaining the kids on the sleds all afternoon.  He kind of gets designated as the family play boy and so he gets to ALSO do all the work for all the nieces and nephews.  He does love it though, and we LOVE HIM!

A cool new gadget from Felice

Felice is always buying things online.... She gets a package about every other day!  One thing came in the mail this week and the boys were in heaven.  I microscope for her phone!  Here are some pretty cool pictures they took. 

Whatever entertains.... right?  I'm not even sure what the pictures are of, but I was a little entertained myself. :)

Sam's art show

 Here is a picture of Sam and some of his cute preschool buddies.  I just can't believe he will be in kindergarten next year.  Pre-school doesn't bother me, but kindergarten does.  I almost need to stop sending my kids to preschool so that I don't have to think about kindergarten so soon!! :(  STOP GROWING UP.

 Just a few of his sweet projects.  He was so excited for us to come to his art show.  He was telling me about it for months!

 We love Miss Ettie.  We will miss her dearly while in NYC!  Sam has had a great time this year.

A little video of them reading in class.

"It's kind of fun to be famous......"

 "It's kind of fun to be famous."

.....nice words, from our eldest after he was able to play on the court at half time of the BYU game.  He was pretty famous, because he was the only one to score.  Way to go Jake!

 We are so glad to have the opportunity to do this.  He loved it.  You can tell how excited they all are by the way the pictures are blurry!!! :)

 Jake in action....

 Here is a video of the game... I don't know if it will play right, but it was fun to watch.

 A quick pick with our favorite mascot, Cosmo.

Christmas Recitals

The boys both started piano with a new teacher this year.  Jake decided to give up on violin for a few years and he is focusing on piano now.  He is pretty good.  Luke is still really good by ear, but HATES practicing and reading notes.

 Felice did so well too.  This was her first experience with piano and did so well. She was the best practicer in our home.  I tell ya, it pays to practice!

Here is a fun video of all 3 of them playing together.

December Fun

We have a busy month.  Here is a few shots of what's going on.

We started the month off with decorating our gingerbread house.  This year, we just made one -- which was much more fun for me than trying to help everyone make their own! 

 We are all getting excited about Christmas around here!

 I had some fun Young Women activities to help bring in the Christmas Spirit too.  We trekked to temple square one week, and decorated cookies another.  Felice made the cutest cookie if I do say so myself!

 Then we took the whole family to see the lights at the temple.  It was fun because Heather's family and Kirk's family came too.  We wanted to try out the Front Runner... and we rode the train to and from Temple Square.  The kids loved it and it was actually cheaper than driving.  15 bucks for our whole family.

 The best part of seeing the lights is going ice skating at the Galavan Center.  We look forward to it every year.

 

 Seeing the big cousins help the little ones just makes my day!  Love all these kids.

 Felice's first time on skates.  She is excited to learn how to get better, but she was really nervous. :)

 There were some cool candy displays at the Macy's in City Creek.

 Love my people!!!

 A big group shot of us all!

 Sam and Nate enjoying the night

Of course, if there is snow we have to build a snowman.  Sam and Laura made a pretty cute one if I do say so myself.

 Here is their "selfie" with the cute little carrot man!

I don't think my kids will ever get sick of snow and sledding in it.  Here is Sam and Nate below being pulled behind the 4-wheeler.

 And... when the 4-wheeler isn't available (aka dad's at work), they use their own brute force to have some fun.

 above is a picture of Jake pulling Luke and below is Sam pulling nate..

It's cold, but it's always fun to play in the snow.