Sam's Early Birthday with Utah Friends

Since Sam has a birthday just 2 weeks after we get to New York, we decided to have a party here in Utah first.  It was a hit.

 For the invites... we handed out "white sugared donuts."  We are having a White snow party you "DO NUT want to miss.  So clever, I know. :)
 We were lucky to have Grandma in town helping me pack and she made the cake for Sam.  He loved it as you can tell by his facial expressions...

 We played pin the carrot on the snowman (all my boys helped grandma make the snowman picture).  For some reason that was the highlight of grandmas visit for them all.  They LOVED helping her color the poster.  SO funny the things that entertain.  Usually, I can't get my boys to do anything artistic in the house.

 Opening presents is always a top priority during parties.

 Here is Sam with all his buddies.... L2R: olivia, Chase, Beckham, Jaya Ella, Brydger, Nate and Carson.  We are gonna miss all these play buddies for sure.

Above is a video of playing the Snow Pop game... popping white balloons tied to their ankles.  Best party game ever!  And below is a little action of the sledding..

 And then the best part of the party was going sledding in the "SNOW".  The kids couldn't get enough and just kept taking turns

 Look at all those cute faces....

Taylor was a sport to drive them around for an hour.

 Only one small casualty... Beckham face planted and was a real trooper!  He must have hit an ice patch, because the whole side of his face got scratched.  DANG IT!!!  I guess I should have known there would be at least one injury. :(

All in all -- a great day for the Samster.  He is such a fun kid to have around.  He is really shy in new situations and loves to have friends, but mostly likes to play at our house.  He is really smart and doing well in preschool.  When I say well, I mean the teachers love him because he pays attention and is so well behaved.  I wish he was a little more at home, but I can't complain as long as he is good with others, right?  He loves to learn to read and will practice any time I am willing to help him!  He learned to tie his shoe 4 months ago and is a pro now.  Taylor thinks Sam might end up being our biggest and strongest and most athletic child... we'll see.  :)  He loves to hang with the big boys and seems closer to Luke's age than Nates.  He is 5 going on 10 for sure!  We love you Sam.

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.