Christmas 2010 post #2

Our 2nd stop was Chad & Melissa's in Utah. They have some fun family traditions that they do for Christmas Eve. The first and one I like the best is reading the Christmas story out of the Bible and then singing Christmas songs while Chad plays the piano.

The next tradition is the Christmas Eve Pinata. The kiddos always love this one. Starting from the youngest to the oldest they take turns whacking at it.

When it was Aleena's turn she whacked it off the rope. What an arm!

This is what happens after they have eaten the candy from the pinata...silliness occurs.

Christmas 2010 Post #1

This will be Shem's last Christmas before he goes on a mission. We let him decide what we were going to do for Christmas. He said he wanted to go skiing with his cousins in Idaho. So we loaded up the car and headed west.

Our first stop was in Colorado at my cousin Gary and his wife Jenn's house. I have not meet his wife or kids so I was really looking forward to getting to know them. Gary taught me how to ski, he was always fun to hang out with as kids. We had a great visit.

Jenn, Gary

Lindsey(11), Sydney, Abby, Mitchell

Sydney(9) and Isabelle playing with their pet turtles.

Abby(5) and Aleena playing the Wii

Mitchell (7) and Dan the Jedi warriors

Mitch was so glad to have a boy to play with.

Thanksgiving 2010

Autumn and her boys came down to see us and spend Thanksgiving. I wish I had a picture of her and the boys, I ended up with 4 pictures from the holiday and 2 were good. This one of the girls as indians with their Thanksgiving turkey.

And this one of Noah. The girls tried to make him look like a pilgrim with the vest.

We had such a fun time with them here. Autumn was even game to go shopping on Black Friday. (she found the best deals) Dan, Sarah, and Hannah wanted to experience black Friday so we braved the crowds (it really wasn't too bad.) Dan ended up going with Mitch at 5:00 a.m.

and saw all the crazies, we decided to go a little later, after the crazies were back home in bed.

We are glad Autumn came to see us one day we will go to Hawaii to see Her and Mike.

Eric loves trains that go, so when the girls set up this train around the Christmas tree, Eric was in heaven! He made a human bridge,

This entertained him for quite a while.

Isabelle's Birthday

Isabelle turned 7 in November. She was so excited about her birthday. She really wanted breakfast in bed and she was specific about it having a face. So the eggs were the eyes we made a nose out of toast and a bacon mouth. She absolutely loved it!

She also wanted a Ninja cake.

We found a ninja costume after halloween for real cheap too.

She loves to do art and drawing.

Happy Birthday Isabelle!

Every child needs a swing!

The girls wanted a swing and they were tired of waiting for us to make it. So being the inventive girls they are, made their own.

Sarah found scrap wood and asked how to cut it in a circle and did it all on her own.

She then got twine that we had laying around, twisted several lengths together and attached it to the tree.

If I would have known that it would provide hours of entertainment they would have had one sooner.

Costumes, 2010

Shem comes up with some interesting costumes. This year he was a Mad Scientist, he fits the part well.

Dan of course always has something to do with weapons. This year he is a Ninja Assassin.

(notice the book, I don't think his hands know what to do without a book in them.)

Isabelle wanted to be a hundred different things before she finally decided on a Creepy Ghost.

And Hannah, Wizard