Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas in Ferron this year. It was wonderful - we just missed Hayd, Kell, Danzer and Ellys like crazy. Good thing for Skype - we were able to visit with them twice on Christmas day.

On Christmas Eve, the girls put on a music and dancing show (shocking...I know :),

read us Christmas stories,

and got tucked up for the night (in anticipation of Santa coming!). Paityn has a new sleeping spot at Ya Ya's house. That's right, underneath the sofa table. Looks soft and cozy, right?! Crazy girl slept there every night without a peep!

Christmas morning was full of gifts and surprises!

Who knew one could get sooo excited over a new package of panties?!

Adorable new hats from Auntie Kelly

And, you're all going to be jealous about this one! Lauren made me a duct-tape wallet out of Zebra print duct-tape. So stinkin cute :) Lauren had a hand-made gift for everyone this year. She's so thoughtful and sweet!

One of Lauren's favorite gifts was knitting needles and yarn. She put them to good use and by Christmas evening had made this ear warmer for Roo.

Thanks for a relaxing Christmas Ya Ya and Poppies! We love you to pieces!!

The Heber Creeper Polar Express

My parents bought tickets to Heber's Polar Express for them and the grandkids (while Hayden and Kelly were in town). So, they picked up the girls from school and made the voyage up to Heber. They were there in plenty of time but had misunderstood what time the train left. So, while they were changing a diaper in the parking lot, the train pulled away. All of the kids were so sad (I think Ya Ya and Poppies were the saddest of all).

Anyway, for a small fee, the train folks offered to exchange the tickets for another day. Lucky for us, we became the recipients of the tickets. The girls loved it. And, I loved that they loved it ;)
This is one of my fave pictures of our train ride. Where's Lauren? We decided that he eats far toooo many cookies on Christmas Eve!
Thanks for the tickets Ya Ya and Poppies!

Christmas Around the World - Pai's School Program

The 1st graders put on a "Christmas Around the World" program. It was so fun to watch - especially since Paityn is such an entertainer. This is right up her alley!

The only problem: the majority of the speaking parts were in Spanish. So, I watched but didn't listen. Honestly. Do they really expect me to keep up with her in learning Spanish? No can do.

An EARLY Christmas Morning!

We had an early Christmas morning celebration with Kelly and her family. Because they flew out for Lauren's baptism, they weren't able to come for Christmas. So, we tried to recreate Christmas morning a few weeks early. The kiddos were in heaven!

Happy, Happy Family Birthday Party!

While our family was here for Lauren's baptism, we threw in a quick family birthday party for Lauren and Raegan.

Lauren decided on the party dinner menu: meatloaf (what kid picks meatloaf as their fave meal?!), steamed carrots (again...?!), dutch oven potatoes (killer choice!) and rolls.

Ya Ya made a cake for dessert that was a bow (with a "3" and an "8" disguised within the bow).
Raegan and cousin Jordan playing in the box to Raegan's new dollhouse. I'm not sure which toy was a bigger hit: the dollhouse or the BOX that the dollhouse came in :)

It's GrEaT to be EiGhT!

Our sweet lil' bugga was baptized on December 4th by her daddy.

We were so excited to spend the day with Kelly and her family (who flew here from Texas just for the special occasion!), Ty (Tanner's youngest brother) and his family, Nana and Papa, Ya Ya and Poppies, and Great Grandma Ollie. We were grateful to have many of our close friends there, as well.

Sleepless 'Til Seattle

We had a brilliant idea (or so it seemed!): we'd travel to Seattle to spend Thanksgiving with Tanner's oldest brother's family. It was a solid, well thought-out and planned trip....until mother-nature wreaked havoc on our road trip.

I've never spent so many consecutive hours in the car. What we thought would be a 13 hour roadtrip turned into days and days of driving. I'd program our destination into the GPS each morning and we'd set out with an estimated arrival time of early-afternoon. Then, I would watch the GPS ever-so-gently bump that arrival time later and later and later (at which point we'd pull off, get a room and begin the adventure again the next day). It was super slow-going. But, in the end, it was worth the trip!

When we finally arrived in Seattle, we spent a couple of fun-filled days with Troy, Jody (the most gracious of hosts!) and their sweet kiddos (Kelly, Jaime, and Luke). Our time there was short but worth it!

The day we arrived was Laur's actual birthday. She was bummed that we had to travel all day on her birthday, but Aunt Jody and the kids surprised her with cake and presents when we arrived (which made up for the lame day of traveling :).

Lauren loved listening to Kelly and Jaime play the piano. And, she learned a few new piano pieces while we were there!

Sweet lil' cousin Luke!

Raegan getting all bundled up for our trip to the Seattle Market (a must-see for our kiddos - even though it was snowing and cold).

One of the girls' favorites: the Troll Bridge in Seattle. This thing is not only crazy looking, but it's gigantic (that's a real Volkswagon under his hand!).

We also toured Adobe (where Troy works), browsed the mall (and got Laur's ears pierced while we were there), and spent some relaxing time at Troy and Jody's house.

The Thanksgiving dinner was amazing and Jody made it look so effortless - she truly was an amazing host.

Thanks for a fabulous Thanksgiving, Troy and Jody! We love you!!