Christmas

This year we decided to have Christmas at home. This was a first for us in our 6 yrs of marriage. We were excited to have Heather and Steve's family over to celebrate with us. We were able to mix family traditions with both families and it was a lot of fun. I've never had a fancy meal for Christmas Eve so this was a first. Heather was in charge of that so it turned out great. After our meal it was time to read the Christmas story found in Luke. I don't know how people make it through the story with little kids. We tried to make it fun with a little nativity set, but it was entertaining to say the least. Once we made it through the story the kids got to open a Christmas Eve gift of PJ's. Brody was really excited about his Buzz Light Year Pj's, but mom guessed the size wrong so they were a little snug. Grandma saved the day though with Pj's she had made the kids! Thanks mom your the best!
I don't know what we were thinking putting all the kids down to bed in one room. I guess we figured they would get tired eventually. Good thing we had made a decision on when santa's elves needed to get to work so they wouldn't be up all night. Needless to say we ended up splitting up all three kids until they each fell asleep. Santas elves tried working hard, but really one of them did most of the work (love ya sweetie!!) It was a short sleepless night, but was worth it in the morning when we woke the kids up and told them it was Christmas and that Santa had come. They all came running out and each went to their toy Santa gave them except for Zach. He went running to everyone elses toy especially the train set Brody got. It was pretty cute. The day was a big success and I even got surprised by Santa. . . he's the best!!
On Christmas day we headed over to Pam's house to have our traditional big Christmas dinner. The food was fantastic which it always is when someone else makes it, and it was fun to see what fun things Santa had brought them as well. My mom had come to town a few days before Christmas so we were able to spend time with her and loved having her here for a couple of weeks. The holidays were the best and I am so grateful for the blessings we have received this year.

Christmas morning!!

Brody with his Christmas stash!

Brody and his Geotrax set!!

Zach and his Christmas stash!

Brody at his school Christmas program. They sang Rudolph the red nose reindeer and jingle bells.

Thanksgiving

Apparently Thanksgiving isn't a big deal in our family because I don't have any pictures of it. Such a slacker I know. This year we were lucky enough to have Roxanne's family come down for Thanksgiving. It was so fun to have them here and see how the kids have grown. We had a delicious dinner at Pam's house and I was in charge of side dishes. . . how fantastic is that. I had no stress about the main dishes and my house didn't have to be spotless!! Thanks Pam your the best!! : )

Halloween trunk-or-treat

We had a fantastic time trunk-or-treating in our ward. Brody was a cowboy without a hat, but not without a gun! He couldn't get enough of the cocking sound before he got a shot off. Zach was our little batman. He was such a cute super hero I'd let him save me any day. Both boys had a good time Brody was a pro at asking for candy and Zach loved our neighbors wagon. It was fun to dress up and we had a great time dolling Heather and Steve up as well. Thanks for being good sports.

My cowboy and his facial hair!

Brody enjoying his stash of candy!

Batman. . . aka Zach!! Couldn't get him to hold still!

James, Steve, Zach, and Lawrence a guy in our ward. Love when people dress up!

Gotta love Halloween!!