Christmas 2010

This Christmas was a lot of fun... our kids are old enough to really get into all of the fun! We headed over to my parents house for Christmas Eve! We do a draw-name gift exchange with almost all of the grandkids (50 some kids from 0-18 years). It is a crazy party... then we have a Christmas feast, a talent show or program followed by the nativity. Then we sing songs and Santa comes for a visit! We finish off with Grandma reading Twas the Night Before Christmas. We had a great time!

The kids with Santa... Grady was a skeptic.

Carlie loves Santa and was so happy to see him!

Sarah Jane liked Santa this year... Yay!

Grady and Santa weren't too sure of each other.

The gift exchange... this was only a small part of the circle of family.

Waiting in line for Santa!

Grady got a cool dump truck from Sydney.

Sarah Jane got a Princess purse from Mindy, that she loves.

Carlie got a Fur Real bear that she loves from Isaac!

The Nativity... Carlie was a Sheep and Sarah Jane was a Shepherd.
Grady was wild!

Grandma reading to the kids.

Christmas Morning was a lot of fun. We got up, or I should say Carlie got us up at 8:00 and the kids saw/played with what Santa left for them, then we got dressed, had breakfast and Grandpa Randy came over. We let the kids open their presents from him and play until Grandma Charlotte, Uncle Sam and Aunt Lissa came. We finished opening the gifts, watched football and snacked while the dinner feast was being prepared. We ate dinner when Uncle Hal came then just hung out and watched Elf.
It was a nice day!

This is what Santa left for the kids!
(notice how the ornaments are on the top half of the tree thanks to Grady!)

Carlie and Sarah Jane on Christmas morning.

Sarah Jane was a careful gift opener.

Gus with his new BSU shirt for work!
We got one for Grandpa Randy too!
We got Grandma Charlotte a Garmin... She loved it!
Aunt Lissa, Carlie, Uncle Sam, and Grandpa Randy

Grady was a wild man and loved opening ALL of the presents,
even if they weren't his!
We had a very Merry Christmas!

Below is a Christmas message from Sarah Jane:

Tiffany's Visit... catching up.

Wow, it has been quite a while since I've posted so there is a lot of catching up to do. As I mentioned before my sister Tiffany, her husband Daniel, and their kids Wesley and Katie came for a visit just before Thanksgiving. Daniel had to go back to Maryland for work but Tiffany and the kids got to stay for another couple of weeks. We had such a great time with them and were very sad to see them go. I am so thankful that they were able to come visit and hope to see them soon.

While Tiffany was here we had several get togethers with lots of family! Here are a few of us at my Mom&Dad's house for lunch.

This is Kara and Katie who are only two months apart...
too cute!

Buddies: Nathan, Wesley, and Dylan

We had a Sisters & Mom night. We had a lot of fun and good food...
We started out at Olive Garden...

Then we went to Kohl's to shop...

Tiffany is due to have a boy in February. Valerie just had her baby boy, Landon, on December 30th.
Then we went to Applebee's to talk and eat a very yummy dessert.

Molten Lava Cake before:

After: ... Yum!

The three little girls...
or at least that was what they called us when we were younger.

And here are OUR three little girls...
Kara, Katie, and Sarah Jane

Tiffany and her kids and me with mine... saying good bye.

I MISS YOU TIFFANY, DANIEL, WESLEY, & KATIE !

Christmas Prep

Saturday December 4th we put up our Christmas Tree! We had Grandpa Randy, Grandma Charlotte, Uncle Sam, and Aunt Lissa over for the day... it was a blast! They brought Papa Murphy's pizza, helped us pick out a Christmas tree, watch the BSU game, decorate the tree, watch a movie, and make sugar cookies!

Sarah Jane and Carlie in front of the Christmas tree!

Sarah Jane does this all the time she will smile but not look at the camera, she is so funny!

Decorating the tree! Sarah Jane was obsessed with that spot by the wall and we had to move five ornaments from that area that nobody could see.

The girls with Grandpa Randy... He is such a good grandpa,
they love him so much!
Mom and Aunt Lissa made sugar cookies with some help from my girls... they were so patient with the girls wanting to do it all! Thank You!

Carlie was such a good little helper!

I love this picture of Sarah Jane covered in flour and pushing cookie dough into a cookie cutter. She was helpful... until she would overlap cookie cutters to make some interestingly shaped cookies!

Love this picture too... Carlie was a little fascinated with the flour!

Everyone enjoying the Yummy Cookies!

Sarah Jane was only there for the frosting.

Can you say SPRINKLES?

This little cookie monster is just getting too cool to sit in his highchair the right way... YIKES!

We got our Douglas fur for $25 at Home Depot... probably because it was frozen when we got it and we had to thaw it out in the garage for a few hours before we could bring it in!
It is beautiful!

Happpy Thanksgiving

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
We sure had a lot of Good Food and Fun!

We had a Waltman Thanksgiving this year because my little sister, Tiffany, her husband Daniel and their kids, Wesley and Katie, came for a visit... They live in Maryland and we haven't seen them for a year and a half! I am so thankful that they could come for a visit, thanks to Mike and Julie for flying them here with all of Mike's frequent flier miles!
This isn't even all of the family...
there were four families missing from this Thanksgiving Feast!

At the end of the table we had Brandon, Gus, Bryce, Daniel, Michael (Daniel's little brother), Marena (my niece), Tiffany, Valerie, Shari, Me, and Natalie!

Here we have the head of the table
Becky, Mike, Julie, Mom, Dad, Alison, Vaughn, Lance, and Elliot.

Here is where Carlie sat with all of her cousins!

And here we have Sarah Jane and Grady at the bar with a few of their cousins!

Here we have a little post Feast Fun!
We had such a good time and the food was perfect... Thanks for letting us tear your house apart Mom and Dad! I love having a big family, we have so much fun together!

Little MONSTER

Doesn't he look so cute and harmless?

Think again...
He empties the book case everyday.

He climbs on anything and everything.... and then says "STUCK!"

He gets stuck in the cupboards.
Cute... YES!

Harmless NO... THE EGGS!

The look on his face when we put a lock on the Fridge.

He eats everything he can find... edible or not.

He likes to play on the computer... literally.

Gus loves it when the monster empties his wallet.
But at the end of the day we can't seem to get enough of him. He is a little cuddly boy. I am so thankful for him and the pure JOY he brings into our home and to me!

We love our little MONSTER!

Below is a video of Grady talking and being so cute...