Fun in the Snow....and Gingerbread houses!

This morning was so beautiful that the kids and I went out to play. We got all bundled up and helped our friend hand out some fliers and then made a snowman! We used things from around the house. Thanks to the creativity of my kids, his eyes and buttons are skittles; his nose, of course: is a carrot and his arms are candy canes. Emery is holding the snowman's hand and saying, "He's my friend." What a silly goose! Needless to say, we had fun!

Here are our Gingerbread houses for this year!

Jac, Ethan and my Dad helped make this fantastic house.

I decorated this house all by myself. (My creative juices were gone by the time that I got around to landscaping...hopefully next year I'll get around to a yard)

And this cute house was designed by Miss Emery. She was very particular on where I would put the dots of frosting. I think it turned out great! Thank you Mom for organizing the gingerbread house extravaganza!

Helped Moving In...

My roommate - before my cute hubby - was moving into her first home! It was so fun to see her house and to help her move all of her families things in. Jac and I got there and there was A LOT of help. She had lots of family there to help. I am so glad that her and her family have their first home and that it is perfect for them! Thanks guys for letting us come and be part of the move in caous.

Here's the front of the house. It has a cute porch and a large yard....perfect for the kids to play and a garden.

The stairs going down into the basement. Ethan is such a stud!

The family room

Their daughters room. She was so excited to show me here purple curtains in her room.

And the laundry closet. I took a picture of this because I thought it was cool tiles. Also it shows their new dryer! wohoo! I think her and her family will be very happy and comfortable in their new house!!!!

Preston really enjoyed his Christmas present....

Christmas Morning

We had such a wonderful Christmas! Here is Ethan and Emery going to scare Bompa from under the covers.

My kids are so cute! We had such a lovely time with Jac's family. The kids actually slept in till about 7:45ish...which I'm surprised. They were excited to see that Santa did come.

Ethan loved his pirate ship! He is showing me (in the picture) how the cannons can really shoot from the cannons. Emery and Ethan will have lots of fun playing together...and trying to keep Preston away from it. hehe. Have fun and good luck!

Here is a the only family group shot I took.

After the morning of opening presents. We went home to freshen up before we headed over to my family's festivities. Because of the snow storm...we had to delay our visit until the afternoon. We headed over to my grandparents and had dinner there which consisted of homemade rolls, ham, orange rolls and yummy desserts. We went to go hang out at my parents house to play games when it started to snow again. We actually ended up spending the night and half the day the next day before my parents (and Thabo) took off to the Sugar Bowl. We had such a fun time with both sides of our family. Thank you so much for the showering of gifts. I did have my camera but I forgot to take pictures...Darn. Though next Christmas I know will be documented because my sister-in-law from Texas will be here...so here's to next year! I love Christmas time and I think I am most excited to see my kids reactions on Christmas morning than anything else. They make my heart so happy and to see them happy is truly my hearts desire. I can't wait until next year!!

Ethan in a light-up Santa hat on our way to Grandma's house.

A taste of what Christmas morning was like....

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was so fun! It was our turn to spend with Jac's family this year. We first went to Denny's for breakfast in the morning, which was good. The drivers were insane on the roads that day. It was a little nerve racking...but I am grateful that Jac was driving. Later that afternoon we headed over to Jac's parents house. We walked in and his mom had been baking all day. She had her famous pecan balls, huge sugar cookies, an assortment of cakes and breads...a dream dessert table. Thank you Dawn for preparing all the goodies. Jac's dad had made dinner. He always chooses to do a theme dinner. This year our dinner was German. We had a roast, sweet-and-sour cabbage, potato dumplings....and of course, his famous pecan pie. Mmmm...needless to say we all had a great time and ate a lot! The kids spent the night dancing, we sang carols, visited with family and friends and had a great time!!!

Christmas Lights

I am definitely playing catch-up. Our family went to see the Temple Square Lights with Jac's family. It was a fun Christmas outing! We caught the Trax up to Temple Square and had a fun time walking around and enjoying the beautiful Christmas Lights! It was so busy and crazy...and we actually saw our friends there: the Palmer Peeps! The kids loved it...they actually had a blast riding the "train." So, I am excited to go next year. Jac's fam showed us the ropes on how to have a great time. Thanks! (and those who were not there were surely missed!)

Here's Ethan showing me how fun he is having on the train. He loved looking at his reflection in the windows...actually, all the kids did!

Best Cousins!

Preston staying warm in his winter gear. He's so cute!

Jac's parents

Little Lyncoln and Evan


Emery, Seth and Liam enjoying the nativity scene program at Temple Square

Oh yeah...I forgot! On the way back home from the lights, we hopped on the train as fast as possible. Ethan and Emery hopped on, then Jac handed me Preston and we jumped on and then as Jac was folding up the double stroller to put onto Trax and the doors closed on him. He was left behind! So needless to say, the ride home was somewhat exciting...well, for Jac it was....hehe. So about 20 min later we met up with Jac at our destination and drove home.