Christmas in Utah 2010

It has been 7 years since we have spent christmas in Utah with Eric's family. So we decided to brave the passes, load up our truck with presents and head down to Utah.

We split the trip up and stopped in Boise on the way there and back. (Well we are not actually back yet, we leave tomorrow morning. I sure hope we make it home safe, a huge storm has hit in Utah so it might get a little scary)

The Stephenson family drove down with us and we had a lot of fun playing in the pool at the hotel. (I will add these pictures later.)

When we finally got to Utah, the thing my kids were looking forward to the most was snow. They were pretty disappointed when we first got here. There was only a skiff on the ground. But snow is snow, so they put on there snow gear and played in the snow with cousin Wyatt who was visiting for Christmas from Denver.

Brody all bundled up and ready to play.

Cousin Wyatt

check out this snow ball

Christmas Eve-

All the family got together for Christmas Eve (minus John and Shana) . We had a lot of fun making and decorating sugar cookies, eating snacks, doing the nativity while Papa read from the Bible, and opening presents from the cousins.

The cousins all cuddled up on the couch.

Cousin Luke- could he be any cuter?!?

Our Angel- Lenna Vance

One of the wise guys.

Tommy as Joseph

Audrey , Tommy and Luke as

Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus

Wyatt- another wise guy.

Blake- as a Christmas present!!

Papa with Lenna and Brody on his lap.

Christmas Morning

The kids were spoiled this Christmas. I tried to keep it simple this year since we were traveling and I knew we would have to pack there presents to and from, but Nanna and Papa haven't had Christmas morning with little kids for a long time and went a little overboard!!

Fort Mendenhall is a tent that my friend Shawna Godbolt helped me make for the boys. It has been a huge hit. They are so excited about it. My boys have been really in to making tents latley, especially Blake and Brody so this will be perfect.

Brody's new shark robe.

Nanna- Blake- and Tommy all got a head light for Christmas. These were a big hit too! How did Santa know?!?

Blake's star wars space ship.

Tommy's dual lightsaber!!

Great grandpa Willardson made all the boys rubber band guns. Sometimes the homeade gifts end up being the best.

Brody and his gun and headlamp.

All the Cousins came back for a fancy Christmas dinner!!

Nanna made all the boys new hats. They loved them and look so cute in them!!

The lights at Temple Square

Christmas night Aunt Christine and uncle Jared and there family joined us as we went to check out the lights at temple square. It was beautiful and so fun!!

Tommy and Audrey- being goofey on the train to temple square

Nanna- I thought this was a great picture of her.

My boys!!

Lydia and Blake- could they be any cuter in their little hats from Nanna

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!!

Brody really liked all the lights too! It was absolutley beautiful.

Happy Birthday Blake

Of course we had to have a birthday party for Blake. It was so fun to celebrate with all his Utah cousins, which he rarely gets to do.

Aunt Emily made an awesome cake!! Just perfect for Blake

Blowing out the candles

Jackson, Savannah, Eric and Blake

After the party Nanna, Blake and Tommy snuck and ate the last piece of cake, but I caught them.

Buds- Carter and Brody

We had a lot of fun, but it is time to go. That is if we can get home. Love all the good times and memories that were made.

Snowy Days!!

Yesterday the snow came down pretty hard. It was so much fun!! I always get nervous when it snows here, because the roads are scary. But when we we are all home safe and sound I LOVE Snow days.

IT was so windy yesterday that our power went out too. I was a little nervous since the temperature was down in the teens but it was only out for 7 hours, from 2:30am so it wasn't bad. It was actually nice. It was like the world stood still for a while. The kids and I just gathered around the living room where we had light, and laughed and talked and then they curled up in there jammies on the couch and watched a movie on my laptop till they fell asleep.

This morning we slept in. Woke up and Tommy and Eric got up and shoveled our driveway and then also a single lady's driveway, while I made pancakes, sausage and hot chocolate. We ate breakfast and then have been playing in the snow ever since.

I love the way that our house looks covered in the snow.

The neighborhood gang.


Blake's snowman- he actually built this with Eric Sunday night when the snow first began. He was so cute, he ran inside and told me they were making me a surprise and that he needed a carrot. Gee, I wonder what the surprise was?


Hands covered with snow!


Blake covered with snow, but happy as can be!

I better watch out, the snow ball fighting began the second it started snowing!

Brody on the sled!

Just call him Rudolph! WE hooked the sled up to Diogo and he pulled the sled all over the neighborhood for the kids. They loved it and so did he!

Playing with photoshop. But this is one of my favorite pictures!!

Tommy falling on the snowboard!!

Enjoying the sled rides!

Tommy- he just can not be serious when I take his picture anymore.

Blake with the perfect snowball. I had to RUN!!

Brody and our neighbor Adina going for a sled ride!!

Could these two be any cuter in there snow gear??

Blake actually was quite the wild man on the sled!

Cute picture of Brody and Saige. I was playing with it and then couldn't get the color back. Ughh.

Dade smiling for the camera.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It pretty much sums it all up! I love the snow because I remember being a kid and having so much fun when it would snow. ?You can tell these kids are having sooo much fun. I love the memories they are creating.

Halloween Fun

Ooops, I almost forgot to post our pictures of our Halloween fun. With Halloween being on Sunday we chose to celebrate Halloween on Friday night with our good friends the Flamms and Saturday night at our Church Trunk or treat and then we went to visit Grandpa Stringham on Sunday and help him pass out candy. WE also had a lot of fun carving pumpkins this year. Brody really got into it.

Costumes and Church Trunk or Treat

Carving Pumpkins


Like Father like Son!


At first Brody thought the pumpkin guts were gross, he later got really into it!!

Friday Night "spooky dinner" with our good friends the Flamm family.

Mummy dogs!!
Red Bats!
We had a lot of fun decorating our own monsters!


Eating
worms with dad!
Pin the face on the jack o lantern.
The final jack o lantern!

Go Pythons!!

Another soccer season has come and gone. This year Tommy was on a different team, since Eric was unable to coach this year. He had a great team and amazing coaches, and Tommy really has imporved again this year. His games are getting more and more fun to watch this year. The kids are getting better and way more competitive. Finally on his last game of the season I remembered to bring my camera and snap a few shots!

Pythons 2010

Go Tommy

Tommy's 2 Biggest Fans this year-

Brody

And Grandpa

Grandpa was able to make it to quite a few of Tommy's game this year. It is nice to have the extra fans!

Next year Blake will be able to do soccer and he is really excited, Tommy on the other hand, has been dying to try Football ! He really wanted to try this year but I did not sign him up time. It is all him and his friends have been playing latley, so I guess next year he may not be playing soccer, which is a little sad.