And Finally, the Day After Christmas

My whole family (with the exception of Ben who is on a mission) was able to make it to celebrate Christmas on the 26th at my parents house. We haven't all been together at the same time since Ben left over a year ago so it was a lot of fun. We were excited to see Dan and Amber who flew in from Houston and we got to meet their new baby, Brooke, who was born in August. The kids were thrilled to have cousins to play with and, of course, to open still more presents. We really are spoiled.
We started out standing around waiting for Ben to call. He was supposed to call sometime between 11:00 and 12:00, but we finally heard from him around 12:30. It was great to be able to talk to him and hear his voice. He is such a great missionary and it sounded like he was doing well.
After Ben's call we had a delicious meal, opened presents and then the boys all went shooting while the girls played games and made sure the kids didn't destroy the house. It was a lot of fun!

The kids started out the present opening with presents from each other.

Savannah got a cute picture frame and a kit to make bracelets.

Will got a Star Wars lego set.

Isaac got some Star Wars guys too, but I guess I didn't get a picture.

Then it was time to open stuff from the siblings. I got a beautiful picture of the Salt Lake Temple and a new watch band from Heather and Randy and Robby got something for his gun from them. (I think it is some sort of sling or holder thing, but I'm not sure. Anyway, he liked it)

Next the kids got to see what Grandma and Papa got for them. Isaac and the other two boys close to his age got a cool truck that goes by itself.

Will and Tyler got a remote control truck that rolls and spins. It is pretty cool.

And Savannah got a new keyboard. She was VERY excited about this gift as well.

Then it was our turn to open and my mom brought out two boxes. One was small and heavy and the other was huge and heavy. She told us each couple got to pick which box they wanted, but we only get one of the two. Since they were both wrapped we weren't sure what to pick so she decided that Ali could open the big box and then we could decided if we wanted that or the unknown small box.

Ali opened it and it was . . .

New cookware!!!

Now the choice was easy for Robby. He wanted the small box, even though we didn't know what was inside, but I was very tempted by the shiny new pots and pans. This is something I desperately needed and would probably never buy for myself. After some deliberation my mom decided to tell us what was in the small box so we could make an informed decision of what we wanted. It was a big bag of rocks and the money equivalent of the cookware. This too was very tempting, but I still wanted the cookware. Luckily for me I have a loving husband who wants to see me happy and let me choose the cookware over the money. (Thanks Robby!) You can see below how desperately we needed this.

Some of these came from Robby's Grandma when we got married 11 years ago and some are from before we were married. I must say I'm not a bit sad to see them go.

Thanks so much Mom and Dad for making this Christmas memorable. We had such a great time!

Christmas Day

We spent Christmas day with Robby's family. It was so much fun! We got to see Ryan and Sunny who drove in from California, we had a great meal and we had a lot of fun opening presents and hanging out. Jessica made hats for all the grandkids and they turned out so cute!
You can't really see Will's because it is behind the pretzels and hot chocolate.

Savannah's is pink and very soft and Jessica even made a matching one for the baby when she is born and we can't wait to see it on her.

Isaac really likes his too. Thanks Aunt Jess!

Jessica and Jaden watching the kids open their presents.

Savannah was very surprised and excited to open her present and find an MP3 player. It is a really nice one too. (I think Robby is a little jealous). It has music and video and she LOVES it! Now if only we could afford to put some music on there for her. . .

Will got Han Solo to go with the Star Wars ships he got for his birthday.

Savannah got a cute outfit.

Isaac got some new (desperately needed) cowboy boots, but they are a little too small so we need to go see if we can exchange them for bigger ones. His old ones are pretty worn out.

Both boys got a racetrack that looked like it was going to be very cool, but turned out to be a little to hard for them to control so Papa and Grandma exchanged them for an awesome train set for Will and a Little People car track for Isaac. Both boys love their new gifts, but I didn't get any pictures.

I got a really soft new scarf. Not a great picture of me, but you can see the cute scarf.

Robby got a tool kit and you can tell by his expression that he is very excited about it.

Kim, Ryan and Sunny watching the kids open presents.

And, finally, Robby and I got portable DVD players for the car! That will be so great for long trips. The kids were just as excited as we were about that gift.

We had such a good day! Thanks so much Bill and Kim for everything. We really appreciate all you do for us.

Christmas Morning

Waiting at the top of the stairs to see if Santa came.




This is what the kids saw when they came down the stairs on Christmas morning.

It's kind of hard to see, but there are gift tags with their names on them attached to a ribbon.
Isaac's ribbon led him to the kitchen where he found . . .

A new scooter! He absolutely LOVES this thing. We had to bring it to both Grandma's houses and he wants it in the Kitchen when he is in there and in the playroom when he is in there. I can't wait to see how he does with it when he can ride it outside.

Will and Savannah's ribbons led them down to the family room where they found . . .

New bikes!

They were both very excited as well. They got to ride them outside at Grandma Waters house on Christmas day, but it has been too snowy since to try them outside.

Isaac got a light-up fishing pole from Savannah and Will that he loves. He has already spent a lot of time casting and reeling in the house.

Savannah got a fuzzy poster music box with a dancing ballerina and glitter, markers and sequins to decorate it. And she got a stamp set.
Will and Isaac both got Transformers that are too hard for them to transform. Luckily Dad can help them with that.

Isaac got some finger paints.

And Will got some fuzzy posters to color.

Savannah and Will both got new snow pants which have gotten a lot of use the past few days.

Robby got a new pencil, sketchbook and wooden model from the kids so he can practice his drawing skills.

And I got a beautiful picture frame from Will, a homemade calendar and a metal plaque thing from Savannah and some ribbon and flowers to make some bows for the baby from Isaac.

It was such a great Christmas morning for all of us!

Twas the Night Before Christmas . . .

Christmas Eve was so great this year. We have always celebrated Christmas Eve with one of our families and then Christmas with the other but this year it worked out to do the day after Christmas with my family so we had Christmas day with Robby's family which left us free to do our own thing on Christmas Eve.
We made cookies and delivered them to our neighbors and then took a drive out to Antelope Island. There were lots of rabbits and coyotes out so that was fun. Then we looked for Christmas lights on the way home. After dinner we read the story of Jesus' birth from the bible and watched part of the DVD Joy to the World that the church put out a few years ago and then we talked about the real reason we celebrate Christmas. It was so nice to have that family time together.
Then we let the kids open their Christmas Eve present which is (of course) pajamas. They were all very excited to finally get to open a present.


Isaac got monster PJ's


Will wanted Christmas ones, so his have snowboarding polar bears and snow.

Savannah got pink and brown cupcake PJ's.

Silly kids

All ready for Christmas morning.

Temple Square

On Monday night we met Robby at his work and then took the train over to Temple Square to see the lights. It was cold, but very beautiful as always. The kids were very excited to ride the train and be out seeing the sights.

Robby got some great shots of the temple.

We hurried through Temple Square and headed over to the Energy Solutions Arena to participate in the sing-a-long that was happening there. My brother and his wife flew in from Texas on Monday and we were excited to see them and their kids and my mom and dad and my sister and her family were also planning on being there. Unfortunately for us, we got there too late to get seats and after walking around for awhile trying to find some we decided just to leave. The crowds were pretty unbelievable. I didn't think the arena would even halfway fill up, but it was completely full and people were still pouring in. The line for a free hot dog and drink was about a mile long! Who is willing to wait for 2 hours for a free hot dog?! I don't like hot dogs so I guess I don't understand, but I don't think I would wait in that line for a free box of chocolates either. The kids were pretty disappointed, but they were OK after we got to ride the train again and then have dinner at McDonalds. Isn't life good when a trip to McDonalds makes everything OK? I think it was a pretty fun night.

Eleven Years

Robby and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on Friday. I can't believe it has already been that long! I posted last year about how we met and posted pictures and stuff from when we were dating. If you want to see all that click here. It has been such an amazing eleven years and I am so grateful for Robby in my life.



December 18, 1998


August 2009

We were lucky this year because my mom offered to watch the kids for us so we could go out and she even kept them overnight for us. It was so great! We got the Christmas shopping done for the kids, went out to dinner and watched a movie together without any interruptions from the kids. Thanks again Mom, we really appreciate it!

Happy Anniversary Robby. I love you and I don't know what I would do without you!

Will's Christmas Program

Will's Kindergarten class did a Christmas program on Friday and it was so cute! The kids were so excited to perform and they did a really good job doing their parts. Once again my pictures are all blurry. I don't know why I can't ever get a good one when I'm at the school. Maybe because Isaac is always climbing on me? Anyway, here are a few blurry pics and then a couple of videos of the kids singing and playing their kazoos.