New Year's Eve Sledding Day

Hooray for another Sledding day! And on New Years Eve no less. We invited a bunch of our friends to meet us up on the mountain for sledding, chili, hot chocolate and fun! We had planned on having a nice little set up with an awning, chairs, heaters, the works. That plan was literally blown away by the gusty wind. It was so strong we didn't have a hope of setting up. But other than the wind the day was bright and warm enough to be pleasant. Annalyn taking her first run of the day. When she got up from her sled she said,"oh momma that was cool! That was cool momma I liked that!" then up the mountain she ran to do it again.

Heather hiding in her coat, Sherman and Ben.

The snow was pretty hard which made it fast so the kids where having a blast. Morgan though a little nervous at first, in the green on the left, was going down more and more as the day went on.

Even the big kids. Here are Lynett and Heather coming back up to go again.

The boys where really good about helping Annalyn get back up the hill. Shermie is reaching down to get her here:

Tristan, Tuffer and Shermie get ready to go down together.

Annalyn taking a break on Ben's lap.

left to right: Morgan, Tristan, Matthew, Nic, Shermie and Tuffer on the hill.

Annalyn getting a little help form Lynett.

There she goes. It was funny to see the four year old boy who was too scared to go down even with his parents and yet here is my two year old daughter that is all by herself (with the boys ready at the bottom). I wanted to say,"yea, she did this last year too" but I didn't. That's my girl!

We spent the whole day going up an down the hill and it was a blast! The chilis were great and even though the hot chocolate may not have been exactly hot it was still good. Thanks to every one who came you made it a really great day!
Here some video fun. I will post more pictures when I get them form Lynett.

Have a Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was a busy one. Since we planned on going to church at 9:00 we invited Grandpa and Grandma over at 6:30 to watch the kids open their presents. It is a little bit of a shock to be woken up with the sound, "Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas" when you are dead to the world! After getting no answer at the door Grandpa, Grandma and Stevie let themselves in through the garage. For some reason the kids didn't want to wake us up and had been sitting at the top of the stairs waiting. Of all the days to let us sleep in. It was a nice thought though.

They all raced down the stairs to find the new bikes(their old ones had been out grown and very heavily used) that Santa had left.

Annalyn was making herself right at home on hers

They mowed through the presents even though we tried to keep it organized.

Annalyn had a hard time leaving her bike.

Until she found she got clothes for Christmas too!

Santa brought a very special gift this year for Shermie.

After we did present at our house we got ready and went to church with Mande and Tim in there ward. Mande had a solo in the program which surprised Tim who she didn't tell. She did beautiful.
After a quick stop home and a return to PJ's we then went to Gramie and Pop Pops for more presents and a yummy breakfast.

Cutie little Girlies!

We open presents with Uncle Mike then after Gramies we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's for a nice Christmas dinner. It was a fun packed day and it was so nice to be with so much of our family (Though we really missed the ones that couldn't make it this year and they better come next!). It was good to see Spencer, Sarah, Ronda and Stevie (Annalyn's "STEVEN" she was stuck to him like glue and fell asleep on him to night in a row). I am glad they could be here. It made it that much better.

Merry Christmas!!

Foosball

Our neighbor Sister Sherman called me yesterday to see if we could use their old Foosball table. With the four boys we said Heck yea!

The boys have had so much on it fun already. I even saw the BIG boys in there on it early. It was a great addition to the Christmas Eve festivities. Definitely a hit!  
Thank you to the Shermans!

Putting Up the Tree

Setting up the tree usually goes pretty smoothly. Usually. This year as we wrestled to keep the tree up in it's stand it look like usually was not going to happen but then we got it to work.

So up went the star who's lights were all out so down came the star...

...but up went the rest of the lights, the ornaments and the garland. We were all but done putting on the last ornaments.

Dad was tired (thanks to the NyQuil) because he wasn't feeling well so he went to ahead to bed.

I came up stairs for a minute and then I heard a big crash and then the kids yelling that the tree had fallen over. SO MUCH, FOR USUALLY! I was Thankful that Grandma came over to help me clean up the glass and mess form the tree. We got it propped up against the wall and left it till we could get a better stand.

With the new stand secured the tree is finally finished and it only took a week. Matthew and Nic got a hold of my camera and decided to take their pictures with the finished tree.

If they had not we might not have had a finished picture because I was done with that tree. Looking at it now I think it turned out pretty good. Even still after Christmas I am watching the sales for a fake tree!

A Christmas Party with Santa

Nicholas and Annalyn where invited to Morgan's house for her Santa party.

Her wonderfully ambitious mom invited about 15 or so kids over to decorate giant rice crispy treat trees, play games, and have a special visit form Santa.She asked me to come help and she did a great organizing the party. It was so cute and all the kids love it! She asked me if I knew anyone to help in the "Santa" department and of course I did. :) I knew just the right person to talk to.

Santa was easily convinced (with a little persuasion from Mrs. Claus) to come to the party but on the night of his arrival both my husband and I got calls asking how to get where he was going. Although Santa was a little put out at the idea at first he immediately warmed up to the room full of kids that where enthusiastically cheering as he entered.

I doubt that any of the kids noticed that he had two particular favorites as he handed out toys to all the kids...

...and all the kids gave him hugs...and thank yous...and love you Santa(s).

He was definitely a hit with them all. He did a great job and I think he may even have liked it (because he sure did talk a lot about it later).  I find it the funniest that those two particular favorites never picked up on it either.

It was a great party. Heather did a fabulous job with everything.What a cute idea and a fun time!

Cutting Our Tree?

My husband and I had ourselves a good laugh today!

We told the boys we were going to go find and cut our Christmas tree today. They were so excited running around finding hats, gloves, coats, etc. Talking about their game plan for trudging through the snow and searching the woods for the perfect tree.

I few weeks before we promised my dad that we would take out some trees they wanted to get rid of at their house. So naturally Sherman and I thought it was a perfect way to get a free tree. ;)

With the kids loaded in the truck we drove the 3 miles to my parents house and told the kids to pick out their tree. Their reactions were priceless!  I don't think any of them were happy.

Matthew was the least impressed. The others laughed at it as they decided that we were serious...Matthew did not! I just kept saying, "no...No...NOOO!" in disbelief.

In the end I think we ended up with a good tree...

...and a laugh to last a life time!