A little bit of Christmas Cheer!

Christmas is my favorite time of year! I love it even if my Doctor tried to ruin it with telling me I have to get knee surgery again. Seriously I am the 1% out of the 99% that have to have an ACL reconstruct due to no fault of mine or the doctors. Really now that is not the way to start out your Christmas holiday. Other than that awful news Christmas was spectacular. The kids were all super excited and could not wait for Santa's arrival. I think Sam asked to open presents nearly 30 times Christmas Eve. It is easy to forget your worries and get lost in the magic of the holidays with kids capturing the purest joy of the season. Hope your holidays were Merry and Bright! Wish me luck on my knee surgery in less than two days! The cutest Christmas elf(Easton) and his momma

Santa made a surprise visit!

Ford with his favorite Uncle :)

A little bit of the Christmas Craziness!

Some of the grand kids! Sam is about to squeeze Kaisley with his toes! :)

Trent and Aiden on our road trip to Salt Lake the weekend before Christmas. We celebrated with the Kemp family for Ryan's mom's 60th birthday.

Sisters and Brian (He loves us)

Happy Turkey Day !

This Thanksgiving was a little smaller than normal we were missing Cindy, Adam, Summmer, Chris, Jenelle, Joe, Russell, Julie, and their kids. It was a great day with yummy food and family. As a tradition before we eat we have to say two things we are grateful for. Grandma Arlie started the tradition years ago and isn't doing well so of course we all started crying when Mary mentioned she was the one who kept the tradition. It is such a special holiday and I have so much to be thankful for. I love Thanksgiving it is the perfect start for the Christmas season. Now on to decorating for Christmas........another post to follow showing my "Buddy the elf" craziness for decorating :)

Isn't this just hilarious! I loved Elly's turkey hat.....gobble gobble

sweet Tesla June

Dad carving the turkey

Amy and mom working their magic in the kitchen :)

Hope you all had a fabulous holiday!

Reconnecting with good friends

So it is a rare occasion that my girlfriends from high school get together. It was so fun to catch up and chat while the kiddos ran around making a mess of Sara's house (thanks Sara for letting us come over). It is always fun to reconnect with good friends and see how much our lives have changes since high school. Now they are all mommies and a few are pregnant! Kori is due this summer with her third baby. Lexi is due with her second boy this spring, and Sara is due with her second this summer. It is just crazy how fast time will pass, but the friends you make along the way make it all worth it. Hopefully we will be able to get together more often.

Lexi, Sara, me, Kori, and Lacey

Jack, Mckenzie, Trace, Hallie,and Jayden

Next time we get together we will be out numbered. Aren't they adorable!?

Halloween Party 2009!

Mary hosted the annual Halloween Party and it was a success! We had so much fun seeing everyone dressed up in their costumes. We started the night out right with chili, clam chowder,bone shaped rolls, rootbeer w/ dry ice, and salads. Oh and tons of candy from the ghost pinata! We ended the night trick-or-treating with the kids and enjoyed watching them earn their treats. I love Halloween and hope you enjoy all of the photos. I had to get all of the costumes documented. Hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween.......Summer,Chris, Kaisley, Jenelle, Joe, Evan, Sam, Julie, Russ,Brian, Riley, Mom, and Dad were all missed. Love ya

The 50's couple! Doesn't Ryan look hot! :) love him

Group shot

Look at all of the candy! The kids were picking through it! Seriously they were choosing which ones they liked. It was hilarious

Ford taking a swing at it!

Cindy the witch, taking her nails to Adams face

He went to the BSU game while she made chili and got all three kids ready for Halloween. Let's just say she wasn't too happy about it :)

Family photo. Izabel is Cinderella, Ford the monster/dinosaur, Easton the pea pod

Ryan the ninja and his geisha Emily

Aiden is the cutest little frog

Sisters ( We miss ya Jenelle and Summer)

Pence family photo

Emily the geisha( she has her wig on here) cute little Easton

The monster/dino has arrived to scare the princesses

Disney Princesses

Layla the bunny and Alice

The stoic pumpkin farmers and their little pumpkin Tesla

Last but not least Alice in Wonderland. Elly you are a doll face :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Ultimate Road Trip!

Ryan and I were in need of a break from the usual routine. So we decided to take a road trip to see the Grand Canyon. We both have never been and figure now is as good a time as any. We started our trip Thursday night and drove four and a half hours to Salt Lake. We slept over at Ryan's friend Nate, and his wife, Becca's house. We began the main part of the trip Friday morning. We drove to Zion's National Park and spent four hours hiking,taking pictures, and just enjoying the beautiful fall scenery. That evening we drove to St. George and were really hungry. We at at none other than In-N-Out Burger! We were all starving and seriously scarfed our hamburgers! Ryan had a double double burger and we shared a second one. Ya we stuffed our selves, but it was worth it! That night we stayed with some friends of Nate and Becca's. Saturday morning we began the second leg of our crazy road trip. We drove four more hours to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon was AMAZING! We spent a few hours taking in the amazing scenery and attempted to capture a million pictures. We again jumped in the car and drove two more hours to Page, Arizona. Ryan and Nate enjoyed a dip in the gorgeous Lake Powell ( I must plan a boat trip here with a boat house). We ate some delicious Mexican food, played some games, and passed out at the Days Inn. Sunday morning we went to church and left early to get a start on our six hour journey back to SLC. I begged Ryan to take a slight detour to Bryce Canyon National Park. At this point I think we were all a little sick of driving, but my husband loves me so much that we tacked on another hour to our journey. I figured that we had come this far and I wanted to see Bryce Canyon. It was worth it, even if Ryan was a little annoyed :). We arrived in SLC and surprised Ryan's parents! We left Monday afternoon to drive five more hours back to Boise. It was a fun trip and thanks to Nate and Becca for all the memories. Total driving mileage 1900......wooooo that is a lot of time spent in the car! Totally worth it! Enjoy all of the photos in no particular order.

Ryan sporting his In-N-Out hat and my sunglasses! He wore it everytime he was in the drivers seat.

Of course he made me wear it while I drove and everyone else slept :)

Becca and Nate at the Bryce Canyon. The last leg of our journey!

Yes they are still smiling :)

AMAZING!

Bryce Canyon

Lake Powell and the boys jumping in!

here they go!!!!......

Ryan and me

North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Group shot at the Grand Canyon

Nate attempting the Karate Kid on top of a ledge (Becca did not like this idea)

In-N-Out Burger YUM!!!!!

ZIONS NATIONAL PARK

Weeping Rock hike

We started the Road trip with Nate popping his stress ball! It was like a huge zit! Of course I enjoyed it :)