In all living, have much fun and laughter.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Chirstmas Day...

Christmas day was really laid back and relaxing. We had nothing to do and no place to be! The kids did pretty good and really didn't start trying to wake us up until right before 5am. We had family prayer and then the kids went to work! They all seemed happy and everyone had a great time. It was so fun to have everyone under the same roof. Tiffany and Garrett stayed and so did Caitlyn. It's always a crazy scene with paper everywhere and kids laughing and showing us what they got. We had so much fun watching Nathaniel as this was the first Christmas he knew what was really going on. But he is OCD.... as in REALLY OCD. He would tear one piece of paper off and hand it to Jace or Garrett, repeat many, many times. It about drove him crazy that his brothers kept telling him to throw it on the ground. Finally Jace would help him throw it on the ground and then they would cheer... well when you cheeer for him he claps and laughs so that became a game... but we laughed because you could still see him look at the paper like it was really stressing him out! He loved his presents though and had a great time playing with his basketball and hoop! They told him to dunk the ball. It was a little too tall but he kept trying... then in typical Nate fashion he looked around, ran over and grabbed a bucket that his toys go in, climbed on it and dunked the ball! Smart boy he is! I am so grateful for this amazing family.... so grateful for the joy that they bring Thayne and me and so grateful for the amazing human beings that they are! It was a great Christmas... and we have many exciting things to look forward to in the coming year!

Kami at her new art desk! She kept asking if we were sure it was hers, wasn't it Nate's? We told her no, Santa knew she loved to draw! She was SO excited!

Hayden wanted the City legos SOOOOOO bad!

One paper at a time... makes slow going when you are trying to open a present!

Kalli loves her new Barbie Town House!

Passing out gifts....

WHAT? Willie was so surprised that he got a new phone, his old one was broken and we kept telling him we couldn't do anything until after the first of the year!

Good morning Tallin!

Happy, happy, happy!

Caitlyn opening one of the many articles of clothing she received that day! =) She said the first thing Jace told her after getting engaged was that she was going to have to change her spending habits! He's a fine one to talk since he is usually the one spoiling her!

Checking out the gifts...

Kami showing us her Tinkerbell stuff...

Willie....

Kassi is so excited to get a camera....

Good morning Kimi!

Wyatt.....

Nate's face just lit up when he opened this monkey! I wish I would have had the camera ready right as he opened it... he LOVES this monkey and he was so excited when he opened it that he made his brothers get it right out of the box!

This girl is TOUGH... nobody messes with Kassi!!!!

Tallin checking out another new shirt....

Kimi checking out her Ipod

Kailee, Hyrum, Kami, Kassi and Tallin....

Tallin gathering his 'stuff'......

Jace pushing it all into a pile....

I think we lost a kid in there somewhere....

Tanner and Kinzee....

Kami-hen

Oh yeah... some happy little girls this morning!

The goods!

Kassi gave us some chocolate and other goodies and a bottle of sparkling cider with this little warning! haha, she is so funny!

Kami and one of her new baby dolls....

Kalli gets to build some bears!

This picture of Kassi just cracks me up... it is SO totally Kassi.... she called dad's laptop first to get songs on her new Ipod.....

After....

Caitlyn loved the new coat we bought her! As soon as I saw it I knew it looked like Cait... and even at 5am with no make up on she's still cute!!!! But shhhhhh.... she will probably strangle me if she knows I blogged this picture! =)

Where did everybody go????

The after is always the best picture... we had a wonderful Christmas!

This kid is a character... we were eating crepes. He had a cup of orange juice but it wasn't enough... he kept telling us he wanted more but we told him he had his cup! Then he grabbed the whole thing and started drinking.....

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Christmas Eve....

I can't believe how quickly Christmas came this year. In fact this whole year has seemed to fly by in a blur and it seems like weeks at a time went missing. So before we knew it, it's almost Christmas eve! We usually have a sort of party all day long Christmas eve and then have a family get together and then a sibling gift exchange. Well... they say the best laid plans.... you know, there is no such thing! On the 23rd I had been sick all night and we still had things to get done in order to finish up Christmas. So knowing that I couldn't handle it alone Thayne was able to get out of work early and come home and help me. At the last store, paying for the last gift, his phone rang and before he walked out I heard hims say something about a ground fall. Those words and underground mine never go well together... we drove over to his work truck and he said it didn't sound like he would need to go back out. I dropped him off and he followed me home but by the time we pulled into the driveway it was decided that he HAD to go back out, it was much more serious than first reported and he turned around and left! He asked if I wanted to ride out with him but I could just imagine him being stuck out there all night and I still had the rest of the gifts to wrap so I sent him on his way and told me he would be home as soon as he could. I laughed... MSHA and hurry do not go in the same sentence! He was gone all night. He finally got home at about 5:30am freezing and exhausted and grateful that he made it home. He literally fell asleep as his head hit the pillow. He had barely slept a couple of hours when they called and said the meeting was in town at the office so we sent him on his way again! He told me that it didn't matter how little sleep he had, he was going to make sure this Christmas was wonderful... and true to his word he made it wonderful! By the time he got home he napped while I did a couple of things to prepare to go into my brothers house and then we went in for our family party. We got home and had a wonderful time watching the kids exchange their gifts. I think that we laughed the hardest when Nate opened his 'real' monkey. Nate loves monkeys. When he was a newborn he decided the cute monkey his dad brought me from the New York airport was his and we have fed his obsession ever since. So we found a monkey that is much different than the ones he has but it acts more 'real'.... Jace bet that he would be freaked out. He was right. It took a while for him to warm up to it, but it was so hilarious watching him react that we all just kept laughing and watching him. He finally got brave enough to touch the ear, and then the hand, and then he would feed it the bottle...but he was so fun to watch! After we got the little ones downstairs and in bed, we got busy helping Santa.... except Nate refused to go to sleep and seemed to get more wild as the night went on. We were in our bedroom with Caitlyn, Jace, Garrett and Tiffany just laughing and talking. Nate was showing off for us and we really had a great time just hanging out together. Nate and Jace had a sword fight with the wrapping paper and finally Willie sent me a text that said we were too loud and they couldn't sleep! =) It was a wonderful day despite all of the set backs!

Getting ready for the gift exchange....