Success!!!

I think Santa scored big with his gift this year. Vance rides his bike inside the house all day and constantly begs to take a bike ride to the park. The best part? I got the bike for $10 on Craigslist. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE Craigslist?!

Vance always takes one last look before riding off into the distance.

See ya later Vance!

Dodgeball

Chad and I decided to take Jennie's kids to the park right around the corner from our house to play dodgeball on the tennis courts. We had so much fun. We ended up playing for a lot longer than I thought we would. Vance didn't quite understand, but he didn't mind watching from the sidelines.

Zach was pretty good. He even won the game for our team one round by hitting Chad in the privates! I couldn't stop laughing.

After dodgeball, I found these monkeys hanging out in a tree!

Sleep-less overs

It's been awhile since we've had sleepovers with the nieces and nephews. Over winterbreak we had a sleepover with each of my sister's kids. 3 sisters = 3 sleepovers. That means we had 10 kids sleep at our house over 4 days. Needless to say our house is a mess and all the junkfood is gone. It may have been a little crazy, but I love that Chad and I are the cool Aunt and Uncle!

Here's a few funny stories from our sleepovers:

I was driving and Brayden kept telling Colton he was going to get Coca-Cola. I was kind of tuning them out but he kept talking about it. Finally I listened and heard all of what Brayden was saying, "Colton, you gotta be nice or Santa's going to bring you Coca-Cola. Don't be naughty!" Coca-cola, coal it's all the same right?

The Ogden's spent the night on a Saturday night so they were supposed to bring church clothes. As we talked about going to church they asked if we could just go to sacrament and I agreed (I know we're bad). Zach exclaimed, "It's like the best thing ever." Then I double check if they brought church clothes and Zach said he just brought shoes. His mom never told him to bring clothes, just shoes. He was pretty positive his mom was going to FedEx his clothes to him though! Miraculously Kelsie and Mason brought both shoes and clothes. Apparently Zach was the only one that Jennie told to just bring church shoes.

Thanks for keeping me laughing kiddos!

Happiness in an Envelope

I love getting Christmas cards. I always open them and immediately tape them on my pantry door. Each time I walk by it reminds me how blessed we are to have such a wonderful support system of family and friends. So thanks to all of you who sent cards and brightened my day!

Merry, Merry CHRISTmas!

Our Christmas PJ's. Normally we get dressed up for Christmas day, but we decided from now on we will wear our Christmas pajamas all day long. That was a great decision and it made our Christmas that much more relaxing!

We had an amazing Christmas. My mom and dad came over to our house bright and early to open their presents with us. Santa brought Vance a new bike, basketball hoop, and LOTS of balls. He was ecstatic about all of it. At one point he just sat in the sofa and looked at everything - overwhelmed by all his gifts!

At first Vance carefully tore each piece of paper. After about 3 gifts he realized what was going on and then he wanted to open all his presents in record time. He didn't quite catch the drift of gift bags. One time he pulled about 3 pieces of tissue paper out of the bag and then threw the bag. The look on his face said, "What the heck kind of gift is tissue paper?"

Vance's loot - bike, basketball hoop, books, puzzles, clothes, Littl People, games, doctor's kit, cash register, balls, cars, tool set, skateboard, nerf gun, sword, and more.

Chad's loot - guitar, books, DVD's, Wii game, clothes, trip to San Francisco, shoes, freezer mugs, photo calendar, shoes, and more.

Alli's loot - decorations, greenery, 12 date ideas to do throughout the year, games, hat, scarf, jewelry, lotion, crockpot, clothes, perfume, and more.

When we finished with gifts, I made our traditional Christmas crepes with bananas and nutella. I made so many, but between my parents and our family we ate every last one of them!

Then we headed to the Waldron's to hear from Chad's brother Brent who is on a mission in Brazil. There was a little confusion with the time difference but we eventually got to talk to him. He sounded great and we can't wait to see him in 1 year and a half!

Then we went to parent's for the Sutton breakfast. Laurie and Laurie gave all the kids one of those reindeer antler headbands with $20 stapled to it. They always give money and always find the most creative ways to give it.

We ended the day with dinner at the Waldron's and games at Amy and David's. It was a busy day but by far the most enjoyable and stress-free Christmas since we've been married.

Christmas Eve

As always Christmas Eve at my mom's house was FABULOUS!!! We had our usual steak dinner with yummy appetizers, sides, and dessert. After stuffing ourselves we moved on to the spiritual part of the evening. My mom and dad made this cute box and acted out the nativity with shadows. Vance ate it up! He was front and center the entire time. Meanwhile the other kids layed around like this:

Next was the program. The three littlest boys sang Jingle Bells or rather they shook bells while everyone else sang. Amy's older boys sang a very loud and off-key version Rudolph. Leslie's kids did a funny skit to Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer with Briton dressed up as a Grandma with a walker who got run over by her siblings dressed up as reindeer.

Jennie's family did a pg-13 version of I Saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus where Jennie and Rob were getting a little too friendly ;) It was definitely the best program we have had in a few years. We took advantage of Rob's costume to get a picture of the kids with Santa.

The best part of the evening? The white elephant. My mom and dad always buy all the white elephants and this year the gifts were great! They included Mac make-up, Victoria Secret perfume, See's candie, and more. All the boys got matching hoodies and the girls got matchiing beanies and scarves with a few other small things.

Aunt Jennie couldn't wait to give Vance his gift so he opened it on Christmas Eve. She had a t-shirt made that says, "My Aunt Jennie Rocks." She's been teaching him to say that since he was weeks old and now he finally does. The other night we were at her house and he was dead asleep. He woke up out of nowhere, said "Aunt Jennie Raw (his version of rocks)," and went comatose again. I'm pretty sure he thinks her name is Jennie Raw.

Gingerbread Houses

Every year we make gingerbread houses with the Waldron's. I don't know why but it is one of my favorite traditions. I had Amy's boys with me so the four little guys worked on 2 gingerbread houses. They were way more into it than I thought they would be. They sat there for at least 45 minutes decorating (and eating a little candy of course).

Vance was most interested in eating the candy as you see by the picture of him eating the top of the Christmas tree! Brayden was getting so mad at Vance because he would spend so much time putting the candies on the roof and Vance would eat them all. I think he put the candy on four times.

I bet you can't guess which two houses we decorated!

Feeding the Homeless & Gift of Lights

Every year my family goes to tent city in downtown Las Vegas to feed the homeless. This year we decided to do a little something different and in addition to food we passed out tons of hygiene items.

It's always a very humbling experience to see how many people go without the basic necessity of shelter. I also think it's great for the kids to realize how much they have. After we ran out of items to pass out we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the Gift of Lights at Sunset Park. My boss gave me a free pass so we piled into the back of Joe's car and enjoyed the lights.

We were all freezing by the end so Grandma & Grandpa treated all of us to Krispy Kreme dnouts and chocolate milk. Aren't they the best?!

Vegas Bowl Game

Jennie got some free tickets to the OSU v. BYU game and invited us go. We never turn down offers like that so got a babysitter (thanks again Diana!!!) and bundled up.

It was cold but not too freezing. They also invited Reese and Kelly Howell who are always fun to be around. We had a great time, but I realized how much I don't understand the penalties and fouls in football!

Thanks for the invite Jen!

Leaves are falling all around

We raked up all the leaves in the backyard and let Vance go crazy! He had so much fun and I couldn't stop snapping pictures. I'm fully aware that I went a little overboard, but I got a few really cute ones!