Christmas 2008

We started out Christmas Eve at my mom's where we broke from the traditional turkey and ham and instead had homemade lasagna for dinner. Yum! I LOVE good food. Then she gave all the kids their presents and let them open them there.

Here they are all waiting for the OK to start opening the presents.

The chaos has begun.

I had to share this picture because I love this face. Grandma gave him a WII game he had been wanting for a long time.

This is Christmas morning. Emma asked Santa for two movies. He brought her one of them and a portable DVD player to watch it on. Her sister gave her the other one.

Andrew asked for the Lego Republic Gunship and Santa surprised him with the Trade Federation MTT too. I know your impressed that I know the names of this stuff. It's all part of having boys.

This is Christmas night after he finished putting the gunship together. Lucky for him his nice mom helped him sort out all the pieces so he could work on it faster.

Katie got the doll furniture she wanted and twin dolls to go with it. The one on the right looks just like her.

And Nathan was thrilled to see his Team GeoTraxs Airport that he's been asking for the last three months.

Here it is all put together with the train part he got last Christmas. I must admit this one is super fun to play with.

Later Christmas day we ate the most amazing dinner. Every year Gary cooks a prime rib and this year was his best. With homemade rolls and garlic mashed potatos, you can't get much better than this! (Sorry no pictures, I was too busy eating.)

Everyone got new outfits for Christmas Sunday. This is right after church. (Hey Stacie, check out my shoes!)

We hope you all had an amazing holiday also! Merry Christmas!

Snowmen, Dance Recitals and A Fly on a Rose

The kids had a great time playing in the snow and were able to build this snowman, with a little help from their dad.

This is Black Mountain and it usually is black. I have never in my lifetime seen it covered in snow. I think they said it got 8-10 in. of snow.

Friday night was our Christmas Dance Recital. Here's Emma and her BFF Madi. They did a ballet dance as the toy flutes in the Nutcracker.

Her tap number was to Jingle Bells.

Katie's class were the Russian dancers, also from the Nutcracker, for their ballet.

For her tap number they did Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.

Here is my friend Karley. I just love this girl.

And lastly, on Saturday Gary was clipping our rose bushes and found this fly that had froze on this flower. We couldn't believe it. Our lows have been below freezing the last couple of days but this was still hard to believe.

Winter Wonderland

I just had to post these pictures. Can you believe this is Las Vegas? And it's still coming down. Emma's band concert was cancelled and so was caroling for the Cub Scouts and Mutual. I think we are going to put on our pajamas, make some hot chocolate and watch a Christmas movie! I love this time of year.

I'm sure there will be more pictures to come.

Family Pictures - Our Favorite Thing

A couple of weeks ago my friend was kind enough to take some pictures of our family. ( My cousin was making a book for my grandparents and needed a recent family photo.) She says she's not a professional but I think she did a great job. Taking pictures is definately NOT our favorite thing to do but with my friends help we ended up with some cute choices. Thanks Leah!

I know the lighting isn't great but I love Nathan looking at his dad in this one.

I think she captured my kids personalities in these.

Our attempt at trying to be funny.

And the winner is...!

Happy 9th to Andrew

Tomorrow is Andrew's 9th birthday. He has been counting down the days since Emma's birthday. Andrew is an amazing child. The thing I love most about Andrew is his laugh. He is always telling me jokes and when you get him started on a story he might never stop. He is animated when he talks about the things he loves. Today he told me he is going to be something with biology when he grows up, maybe a marine biologist. I know he could do this because he is great at science and math. He is also good at his WII games. But most importantly he is a great brother. We are so glad he is our boy, we love you Andrew!

We let him open his presents tonight. Guess who likes Star Wars?

One of Andrew's favorite things to do is four wheeling with his dad.

Two cute boys.

Andrew's Uncle Micah taking him on the Matterhorn for the first time. He was two!

Micah also took this picture. He always got great smiles from Andrew.

Emma and Andrew. She has always been so good to her little brother.

Superman!

Just a few minutes old. He was 6lbs. 7 ou. And a beautiful baby.

The Fourth of a Fourth

O.K., I hope I'm doing this right. The fourth picture in my fourth folder. (As per Leslie's request) This is Gary and Nathan (almost one year). They are watering the garden. And even to this day Nathan loves to do anything his dad is doing, especially if there are tools involved.

Halloween!

Here are my cute trick or treaters! Andrew was Darth Vader's apprentice. Katie was a witch (my mom made the costume when I was a kid). And of course, Nathan the cowboy.

We started out with our snake sandwich for dinner. Andrew helped me make it this year.

And lastly, Emma had her party Halloween night. It was super fun. They had pizza and decorated cupcakes. They played Halloween bingo and had a candy bar walk. They also passed out candy to trick or treaters while Gary and I took our kids around the neighborhood. I hope they had fun, I know Emma did.

Happy Birthday Emma!

Emma celebrated her 12th birthday yesterday. I am amazed at how fast she has grown up. I remember bringing her home from the hospital and thinking, O.K. what do I do now? She was tiny (5lbs) and adorable. And because she was in the hospital for 10 days the nurses had mostly taken care of her. But I shouldn't have worried, she was a great baby. She has definately grown into a beautiful young woman. Since she was born Emma has been an amazing child. She is humble and honest. She tries to do the right thing always. She is smart but also wants to see all around her succeed. She is responsible and organized. I never worry about her getting things done, she usually does them before I ask. We are so glad she is a part of our family. We love Emma!

The kids after Nathan was born.


My favorite picture of Emma and Katie.

Preschool graduation.

Five generation picture.

Having fun in the rain.

We always knew she'd play the piano.

Our first family picture. (Emma was two months old)