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...!