We survived....

Let me rephrase that....I survived. Our three week vacation was almost the death of me, but we are glad to be back and now I am trying to get back into the swing of things. So here is the first to many posts. We were very busy while we were gone. We hope all of you had a great Holiday Season.

Our trip out went very well. I was nervous about driving all that way by myself but we made it. The kids did surprisingly well. We went halfway one day and then stayed in a hotel for a night and then finished out the trip. We then stayed a night at my parents house in Sandy UT and then traveled to Pocatello to visit my sis. If you know me well you know that my sis has been in Japan for 3 years and just moved back recently. She just had a baby as well and so we had to go meet the new addition....plus I wanted to spend more time with my sis more than just a few days at Christmas. (she traveled to my parents for the big day). We had a blast. It was me and my kids and her and her four kids....it was crazy. Her hubby was in UT for training. Seeing us with all those kids was crazy. It took us like a half hour to get all the kids strapped into the car to go anywhere. Seeing us at the store with all the kids was even funnier. We made Gingerbread House Cookies (didn't quite turn out as planned, the cookies went psycho in the oven, they flattened out to nothing, darn pillsbury, and we thought we were taking the easy road by buying the dough), Took the kids to The Popcorn Shop, (loved the different flavors of candied popcorn), and let's not forget the snow....sledding was so much fun!!! Some of the pics are my scrapbook pages....I had lots of time in the car to scrap and so I hope you are not bothered by it. If so, you will just have to deal with it. (remember that you can click on any image and it will become larger. If that is still not large enough for you, after you click on the image you can press and hold ctrl and then press the plus key and it will make it bigger, keep pushing plus and it will get even bigger)

This was the best way to make cookies ever...not a big clean up and the kids loved it!! They each got one cookie and a plate of candy.

Parker picked Caramel Corn....of all the flavors...what a weirdo. The rest of the kids picked tutti fruiti....NASTY!!! I don't recommend it. I had Huckleberry Cheesecake....YUMMY!!! We also tried Caramel Apple...you should really order some, it is yummy stuff.

Addison loved to watch the kids sled, it was so cute to watch. Because my sis just had a baby a week before she couldn't sled with them. The kids were most excited about sledding. We had a blast. At that point in the trip Parker asked if we could move there so we could play in the snow everyday. He loved it.

TGIF

1. Good times: coming my way for Christmas.
2. Bless my home.
3. Sleigh bells ring, you better be listening.
4. Quiet down a little.
5. Once more Parker, I am not magic and cannot make things appear.
6. What do you mean that is the end?
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to my kids going to bed ontime, tomorrow my plans include packing and Sunday, I want to be all packed and ready for my trip!

Ho Ho Ho

We visited Santa and Parker was looking forward to it. He had his list in an envelope and was ready to let Santa know about his very LONG list of wants. Addison was not sure and as you can see I have one of those kids and I was the mean mom and took a picture.

SNOW!!!!

Yes we got snow in Midland. Parker was so excited!! He woke up and was kind of sad to not be going to school (you see in Midland when it snows 2 inches they cancel school and everything closes). He was ecstatic to go outside and play. He was out the door by 8:30, and back by 9. I don't think that he expected to get so cold so fast. He sure had fun though. He made his first snowball. His favorite part of the movie ELF is when Buddy makes all those snowballs. I think he was a little disappointed when he couldn't make them as fast. He also kept saying, "it's snowing, this is so fun!!" Addison just stood at the door and wondered what was going on. I didn't want to deal with her getting cold. When we go to UT I am going to let her play. (hopefully it will snow)


Later in the day the sun came out and that is when the tears started. He was so sad that the snow was melting and he just asking why. He didn't believe me that it is supposed to melt. Every few minutes he would run to the door to make sure that the snow was still there. Tonight before he went to bed he was happy to see that there was still a little bit there and hopes that it is there when he wakes up.

Trimming the Tree

I was so excited to decorate for Christmas and Parker heard that I was putting up the tree and made me wait until he got home so that he could help. Usually I have just done it in the past (only because I don't him to break any ornaments). But this year I got all plastic ornaments (for obvious reasons) and he had lots of fun helping. The whole time he just kept saying that "It looks so pretty mom!" It was so cute. Addison had fun playing with all her new found toys and that made Parker get upset but we managed to get it decorated. After he was done he was so proud of his masterpiece.



You know what is funny is that we have redecorated that tree more times than we would like to admit and now all the decorations are on the top half of the tree. Oh the joys of a toddler.

TGIF

1. You get what you get and you don't throw a fit.
2. Dinner then right to the tub.
3. It's nap time.
4. That sounds ridiculous!
5. I feel like staying in my pjs all day.
6. No more excuses...goodnight!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to scrapbook time, tomorrow my plans include going to see Santa and Sunday, I want to spend time with the fam!

Surprise!!!

Okay one last post from our vacation. (at least I think this will be the last) My Grandpa turns 80 next month and so my Aunts thought it would be fun to throw him a surprise party. I was all for it, until they asked me to get him there. I had the hard job!! I wasn't sure what to do to get him there but I must have said something right, cause I got him there. I think he was completely shocked!! It was fun to be with everyone again and see my Grandpa in the spotlight. He has always been the quiet one. I really just did this post for all of my family that wasn't there. There were quite a few of us there but not everyone. We missed you all!!!