Christmas Morning

There are always 2 pictures I have to get of Christmas morning. 1-The picture of everything set out before the kids get to it and 2-The picture of the kids running, not walking, into the room to see what Santa brought. Hands down my favorite pictures of the day.

The kids found beautifully wrapped packages along with a new castle fort.

Trey got a new Pirate/Knights castle.

Kaden was all smiles when he opened up BIG bowling.

The boys also got new pirate ships.

Miss Avrey turned into a little poser and smiled at the camera every time she heard it turn on. She enjoyed opening her gifts by putting them all in her mouth first.

I love Christmas and spending the whole day together as a family. The two funniest things said on Christmas day came from Trey after we were all done opening gifts when he said, "Man those Jewish people are not having fun today". Then Kaden spent the afternoon singing, "Frosty the snowman was a jolly roger."

Christmas Eve

Our family started a fun Christmas eve tradition a few years ago where we take a treat to someone who has to work on Christmas. This year we decided to take orange rolls to our local fire station. The boys were so excited to see the big fire trucks.

The fireman were gracious enough to let the boys climb in the truck and play around a little. They also gave them a tour of the hazmat truck. Afterwards we took the boys bowling and had a wonderful dinner with the Nakken and the Bird Family that I for some reason forgot to take pictures of. Probably because we were having too much fun!

Christmas cookies

I almost let Christmas slip by without making Christmas cookies. Luckily one afternoon Avrey spilled the cookie cutters and reminded me to whip up some dough.

Gram sent the boys the most darling Santa's Helper's aprons, and we started cooking. The boys had a lot of fun picking different Christmas shapes, eating the dough, and licking the frosting.

The Jumpy Place

To burn off some Christmas excitement I took the boys with some friends to Pump It Up for an afternoon. We ended up staying for almost three hours since we were almost the only ones there. When you put Dallin, Evan, Kaden and Trey together you have the four craziest boys around.

Avrey loved the little car and picking on her friend Beckham!

Kaden also LOVED spending the afternoon with his friend Bella. When we got home he told us he is going to marry her.

Polar Express Party

Last year my sister had a 'Polar Express' Party and my boys have talked about it so much we decided to adopt it and make it a tradition of ours as well. So, last night we did just that and had a wonderful time. The kids were so excited for everyone to come they started watching for people an hour before the party started!

For our invites we printed off train tickets. Trey played the role of the conductor and punched all of the tickets as the guests arrived.

All of the kids & most the parents came dressed in their pajamas which made it even more fun! We realized you don't need a big house to have a great time. The kids watched the movie while the parents had fun visiting.

Nothing makes a party great without amazing friends and great food. We had cookies and hot, hot, hot chocolate! Can't wait to do it again next year!

Christmas Candy

A few Saturday's ago we went to Hammond's Candy Factory for their Christmas Festival. The boys were so excited when we arrived to see the train that was decorated for Christmas.

They also had a fire truck that the kids could climb up in, as well as some other games and activities. We didn't realize it was such a big thing and that it was all outdoors so we were pretty cold, but still had fun!

The trip would not be complete without a taste of Hammond's delicious candy! They make great candy canes, but the boys thought the Christmas tree suckers were pretty cool.

Story Time With Santa

Last weekend the kids were so excited to go to the library and have story time with Santa. Santa read The Night Before Christmas and we sang jingle bells and then each of the kids got a turn on his lap.

Avrey was just fine on his lap but very curious about the fluffy white beard.

The boys could not wait to tell him what they wanted. Good thing they have been good this year!

Thankful for our little turkeys!

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving last week and enjoyed the weekend at home with our little turkeys. All I have to do is look at this picture to know how blessed my life is each and every day!

This is the first time our little family has stayed home so I was a little nervous about cooking a turkey for the first time. Jeff and I both come from families with amazing cooks so the pressure was on. The day before Trey and I made some delicious pies...

...and mini tarts. When I was little my mom would always let my sisters and I have the pie crust scraps to make mini tarts. Trey loved it!

Our turkey may be small but it was DELICIOUS!!

Avrey was a good helper and played nicely in her saucer. No pictures of Kaden cause he was gracious enough to take a nap before dinner!

Trey was also in charge of the place cards and did a great job!

The beautiful spread! I broke out the fine china for the event and Trey was so excited that he got to have a glass cup and plate all in the same day! What a wonderful holiday and reminder of the many things we have to be grateful for!

550 Gallons Later

When you have a BIG beautiful tree like this in your front yard you love it until all those beautiful leaves fall on the ground and you get to clean them all up!! Jeff and Trey started to rake them up one Saturday and then we realized how many were still on the tree and we didn't have any garbage bags big enough to get rid of them so, we left them for another day! Luckily a few days later we had a huge wind storm blowing the rest of the leaves off and a lot into the neighbors yard!!

Avrey remained inside during the clean up. She and leaves do not go well together!

(See post titled "Danger falling all around" for more details!)

The boys had so much fun raking and playing in them. In the end it took 10-55 gallon garbage bags to get it all cleaned up. Can't wait till next year!!

Welcome Home Elder LeChem!

During the month of October we spent almost three weeks in Utah. One of the main reasons we went is to welcome back Jeff's younger brother Peter. He spent the last two years serving a mission in the Philippines. Kaden and Mo were so excited to see him!

Almost altogether again! Jeff was not able to come to the welcome home at the airport but arrived the following day to spend Halloween with us and be their for his brothers welcome home!

Trey was so happy to see his Uncle Peter and then, of course, once he saw him got a little shy.

Peter meeting Avrey for the first time!

Finally after 4 years the whole family is together again. Peter's Welcome home ended up being on Halloween Sunday. He gave a great talk and then we had a wonderful dinner at Jeff's parents home.

Avrey fell in love with her Great Grandpa Peterson.

As you can see we had a great time filled with many wonderful activities! Kaden tried his hardest to keep up, but finally passed out on Grandpa.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays. Trey decided to be Michael Jackson this year, Kaden was Buzz Lightyear and Avrey was a seal. Not much of a theme, but they all looked so cute. The boys had a fun time trick-or-treating with their cousin cowboy Mo.

Trey was ready at any moment to bust a move or put on a concert.

Even in the rain and cold they had such a great time trick-or-treating and didn't want to stop.