Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2009!

Again, I can't say how wonderful it is to have my Mom living so close! She stayed over Christmas Eve and we did our traditional "open one gift" that night. It is more like "open your new pair of jammies night", but somehow the kids forget each year and are still really excited. Even Grandma Jo got a new pair.....and what a sexy Grandma indeed!

Grandma Jo working her black satin jammies!

Well mine are all about comfort at this point, but the kids thought they were cool!

Christmas morning and Santa has come!

Santa ate his cookies and left a note. Santa is so thoughtful!

Dad has gone to work with the video camera.

Ryder's first two wheeler!

Let the games begin

Brock is such a little teenager now. All he wanted was an ipod.

That was exhausting....time for a break!

The missionaries came over later to say Hi and hangout!

It was a wonderful Christmas and we feel so very very blessed to be where we are and to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.

Christmas Cards 2009

It had been about a year and a half since our last family pictures. Brock has changed the most I think! This year it was nice to have Ryder old enough to participate without any tantrums! This was a really fun photo shoot!

December 2009!

The month of December was super busy to say the least! Lots of parties, programs, events etc..... I was invited to participate in a ward play that was put on of the Christmas Carol. I was the ghost of Christmas Past! I had SO much fun doing the play and after a couple months of practicing, it was nice to finally perform it! I rented this cape and borrowed my friends wedding dress to wear underneath. Sorry I don't have more pictures to show of this!

My sister Debby flew into town for a long weekend and we had a great time catching up and visiting. We went to visit my Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ken who live in town and caught the tail end of their Christmas party!

While Debby was visiting, we also made a trip to Coeur d'Alene, ID to go on the Santa Cruise! We met up with our good friends the Charles Family and cruised Lake Coeur d'Alene to catch a glimpse of Santa and Mrs. Clause before Christmas!

Marsha and Caleb

Richard, Tristin, and Justin

It had been almost 13 years since I had snowboarded, but I finally took Brock and Zack!!!! We get a great deal with one of the resorts in Kellog, ID called Silver Mt. through the HomeSchool program! The three of us went and had a total blast! I can't believe how quick those two caught on! I on the other hand was pretty disappointed with myself. I truly thought it would be like riding a bike........not the case at all! I used to go quite a bit in college and thought that I was pretty good in fact..... it's amazing what 13 years and 4 kids will do to you!!!!!

It only took a couple of weeks and we were back on the mountain! This time we took our good friend Brianna with us. We all had a great time and for only their second time on the Mt, the boys really got the hang of it! The boys were able to venture off the bunny hill and do their first green run!!! Yippee!! They survived the dreaded ski lift!!!! And I got my MOJO back!!! It felt so good to be back in the swing of things and enjoying a much loved old hobby of mine!

Brock shredding!

Silver Mt. is home to the Worlds Longest Gondola ride! This thing takes 30 mins start to finish. It's crazy! You park down at the base of the Mt. and ride the gondola up to the peak where the lifts are. It is a beautiful ride though!

What would Christmas time be without decorating cookies???? While I was loading these pictures, I came across some old ones of the kids a few years ago. It makes me want to cry when I see how much they have grown.

Parker, Ryder and Zack

Zack, Parker and Brock

Parker 2009

Parker 2006

Zack 2009

Zack 2006

Ryder 2009

What handsome guys!

Thanksgiving 2009!

Pictures Coming Soon!

You'll have to check in at a later time to see!

Just a quick recap.....We hosted Thanksgiving this year. We had a couple of families come over to celebrate with us, including the Missionaries and my Mom.

My Mom was the photographer that day and I will have to get pictures from her to post on the blog! Here are a couple that I got myself.

Parker turns 7!

On November 6th, just a couple of days after we got home from our vacation,

Parker turned 7 yrs old!! So we went to our favorite neighborhood Chuck E Cheese's and celebrated as a family.

I wasn't planning on it, but somehow I gave in to throwing together a last minute "friend" birthday party at our house the next weekend! He wanted a Ben Ten party and had lots of fun with his friends!

As a surprise, Jason and I took Parker to see the broadway show of The Lion King!

The show was truly incredible! We were all blown away by what a beautiful production it was and I know it was something Parker will never forget!