Christmas and New Years

I LOVE this pic!!!

Playing in the snow

Sledding with Carter, he was so sweet, he carried them up the little hill and took them sledding

The giant and the midget......

bundled up

Happy New Year's

For some reason, Alec decided at midnight he was going to do a face plant in the snow, he looked very cold!

This is the "cabin diet" not healthy at all........

Looking through the book we got them. It had the pictures from their anniversary party

This is my dad's wrapping job:) There were a bunch of scraps and he didn't want to waste any so he used them all!

My parents got Matt the stationary bike he needs to train for the triathlon he is doing this summer

The 3 little girls got strollers and babies and we had a few traffic jams because they wanted to play with them immediately

My bruddah. Love this man!

The girls loved opening everything and were so excited over everything! Santa and Carter and Alec got them dress ups and there hasn't been a day that they haven't been in them!

This sums Addy up! She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to dress up and is rarely in normal clothes anymore

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! It's been so fun now that the girls are older and making our own traditions as well as enjoying the ones with our families! We bought a book about Christmas really being the celebration of Christ's birth and it was so cute and followed the donkey that carried Mary into Bethlehem and afterward we were talking to the girls about it and really the only thing they got out of it was, "that donkey was really happy mom!" I love our girls!!! We celebrated a week earlier with Justin, Ashlee and Owen and had them over for a turkey dinner. I can't find my little camera that has the pics from that. And I forgot my camera Christmas eve so I don't have any from that night, but I love the memories we made this year with both families and will make in the future!

For New Year's we went to the cabin and it was quite the ordeal getting up there. Let's just say that a usual 20-25 minute snowmobile ride up the mountain took us 2 1/2 hours......in freezing negative degree weather! Thanks Heavens for my strong dad and Matt and answered prayers!!! It was a good teaching moment for the girls that you can pray anytime and anywhere and Heavenly Father hears and answers!!! We learned our lesson and won't be going up so late in the day in the winter! But then we had a fun New Year's filled with way too much food and tons more fabulous memories!

We are grateful for the last year and all that we learned and received and are excited for what this next year will bring our family!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Christmas activities

We played in the snow.

They don't look that appetizing, but they were good:)

Making cupcakes for friends

Played in the snow some more

Here's some more dance pics from their last Christmas recital

The girls in green are the Grinch's that brought so much misery to Emerie's life.....

Love them!

My babies

We had a fantastic and super busy holiday season with lot's of family, friends, food, and presents! The girls last recital started pretty much the same as the other two, with Emerie in tears. She cried all of her makeup off before going to Savvy, who once again calmed her down and helped take her mind off the upcoming dance with the evil Grinch's. Matt and I were convinced that they were just going to stand there again and look cute, but they actually danced and even added a second dance to the program. Both Matt and I teared up at watching our babies up there doing such a good job, and seeing how they are growing up!

Christmas Dinner

Brooke, pretty much kicked our butts at Guitar Hero

So I am posting these because they showcase Matt's awesome picture taking skills........

That's right, he really knows how to capture the moment............

group shot, we're missing Nate and Mr. Gabe(he didn't think our party was that great)

this is our school dance pose.....we're pretty awesome.....maybe

the ladies

party favors

table setting

We got to have a Christmas dinner at our house with some fabulous friends! I love this time of year! It's a great excuse to do stuff like this and go all out!!! Really, just an excuse to eat delicious and fattening food:) (wonder why my pants are always tighter in January.....)

The girls first dance recital!

Addy

Miss Nemmy

Emerie is on the left, Addy on the right

There is a little movement this time

Cute little Miss Savvie, love this little girl to pieces!!!

I gave been so excited to see how the girls would be on stage in front of a lot of people and performing. They danced to the song "Where are you Christmas", from The Grinch. I thought I would be a good mom and prepare them a little to what the Grinch actually looked like. I thought they would be dancing with someone in a full on Grinch costume. Addy didn't have a problem with the movie, Emerie, on the other hand, went and hid upstairs at my moms house and wouldn't come down until she knew for sure it wasn't on anymore.She said,"mom, i don't want to dance with the Grinch, he's mean." AWESOME......I couldn't do or say anything to convince her to dance. Finally, she decided to give it a try if she got a Toy Story toy. We went for their last dance class before their performance and she heard the Grinch's voice on CD and melted down! Addy was out there doing the dance with the other girls and she would not go. Finally, after almost an hour of convincing her to do it, she went on the dance floor and while the other girls were doing the dance she twirled in a circle bawling! It was the funniest thing! Am I a mean mom for laughing??? It was really cute! I was really worried the night of their performance, it wasn't as bad as I thought. They both got up there, no crying, and just stood there.........yep, that's right, no dancing. They looked so cute just standing there though:) They danced a little during their 2nd performance and still have one more to go. Hopefully they will do the whole dance then:) Thanks to mine and Matt's family for coming to watch our girls stand on stage:)

November

the girls had fun helping to decorate our tree

Addy still insists on wearing her princess dress ups everyday! She LOVES them!

I LOVE this picture of Matt with Justin and Crystal!

Trying to get all the kids to look at us at the same time and smile.......impossible:)

Spencer looks so sad in this one! He's probably sick of us taking pics!

At the beginning of the month Matt's sister Crystal, her hubby Eric and their cute little Spencer came to visit! We went up to the cabin for an over nighter. It was fun and relaxing....and very cold:) We're glad that we got to spend some more time with them this year, this is their second visit and we love it!!!

I didn't get any pics of Thanksgiving or shopping with my favorite girls on Black Friday! I love this tradition. In the middle of the night as we are losing energy and sleep we wonder why we do it, but it is one of my favorite traditions and I love all the delirious laughter and diet coke and eating pizza in the middle of the night!

Matt and I have been so blessed with such wonderful families and friends and we are grateful for each and everyone!

Happy Holidays!!!

Halloween

Cute Savvy, and Aunt Robby, invited us to a Halloween party the day before and had lots of treats, games and even prizes for us!!! This girl has a future as a party planner:)

Maddy really just wanted to do her own thing, so she played the piano

decorating skeleton cupcakes

pin the face on the pumpkin

musical pumpkins

the party guests!

Right before we went out into the freezing and soggy weather

Miss Maddy, trying to escape!

For our annual Halloween party, we went as tourists.....thanks Dan for the fanny pack:)

I bet your wondering who that sexy hunk with the yellow visor is.....yep, he's all mine.....

We started doing this party the year we all moved out of our town homes and I am so grateful we still get together and do it!!!

We officially made it through the hectic, expensive, fabulous and memorable October!!! As much fun as we had I am glad it's over and am looking forward to the holidays!!! It's been a little bit of a struggle not to put up my Christmas tree yet.........Matt would never let me, but maybe one of these days he will come home to a house ready for Christmas! I LOVE Christmas and have always wanted to get it going as soon as Halloween is over. I remember so many years that Kim and I would wake everyone up at 5 am.......we had to wait for our tired parents and (cranky) and tired brothers:) I love the whole day and everything leading up to it. The shopping, the baking, the service projects, the parties and especially the time spent with family!!! I am so excited for the girls to get bigger and better understand what a magical time of year it is and the significance that it holds, and not only the presents, but the day that we celebrate our Saviours birth!!!

Ok, so now I REALLY want to put my decorations up.......