Good bye 2009!!!

We always spend New Years Eve with our Besties Eric & Jen. I think out of the 10+ years we've known them we have only missed one New Years Eve party. When we were younger (man I sound old!) we use to go to dinner, hit Cold stones, and either watch a movie or play games. One year we spent most of the night driving around trying to find a place to Ice skate! Good Times Good Times! Then we had kids and things changed, so now we get together with the Kids for an all nighter (well Midnight, but it feels like an all nighter). Nikki & Wyatt have even started joining us. The last couple of years we have played guitar hero & rock band, but this year we went back to board games. Casey insisted that we play his favorite "SNorta" which was followed by our other favorite "Mexican Train". For dinner Casey cooked his famous Stroganoff which went fantanstic with Jen's homemade rolls! The Kids were wild all night, but when the ball dropped we had all of them a sleep.

Eric & Jennalou

The girls having a Tea Party

Mattie, Halle, and Kensie

dress-up Pree-E

Santa gave Kensie her very first dress-up box on Christmas Morning, but she didn't even notice what was inside until the next day. She immediately wanted to put on the Snow White (Why-E) dress, shoes, headband, and purse and said "Pree-E Pree-E (pretty)". This became her new obsession and she has pretty much wore it ever since. Major tantrums breakout when she can't wear it and on Sunday she threw a major fit because I wouldn't let her wear it to church. With her arms folded, eyebrows daggered, and lip out she headed to the car with her church dress on and princess shoes in her arms. By the time we pulled into church she had taken off her dress shoes and was trying to put on her princess shoes. I must have stood in that parking lot for a good 5 min trying to get her dress shoes back on. She kept screaming "mommy mee (mean)"! I finally gave up and walked into Sacrament meeting late with her screaming and no shoes on. There have also been several morning I've been greeted in bed by Kensie standing next to my bed with her "Why-E" dress in my face. Luckily it washes up really good and I'm sure she'll keep wearing it until it is no longer in one piece!

Oh and This is a cute picture of her first Tea Party.

Christmas 2009

We have a tradition of getting up before the kids and exchanging with each other. It's fun to be able to relax and enjoy our gifts for a minute before the kids get up and all Hell breaks loose! This year I gave Casey Clothes, a hitch cover, dog stuff, and the Cabela's Big game hunter game (which didn't show up in the mail until a week later). Casey gave me clothes, perfume, a new coat, and the Star Wars DVDs.

Our big gift was our bathroom remodel (going on 2 years) with a new tub and things. Hopefully it's finished by next Christmas..Cael's Lego Table

Kensie's Table

Santa's sleigh wreck!

The kids were so fun this year and loved everything. Kensie was obsessed with opening presents and would hardly look at her gift before moving on to the next. If we didn't have one waiting for her to open she would grab one of Cael's and start opening. It didn't take long for them to have everything open. Cael got a Lego table, Indiana Jones Legos, BB Gun & Accessories, Disney Scene it, Farm legos, Clothes, games, Toy Story dishes and sketchers. Kensie got her Table, princess Castle, dress-up stuff, tea party dishes, American Girl Bitty twins & stroller, games, look & find books, clothes and shoes.

We hurried and got ready so we could head down to my mom's to exchange with them. We gave my dad a new puppy this year and he was more than excited! The farm has been without a dog for a while and it just didn't feel the same. They instantly bonded and he kept letting her lick his face. They decided to name her Emme and she's pretty darn cute!

We always take turns opening our gifts. The kids had a hard time waiting especially Kensie who had all of her's open before we knew it. Cael & Gavyn both got remote controlled helicopters from Grandpa & Grandma. Their dad's were thrilled. Cael also got a matchbox semi and a Hans Solo action figure from Chad & Jess and New gloves from the Newtons. Kensie got a Crayola desk from Grandpa & Grandma, a Cinderella doll from the Newtons, and a Tinkerbell Doll from Chad & Jess. After all the gift were opened my mom and dad gave me & Casey an envelope which had a gift certificate for a 1/2 beef! The perfect gift! We then headed up to Casey's parents for breakfast. Grandma Linda always does a huge breakfast and the kids were starving from all the present opening and quickly cleaned their plates.

After breakfast we started opening gifts. Casey's family has never taken turns to open gifts, so they just make their piles and start opening. This turns into total CHAOS, especially with the little kids who open and toss. I was busy taking pictures and ended up waiting until after my kids were done before opening mine. Cael opened a Scooter, bat cave, clothes, and new jammies from Grandpa & Grandma. He also got a new semi with a track hoe from Chris & Jakoye. Kensie opened new babies, polly pockets, clothes, jammies, and a Doll stroller, playpen, high chair, and bouncy seat. She also got another new baby from Chris & Jakoye. Me and Casey got a Carpet cleaner, clothes, and bunch of other good things. Over all we were spoiled rotten! It took the kids days to get around to playing with all the stuff they got. Kids make the holidays so much fun and I can't wait until next year!

Christmas Eve 2009

Christmas Eve started out with me working until noon :( and then we delivered gifts before going to my mom's to open our Christmas Eve presents. We always get jammies to wear that night. This year Grandma Vicki surprised all the kids with Santa blankets and the boys immediately turned them into capes.

Then we headed to Chris & Jakoyes for their annual Christmas Eve dinner. The food was yummy and the kids played while we visited.

We finally made it home and got the kids in their jammies. Casey read them a Christmas story before we set out Santa's cookies and milk. This was the first year we have remembered to do that. We then sent the kids to bed. Casey went downstairs to finish putting a few things together and so I stayed upstairs to make sure they were a sleep. Cael had the Christmas Eve jitters and couldn't go to sleep. He kept calling to me so I finally went in to see what was wrong. I told him that he had to fall to sleep so that Santa could come. He started crying and said " I know, but Dad won't go to sleep so he isn't going to come!" I assured him that his Dad would go to sleep so he would come. I laid down by him hoping it would help him go to sleep and I found myself trying to go sleep. He finally gave in and I was able to go and help Casey finish getting things ready. We finally made it to bed around 12:30 am.

The chipmunks...

After anticipating it for months, Gavyn finally got to go see Chipmunks the squeakel. Me and the kids decided to go since I still had some shopping to do. This was also Kensie's first movie and she did good for the first 45 min while she was eating her kids combo and then she was ready to go home. Me and Nikki pretty much spent the rest of the movie outside in the hall with the girls. The boys did not move and laughed the whole way home talking about it. As for the girls, they still need some age on um before they will be invited to go back.

Alvin Simon Theodor...do do do do do do

Work Christmas Party....

These girlies are the reason I love my job. They are all some of my closest friends and I love it when we get out of the office for our annual Christmas lunch.

Joanne & Sherra
Natalie, Auralie, and me (with a stupid smile on my face)

DeAnn & Steph

Diane (the trouble maker of the group ha ha)

Jennylou..

and missing in action was Jenna JJ who was not feeling good :(

Holiday lights at Thanksgiving point.

Because Christmas was fastly approaching we thought it would be fun to spend a night and go see the Holiday lights. Unfortunately everyone in Utah county was thinking the same thing. There were people everywhere! We had our hearts set on eating at Texas Roadhouse, so as soon as we buckled our seat belts I called to get us in. They told me it would be an hour wait and we were driving from Nephi to Lehi, so I thought that would work perfect. Well when we finally found a parking and I squeezed through the 900 people waiting inside they informed me it would be another 45 min. We didn't have enough time, so we went to Panda Express instead. They too were bombed and we ended up having to eat in the car. At this point I was hating people!

We finally got over to Thanksgiving point and this was the line to get in! Over 45 min to get to the entrance, plus Nikki's gas light kicked on when we were about half way down. My mom kept calling in a panic thinking they were going to run out. We were in separate cars so Casey said if they ran out he would push them and I could drive our car. I can see the headline now "Stupid women goes to drive-thru lights show with no gas...her brother-in-law pushed her instead." Jay Leno would have been all over that! Luckily she did make it through and we were saved from the embarrassment! The kids loved the lights and Cael said his favorite was the toy soldiers shooting the cannons over the cars! Of coarse that was the one I didn't get a picture of. On the way out they had a big display over the road with Santa waving goodbye. Well my mom must have been smelling the fumes from the van, because she asked Nikki what Sania was. Nikki and the kids started laughing and let her know that it was T not an i and it is pronounced SANTA.

After we made it through the show we headed over to see the Reindeer. These must have been the rejects from Santa, because they were not in the Christmas spirit and just laid there. The kids still thought they were cool.