New Years fun

Last year we invited our friends to come spend New Years with us and we had tons of fun. This year they invited us to their house! We always have fun catching up with each other and the boys have a blast playing with each other. This time was no different. We played, watched movies and ate way more food than we should have - it was great!!

On New Years Eve Chad and Mark went on a bike ride while the boys played around the house. They had an awesome ride, but it took a lot longer than we thought it would. When they got home, we quickly got the boys ready and we headed out the door for lunch/dinner at Old Chicago. We really like the pizza at Old Chicago, but our friends have never been there. I think everyone liked the pizza and we were definitely full when we left. Jen and I started worrying about all the food we bought for dinner.

At one point during the night, the boys wanted to get in the spa. Chad was nice enough to go in with them. They turned on lights and had a grand time.

After relaxing for a little while the boys started feeling bold. They dareed each other to jump Into the freezing pool and then back into the spa! Well, boys will be boys, so of course they all started saying they would. Devon even wanted to try, but. Being the good Mom that I am I said no. That didn't stop him from running over to the pool with the other boys to see who was brave enough to take the plunge. When all was said and done only a couple of boys actually went in. Trevor was the first to go in (he was tricked by Spencer), then Tanner went in (he got pushed) and finally Kaden took a dive. My boys were accompanied by two of the Hancock boys.

The water was pretty cold, so they all hustled back to the spa! Awe, the joy of spas!!

It was a good thing we were planning on staying up till the wee hours of the night because we didn't really start eating dinner till around 10:30 or 11 pm. The food was great though, it gave us that extra boost to make till midnight!

To pass the time till midnight we watched movies. The kids watched Transformers downstairs, while the parents watched Leap Year upstairs. When midnight approached we called the boys upstairs to watch the ball fall. The boys all rushed up. Austin was still awake and excited, but in the end he just couldn't hold on anymore.

It is always an exciting moment when the ball falls. Everyone has their cups with sparkling cider and cheers go up in the air.

Of course, we can't forget the traditional New Years kiss! We had a wonderful weekend with our friends. We did rush home the next day to make it home in time for church, but other than that it was a nice relaxing weekend! Here's to a happy new year!!

Riding high with excitement!

The day after Christmas Chad, Trevor and Kaden were very excited to go for a bike ride to check out their new bikes. It was a very cold day, but that didn't stop them. They put on several layers of clothing and winter gear and headed out the door. I think their excitement trumped the temperature that day!

They were gracious enough to pose for a picture and then they raced off down the street.

They had a great ride. I think they went further on this ride than they have gone before. Trevor and Kaden both got bikes with gears, so their ride was dramatically improved.

Chad got his first road bike. He is a mountain bike man by nature, but he has shown an interest in road biking lately. He loved riding his new bike. When he got home he told me it was what he imagines driving a Ferrari would be like - smooth and powerful! I can't tell you how excited I am that he is loving his new bike!

I'm so glad the boys have found something they love to do together! They always have a great time and as a bonus they are getting great exercise!

Christmas Day

This Christmas season has been a little hectic and the boys have been bugging each other a lot. I felt like we didn't always have the Christmas spirit with us. So it was nice to celebrate Christmas on Sunday this year.

We talked to the boys and decided we would wait to open presents until after church. Our church begins at 9 am so we actually got to sleep in a little! The boys all tried (or said they were trying) not to look at what Santa brought them, but they were right there out in the open. They were good though, they didn't go grab their stuff, they just looked from afar!

Church was nice. Since it was Christmas we only had sacrament meeting. It was nice to start off the day with our church meeting. We were also able to say goodbye to our friends who were moving.

Once we got home, the boys raced upstairs to get back into their PJ's. We all got comfortable again and set ourselves up on the stairs for our traditional Christmas stairs shot. This tradition is a continuation of my families tradition growing up. It is fun to see all of my siblings still doing stairs shots with their families!

We enjoyed a nice relaxing morning and afternoon. We opened presents and just enjoyed being together. The stress and quarreling from earlier in the season were no longer with us! Another thing that made thisChristmas nice was the amount of gifts we all received. Every year Chad and I talked about needing/wanting to scale back. This year it actual happened and it was nice.

Trevor was our "Santa" this year. Each year one of the boys gets to wear the santa hat and hand out the presents to everyone. Then we take turns opening our gifts while everyone else looks on.

The boys all received something that they asked for so they were all happy. Chad and I were excited to see them receive their big gifts. As a side note, you may wonder about the maple leaf beanies we are wearing. They were a gift from Nana and Papa who are serving a mission in Canada.

Some of the gifts we were most excited to give were for Tanner, Kaden and Trevor. Tanner is finally able to go on Scout campouts and he loves camping gear, so we set him up! He was very excited to get his backpack and even more excited when he opened it up and found more inside. He was also very proud of the fact that he got a stove that is better than the one his dad has!

To find their gifts, we sent Kaden and Trevor on a scavenger hunt. Their gifts were big, so we had to hide them instead of wrap them.

It was fun to watch them run all over the house finding clues until they finally returned back to the room they started in to find their present in a closet. They were so excited when they opened the closet and found a new bike sitting inside!!

After the boys got their bikes, we were done opening presents - or so they thought. I had a special surprise for Chad. I had already given Chad a little gift so he didn't suspect anything. I was really sneaky and I set his present upstairs in the room we finished opening presents in. When we first went upstairs, I thought Chad spotted his present because he basically looked right at it, but to my surprise he didn't see it. So when everyone was done opening gifts I announced to Chad that there was one more gift for him on the other side of the room. I loved seeing the look of surprise and excitement on his face when he spotted his new bike! My pictures are kind of blurry, but I had to include them so I could remember his excitement!

Chad was pretty shocked. Most of the time Chad buys himself what he wants before I can go get it, but this time I actually did. Chad was amazed that I got him the bike, but he was equally amazed at how I was able to get the bike into our house without him knowing. He kept asking me, but I wouldn't tell. I liked being able to pull one over on him!!

The rest of our day was nice. We all enjoyed playing or checking out our new toys! At one point all of the boys were out in the garage playing with their stuff. Trevor got a Ripstik from Santa and he wanted to try it out. It was pretty tricky, but Trevor (as always) was determined to come off conquer and conquer he did! At first he couldn't figure out how to even stand up on the Ripstik, but then he watched the instructional video. About ten minutes later he was off and rolling. Check him out!

I'm sure we finished off the night by watching a Christmas movie, but I can't quite remember. I am still beaming from the wonderful day that we had!

Christmas Eve at our house

This year we hosted many of our friends for Christmas Eve. We had so much fun last year, we decided to do it again! We were a little worried that it could get a little cramped with so many people coming, but it turned out to be perfect.

Everyone brought a side dish and a treat to share. Everything was delicious and I don't think anyone went home hungry! We enjoyed talking and eating while the kids ran around and played. A couple of our friends are moving in a couple of days, so we were glad to spend one last fun night together.

No Christmas Eve party is complete without reading and acting out the Christmas story from the Bible. Anyone who wanted to participate brought their nativity costumes. It worked out perfect. We were able to fill all of the parts.

We even had a tiger! Austin wanted to do dress up, but he wanted to wear his Tigger costume, so we added a character to the story. When the program started though, the tiger was a little shy. He just watched from the sidelines. I'm pretty sure that's how it really happened anyway!!

The kids did a wonderful job. Tanner was the narrator this year and Trevor was a wise man. Devon and Kaden decided to sit out this year.

After the nativity everyone left to continue their family traditions at home. We quickly cleaned up and got the Christmas Eve presents out for the boys. The boys were very excited to see what their new jammies would look like!

We decided to go with different patterns this year. It is getting harder to get all of the boys matching PJ's. We also got the boys new slippers. We couldn't find any slippers for Austin, so we grabbed his current slippers and put them in his present. It was funny to watch him open his gift. When he saw his slippers he excitedly yelled, "My slippers!" We all laughed.

Christmas Cookies

One of my favorite childhood memories of Christmas is decorating sugar cookies. My mom would make hundreds of cookies (or so it seemed) and the kids would get to decorate them. She would put a table cloth on the table and give us paper plates, frosting, knifes, and sprinkles. We were in heaven!!

My kids also love decorating cookies, but we are usually so busy during the christmas season that we haven't had time to make and decorate sugar cookies. Well, this year, I was determined to make sugar cookies. I'm really glad I did because we had a lot of fun!

I had a little bit of help with making the cookies, but all the boys decorated the cookies. They did a really good job. You always wonder what you are going to get when you let the kids have free reign of the cookies, but I think they did an excellent job!

The best part was watching them have fun with the cookies and each other. I hope they will have fond memories of these moments like I do, so they can share these same traditions with their kids someday!

Christmas Parties

Winter parties at school are a little tricky when you have three kids at one school, but Austin and I managed to make it to each of the boy's classrooms. I say "winter" parties because that is what they are officially called, but they are really christmas parties. Most of the games and activities revolve around christmas things, but our schools have to be politically correct. The kids love them none the less, plus this year they got to wear their PJ's!

Each year I volunteer to help at one of the boys parties. This year it was Kaden's turn. He and I were both excited because I don't get into Kaden's class as much this year because he is getting in the upper grades and they don't need as much help. I usually leave Austin with a babysitter, but this time there was a little mix up, so Austin came with me to the school. Kaden and his friends were more than happy to have Austin celebrating with them.

As is usually the case, when I got there I found the classroom full of parent helpers. The room mom is always worried that no one will show up to help and then half the parents end up being there. Since there was so much help, I didn't have a lot to do. I helped pass out food (which they get way too much of) and I tried to help with some of the games and crafts.

One of the games was a gift wrapping relay race. It was pretty funny to watch some of the kids wrap their present. The girls were more detailed, while the boys just threw the paper on (Kaden was no exception)!

After a game or two Austin and I decided to head down to Trevor and Devon's rooms to see how their parties were going (all the parties are held at the same time). Trevor's class was surprisingly quiet. When we got to the room all the kids were sitting on the floor eating their treats. Apparently we had just missed all the games. Austin settled in next to Trevor and tried to eat his food!

After spending a little time with Trevor we headed down to Devon's room. When we got their the kids were working on a craft. They had three large marshmallows on a stick and they were using edible ink to decorate them into snowmen. It looked cool, but I'm not sure I would eat it!!

The next night we attended the ward christmas party. It was on a Wednesday night this year, which I thought was a great idea. Usually every weekend in December is packed so it was nice to have something happening during the week. The party was really nice. We had a nice sit down dinner and then each auxiliary performed a song for the ward. Actually, I'm not sure if the Relief Society sisters performed as a group, but the Priesthood did. They did a great job. It was fun to see Chad up on stage singing!

The primary is always fun to watch. This year it was even better because, for some reason, I let Austin go up with the boys. He stole the show! Between talking (almost yelling) before and during the song and pulling his pants up Chad and I were beat red and laughing up a storm. It was great! I should have taken a video!! I'm not sure what Devon was doing apart from the group. Maybe he was a little embarrassed by his brother!

It was a great evening and we all had a lot of fun!