Christmas

Ryan and Mindy stayed with us this year

Mindy making us craps for breakfast

Ella loved her bracelets

Alice so happy she got Rapunzel

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already. We had so much fun. I think I was more excited than my kids. It was so fun to see their faces Christmas morning. We had a great day and loved spending time with with Mindy and Ryan.

Holiday goodies

Alice didn't want her picture taken

Check out Ella in this one ;)

Decorating our ginger bread house is one of my favorite holiday traditions. It is so fun to watch my girls excitement of building a house out of frosting and candy! I love baking during Christmas. It reminds me of home and makes it feel like the holidays. Alice always loves to help, so we made these cute reindeer cupcakes. Happy holidays!!


Ella has also been getting her bottom molars. Her bottom left one finally broke through. She has been a tropper. She also started this new cheesy smile...it cracks me up.

Dad's accident/ girls trip

Dad and I

Dinner the first night at Olive Garden

Dinner at our hotels restaurant at Tahiti village

The first time I've met my nephew Braxton. Such a cutie!

Rachel and I on our pull out hide a bed!

Last week I received a phone call from my sister Rachel telling me dad had taken a spill off his horse and was being life flighted to Las Vegas. I immediately dropped to my knees and said a prayer. He had two brain contusions as well as bleeding and six broken ribs. Luckily after a couple nights in ICU he was healing up nicely and was moved to a regular hospital room. The bleeding on his brain stopped and he was given the ok to go home. He is still VERY sore and has a lot of healing to do, but he is tough. We are so grateful and feel blessed that he is ok. When I told Alice about the accident, she asked me if papa's horse was in trouble. This weekend was also our mother daughter trip to Las Vegas. We decided to go ahead and still have our trip. We even got to steal mom away on the first night for dinner. We had a lot of fun visiting and Christmas shopping. Can't wait till next year!

Thanksgiving

First time bowling as a family

Alice keept asking me if she was winning...she is so competitive

Rachel and I with some of our black fridat bargans!

There was enough snow to build a snowman, so while
Rachel and I were cooking the dads and kids built this guy.

Kaden and Alice in their cute beanies

Rachel and Richards family came to stay with us for thanksgiving. They got here late Wednesday night. On Thanksgiving we woke up to it snowing outside which really made it feel like the holidays. Then we got busy making rolls, pie, and our family's traditions chicken noodle gravy and pomegranate salad. We all went over to John's dad's to eat our thanksgiving feast. Later that day we went to see the new Disney movie Tangled. It was so cute. Alice has already asked to go see it again (with Kaden of course). That night some stores opened for black Friday. Rachel and I were so excited to get some deals that we headed out at 9:30. We picked Melanie up at about 12:30 and didn't get home until 4:00 am. We had such a blast and scored some good deals. We did a lot of shopping, playing in the snow, and saying up late. The last night they were here we went bowling. Kaden and Alice looked so cute in their little bowling shoes and I must say, having the bumpers up sure improved my score! Their trip went by way to fast, but I am so thankful for the time we had. I have so much to be thankful for and am glad there is a holiday remind me how blessed I am.

John's Birthday

John turned 29 this month. We celebrated by having dinner at Red robin and blizzards at DQ. Then we left the kids with a sitter and hit the movies. I can't believe in a year we'll be out of our twenties...30 used to seem so old!

Halloween

For Halloween Alice choose to be her favorite princess sleeping beauty and Ella was a bumble bee. We went to an awesome corn maze/pumpkin patch the weekend before and let the girls choose a pumpkin. There was so much stuff to do. We did the hay ride to the corn maze and then the pumpkin patch. For Halloween we went to our wards trunk or treat. It was actually 4 wards together. There were tons of people and tons of candy. Ella even got the hang of it and started holding out her hand for candy. Cute little stinkers.

Family trip

Four wheeling


Horse back riding
Jayda and Ella

Roasting Mallows


Ranger rides


Mindy and I ready for the zip line
Jayda
Asia and Alice
John and his mom at the temple
Kaden and Alice having lunch at Red Robin


The Washington Rec


I know there are a million pictures. I have been putting off this post for a while because I had so many it was over whelming. So believe it or not, this is just a few. John's mom planned a family reunion with her, her kids and grandkids at a Zion resort so we made a trip out of it. We started off staying at the ranch. We went four wheeling with Rachel and Richards family, ate popsicles, picked melons, went shopping, and had a good visit. Then we headed to Zion's for the weekend. It was SO beautiful and the resort had so many things to do. We had ranger rides, horse back rides, rode the zip line, roasted marshmallows for s'mores, soaked in the hot tub, played at the park and the list goes on. It was such a blast. The cabin was huge and had two rooms full of bunk beds. Alice loved playing and falling a sleep on the top bunk with all her girl cousins. It was so fun eating every meal together and having late night talks. John even squeezed in a trip to the temple with his mom. On Tuesday we went to the washington rec center with the Schaefermeyer family to swim and had a blast! It was so good to see everyone. We had such a fun trip and cant wait till next time! Love you all.