The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Once again we have so many reasons to be grateful. Jared's parents came home from their mission in the Philippines early this month. With the tumultuous weather in that part of the world, we're all relieved they made it home safely. It was fun to wait at the airport for them (new experience for me) and ALL of their children and grandchildren were there. We had a nice evening with dinner and catching up. The kids ran wild downstairs and I chuckled to myself when I crept down to take this photo of them having a good old time.

The next day the party shifted to Denette's and the weather was so mild then the kids could play outside. It has been a warm December up until just before Christmas. The kids had fun things to do while some dads and boys went to shoot clay pigeons.

These are adorable snowmen that the kids made thanks to Jared's sisters' planning. They are tube socks filled with rice, separated into sections with rubber bands. Usually I don't get into crafts, but this one was a winner. I loved how the littlest kids would pack them around like a doll. Even the boys enjoyed them.



The kids also decorated little Christmas trees made out of ice cream cones and candy. With so many in the family now, it's a crowd for sure. But we are fortunate to have the opportunity to all be in one place, which only happens a couple times each year.

Grandma and Grandpa had a gift for everyone - amazingly they brought them from the Philippines in their 4 pieces of luggage! They must have left some "non-essentials" behind. The kids all patiently waited to open them until everyone had a gift.

Even as a part time instructor at UVU, I am getting into the spirit of "Wolverine Green". Well, sort of. We went to watch the men's basketball team take on Utah State and I had to wear my Aggie apparel right there in the front row (of the UVU section). It was actually a very close, competitive game and I was worried that my alma mater might lose. But in the end, they came through. Not all of our little family was happy though - tears were shed when the green team went down. Not by Bennett though, he had a great time and loved the green man group you can see performing behind him.

Christmas finally arrived and the boys were surprisingly slow at opening presents. I don't mean to complain though, they were just excited to see the snow (me too, it seemed overdue). On the flip side, they haven't been able to tear around outside on their new ride-on toys but I'm pretty confident we'll get a January thaw. Can you tell I'm semi-obsessed with the weather?

These gifts, including the bean bag, were from Jared's parents. We have been practicing baseball indoors and haven't broken anything. Yet. Of course, some of ours and Santa's picks were a hit and some less so. We've gotten especially good entertainment for the cost out of Star Wars coloring books, and Play-Doh, and the green block style stilts that Bennett is showing off. Both boys like the height advantage and didn't have any trouble with their coordination. That's sort of a goal of mine, to have the boys be capable of basic things, like catching and throwing a ball. I don't expect them to be professional athletes but I personally love sports toys.

It is always a treat when Grandma Leslie and Papa Mack come by - especially when they bring gifts! They gave the boys some fun robot slash transfomer thingys, a frighteningly fast hot wheels track, and electronic bugs that crawl through a sort of obstacle course. It's all pretty futuristic here in the year (almost) 2015. One day soon my phone will be more intelligent than I am. You can see the Christmas Story marathon on behind Paxton...I am entertained by that show every year. We'll end it here with a few pics from tubing. That orange hat was totally Bennett's idea.