Christmas Day

We had a really great Christmas this year, it seems like it gets better every year as our kids get older. Rich raced home from work on Christmas morning, because he knew the kids were waiting to open up presents. I kept our kids trapped in our bedroom with a movie until he made it home. Brooklyn's favorite gift was a pack of craft beads that you make using patterns. It was only $6.00, so you cant beat that! She has already spent hours making designs and having me iron them out. Weston loves his Diego aquadoodle and a set of Lincoln Logs. I was really excited about my purchase on the Lincoln Logs, they normally cost $24.99 but Shopco had them on sale for $9.99 but were sold out, so I priced-matched at Walmart, and they matched that price. You gotta love Walmart! (I have to thank Cami for teaching me how to price-match!) Blake had fun just playing with the wrapping paper, but he did seem to like the couple of toys we got him. I was also excited for Christmas morning to come because my sister Kelly had a ultrasound on Christmas Eve to find out the sex of the their baby. They had the ultrasound technician write down the sex of the baby on a piece of paper so they could open it on Christmas morning. They found out they were having a boy! My sister has 3 girls and one boy, so now my nephew Mason will have a brother.

Hope everyone had a good Christmas, I am already looking forward to the new year and what it brings.

Christmas Eve Party

We had our Christmas Eve party at Grandma Stowes house. The kids got to dress up as Uncle Lamar read the nativity story. Brooklyn was pretty lucky to be able to be Mary. Then we played some games and the kids got to open up one Christmas present. Later on we sang some Christmas songs, then Santa showed up! I love to see my kids faces light up everytime they Santa. They've seen him 4 times this month, but they get excited everytime! Rich was planning on coming with us to the Christmas Eve party, because he was scheduled to go into work at 11:00pm, but he got called in early. He was missed by everyone, especially me!

Last couple of days in Peru...

Rich spent the last couple of days deep in the jungle working in a clinic. It looks like they gave the students some time to have fun. Rich is on his way home now, and will be home tomorrow afternoon!

Here he is trying to be Indiana Jones

This must be where they slept or maybe it's the clinic

Fishing trip...

I might have to frame this picture of Rich wearing flip flops, he absolutely hates flip flops! He hates it when I wear them, and I've never seen him wear a pair. But he was told to bring a pair for his trip. Maybe he's coming home a changed man, and it wont drive him nuts when I wear them. He does look pretty relaxed laying here in the hammock.

Breakfast with Santa...

Our ward had a really nice Christmas party planned for the kids this year. They served a pancake breakfast and then the kids got to sit with Santa.

Day 4 in Peru

This little girl is cute, the students were asked to bring candy for the kids over there.

I didn't get to chat online today with Rich for very long about what he did today. He did tell me he got to sit in on a c-section, that was neat for him.

Polar Express Train ride...

We took a ride on the polar express to visit Santa at the North Pole on Monday. My kids LOVED it! Thanks for inviting us Katie!

Finally some Snow!

Rich, here's a picture of the kids playing in the snow today. They had a good time, they were wrestling around in the snow at first then it turned into a fight. It was funny to watch.

Day 2 and 3 in Peru

Here are some pictures I got from Rich tonight. He is keeping a journal of what he's learning and doing over there, I'm anxious to read it when he gets home. He would be better at writing on our blog about what he's doing each day then me, he just doesn't have time. We were online tonight for a little while and he told me a few things he did. He went to a small village to see how the people live and he said it was very humbling. He saw a 7 month old baby die today, he said that was really hard to watch. He also saw two preemie babies born, one of them probably wont make it through the night. He got to see HIV, STD and malaria on a microscope slide, he thought that was interesting. He also said that one of the surgeons asked him to help with a surgery tomorrow afternoon, he's really excited about that.