Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Blake turns 4

Blake turned 4! We drove all night from Utah on the the 2nd, and got home around 2:00am on the 3rd. Blake wakes us up at 7:00am and asks for his #4 breakfast pancake, oh man were we tired! We roll out of bed and made him his birthday breakfast.  I usually have some time to think about what kind of cake I want to make, but I had no idea what I was going to make that day. I knew I was to tired to spend hours of time on a cake. So I went and bought a dump truck and a box of brownie's. So easy, and he seemed happy.  He's been wanting a pillow pet for over a year now, so that was his gift from us. My friend Jenny gave me her kids old "Cars" set that her boys don't use anymore. So we gave that to him too, he loved it. Blake is the comedian in our family, he's completely goofy and full of energy.  We love him to pieces. Happy Birthday Blake!




Christmas and New Years

This year we spent Christmas in Idaho and New Years in Utah.  We had a great time with our families. We did lots of fun things in Idaho. Our kids loved going sledding behind the 4 wheelers. We also went icescating in Rigby,it was a man made rink and the owner of the home fed us homemade french fries and hot chocolate:)  They let youth groups and FHE groups come for free, they were very nice. We also went to Big Judd's to eat their giant hamburgers. One hamburger fed my whole family.  On Christmas Eve we had a nice program at Kelly's house we had bread bowls and soup and had a cousin gift exchange. My cousin Jill made Holly and her kids quilts out of all of Nate's favorite t-shirts, I'm sure Holly and her kids will treasure those blankets. On Christmas morning we opened presents and went to church. My brother got ordained an Elder, it was neat to be there for that. Afterwards, we all went to see Nate's headstone that just got finished. It's a beautiful tribute to him.   Christmas Dinner we had at Holly's, Kelly made her famous Coconut Cream pie. We played some fun win-it-to-win-it games with all the kids and played Just Dance on the Wii. We had a great time with my family, it was really nice for all of us to be together. 

In Utah we visited Rich's family, our kids loved going to the bounce house with their cousins. We had a lot of fun visiting with Ryan and Stacie and meeting their new baby Payton.  We stayed with Rich's parents for a couple of days, Grandma took my boys out for their birthdays. We were able to see Amy and Devin's house in Eagle Mountain. We had a Sunday dinner at Grandma Stowes house. We also had fun visiting with Aunt Allie and her family too. Alli made a special sugar free pie just for Brooklyn, I thought that was so thoughtful of her to do that. We spent News Years with Crystal and Jason, they threw a fun party and they let us stay with them for a few days. Thank you! On Sunday we visited our old ward in Saratoga Springs, it was so good to see our friends. I got to hear my good friend Shellee teach in Relief Society for the first time. She did awesome. Our friends Julie and Adam had us over for lunch after church, it was really good to visit with them. We have missed them a lot. We took the kids to see the lights at temple square, that's always fun.  Before we left Utah we made sure to visit Cafe Rio, it's been two years since we have eaten there. It was delicious as usual.

It was a fun trip, we were ready to come home to our own beds but not ready to leave family and friends. We are looking forward to this new year and being closer to everyone. 
Happy New Year! 











Landon fell asleep while he was sledding:)




My sister Kelly and my brother in law Josh. 













All of us.

My brother and sisters.




My niece Grace. I love her chubby cheeks. 

My nieces Emma and Riley trying to see how many candy canes they can balance in 1 minute.


My sister Lauren and Blake

Trying to unwrap candy kisses with gloves on.

All the cousins.

My sister's Kelly and Holly

Caroline and Lauren



HUGE!


My nephews, Mason, Parker and Joshua

Weston and Blake with their cousins Landon and Ethan

My sisters Kelly and Lauren, and my brother Steven.

My sister Caroline and her husband Nick.

Holly and Grace.
Blake picking is nose, nice.
Brookyn took her role as Mary very seriously. 
My niece Katelyn