Christmas 2011

We had a very nice Christmas this year. We spent the morning at our house and the evening at Kelly's parents house. We spent Christmas Eve with my family this year. The story the kids loved to tell this year was that Kelly had made a mistake. Because he made a mistake it made Santa make a mistake. Kelly accidentally told Santa that the kids wanted small toys...not big toys. Hunter wanted a Powered Up Optimus Prime, Kora wanted a Hoola Hoop and Mylie wanted a Tinker Bell. When the kids woke up Christmas morning and opened up their presents from Santa, Hunter got a tiny little Optimus Prime, Kora got some metal bracelets and Mylie got a small Tinkerbell. After the kids opened the rest of their presents Kelly noticed a letter that was on the Christmas tree. Apparently Santa remembered last minute that Kelly called to tell them that they really wanted the big toys but by that time Kelly had already closed the glass to the fireplace and locked things up. Santa had to get creative and apparently climbed through the downstairs bathroom window and put their big presents in our bathroom. The kids really got a kick out of that.

This last picture is the kids with their cousins Preston, Mason and Taylor in their Christmas Pajamas. They came over to our house on Christmas Eve to play and hang out. We all had a great time with them. The kids love all of their cousins and it's fun to see them play together. It's too bad all the families don't live closer together.

Christmas Tree

By looking at the picture on the right you would guess that I have never taken a picture with this camera before in my life. That's not the case but unfortunately, this is the best picture I was able to take while we were tree hunting. I was trying to get the night settings working and I guess our camera doesn't take night pictures without a tripod. So, ignore the blurry picture and enjoy the experience!

This year we got our Christmas tree at a Christmas tree farm. This farm is right by our house. If we do go again next year we might consider going during the day, but we were too anxious to wait until the weekend. The kids enjoyed looking for trees but were a little freaked out by the darkness. When you arrive at the farm they give you flashlights and you go out hunting. After looking at nearly all of the trees we finally found a good one. You pull a tag off, pay for it and give it to the cutters so they can cut it down for you. While you wait for your tree to be cut they had a metal trash bin with a nice warm fire in it. It was a fun experience. The tree lasted a bit longer than if we had bought it at a pre-cut lot but the experience was so much better....and the smell lasted so much longer.

In the next picture the kids are helping me decorate the tree. They did a GREAT job decorating the bottom half of the tree. I just had to just take a few and put them near the top to even it all out. What a fun time. Nothing better than Christmas and starting new traditions in our new home. Loving it!

A New Year!

The month of December has flown by. With many intentions of posting on our blog, things were just too crazy to sit down and type. As a result we have what has become a standard catch-up post to summarize the last month.

Something I also meant to do for the month of December was make Christmas cards. The photo above was the picture I meant to use. My goal #1 for 2010 is make my Christmas cards early this year so all we have to do is address them and mail them.

December was actually pretty eventful. Earlier in the month my brother and his wife asked us if we wanted to go to Mission Inn to see Christmas lights. We had never been there before so we thought we would check it out. The lights were beautiful and it was a fun evening.

2 Days before Christmas we found out that Kelly's sister, Jodie and her family were down for a little over a week. We spent a fabulous Christmas Eve at Kelly's parents house visiting with his parents, grandfather and the Hendricks and enjoying each others company. The kids had a great time with their cousins. Hunter's highlight was tracking Santa's progress as he delivered presents. There is a site online that shows exactly where he is delivering presents and how soon he'll be in your area. All day Hunter had to drag someone over to the computer to show us that he has moved along. Very cute!

Christmas was a fun day. Santa had made his famous visit. Kora helped me make cookies the day before and it took some convincing that only 3 cookies were meant to be for Santa. For some reason Kora insisted the entire batch was for him. Hunter got a stern scolding from Kora after he tried to swipe one of "Santa's" cookies. On Christmas Day We went over to Papa Spuds house to spend time with him. He was all alone for Christmas and we thought a visit from the kids would cheer him up. After the visit we headed home and my family came over to spend Christmas with us. It was a fun day with family, good food and games.

When the Hendricks come in to town we plan a date night sans kids. This has been the 2nd year we have done this and as always we had a great time. One of Kelly's old friends happened to be in town with his girlfriend and they came along as well. We went out to dinner and spend about 2 hours just talking and reminiscing....I did more listening than reminiscing...but I enjoyed the stories.

For New Years we drove on up to Arizona to spend 2 nights with Kelly's Brother and family. We had such a great time we ended up spending a third day. Going up to AZ New Years weekend has become a tradition of ours for the past 3 years. We always have such a great time and really enjoy their company and wish we didn't live so far apart. On the right the kids are in their swim suits getting ready to leave for the heated pool. Yes, a heated pool. It was wonderful. If only all pools were heated in the winter time I think they would get more use.

We saw our newest little niece for the 2nd time and boy is she beautiful. We can't wait to see them again. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and are excited to see what the new year will bring. Goal #2 for 2010, keep up on our blog. Happy New Year to all!

Few Weeks in Review

The last few weeks have been somewhat of a blurr. The excited energy of Christmas had come and gone so fast that we almost missed the opportunity to enjoy the season. To enjoy the lights, the shopping and the festive moods of those around us. The week before Christmas however seemed to put us in a Christmas mode as we prepared to enjoy the day that so rapidly approached. We had the pleasure to see family from out of state and enjoy the company and friendship of both families that visited. While we were enjoying family on Christmas Eve we had a brief visit from Santa himself who told the kids that if they went to bed when they got home he would make another stop at their house. He was true to his word for when the kids woke up he had brought Hunter a bike, Kora a new baby doll (daw-wee) and Mylie a musical train. It was a very fun day that was unfortunately hampered by rain. Hunter had to wait till the day after Christmas to finally break his bike in.

The week following Christmas was also a blurr. In fact, I can't really recall much of what happened. Kelly had 5 days off for Christmas, which we mostly lounged around and enjoyed each other's company.

On New Years Eve Kelly flew up to Arizona to visit his brother Bryan and go to a Bowl game while the kids and I drove up. It took me almost 8 hours to get up there. With traffic, 4 stops and losing an hour it really added up. When we finally got there the kids were so anxious to get out of the car and play with their cousin Bryce that they almost made it to midnight to ring in the new year. The adults had a different plan. We put the kids to bed and played Rock Band until a little after midnight. We were in the middle of "Highway to Hell" as midnight came upon us. We had a wonderful time visiting the B Kerr's, so much so that it made it hard to leave because we were having such a good time with them.

So, here we are in 2009 with much to anticipate. Mylie will be turning 1 in February. We have a new niece to be born in May. Kora will be starting Preschool in August. Hunter will be starting Kindergarten in September. We hope that each of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and are excited to hear about your 2009 adventures as we share you ours.

Happy New Year!