Christmas Morning

Wake up time - 7 a.m. Walk out into living room time - 7:30 a.m. Thanks Lisa and Chris for accommodating all of us and for being great hosts. It was a great Christmas and we were so blessed to be with family. Certainly did miss Mary and David though.

Love the excitement from Lukey. What a cutie. It's always so fun to see how the kids would react. I'm pretty sure all of them were slightly excited.

We asked that Santa bring small items to Georgia. I think he did a great job. Molly's first Barbie.

Stocking stuffers were minimal as well. Molly didn't seem to mind all she got was an M&M dispenser and juice.

I love how kids open presents.....piece by piece.

Not sure if she liked these dolls......mmmmmm......

Molly giving Amy a thank you hug for the purse. Thanks Amy, she already uses it lots and loves packing treats in it. Brian on the side talking to Mary and David.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was like most of yours, I'm sure. We had the kids (and grown kids) play the nativity. I love doing this so we can remember the reason for Christmas. I am so grateful for our Savior being born, who lived His life for us, to teach us how to be like Him and then sacrificed the ultimate sacrifice so that we can return and live with Him and our Heavenly Father. I love teaching this principle to these young children so that they, from a young age, understand why we celebrate CHRISTmas.

Mary (Emily) and Joseph (Ryan). Not sure who thinks pregnant women look square.

Mary riding the donkey (Mike) with the Angel (Molly) singing Hosanna.

Jesus (Foster) wrapped in "fine" swaddling blankets. Shepherd (Katie) came to visit the babe. PS: we tried having Molly as Jesus two years ago.......not a chance.....screamed the whole short while she laid there.

Molly and Fos with their Christmas p.j.'s on Christmas Eve

A tradition we are starting is a new Christmas book that the kids will open Christmas Eve. This year Molly got "Snowflake Princess".

First day in Georgia

Georgia Christmas it was. It was nice to be in warmer temperatures. A little weird to have Christmas and 74 degrees at the same time, but a nice change. We've been getting so much snow in Utah we welcomed dry roads and warm days to play in. Our first day was spent at "Flat Rock". Not far from Chris and Lisa's home. A beautiful park with, well......flat rocks and water running down them.

walking across the bridge

Wee! Nothing better than tossing up a few leaves

Flat rock with the water.....say cheese!

Molly and Scott on Flat Rock......are they not so cute or what?

Seems like that boy is still attached everywhere we go.

Just the 4 of us!

Our House

....is a very very very fine house. A few of you have been asking for house photos, so her are 2. First is the front room off to the left right when you walk in. We had to buy furniture right away since we did not have one of these rooms in Denver. The second is the stairs off to the right of the front room. They take you up to 3 rooms and 2 bathrooms. We don't want to post too many house shots because we want you all to come see them for yourself!

The red chairs went nicely with our Christmas decor.

Christmas in Utah

Just a few shots from Christmas in Utah. There is something more magical about Christmas when you have a child to enjoy it with. Molly gave us all the excitement we were looking for.

Right after Santa showed up

Love this reaction to a jacket. It's the jacket she has on in the next photo.

Can't have a kitchen without 64 pieces of food.

just for fun

Molly and I made cookies one day and of course, I took some photos. One thing is for sure......Molly loves Cookie Dough. Just like her mama.

So into this cookie making thing

I love the concerned look on Foster's face. He does not go without a million hugs a day from Miss Molly.

Cold Night Out

So, these aren't Christmas pictures, but they were taken right before Christmas and since I am sooooooooo far behind on blogging, I wanted to keep them in order. The night before Amy, Brian and Mike left for Georgia, we all bundled up and headed to Temple Square to see the lights. In spite of the multiple layers, blankets and mom's scarf, Molly was still freezing. She lasted longer than I did though. That kind of cold just puts a chill all the way through ya. We did stay out quite a while. We finally found The Joseph Smith Building to be opened and warmed up a bit.

Snug as a bug

Princess chair. Sorry the picture is so washed out, but it shows the relation of how big the chair is.

CUTE!

Just a few photos again, from Mike. Just making up for my slacking during our transition.

This girls hair gets sooooooo staticky here.

After taking a bite, she said, "mmmm, this is good mom"

Wasn't too happy in this one!

Few more birthday photos

Sunday, we had my sister, Jess and her family up for dinner and another birthday celebration. Her husband, Brik, has a birthday coming up this Friday, Dec. 19th so we had a birthday cake for the two of them.

I made an ice cream cake called Frozen Raspberry Delight. It was a delight.

Scott's bro's.......Brian, Mike and Scott

Bright eyed, Happy boy!

Scott's brother, Mike, is quite the photographer. Any photography questions any of us have, we go to Mike. These are some shots he got of Foster. How adorable huh?

He's quite the drooler these days.......

He's pretty much like this if anyone looks at him. He sits and waits until someone makes eye contact then he gives them the best smile.

Happy Birthday Darling

Scott celebrated his 32nd (yes 32) birthday last Saturday. It was fun to have his brothers here to take to dinner with us. Molly went to my sisters house and we took Foster. We went to Tempenyaki's (Japanese Steak House). The samari chefs prepare the food on the grill right in front of you. When they are done, each person at the table gets to catch a shrimp in their mouth. I didn't want to throw up, so I gave my turn to Scott. It was lots of fun.

Guess it was still early in the morning. Everyone looks a little sleepy.

Molly gave Scott ties. Since he got his new job, he has to wear shirt and tie every day. As we were picking them out, she really wanted to get him one with Santa on it. Guess she doesn't know her dad very well.

This is the sweater from Scott's parents. Looks great on him. Thanks

Happy Birthday Scott. We love you tons!

The kids

Just thought I'd post a few pics of the kids. I took these first thing one morning. As you can see, Molly hadn't even gotten dressed yet.

Our cute little man. He definately is on Santa's "nice list".

Gotta love the hair-do first thing in the morning. The pillow does wanders for her.

Not sure if Foster is smiling or getting ready to cry. This is Molly all day long.......loves her baby brother......too much sometimes. But at least she loves him right?

Let it Snow

So, this is our deck. Our first years snow fall. Wasn't much, but it was snow. Yay, we love snow! Not enough to make Frosty though. Molly, was still excited to be able to get all her snow gear on and head outside.

This is our back yard. The barn came with the place. It's a great storage shed.

Foster at the Park

If you look close, you can see my refleciton in his eyes.

Not fond of Santa

We tried to convince Molly that Santa Clause was "Nice" but she wanted nothing to do with him. Even if it meant getting a candy cane out of it.

Not a very nice mom to laugh at her daughters sheer terror.

Wanting the candy cane, but not worth it to get close to Santa.

Finally stared Santa down as dad gave her the candy cane then ran back to mom. Poor thing. If only she knew what she could really get if she liked him.

Spaghetti Factory and Temple Square

Friday night we all met downtown to eat at the Spaghetti Factory and then see the lights at Temple Square. We were supposed to get family photos at Temple Square but some of us weren't quite prepared for the cold and hurried through seeing the lights then headed home. Maybe next time.

I think they're used to accommodating large groups.

Just one shot at the beauty of this place. They really know how to decorate for Christmas. They had some cool nativity scenes too.