Christmas and New Years 2012

 Our Christmas this year was so great!  We kicked off the Christmas weekend with going to my parent's home the Saturday before Christmas.  We had a great meal, and did all of our traditional things, playing the chimes, left right game and the talent show.  Our kids did a great rendition of " I'm gettin Nuttin for Christmas".  Super cute!!

Here's a shot of Isaak holding baby James.  He held that baby and loved him so much. 

 Here we all are!

 Sporting our Christmas outfits the Sunday before Christmas.   A little out of order, sorry!

 And here we are playing the chimes!

 On Christmas Eve, my Mom and Dad came over to our home to deliver our gifts!  While they were there, Shaun surprised me with the camera of my dreams.   A Nikon D 90.  I have had SO MUCH FUN figuring it out!! The rest of the pictures have been taken on that camera.  I'm far from being a pro, but you can sure see the difference a nice camera makes. 

 My Dad's face in this picture is classic!

 This is Lila's face when she opened her new jammies (a Rapunzel nightgown) and realized that they were to sleep in and not to wear every single day of her life. 

 The kiddos sporting their new jammies.  We let them wear them all Christmas Eve day long, even to Cafe Rio!

 On Christmas Eve we had to say goodbye to our specail elf, Candy Cane.  He was so much fun this Christmas season.  He always showed up in the most unexpected places and sometimes left yummy treats!

 Here's Lila with her most special friend.

Christmas Eve night we went to Grandma Patsy's for dinner and gifts!! Here's  Isaak and baby Abby.  He is such a sweet boy, he LOVES babies so much

 Scotty and Lila

 Brett giving Lila a boy Barbie for Christmas

 Patsy and Jay

 Lauren and Abby

 Here's some pictures I snuck Christmas morning after Santa came and before the kids woke up.  I was so excited I woke up at 5 am, got ready, made breakfast, sat around..... and FINALLY woke up Isaak at 7:30!

 Before we could open presents we had to eat our breakfast!!

 Here's all of our loot under the tree!  Great haul this year, we MUST have been on the nice list!

 After we opened presents we went to Grandpa Ric and Grandma Jo's home for some yummy brunch and more presents! 

Here's Isaak and Logan wrestling

 Our little family

 Lila excited about her dress up stuff

 All the boyz.  Ashton, Bentley, Jaxon, and Isaak

 All the little girls.  Lila, Abby and Maclaren

 Grandma  and Grandpa

 Isaak got this Batman lego set from Grandma Patsy and Grandpa Jay.  It took forever to put together but he was so excited when it was complete.  I do have to say, it's awesome!

 Here's a few photos I've taken over the last week while I've been playing around with the aperature, shutter speed and ISO.

 Last Saturday we went to Chucky Cheese with the Cantwells.  Great times as always!

On New Years Eve we went to the Cantwell's to the Rec Center for a little party they were having.  We went swimming, went to a hypnotist show (I volunteered to go up and it was super wierd.  I did a great Napolean Dynamite dance,  Michael Jackson's thriller and a few other funny things.  Maybe I'll try and post some video from Shaun's phone on here...... or maybe not, it the spirit of new years and new beginnings I think maybe I'd like to erase all proof that happened.  :)  After a long night we came back home for some fireworks and bed. 

 And here's a couple more fun pics.  LOVING THIS NEW CAMERA!!!!!

Lila's dance recital

 Sorry for the mass amount of pictures, but I love them all so much I just couldn't choose only one!  Lila was so GREAT in her dance recital.  She was the only one in her class that knew the whole dance, even though she was the youngest!  I'm so proud of that cute girl!  Way to go Lila!

There she is!  The cute little one on the far right!

December fun

 Candy Cane has been making a lot of fun appearances this month.  He's been in both kid's rooms, we caught him sharing  some soda with Barbie, reading a book to some of Isaak and Lila's toys, taking a bath in Lila's bathtub from her dollhouse.  He's been so much fun, we love him!   Last weekend we took a trip to Temple Square with Nick and Sarah.  Here's a few of our favorite shots...

 Here's Lila playing out in the snow

 And Lila picking all the chocolate off this popcorn.  She sat there for an hour completely engrossed.

November 2012

 Here's our Thanksgiving Tree.  We wrote things that we are thankful for on the leaves and left it up until Thanksgiving night. 

 Here's Isaak making a snow angel in the snow.  Seriously, I'm always saying that they are at my favorite age because they just keep getting better and better, these kids are so fun to hang out with!

 Lila and Rusty are attatched at the hip lately.  I think she just might love him more than me! 

 Here's the apple turkeys we make on Thanksgiving morning.  We went to Ric and Jo's this year for dinner, it was so yummy!  I'm tempted to make a little Thanksgiving dinner in December just for our little family.  I've never made a turkey before and it would be fun!

 The morning after Thanksgiving we had a little visitor.  Meet Candy Cane!!  He's our Elf on the Shelf.  He brought us breakfast from the North Pole and will be keeping a close eye on us this year.  His job is to come to life each night and fly back home to Santa and tell him if we're being naughty or nice.  Every morning he is in a different spot and we have to go through the house and find where he is hiding.  So far he's shared some soda with one of Lila's Polly Pockets, hidden in the Christmas tree, hung upside down from the ceiling fan, and even brought the kids cookies one morning straight from Santa himself.  This morning we found him reading a Christmas story to some of Isaak and Lila's toys.  Funny little elf!!

 

 Here's the kids looking for him!

 A couple of days ago we spent the day with Oma and Pappa.  We all went to Lila's dance class, then we went to the park, then came home and had dinner and made our gingerbread train.  Fun day!!
Here's Oma playing ponies with Lila... (Isaak wanted to be involved so he brought his Lego Monster Truck into the mix. He's all boy!)

We're pretty good!!

Halloween Fun

 Here we are a couple nights before Halloween at a pumpkin patch picking out the perfect pumpkin....

 And here's the next night decorating them!!

 Don't they look great?!

 On Halloween we had a great time Trick or Treating at Grandma Patsy's work and around the neighborhood.  Happy Halloween!!!