Winter fun at the cabin

We went up to the cabin from December 29-31st!  Halle made her name out of snowballs.  I am impressed by her creativity.

Ken and Brian purchased this snowmobile for the family.  Kev and I had fun trying it out for the first time.  It is fast!

Kev took Addy down the tubing hill a bunch of times.  She was so happy to have all of Dad's attention.

We snowmobiled over to see our cousins Preston and Melissa.  They were staying at her parents cabin just a few miles up the road.  I took this picture of them with three of their five babies.  We road the trails over by their cabin.  It was fun to be out exploring and having a change of scenery.

We went back to their cabin to warm up.  We hadn't seen it since it was decorated.  It is beautiful and cozy.  Addy had fun playing with Allie and holding little Abby.  I enjoyed catching up with Melisssa.

It was fun having Grandpa Ken, Grandma Sue, and Uncle Spencer there with us.  Grandpa even went out on the tube with the grandkids!

On Saturday Cody, Kamille, and the kids all came up for the day.  It was even more fun having them there with us.  Hayden got the game pie face for Christmas.  The cousins had fun playing that together.

Christmas day!

Our cute kids on Christmas morning excited to open their presents!

Parker was very happy to see that Santa had brought him a BB gun.  It was definitely a gift only Santa would buy him.

Mckenna got a Victoria Secret Pink hoodie that she had wanted.  She had been telling me she wanted it for weeks. I had picked one out but she was worried she wouldn't like what I chose.  She showed me a pic on her phone and it was the exact one I bought.  I didn't tell her because I wanted her to be surprised on Christmas morning.

Parker was excited about his chocolate orange.  Santa brings the whole family one in our stockings every year.

Hayden checking out his new snowball maker from Santa.  He has had a lot of fun with it this winter.

Mckenna surprised Halle with this emoji pillow.  Mckenna and Halle bought gifts for the whole family with their own money.  It was really sweet.    

Kev and I hanging out as we opened our presents together.

Addy was happy to get a beanie boo stuffed animal.  

I looked over and saw that Hayden had created a fort with all his presents.

Kev's favorite gift was a heat lamp for the garage.  He has already put that to good use since he got it.  He loves being out in the garage and working on snowmobiles.

I got a present in this giant box.  I am showing off the FRAGILE sticker.  "Must be Italian!"  A quote from one of my favorite Christmas movies.  Kev surprised me with a giant canvas of our family picture.

Mckenna and I spent the rest of the morning cooking our delicious breakfast.  Mckenna is wearing her new apron we gave her.

We enjoy our Christmas waffles every year.  This year we decided to have some biscoff with them.  It was a big hit with everyone.  We went to church in the afternoon.  I was too busy to take any pictures.  I also got to talk with most of my family over the phone.  I really enjoyed talking with my sister Teenie.

In the evening we went over to Kev's parents house.  We had a nice dinner together and then got to open more presents.

Halle looked like Santa as she hauled off all the wrapping paper in a big bag.

Mckenna worked hard to learn the song, "It came upon a midnight clear".  It was a hard composition and she learned it to accompany the ward choir.  I sang while she played at our ward Christmas program.  I was so proud of her.  She was performing it for Grandpa Ken.

It was fun having Spence home with all of us.  We saw him several times over the break.  We were all missing Lisa.  It was our first Christmas not having her here with us and it just wasn't the same.

Christmas eve

We celebrated Christmas with our Calderwood cousins that morning.

We went to Kev's parents house to have brunch and open presents together.  Aubrey and Halle having fun together.

It was nice having Grandma and Grandpa Grant with us.  Grandma has been having health problems lately so we were glad she was feeling well that day.

Parker and Tucker rough housing together.

Uncle Cody showed everyone the heavy metal version of  "Pineapple Pen".

Grandma Sue let the kids dip cinnamon bears in chocolate.  They love anything that involves chocolate.

Mckenna helped wrap lots of presents this year and I was really glad to have her help.  I looked over and this is what I saw.  She uses her toes to hold the ribbon when she ties it.  It gave me a good laugh.

We were supposed to get together with my brother Mikes family that night but they had some sick kids.  We decided to splurge and take the family to eat at Olive Garden.  It is one of our favorites and we don't go often.  We all enjoyed the yummy food and went home happy.

When we got home the kids opened their Christmas pajamas.

We then opened our Christmas book. We gave them the book , "Twas the night before Christmas."

We then took our traditional pictures by the tree.  I thought it would be fun to do a pyramid.  The only problem was we were short one person.  I jumped in too so we could make this pyramid work.

We put out the cookies and milk for Santa and then the kids were off to bed.

12 parties, 12 cakes, 12 years old!

We have a family tradition to take pictures with each of our kids on their birthdays.  I also make themed cakes for them up until age 12.  Kev and I with Parker on his 1st birthday.  We had just moved back to my grandparents house from Connecticut.

Parker on his second birthday.  I am disappointed that we didn't get one picture of us with Parker this year. We were living in a townhome in Springville when he turned two.  He was adorable at age two.  I love how he has his cars in each hand.  He never wanted to put them down.

Parker on his third birthday.  We had recently moved to our house in Eagle Mountain.  Mckenna was photobombing in our picture.

Parker on his fourth birthday.

Parker on his 5th birthday.

Parker on his 6th birthday.

Parker on his 7th birthday.

Parker on his 8th birthday.

Parker on his 9th birthday.

Parker on his 10th birthday.

Parker on his 11th birthday.

Parker turned twelve years old on Friday December 23, 2016.  I made him a BYU cake since he is a cougars fan.

Parker's birthday fell on the first day off of school for Christmas break.  His best friend Whit Sewell came over to hang out for most of the day.  They had fun playing the Wii together.

Parker and I went to get his birthday balloons.  I always look forward to this time with just him.  He chose some football balloons that went along with his birthday theme.

Parker enjoyed a birthday back scratch from his little sister Addy!

Parker's favorite food is still pizza.  When I saw this shirt I knew I had to buy it for him.  We had Domino's pizza for dinner that night.

We had a party for him that night.  It was fun to have some of his cousins and grandparents there.

Parker's big gift from us was a new bike.  He really had outgrown his old one.

Parker blowing out his candles and making a bday wish.

Parker having fun with his Grandpa Ken.  It was a memorable birthday.  There are so many exciting things that happen when you turn twelve.  I love my Parker boy and am so happy with the good choices he is making.