Winter break

 

We drove up to cabin on Sunday December 26th.  We stayed through Wednesday the 29th.  There was lots of snow this year!

Addy enjoyed playing the game Spot it with grandma Sue. 

 

It was fun having Cody and the kids up there with us. Aubrey entertained us with her sit ups. 

Parker had a good time hanging out with his cousins and playing the switch. 

The Pelfrey cousins came later that night.  Addy got to sleep in the bunkbed room with Bailey, Cassie, and Logan. 

The next morning Halle braided Addy's hair for her.  Addy was Facetiming with Kenna.  She got to call since it was her p-day.  Kenna got to talk with all the family that was there. 

Then it was time to go out and have some fun snowmobiling.

Halle took Cassie for snowmobile rides around the field. 

Bailey buried Addy in the snow. I love seeing the cousins having fun together

I drove the girls over to the sledding hill. They had fun sledding for most of the afternoon. 

Cassie and Bailey got new dolls for Christmas.  Addy brought her American Girl doll up to play with them. I remember Halle and Aubrey doing the same thing at their age. 

We spent time warming up in the cabin and playing games. Megan is only a month away from having her baby girl.  We can't wait to meet Ayla in a few weeks!

Due to all the powder, Kev spent lots of energy getting everyone unstuck. 

I pulled Aubrey and Halle around on sleds for most of the afternoon. Aubrey and I hopped on the back of the snowmobile with Parker and he floored it. Both Aubrey and I flew off.  I felt so bad because I landed on Aubrey.  Luckily, neither of us were hurt. 

Later that day Cody's fiancé Kristin and her son Cam came up.  It was so great to meet them! Kristin is friendly and got along with everyone.  We are excited for Cody and Kristin's wedding on January 14th.  We also are looking forward to meeting her daughter Allie. 

Spence brought his meat smoker from home. It was nice to eat lots of good food. Dan smoked brisket for us one night and it was so good. 

Halle couldn't get enough time with Cassie.  I'm glad the kids always have such a good time with their cousins. 

The day after we got home from the cabin we got a package delivered to our house. Kenna had sent us a package from England! It was filled with lots of delicious chocolate. We enjoyed trying the Cadbury chocolates, Milka hippos, tea cakes, and digestives.  The Digestives are a biscuit that has a layer of dark chocolate on top. Kenna told us to put them in the freezer and eat them that way.  It was nice to have a few days to just relax at home. 

Christmas is here!

 

Addy was the first to come down the stairs on Christmas morning.  I love the look of excitement on her face.!

Addy got a barbie camping trailer, Hayden got a Ninjago Lego set, and Halle got Air pods.

Parker got some awesome new ski's for his Santa gift.  I think he was really surprised.

Hayden gave Kev a new seasoning called, "The Holy Gospel Rub"! He gave me some Dr. Pepper and Twix bars which are both my favorite. 

Halle was nice and helped Addy set up her new barbie camping trailer. 

 

Here is a picture looking down on all the Christmas aftermath.  My favorite gift from Kev were two ticket vouchers to go see a play at the Hale Centre Theatre.

We had our favorite breakfast of waffles with lots of Nutella, berries, and whipped cream. 

We were so happy to Facetime with Kenna for as long as we wanted. We even got to watch her open up the presents we sent her. 

It was a blessing that her package made it there in time for Christmas.  It took over two weeks to get there and got stuck in customs for awhile. She loved the photo calendar that I made her.  She also got many gifts from ward members there in Mansfield.  She got a lot of Cadbury chocolate.  She joked that it was enough chocolate to last a normal person a month but it would only last her a week!  Talking with Kenna was one of the highlights of our Christmas!

In the afternoon we drove to Mike and Amy's for our Christmas party. 

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and hanging out in their awesome basement. 

 

The kids opened more gifts from grandparents, cousins, aunts and Uncles. 

Halle loved her fuzzy white rug from her grandparents.  She had been wanting one for her room.

My Dad gave all the guys sports jerseys and t-shirts. 

 

We drove up to Salt Lake to see my cute Grandma! She was so happy to see all of us.  She had a stocking with treats that she handed out to the kids.  She wanted to hear all about our Christmas and what we have been up to.  It was great to hear her laugh and give her hugs.  I'm so glad we got to see her on Christmas!

Christmas Eve

 

We went to Grandpa and Grandma Foster's house for Christmas Eve.  Spence and Megan were there with us too.  We had a nice ham dinner. 

The kids were excited to open presents from their grandparents.  Halle looked fashionable wearing this ribbon on her head. 

Addy was happy about the string craft kit she got.  

When we got home that night we had several neighbor gifts waiting for us on the front porch.  We broke open the sparkling cider right away.  We toasted to Kenna! She got to Facetime with us that afternoon.  She even got to talk to her grandparents too!

The kids then opened up their Christmas pajamas. Addy and I had found the perfect shirt for Parker. It had a picture of Mariah Carrey on the front and says, "All I want for Christmas is you"!  It is one of Parker's favorite songs to sing/mock at Christmas. 

Parker then made a video to send Kenna for Christmas.  I love his creativity!

Addy helped put out the cookies for Santa and the carrots for the reindeer.  I have a feeling this might be the last year Addy believes in Santa.  She was asking me lots of questions earlier in the month. 

We took pictures of the kids in their jammies.  I love that we have a fireplace now! It made all the pictures look more cozy. 

We created our traditional pyramid.  Hayden and Addy held up Kenna's picture on top.

In our new house all the kids rooms are upstairs and they can look straight down into the great room. We didn't want them waking up on Christmas morning and being able to see everything.  Thankfully, I'm married to an engineer and he worked hard to put up this barricade. 

I was impressed with how it turned out and it did the job just right. 

Parker's birthday

 

Parker turned 17 years old on Thursday December 23rd! I took this picture of him earlier in the month.  He tried on my grandpas naval aviator jacket.  He looked really good in it! My Dad told him that he would like him to wear it and then pass it down to Brady and then Hayden. 

Kenna gave Parker this awesome birthday shout out on Facebook! 

During the day we went and saw the new Spiderman movie.  We all thought it was really good.  Parker couldn't wait to see it again. 

I took Parker to get his waffle and balloons. 

I love these birthday traditions with my kids.  

 

We had a party that night for him with family.  We had the best time at his party!

His grandparents gave him some Mountain biking shirts so Parker just ripped off his shirt and changed in front of all of us.  We were all laughing!

Aunt Amy chose our this book to give to Parker.  She knows about his Bob Ross obsession.  Parker than read us the whole book in his crazy voice. Once again we were all laughing!

Uncle Mike and Aunt Amy invited Parker and his friends over to their house earlier in the month.  They let them play pool and watch a movie in their awesome theater room. It was really nice of them to host his friends party!

Parker's big gift from us were Air Pods.  He was really surprised when he opened them up. 

I made Parker peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses.  We had a fun day celebrating Parker. He brings excitement and fun to our family. He had a great season in mountain biking.  He started taking piano lessons from his  grandpa Ken and his improved a lot. I'm impressed with all that he is involved in at school. He enjoys Thundervision, Prostart, and FCCLA.  He is thoughtful and his hugs are the best.  We love you Parker!