Christmas 2009

We went to St. George  to spend the holidays with Nate's family. We stayed at his sister and brother nlaw's place, Niesha and Jeremy's. This was in the car on the way, all of us just being silly! Braxton lost another tooth, his front one! I can't believe how fast he's growing up, I love my precious boy!

The first night there, my mother nlaw Debbie took all the kids for a sleep over at her place; the kids were so excited to see their MeMe! Jeremy and Niesha's friends came over to hang out; we all got in the hot tub and then sat around the fire pit talking and hangin out. Jeremy was so sweet and made us all hot chocolate and brought it out to us on a platter as you can see in the picture; it was so thoughtful and cute! The wind kept blowing the fire towards Nate; as you can see he was freakin out, it was so funny!!

One of the nights we went to Tuachan to watch the Nativity play which was beautiful. The kids saw Santa, there was Christmas Caroling and the kids took a ride on a train with Debbie (MeMe) and Grandma Della; they had so much fun!

The Nativity Play. They had a real Camel in it, which the kids loved!!

Hangin out and playing!

Jeremy and Nate played tons of Tiger Woods a lot of the time; I snuck in and snapped a picture of them! In the other pictures are Braxton and Debbie, Nate and Tylar and Braxton and Tylar chillin on the stairs.

Carter, Braxton and Tylar in their Christmas jammies from MeMe! Soooooooo Cute!!!!!!!!!!

The kiddos playing with their MeMe and Grandma Della that they adore so much!

Jeremy and Niesha have the most beautiful tree ever! Christmas morning there were SOOOOOOOO many gifts under the tree; the kids were so excited when they saw it all! MeMe, Grandma Della, Jeremy, Niesha, their son Carter, Jeremy's boys Collin and Kaysen, Tylar, Braxton, Nate and I were all there to celebrate together. MeMe spoiled the kids with lots of gifts and I swear they were in heaven! Braxton got an electric nerf gun, some books, a movie, walkie talkies, a wallet with money inside, a wii for us all with extra remotes and a few games (from MeMe, Jeremy and Niesha), a power pitcher that shoots out baseballs and banochulars. Tylar got a baby alive with accessories, a dryer center, a set of mini pots, pans and utensils and food, a baby stroller and seat and books. They love it all! Thanks again everyone!

The kids playing with all their new toys! Debbie and Della cooked for us all Christmas Day and Christmas Eve. They always make such delicious meals! We had shrimp cocktail, cream puffs, cheesy mashed potoatoes, all varieties of meats, sweet potoato casserole, norweegan pancakes and much more, it was sooooooo yummy!!!

Last night Debbie treated us all to the movies. We went and saw the new Alvin and the chipmunks,it was so cute! I like the first one a lot but actually liked the second one more! Debbie sat with all the kids and treated them all to sodas, popcorn and candy! Jeremy, Niesha, Nate and I sat a few seats over by them, it was way fun!!!

These pics you see are of Niesha, let me just tell you, she is one of the most entertaining, funniest people I've ever known! While we were waiting in line to get some snacks, she had me take pics of her by the tree, lookin at the candy and all these people were around watching; she didn't care and that's what made it so funny! I couldn't stop laughing, she's so fun to be around and always keeps you laughing!

Me, Nate, Tylar, Braxton, Debbie, niesha and Carter. Jeremy got away so he wasn't in the picture.

Braxton & Tylar

Kansas, St. George, Salem and Park City Trip!!

A couple weeks ago, my oldest sister Allison flew me out by her in Kansas City Kansas to help her move, clean and decorate. Her and her husband purchased a new home, which was absolutely gorgeous! We were so busy the entire time but it was nice to help her and relieve some stress from her and spend time together! Thursday at midnight, we went to Twilight The New Moon. We thought we would get descent seats by getting there an hour early but we were so wrong! Allison had got the tickets online ahead of time but we still had to go to the end of the line which was wrapped around to the back of the building! We eneded up in line for 45 minutes in the freezing cold but still totally worth it to see my favorite movie! Our seats were actually not bad. I was so excited to see this movie and this will be a shock to everyone but I have to admitt it; I actually fell asleep during the movie for about 10 minutes! I know, crazy right? I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for a year now and the entire movie I had to fight to keep my eyes open, so that just tells ya how tired I was! We had been working our butts off from 7 am to about 12-1 am every day I was there, so I was so worn out but it was of course an amazing movie like I expected and from reading the books. There are a few pictures below of her house and some vases I put together and decorated. I will post updated pics soon cause she has already painted most of her house after I left and has accomplished a lot more! I had so much fun with my big sis even though we had a lot to do, it was well worth it and happy to help her! ( she also did my hair and did an amazing job as always, below are pics of it)

When I got back from my sisters, the fam and I headed off to St. George Utah to go spend Thanksgiving with Nate's family. The kids stayed with Nate's Mom (their Me Me) while Nate and I stayed at his sister's, Niesha and Jeremy's; it was lots of fun and was so nice to see them all and spend the holiday with them. Nate was extremely excited, since it had been about 7 months since he has seen his family last; especially his Mom who he's really close to. They had the table decorated so beautiful like they always do for Thanksgiving and awesome food! Great times and fun memories! Thanks again Debbie for everything and a terriffic dinner! We love you all and can't wait to see you again!!

After we ate our Thanksgiving dinner, we had to take off to Salem to Nate's Dad's house. We got there around 9:30, stayed up for a little while visiting with them all, then went to bed. Nate had an early flight the next morning to NYC for a one time side job at an event show for 5 days. So I brought him to the airport and then went back to his Dad's Duane's and stayed another night.  I have to say, I was a little scared staying downstairs with out Nate there cause there had been 2 deaths in that home and one of them was Laura's (Duane's wife) brother who committed suicide in the room next to me. I know he was a good guy but things like that creep me out, especially in a 40 year old home. I had to call my Mom to calm me down. When it was time for bed I was actually fine and didn't think of it until I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. I had to pass the room to get to the bathroom, it was dark and the room door was open (by the way, nothing in that room has been moved or changed since he passed) I couldn't help but to think of it and get scared; I tried running fast pass the room and ran straight into the wall! Lol! I fell back asleep right away and that was that! It was nice to be able to have the kids spend time with their Grandpa. They were outside most of the time playing with the dogs, riding the four wheelers and helpin Grandpa with anything. It was good to see them all.

The next day, the kids and I met up with my Mom and step Dad Scott in SLC at The Lyons House; they have the best home cooked yummy food! We go there every year. We then headed up to Park City for our early family Christmas party like we do every year, it's our family tradition. My Mom has a time share at this 3 story condo there, it's really cool but crazy too cause we have 30 people in our family and most of them come every year.My Mom has 16 grandchildren, crazy I know but lots of fun! It was so cool to see everyone, I always look forward to this trip because it's when I do see almost everyone and I am extremely close to my family! The kids put on little plays, we went in the jacuzzi and sauna, went shopping with our gift cards we got, ate yummy food and snacks the whole time, watched movies and much more! We stayed for a few days but everyone left 2 days earlier than the kids, myself, Jess, her kids and my Mom and Scott; so us four and the kids had the advantage to spend more time there. Jess and I went to see the lights at Temple square; I try to every year. It was so cold but fun just her and I. My Mom and Scott stayed with the kids, so it was nice to have just sister time! One of the days there  I wanted to spend time with just my kids, so when everyone was gone doing their own thing, I took Tylar and Braxton sledding for aalmost 3 hours; we built a snowman, made snow angels and picked pine cones. It was a blast! It's crazy they lasted that long and finally started complaining about being cold and tired; I was just waiting to hear that! Lol! We made it back and had some hot cocoa and took a hot shower! That was my favorite part of the trip, to have that special, fun time with just my kids. Jess and her kids rode back with us; she helped me drive which was nice and we stopped at Glenn Canyon too. It was nice to have their company and the kids shocked me on how well they were behaving!! It was great to finally get home and then picked up Nate the next day from the airport. Too bad he couldn't make it to Park City with us cause it was the first year he missed but it was a great trip! November was a crazy, busy, busy month!!!