SNOW DAY

There's not much that makes us happier then a bunch of new snow in the winter. Well, we just got a bunch of new snow and yesterday Emily and Allie were so excited about all the new snow they could hardly wait til lunch was done so they could go out and play.

They had so much fun tromping through the snow, throwing it up in the air and of couse eating it.

HMMM....can you tell she is happy?

What about her? They had such a blast playing outside together.

Josh and I stayed inside and watched the girls play through the window.

That evening we dropped the kids off with my family then Tyler and I went up to Powder Mountain for some night skiing. This is the first time in a while that just the two of us have really gone skiing together. We have been but we usually are helping the Emily and Allie ski and I was pregnant last winter so I couldn't do much besides ski with the girls.

It was nice to spend the time together up on the slope. The snow was amazing and deep. It was a great night. 9 yrs ago we were off skiing together (well I was snowboarding) and that is how our relationship started (well, there was that dreadful 1st and 2nd date just before that, not sure how we got past those). 9 years later we are still skiing together and falling in love more and more every day!

Christmas 2009

Since our kids are getting older and understand Christmas a little bit more we decided to do Christmas at our house with just our little family. In years past we have slept over and grandma's and grandpa's house. It was a great Christmas.  I did all my Christmas shopping online this year and when I was done buying everything I got the grand idea that maybe I should ask my kids what they really wanted. Yes, I know, you should start buy asking them what they want and then buy it. I did it backwards, but it didn't matter. They must have been sending out vibes before because I pretty much got everything that they asked for. Wahoo!

I found this super cute play kitchen for the girls. Emily later told me she wanted a pink kitchen. YES! Allie would then pipe up that she wanted a purple kitchen. We were so stoked for them to come down and see this on Christmas morning. We just knew they were going to freak out. Well, I didn't quite get the reaction that I wanted. Emily came down and had a huge smile on her face, Allie on the other hand started to get sad and asked "Where's my purple kitchen". Seriously? It wasn't really that big of a deal, she forgot all about the "purple kitchen" a minute or two later and was loving this beautiful kitchen. She would pretend to wash her hands in the sink and even had to push her sleeves up so they didn't get wet.

It was Josh's 1st Christmas. Really, he could have cared less about the whole thing. I figured this would be the case so we didn't get him much. He got a food mill so I can make his baby food and he got other random items that he needed. Man, he looked cute in his little beanie!

The wrapping paper was all he really cared about.

The girls LOVE to go to Jazz games with Tyler and I so we picked them up their own Jazz jerseys.

Emily and Allie love to dress up and play princesses. There isn't a day that does by when they aren't dressed up. Well, sometimes the princesses get hurt and have to see the doctor so one of them pretends to be a doctor and takes care of the injured princess. Also, Emily tells us that she wants to be a doctor when she grows up. So I made both of them scrub tops so they can wear them when they play doctor. They also got some new princess gowns to dress up in.

Tyler surprised me and got me a new camera. Waterproof! So I can take it to Australia next year when my sister and I go there. Thanks, Toque!

We spent the rest of Christmas morning/early afternoon with my family and visiting my grandparents.

My mom and dad have Kool-Aid cups at their house (well, I think they only have 1 the rest are long gone). Tyler makes sure that he gets to use that cup when we are out there so my mom got him this nice Kool-Aid set for his very own complete with Kool-Aid man shaped pitcher and cups. NICE!!

Mylee, Emily and Allie checking out the cool Tinkerbell and friends dolls they got from Grandma and Grandpa. They got some super cute clothes, too.

We spent Christmas evening with Tyler's family.

Grandma and Grandpa spoiled the girls with a whole lot of princess stuff; princess shirts and underwear, books, plates and bowls and even a little princess table and chairs for them to put in their room.

Josh is thinking "Wahoo, more paper to play with!"

We had a very enjoyable Christmas spent with those we love.

Christmas Eve 2009

As per tradition we had a family get together on Christmas Eve where we ate some yummy soups and other foods and then the kids did a Nativity reenactment.

Emily was one of the wisemen and Allie was a shepard (an unhappy shepard until it was over and then she was happy).

Joshua had the opportunity to be baby Jesus.

And what would a family gathering be without Bubba?

Tyler and his family backed Bubba up as he sang. Entertaining?? Well, I don't know any other word to adequately describe it.

After the performance Santa showed up, sang some songs with us and let each one of the kids come up and talk with him.

Later that night we went to visit with Great Grandma and Grandpa Conlin.

The kiddos all snuggled up with Great Grandma Conlin.

Emily and Great Grandpa Conlin enjoyed reading a few stories together.

Kiddos Christmas Party

Every year we have a little Christmas party with Emily's and Allie's friends from the neighborhood. The girls have such good friends here.

The kids were so excited to give one another the gifts they had gotten for one another so we started with the gift exchange. It gets pretty crazy when 9 kids ages 1.5-4 are unwrapping presents. Tyler bought the presents the girls were giving to their friends. All I can say is I'm glad I wasn't the parents of the children receiving gifts from my children. Tyler bought them each a recorder. Yep, one of those noisy little instuments we all got to play in elementary school.  And OH BOY!! was it ever so loud at the party after we unwrapped gifts. 2 kids blowing on their recorders with all their might made for quite a ruckus. Tyler called me right in the middle of the cadenza and boy oh boy he was stoked that the gifts he bought were being used to their full potential.

Allie was thrilled when she opened up her present and found some dress-up shoes.

Emily got a new game. WAHOO we love games.

After the gift exchange the kids all gathered 'round and decorated cookies.

There were so many sprinkles dumped on those cookies. They had a fun time decorating those cookies though. Afterwards I think most of the kids licked the frosting and sprinkles off and left the cookies.

The kids had a great time at their little party.

Josh Can Sit

Seriously, time flies by so fast. My little guy is already sitting up. He is still a bit unsteady at times but is doing pretty well. He loves to sit in front of the Christmas tree and look at the lights or try and grab the ornaments off the tree.

The Good The Bad And The Guilty

We had a few friends come over for another murder mystery dinner. This one was an old western called The Good, The Bad and The Guilty.

We thought that it would be fun to eat dinner without utensils so I made some little Cornish hens for each of us that we had to eat with our fingers. We used pie tins for plates also.

Everyone’s costumes were great; however, Ryan’s war paint was a bit on scary side.

Boyd

Cindi the lady of the night.

Mike and Miranda

Laurie the widow

Tyler looking hot!

Me and my handsome husband. YEHAW!

1st Snow and Gingerbread Houses

We had our first real snow storm of the season that rendered enough snow to play in. The girls really wanted to go out and play so we got them all dressed up and Tyler headed outside with them.

They wanted to make a princess castle out of snow but the snow was too dry and would stick. Tyler decided to bury the girls in the snow. They loved it.

Since they couldn't make a princess castle they decided to make a mountain instead.

Emily and Allie had a great time trying to climb and summit their “mountain”.  Maybe they are practicing for Everest?

They enjoyed jumping off the mountain after they reached the top.

Later that night we made gingerbread houses (with graham crackers).

Tyler got all into it. Here he is making his Graham Cracker Estate.

Here is Tyler's mansion all complete. The girls made princess castles (of course) and mine was a ski chalet. I think more candy made it into the tummies of little girls than made it onto the houses.

Christmas Village Fieldtrip

Emily’s preschool had a fieldtrip to Ogden’s Christmas Village. Mrs. Clause led the kids around to the different displays and told them about each one.

It was a pretty cold day and I didn’t have a coat for Josh so we stuck him in Tyler’s jacket where he seemed to stay nice and cozy.

Family photo

At the end of the tour the kids all go to sit on Mrs. Clause’s lap and she gave them a bag of treats.