It's Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve & Jammies

Christmas this year was filled with fun and excitement. We had lots of family in town which kept us busy all day every day. Kyle, Britany, and Kylie flew in as a last minute surprise and stayed for a week. We enjoyed all the time we spent with them. Also, Jamie & Kristin and their kids came in for Christmas as well. Ethan played all day long with his cousins so by the time dinner was over he was exhausted. I had great plans of opening Christmas jammies and enjoying some Christmas stories but by the time we got out of Grandma's neighborhood Ethan was asleep. Luckily, when we got home he woke up enough to get on his new jammies and it was off to bed with excitment of the coming morning.

Don't worry, Tanner didn't actually get kicked in the head...

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was wonderful. The boys slept until about 7 and were so excited to go check and see what Santa brought. Ethan was thrilled about everything he received but nothing compared to his exitement over his "Big Track" that Santa brought. He also got a stocking full of fun goodies that he was ready to devour immediately and the "Elephant game." Tanner was overjoyed with his new car. He stayed in there all morning riding all around the house. I guess this is where our hardwood floors come in handy on these cold days. The boys were both spoiled with wonderful toys, games, and books from their Grandma and Grandpa's as well as Great Grandma and Grandpa. We had a wonderful brunch and then dinner with all of Chris's family that evening as the snow started to fall. By the time we were finished with Christmas dinner it was super icy outside so we all ended up playing games all night and crashing at Grandma's house. It was a wonderful Christmas day!

Unfortunately, the rest of our Christmas day and the next week's activities didn't get documented with pictures because our camera was dropped and broken that morning. Bummer!

On Tuesday, we headed down to visit Chris's grandparents for a fun family lunch and White Elephant game. After visiting for a few hours, Chris and I got the opportunity to take off on a quick little trip to NC. We drove down to Raleigh to visit our new temple and stayed the night down there. It was so nice to sleep in and enjoy a relaxing breakfast and morning there. I am so grateful to wonderful Grandparents who are always willing to take care of our boys and I always know they are in great hands and will have as much fun as we will!

Melting Pot 2010

We decided to make our trip to the Melting Pot an annual event! 2010 Group Picture

I think the food must have been a little too distracting for Clay and Jared because without even realizing it, they both consumed 6 Dr. Peppers/Lemonades respectively...I think they were feeling it afterwards :)

Our "Flaming Turtle" dessert

The Couples:

Chris and I

Dacy & Ryan

Jennifer & Jared

Jessica & Clay

It was such a fun night! Good food, Great Company, and definitely TONS of laughs!

Thanks so much to wonderful Grandparents who made our boys "Grandma Night" just as much fun!

Can't wait til next year!

Let it Snow: Sledding Fun

Our first snow of the winter hit and this little guy was ready for some fun! After patiently waiting all morning, it was finally time for Tanner to take a nap so Ethan and I headed outside for some fun in the snow. Our driveway is the perfect sledding hill and we got some good speed. Ethan was so proud that he was big enough to go down by himself. He did awesome and I just love spending time with him!

Gingerbread Houses

One weekday afternoon we decided to have a little holiday fun with our friends and build Gingerbread houses. We got ourselves some pre-made kits and went to work. The kids had such a great time decorating (and eating) their creations. That Friday, we had our Ward Christmas party where they were able to display their houses as centerpieces on the tables!

Ethan's house is on the far left...not too bad for a couple first timers!

Here's what was keeping the cute babies busy while all the building and decorating was taking place!

Pie Party

My great friend, Jessica had a brilliant idea involving friends, fun, and lots of pie. She realized that on Thanksgiving Day you are usually too full to truly enjoy the delicious pie that is available so why not enjoy pie a week early! So much fun! Thanks Jessica!

My creation was a Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie...YUM! (and the black bottom isn't burned, it's chocolate)

Richmond Metro Zoo

Day Trip!!!

I've been looking for a day that would work for the last month to make a day trip up to the Richmond Metro Zoo to visit our cousins and the animals! So Jessica and I loaded up our van full with our kids and made the trip to Richmond. When we got there, we met my sister-in-law, Kristin, and her two youngest kids for a fun day at the zoo. It's a smaller zoo but the animals were amazing. They were all so close and you could feed most of them. Ethan loved the animals where you could put the food in a long tube to feed the animals because you didn't have to get so close to them, but he did get brave and feed the animals that he was eye level with. He didn't want anything to do with feeding the bigger animals. Probably the most impressive animals were the giraffes. I always knew they had long tongues but there's something about being so close to that slobbery mess. The baby tiger cubs were so impressive as well! Ethan and Tanner loved enjoying a day outdoors with the animals.