Christmas Eve to New Year's Eve...

One of my favorite traditions has been to gather around the piano and sing carols. We had a large group this year and it sounded so good! It really brought the spirit into our home.

Dillon and I both got guitars for Christmas this year. We had fun jamming with Don and his bass, and Brenan surprised us with his skills on the guitar as well. What a musical family!
For Brenan's mother's birthday, the skating rink was rented and we all went down for some fun on the ice. Poor Dillon ended the event by skating into the boards and slamming his ankle way too hard. It was sprained for well over a month, and it put a crimp in his snowboarding season. 
Happy New Year 2010 to everyone!

Lookin' Good at Christmas Time!

Lindsay bought this suit for Beckett and he is well matched to his Babu! They looked fantastic at church!

Boy is it hard to get 5 children all smiling and looking in the right direction at the same time. I think the funniest part was all of us trying to get them to cooperate. We were animated behind Lindsay who was trying to take the photo!

Christmas Jammies!

Christmas Update Continued

Caught Don relaxing in the spa with his wireless headphones on. It was a very cold day, and no one wanted to join him. He was perfectly happy in there all by himself, surrounded by snow and freezing temps!

When the temps warmed up a bit, we all headed outside to play with the sled. It was a blast!

Addy loved being outside and did not want to go in! She loved the snow!

These three grandbabies were so much fun to watch as they interacted together.
Having fun together...Babu, Shosho, Beckett and Addy!
Making a great big snowman! He didn't melt away for almost a month!
Uncle Dillon, back in braces, and playing with Beckett and Addy!

Beckett, Wil, and Lindsay Arrive

Beckett and Wil arrived on the 11th, since they planned to spend Christmas with Nathan's family in Wyoming this year. We had fun with the 3 boys together. We played and played!

 Here McKay is loving his Jolly Jumper, and Beckett is having fun playing with him!

Wil's turn in the Exersaucer! He's a happy, healthy boy!
...and the snow kept on coming down! This is the kitchen window. It was too cold to even go and play for several days!
...so we read books! Lots and lots of books. My favorite thing to do!

An Extended Visit

Beth decided to stay between US Thanksgiving and Christmas instead of suffer with the drive back to Utah with a 6 month old who doesn't like carseats! We sure enjoyed having them here! Nothing like a child to help foster the Christmas spirit! He loved this exersauce because he could stand and all he wanted to do the whole time he was here was take someone's fingers and walk! That's right, walk everywhere! He wants to skip the whole crawling thing!

We had fun with 'Beatles Rock Band' and McKay wanted to eat the mircrophone! He was a rocker for sure!
There was so much snow after many storms, and here McKay is watching Babu shovel a path so we can get out to the hot tub!
McKay is a very happy boy. He missed his daddy, but we tried to make up for it. We had so much fun together!  

Our Christmas Present!

                                                                                                                                                                             When Brenan, Beth, McKay, and Dillon arrived home for Thanksgiving 2009, they were surprised to see this new hot tub just outside our sliding glass window, just beside the deck. The deck is actually being torn out and Don will be rebuilding it in the spring of 2010. The spa sure does wonders to our aches and pains after a long day of work. Pictured here, from top left clockwise is Beth, Brenan, Dillon, Don, and Grayden (Brenan's brother). I am inside taking the picture with McKay!

Halloween 2009

Halloween isn't that exciting around here, but here are my five grandchildren having lots of fun! Beckett loves his trains and now he's the engineer. Wil is a chill pumpkin with so many cute facial expressions. They enjoyed a Trick or Trunk night in the church parking lot in California.

Addy is a Hula Girl and had so much fun swinging her skirt. She can move! Mckenzie is an adorable kitty cat and they had a lot of fun in a large garage where Juliana organized a fun Halloween party and spook alley for their ward in Colorado.
Here's our tall McKay as an agile giraffe. He spent most of his time helping hand out candy to the trick or treaters who came to the door in Utah. All he wants to do is stand and walk around. Go, McKay, Go! Brenan is disguised as a university student!
I just love seeing pictures of these sweet children of mine. I miss them so much!