Christmas Break Means Family Time

EZ had over 2 weeks of vacation from school and John had a week, so we did our best to make the most of it. We went to an indoor trampoline park and the kids loved it. We had gone to one in Utah and the kids had a blast, so we wanted to try one here. Luckily there was a Groupon, because man those places get expensive fast. The kids of course loved it, but for some reason we didn't get pictures of them jumping. However, we did get picture of them all on this little teacup ride. EZ didn't really fit but we made him do it anyway. 

We also went to SeaWorld. May grandpa always sends money for the kids and we decided that they needed more experiences then toys, so we got SeaWorld passes. There was a sweet deal going on where you could buy a one day pass and it would be good through the rest of 2012 and all of 2013. They do a whole special program over the holidays and when you walk in the front gates they have snow blowing all around. So that is snow on my jacket and not dandruff. The kids were so excited to see snow in Texas. Too bad it only lasted for a couple of seconds. 

They change the shows around to have a holiday theme and they also try to make them splash less. That being said I was still nervous anytime we had to sit in a splash zone. We never got wet, but there were some folks who did and that must have sucked. 

The high was 50 degrees that day, which might have sounded warm before we moved to Texas, but we were freezing. Well, we being John and I. We made the kids leave earlier then they wanted to, because we couldn't handle the cold. Luckily, we do have those passes that let us go back again. The promise of a return trip was the only way to convince the kids to leave somewhat peacefully. 

On the way home we had to stop at Buc-ee's. It is like a Walmart sized gas station. We were pretty stoked when they opened one up kind of near us.  

EZ got the game Skylanders for Christmas and that got played a lot. It is his first true video game that isn't on the Kinect and he was dying to get it. Whoever came up with it is a genius, because there are all these characters you can buy and you can easily drop $400 if you bought everything. We will not be buying everything. He loves it so much that he wanted to explain it to his brothers. 

On New Year's Eve we got to go to a rockin' party at our friends house. Before we left John put some gel in EZ's hair and he was concerned that since he looked so good "all the girls would want to kiss him." He kills me. One of the highlights of the party was a couples' belly dancing competition that John and I won. After all of our travels in the Middle East and my belly dancing classes we frickin better have won. 

After the party Sarah and Casey came over and of course we worked on a puzzle. We know how to party at the Browns' house. 

For some reason EZ really got obsessed with the idea of having a New Years Day party for him and some of his friends, so we decided to let him do it. Of course they spent most of the time playing Skylanders. I forgot to take pictures, but here is one that EZ took of his friend Ethan and one of his Skylanders. Then below we have some other pics that EZ tooks of just his Skylanders. Have I mentioned that he likes that game?

Christmas Time is Here

Our new family tradition is to go to Waffle House on Christmas Eve. We like to keep things classy. Really though the food is awesome. Here are Netta and I about to enjoy some waffle deliciousness. 

EZ was extra excited this year!

Conrad was just along for the ride. 

Growing up Christmas Eve was always spent with friends and family so we had my sister Sarah and her family and my friend Lara and her family over for dinner. We ate way too much and the kids had a blast running themselves ragged. Here are Lincoln and Conrad showing off their festive garb. 

This is Conrad's new trick. Eventually he will graduate to standing up in John's hand, but right now he is still a bit too floppy for that one. 

New pajamas have become a part of Christmas as well. Here I am in my new pair from Sarah. I wish I could wear pajamas all the time. Oh to be in college again. 

Conrad got these cute pjs from my Uncle Tom and Aunt Nancy. 

And Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Steve took care of the rest of the kiddos. Poor John didn't get any. Oops

Of course Christmas day was spent watching all the new movies and playing with all the new toys we got. John surprised me and got me a new phone and of course himself one was well ;) I'll be honest, it is now April and I am just now getting around to writing this post, so that's about all I can remember. Haha. But I know I am so grateful for my family and for the birth of Savior and for the knowledge I have that my family can be together forever because of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Merry Belated Christmas!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a visit from Santa. For us this usually happens at the church Christmas party and this year was no exception. I shouldn't be phased by now, but I am still trying to get used to my kids wearing shorts when they meet Santa. Poor Santa was sweating like crazy in that suit. I was impressed that no tears were shed on Santa's lap. I think this maybe a first. Here is Netta looking cute as always. 

We bought a puppet at Ikea and King has become obsessed with it and when King gets fixated on something, there is no use fighting it. So, the puppet got to come to the party and sit on Santa's lap. 

Santa was actually EZ's friend's dad and I kept waiting to see if EZ would figure it out, but luckily he didn't. 

I thought Conrad might be the crier, but I guess he is still little enough to not be freaked out. He just looks confused instead. 

This year it took our house quite a while to start looking like Christmas. We didn't actually decorate till around the 15th. I kept saying that we had to wait till the house was clean till we could decorate and cleaning just wasn't happening. There are just too many kids and not enough adults to keep this place orderly. Once we finally got the tree up, I really wanted a picture of myself with the kids. Of course, only 3 would cooperate and you can probably guess who wouldn't. 

Luckily, King cheered up later and we got this gem of him and EZ. They crack me up. 

Thanksgiving in Utah

This year we were able to spend Thanksgiving in Utah again. It is awesome because all of John's siblings get together and my sister Meghan and her family still live there. John had to work a couple days while we were there so that gave me good chance to head down to Provo and get together with my friend Ashley and my sister. Ashley and her family just moved to Provo from Round Rock for grad school. It was so awesome to see Ashley and to see Netta and her son Ethan running around holding hands the whole time. It was so cute and I could kick myself for not getting a picture. After visiting Ashley we met up with Meghan and her kids at BYU. I loved BYU and I love going back to visit. My kids were so excited to go to Utah for the snow and of course it snowed a ton before we got there, but not once while we were there. Luckily BYU still had some piles of snow leftover.

King is in this super stubborn phase right now and insists on wearing the same pair of sandals every day. Well it was cold so I tried to make him wear sneakers, but since he can take them off I can't really make him do anything and so he spent most of the day walking around in his socks. Of course that was not very conducive to climbing a snow pile.

One of the highlights of getting together with Meghan was that Conrad and Timmy finally got to meet. Timmy is 2 1/2 months older than Conrad and about twice his size!

As always my kids had a blast playing with their cousins. 

I love this picture of Conrad and Timmy. Best buds holding hands already. 

On Thanksgiving all of John's family got together at the church so we could all fit and right before the meal we did Conrad's baby blessing. It was great to get to have so much of John's family there. We now have officially split the baby blessings equally between the two families. EZ and Netta were with my family and King and Conrad with John's. (Not sure why he loves to make that fish lips face so much).

Thanksgiving dinner is always followed by tons of games. King really liked this huge ball. If you look closely he is actually wearing his sandals with socks. Since he kept taking his sneakers off we finally caved and let him wear the sandals, but of course with socks since it is cold. You will also notice that he is in ball jammies. He became obsessed with these as well and insisted on wearing them all the time. If you took them away he would just yell "My balls. My balls. Where are my balls?" This whole clothing battle is one that I just don't care enough to fight.

Frisbee dodgeball is always a must. Netta basically spent the whole time running up and down the line collecting frisbees and then passing them out to people. 

EZ took things a little more seriously and I was able to get this cool action shot. 

We stayed with John's brother Jeremy in their new house and it was perfect. Not only did they have 2 rooms for us to stay in, but they have 4 girls and one is EZ's age, one is Netta's and one is King's. My kids were so happy and so occupied that it was amazing! Sadly though I only have 2 pictures of the kids together. I really messed that up. Here is Netta with Cassidy, who is EZ's age. I really need a picture of Cassidy and EZ together because they were joined at the hip the whole time at the house. 

With all these kids we had to find ways to keep everyone amused and so we hit up this place called Jungle Jim's that has a bunch of carnival rides inside. It was so awesome and I am really bummed we don't have one by us. 

Netta liked the rides, but of course also really liked the candy. Her collage-aged cousin Harry was so impressed that Netta remembered his name that he gave her a dollar and of course that went to good use and got this lollipop.

Here is EZ enjoying a ride with Jeremy's oldest daughter Alissa.

Thanks to having all these people around, germs spread like crazy and a serious stomach bug hit each and every family and either left you throwing up, having diarrhea or both. The disease struck EZ, John and King, but not Netta or me, which is amazing since I always get what the kids get. Sadly, that meant different families were quarantined at different times and we didn't get to see everyone as much as we would have liked. EZ was especially bummed that we didn't get to spend as much time with Misha's daughter Arden.

We love going to the Aquarium in Sandy and as luck would have it our last day there the Aquarium was actually free, so of course we had to go. John's sister Buffy was able to join us along with her kids Cinco and Libby. Cinco was so sweet to Netta and was holding her hand as they walked around. All this cousins holding hands and playing almost had me in tears. 

Buffy won over our kids by letting EZ and Netta spend the night with some of the other cousins and then her and her husband Stewart drove everyone home in their motorhome. My kids were at first really confused as to what a motorhome is. Netta followed Buffy into their mud room and said "Are we in the motorhome yet?" But once they figured it out they were in love and now they say we have to get one. They also started telling everyone that we are moving to Utah in 2 years. I have talked about moving out of our house in 2 years, just into a better house, but apparently that won't be good enough for them. I just can't compete with the fun of being around so much family!

Fall Means . . .

Soccer! EZ wanted to do soccer at the Y again and even though last year was a little painful to watch, we really want him to keep trying and keep learning so we signed him up. He is still one of the slower kids on the team and can be a bit of a space cadet, but there was definitely a big improvement from last year. He had two great coaches and it was kind of funny, because the head coach was French and fit the European stereotype of knowing a lot about soccer and his son was amazingly good. Towards the end of the season EZ really surprised me when he asked to play goalie. He had never shown any interest in it before. I have to say I was on pins and needles every time he got to play it. I was so worried the other team would score a bazillion points while he was in there. Amazingly enough no one ever scored while he was in goal! I think he liked it because he could play and dance around a bit while the ball was on the other side of the field and there was enough of a commotion when it came back to his end to get his attention. He also really liked the fact that the team was all boys this year. He is definitely getting into the girls are gross and boys are awesome phase. 

Fall also means I get to take a trip by myself! Well this year it meant a trip with only Conrad, but that is close enough. I was definitely in need of some time away. I love my kids, but 4 is a lot of work and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Well I still am, but the vacation definitely helped. I decided to visit my family in Pittsburgh and I used some of my down time to make this Steelers football hat and learned the Conrad hates hats. 

Since I failed miserably at getting pictures of my parents with Conrad when they came in August, I made sure  I took some this time. 

One of the bonuses of going now was that my sister Sarah was still staying with my parents and my sister Katie was able to fly up from El Paso as well, so we got to have a little new cousins reunion. Unfortunately, it didn't work for Meghan to come out with Timmy. I swear one day we will get all 4 boys together. 

We didn't do anything amazingly exciting while I was there, but that is exactly what I wanted. I really enjoyed the trip, but I did learn that 4 days is not quite enough time away to make me start missing my kids. HaHa. Maybe someday I can take a longer trip, but for now I am grateful for what I can get.