Family time

Chelsea & her kiddos stayed with us for about 3 weeks.  

It was a very FULL few weeks since, between the two of us, we have 8 kids ages 6, 4, 2, 1, & baby. 

BUSY is the word to describe it!  We had fun, though, playing outside (when it wasn't raining), jumping on the tramp, and going going going.  I'm sad we didn't take more pictures, but we honestly fell into bed exhausted every night. Getting the kids fed, off to school, and through the day was enough. :)  

We really loved getting to spend so much time with her and the kids.

We took the kids on a walk one day after we'd been stuck inside for awhile due to rain. It was a much needed breath of fresh air.  We had fun and got done just in time for more rain to hit.  The kiddos looooved the trail:

hiking stick a must:

 Chels & her cute kids:

Ryder & Reverie are little buds:

Callen enjoying the ride:

 Syanne:

Slow pokes with their sticks:

 Tave found a TON of sticks to throw off the bridge into the water, love this kid:

Stick dropping with Ryder:

My Tave always, always finds me a flower. I love how sweet and thoughtful he is and I love this little sign of spring:

These kids had a blast together. Here as a rare, quiet moment when they were exhausted enough to all sit down and watch a show. I LOVE this picture:

The dynamic duo...oh can you see the mischief in those grins?!

Sweet little Nea, I love that she warmed up to me and loved to snuggle:

Last year, when I had Callen, my  mom was going to come help me and stay for awhile. But her back went out and she ended up having to postpone the trip...until now! So we got a fun-filled week with Nonny-Kare. It was much needed after the crazy-hard semester Jeff has had. We didn't see him much and we were all ready for it to be over!

My nice camera is in the shop...so I forgot to take pictures...I'll have to get more from everyone else. We had a fun girls movie night, lots of hang out time, and lots of talking and playing. It was such a good visit...THANK YOU MOM for all that you do!

Nonny Kare was the popular request for bedtime stories:

And we got to see Mckenon really quickly on his way up to ID for school.

Okay family, I need the rest of the pics from the trip!!!!  

Love you all!

Christmas!

Christmas Morning at our house:

Kiddos woke up and got to open stockings right away, then we had breakfast:

Callen thought it was okay:

We tried something new this year and had the kids open 1 gift every half hour. It was a lot of fun because they actually played with the gifts in between. We loved it!

My parents made the boys these AWESOME sling shots and angry birds.  Seriously, they are the coolest things. I am so impressed with my mom and dad's handiwork. Of course they were a  hit and we all had a blast shooting down the pigs! 

We love watching Nonny & Grandpa open their stuff from us:

And Uncle Shawn:

Mckenon:

I think every boy under the age of 7 got the Imaginext Castle this year...all our friends now have it!  It is definitely a favorite, though, and the kids were THRILLED:

My mom made the gift of $ so much fun:

Love my bros:

We were SO excited for the boys to open the trampoline. We waited until the end of the gifting and it was so worth the wait:

Uncle Shawn & Callen:

Since Callen is not old enough to care, we just wrapped a few toys that were the boys at this age.  I hadn't pulled them out, yet, so I could do this. New toys for him, $ saved for us = win/win!  

Jeff and his Christmas/birthday gift, he was happy!

The best part of Christmas is spending the time together playing with everything.  We loved it:

And Merry FIRST Christmas to this little man, we are so glad you are part of our family:

We were too busy having fun and playing together to get a group shot! 

Giving Thanks

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving!!

Jeff's parents have made it a tradition to come visit us for the Holiday and we LOVE that they do.

We have so much fun with them and the kids just absolutely adore their grandparents.  

This year, Jonathan & Rachel came with them, which made it extra fun!

We had a fun week of celebrating with a trip to the zoo, play time at the mall, lots of yummy food, restaurants, and plenty of fun.  

Here are the highlights from the actual Thanksgiving day:

The food:

Desserts:

The guests:

(ignore our art wall, it's a work in progress with the kids)

The cute kiddos:

Watching the game while the ladies took the kids to the movies:

Callen's first Thanksgiving.  

I am so thankful to have this little guy in our lives:

He met Uncle Johnny & Aunt Rachel for the first time:

Mckenon came down from BYU-I. The kids LOVE to wrestle with him:

The kiddos got to open their Christmas pjs that night:

The pjs were a hit:

Mckenon, Shar, Trav, Kapria, & Mila

The sibs:

Grandma & Rachel read the boys their bedtime stories.  The kids sure love guests at our house!

So sweet:

We are so grateful for the wonderful family we are blessed with.

We truly have so much to be thankful for.