Merry Christmas 2011

We were lucky enough to spend Christmas with some of our family. It was fun and we have a lot of pictures to prove it. The crazy part is that I am only posting about 10% of the pictures we took while on vacation! :)

Here we go....

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Happy to finally arrive in Las Vegas! It was a bumpy flight but we made it. And with only one extra diaper too. I had a ginormous diaper bag/purse filled with everything I could possibly need and somehow managed to pack only one diaper. You've got to forget something right?

It was Grandpa Airplane's first time meeting Livy in person!

In-N-Out for dinner of course! We didn't waste any time.

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Hot tubbing with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids liked playing Crazy 8's and Go Fish with the water proof cards.

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Grandpa Airplane told Cody he would give him a dollar if he jumped in the freezing cold pool. To our surprise there was no hesitation! 

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Steve jumped in too. And then he jumped out faster than he jumped in.

Cody liked making jewelry again this year for all the girls.

Making surprises...

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On Christmas Eve we each opened a present. Steve got a remote control helicopter that shoots missiles. Amazingly enough the helicopter is still in one piece 3 weeks later even after all the crash landings.

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Watching the helicopter

Livy opened a little ball that plays music. The wrapping paper was pretty tasty too.

Cody got a soccer ball.

That reminds me...when Cody was helping Grandma decorate the Christmas tree a few days before Christmas he tripped over some of the presents. Then he said, "Man! I should have brought my shin guards!" 

Pretty funny. He's been known to sleep in his shin guards :)

(because he loves them so much not because he is a crazy sleeper)

 Christmas morning! Trying to get Grandpa out of bed...

Steve got a tripod and a remote for the camera. Now we can take more family pictures!

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Kylee got tape in her stocking and she used the whole roll before the trip was over. Our kids are pretty easy to please.

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Gum! This stuff is my best friend these days. I can get 50% more grocery shopping done while the kids are chomping away.

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Coin jars that count the money as it goes in. I've already been asked to reset the counter a few times because the kids love putting their money in and watching the numbers go up.

Livy got some more toys!

Cody liked shooting his new army men down...

...with this Nerf gun that shoots discs.

Clothes and a watch for me! I also got an olive oil sprayer that I love.

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Scrabble Flash--perfect for this spelling animal. We all like this game actually.

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A camera for Kylee that holds 2000 pictures at a time and is really durable. Now she won't have to use Cody's binoculars as a pretend camera anymore.

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Another fun gift was this remote control boat for the pool.

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Cody walked around and around that pool following the boat.

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One person driving the boat plus another person shooting at the boat equals hours of enjoyment by the pool.

This is pretty much how we spent Christmas afternoon.

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And what would a pool boat be without a styrofoam raft for carrying beverages?

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On Christmas night Brady, Raquel, and Rylee came! Livy was glad to see Rylee (or her "best friend" as Cody would say).

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All tuckered out after a great Christmas day.

Once the Bleazard's arrived a few days after Christmas we did our sibling gift exchange. We gave the Hess Family a growth chart like ours. 

The Bleazard's got Settlers of Catan--a game I disliked until this trip. Thanks Bleazard's for changing my mind about this game. Cody says this is his favorite game now and is already planning on getting it for his birthday in 7 months :)


More pictures to come...

F-U-N-N-Y Kids

1.
Cody is becoming quite the speller. Every Friday he has a spelling test and has been doing really well on them. But his spelling doesn't stop there. This kid spells at least one word in every sentence he speaks. It's pretty entertaining actually. Especially when he is upset and can't quite spell the word correctly because he is so worked up. It is similar to someone being mad and trying to shut a door or something, but because they are so upset they can't get the door to stay latched and they get more and more flustered with every attempt.

The other night Steve was tickling Cody who was completely laid out on the floor and laughing so hard he couldn't get up. Through his hysterical laughing you could hear him trying to spell S-T-O-P. Because he couldn't really breathe it took a few attempts to get all of the letters out, but he wouldn't give up and just say the word.


2.
Cody and Kylee were fighting about something in the other room. When I asked what was wrong Cody said, "Kylee is doing her best not to share."

I guess you could say he had discovered one of Kylee's talents. She seems to be an over-achiever in that area lately.


3.
This morning I was checking my email while Livy was sitting on the floor on a blanket and Kylee was running around and chattering away. Then Kylee said, "Mom, I'm playing hide and seek with Livy." Pretty funny considering Livy is not on the move yet.

Then it made me laugh to hear comments like: "OK Livy. Your turn to hide," or "Come get me Livy!"

DC Temple Lights

We have had unusually wonderful weather (considering it's December). I think we have seen the sun more in the last few weeks then we did all summer. Seeing the Christmas lights at the temple was a lot more enjoyable without the blasting cold weather.

After dinner we grabbed our coats and headed out the door to the temple. Kylee doesn't go anywhere without her sunglasses these days. The fact that it was completely dark when we set out didn't stop her from wearing them for the entire 30 minute drive.

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The kids wanted to get a picture by their favorite tree. Here is Cody's.

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Kylee loved the purple one, of course.

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The lights were so awesome! And the kids had so much fun. You can tell by those cheesy grins that I love so much.

News Story on 2 Little Fish Girls

Click HERE for another news story on the Fish girls. They did a great job covering the story.

News Story: 2 Fish Marrow Wish

Click HERE to see a short news clip on the Fish Family. We wish them the best! My cousin and her husband are so amazingly strong.

Brooke's Wedding Bells

My sister Brooke got married the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Luckily, my whole family got to be together. Even though it was cold, there was no wind or snow and the sun was shining so it was a good day for pictures.

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Waiting for the bride. My dad, Cody, Duncan, and Bob strolling around the temple grounds. I love how there was no one in the background. I guess no one else was crazy enough to stand outside in the cold.

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I love this picture of Brooke with her best cousin Nikki. The husbands are stepping back to let the girls do their thing.

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More friends.

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Kylee and Brooke. Too bad Kylee had to wear a coat over her cute little purple dress.

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Sister Love

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The Cramer family endorses this marriage.

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The cute Rich's. Duncan wasn't too excited about all of the picture taking, but he's still cute with or without his smile.

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We bent down to get everybody in the picture but Kylee wasn't helping us out too well.

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My favorite sisters.

It was a perfect day. Everything just went so smooth. I am still amazed at how well our kids did throughout all the festivities. After the morning at the temple we took the kids to In-N-Out Burger to keep them as happy as possible. (Ironically, the In-N-Out Burger we went to was a brand new one that is a block away from where we used to live in Salt Lake--so not fair!) Then it was on to the Wedding Breakfast a little while later. That evening, there were no complaints from the kids about doing pictures before the reception (seriously!) and the kids lasted the entire evening! It was fun to see so many long lost friends and relatives. We know so many awesome people.

We are so glad we got to be there for Brooke and Tyler! We sure like them.

Little Drummer Boy (and Girl!)

My mom has a music room at her house full of all kinds of instruments. The kids had a lot of fun jamming with Grandma Ellen one night. They played any instrument they wanted at full volume for about an hour and a half. (Lucky for the rest of us that room has a door!)

Steve had fun taking pictures of the kids pounding on the drums one morning. As you can see Cody likes to get dressed as soon as he wakes up, but Kylee could stay in her pj's all day. Dressed or not, they're both cute. And Steve did a good job.

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