Christmas 2011

Christmas was especially sweet for me this year. My health of course was a blessing but also the fact that all my family are still around to celebrate. Santa spoiled the heck out of my kids AND me. We were able to attend church on Christmas which was also special.

Here is our living room before we went to bed and the rugrats were having sugar plums dance in their heads. I actually woke up the night before in a panic thinking Christmas eve day was Christmas and I had forgotton to put out all the presents. Whew thank goodness THAT didn't happen.

Christmas was in RI this year. I love both my kids excitement Christmas morning. Since we had church that morning we actually had to wake both of them up. They were in a daze until reality hit that it was time to open presents. They literally have been talking about Christmas coming since last year...and I'm not kidding. Jordan was very excited to open his gift can you tell?



...and again!


Kasey had some AWESOME bed head this year.



...and he was more then happy to pose for all his pictures with that cute grin of his.



I must say that my kids opened presents so well together. No arguing and they were excited to see each other open the others gifts. Although they were shaking in their pj's with the excitement of opening another one...they tried hard to be patient.



We joined the gaming world this year and got a Wii. Jordan also got a 3D DS. Not sure what came over me. I strongly dislike video games....but I finally gave in. Jordan has his head down while walking across the street already playing his DS....stress! They have been playing the Wii games all morning today. I must say too that Daddy was VERY happy for Christmas this year since he got to play video games.


Love for Daddy.



We then went over my brother Mark's house for dinner and presents. We played games, ate, and just hung out. I had a wonderful time and am so happy to spend Christmas with my family.
Scott has been growing out his hair for the past few months. He thinks he's Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall. Some days it's flowing nicely but some days....:) Anyway...I think my hubby is a hottie any way you slice it.



The family opening up gifts.



My parents. A couple of days before Christmas my Aunt who is my father's brothers wife, died of cancer. It left me thinking of my cousins and Uncle who are without their mother/wife this holiday. It also left me being grateful having my parents still around. Ya know I think people take for granted having family alive and around to celebrate with. Both my parents health is declining but I am so happy they are still here on this earth. I remember MANY fun joyous Christmas's when we were little. Having my grandparents, cousins and other family around really gave me many happy memories. All thanks to my parents.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas....




All snuggled up in our new pajamas...yes that IS a penguin sleeper I'm wearing, that my wonderful husband surprised me with tonight....he he.




the little ones in their new pj's.



Reading the Christmas program from the scriptures.



Papa reading the annual "Twas the Night before Christmas". The kids love it.



Papa and Jordan.

Time for bed..I'm so excited. Not a creature was stirring! Good night all!

Additional shots

Now that my Christmas card is out, I thought I'd post the ones that didn't make the cut. I love this one of Jordan laughing.





Second choice. I told Scott on a Friday we should take our pictures before the leaves fall off. So glad we did, because the next two days we had a lot of wind and off they came.


I was trying to get Kasey to do what Jordan was doing...peeping over the rock, but he just didn't get what I was saying. Cute anyway!





Of course the goofy ones to "lighten" the mood of mommy and daddy yelling "just smile and stand still, quit fooling around"!!!! Am I the only one who loses it during annual picture time? Ugh.



Mommy and the boys. I wish Jordan was closer to Kasey during this shot, but I still love it.



Yah....I know! HA HA!! So many people do this with their facebook shots and I laugh every time. I had to do it. I think Scott wants to put it up in his office...can you blame him?

I can't wait until Christmas. I'm like a big kid. I must admit that I miss staying up all night with my brothers...trying to sneak down to get a look at the presents!! Now I just wait by myself staring at the wall...tick tock! I am loving the magic of Christmas though with my young boys. I love seeing their faces light up. I love having them ask questions about reindeer and Santa. The magic of it all is precious! I have so much to be thankful for this Christmas. I will be 44 in 2 weeks, but that's okay because at least I'm here..my parents, family and inlaws are all still here to celebrate and I'm grateful for that.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Meeting up With Good Friends

This past weekend, Scott and I had the opportunity to go to New York City to see some of my best friends who came to visit. Cindy, Jamie and I have been friends since I lived in Utah going to college. I haven't seen them in over 5 years. I had such a good time. For our first endeavor, we went ice skating in Central Park. This was on Cindy's bucket list. Now, I haven't been ice skating in over 14 yrs and I must say my feet/shins were KILLING me. 4 days later, I'm still in pain. It WAS fun though and we had perfect weather.



We then headed out to Time Square to see the lights. It's amazing. We also bought Cindy a scarf for $5...SCORE!


Next stop was the Rockefeller Christmas Tree. If you haven't been there, I would suggest you go. It's beautiful. However, go VERY late at night. Last time I went, the crowds were smothering, and people weren't very kind to our kids while trying to push past. I was afraid to go again, but we went at 11pm and it was perfect. Not nearly as many people there. Here Cindy and I are standing next to these pretty angels.



Cindy is really into old castles and churches. We found this one right around the block from Rockefeller center. St Peters church. GORGEOUS!




I hope the lightning isn't about to strike. It was Cindy's idea....heathen! This is us standing in front of the amazing doors of St Peters Cathedral.




The next night, we took the kids with us to the Statue of Liberty, Grand Central and another walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I've never walked it at night. The view was amazing!!!



They had these amazing decorations. These bulbs were so HUGE. I thought they were pretty cool. I didn't get home until 1am. I haven't been out that late in years. My age is showing though. I was so tired and my knee and back were "killin'".



So, Cindy is also into Historical cemeteries. This one was in Queens. It's got over 3 million people buried there and is the largest one in the USA. It houses quite a few Irish and Italian mafia, which I found very interesting. It's also the cemetery where they filmed the Godfather. Ironic no? Talk about huge! Some of these were the size of a garage. Some were actually beautiful. I particularly loved this one with the statue in the middle of it.



You can see the empire state building in this one.



Biggest cross I've ever seen. Can you imagine this as your headstone?

So, I had an amazing weekend!!! Cindy and Jamie were great with my kids and by the end of the trip, my boys were fighting about who was going to sit next to Cindy on the subway. I've been replaced.

Cindy was one of my best friends while I lived in Utah and I miss her terribly. She's always there for me, even across the miles. Needless to say, I cried when they had to leave for the airport. I will come visit soon guys...I promise. Love you!