St. George NEW YEARS!

Had a great time going down to St. George with the fam! Met Gracia and the girls there too -- It's a great half way for all of us! We had so much fun!

We sure have missed this AZ crew!!!

Rand the Man in quite the cute Rand's Auto driver!

We played lots of Wii....

and Cranium....

and jumped a lot....

and played head bandz...

and played with G&G! So much fun!!!

On the way home we always stop in BEAVER! Cute Gracie having a sit!

St. George- SAND DUNES!

My favorite thing we did while in St. George was to go hiking in Snow Canyon and see the sand dunes! We had so much fun jumping in the sand and off the hills-- (We're still finding sand :) )

We were also able to hang with good friends! This is Blake-- a friend of Ryan's that he works with and they were also in college together on the same graduate team and project! He and his wife Jamie would freq. go out with us so it was so fun to have a little reunion with them!

A pic I snapped of their cute fam!

The cutest little sand monster!

:)

JUMP!!!

What a great time!!!!

Christmas Day

Christmas Morning before the kids came in!

We had early church so we let them come down and see what Santa brought before we got ready!

So excited!

Going to church on Christmas Morning is the BEST! G&G came to church with us-- Ry and I both sang in the choir so they sat with the kids and then came over after! It was so great to be with them!

My parents and brother Dave came for Christmas dinner!

Ham, cheezy potatoes, rolls, peas, and of course Mom's mustard ring! Great day with all of our family!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we went to Ry's family for dinner and gifts! And guess who forgot their camera! I told them it was a Christmas miracle! (I always worry that I annoy people with the camera always in my face) :) Maybe later I can post pics if they send some to me :) We had mexican food (Patterson tradition) and fun gifts! The kids got books from G&G of their mission pics of safari animals and experiences (a treasure) And a huge hit were the TOMS and safari stuffed animals!

TKD Christmas EVE!

For the past couple months we have been having Taikwondo classes in our own little gym! Our dear friend Neil teaches and two of our kids have been taking! They LOVE it!!! And it is heaven not having to go far from home! (Our old TKD school raised their prices so we had to stop- our friend Neil and his brothers and Dad used to run a school in TX and Neil was wanting to start teaching again so when he heard about the situation, he offered to teach if we could provide the gym! He is the greatest and there is quite the school now! He is a great teacher and so good with the kids! His fam was all in town so they all came and had a fun mass family/friend workout in the gym! So fun!!!

It was a full house! (gym)

Smith family Christmas eve!

We had Christmas Eve on the 23rd at our home with the Smith Family! We had our traditional Swiss Cheese fondue with other family favs-- It was a yummy dinner!

My parents tradition is to do Humanitarian kits with the gradndkids -- They love doing it every year!

When we're helping we're happy! :)

Time to snuggle in for some gifts!

Na Na in her favorite spot with Ry!

Matching shirts from G&G!

And Dad always reads from Luke and we sing Christmas carols to end the evening!

What a great fam!

Gingerbread houses!

Always fun making our graham cracker gingerbread houses!

My Dad

This is my cute Dad about 60 years ago! One of my favorite pics EVER! I made a copy and framed it to give each of my siblings for Christmas! A treasure to bring out with my decorations each year!

Christmas Piano Recital

Kels had her December recital and played so well! She is loving piano and really making great progress!

She especially loves that one of her best buds is taking from the same teacher now! :)

Temple Square

I LOVE Temple Square! Our girls have been in a choral performing group this year and performed a lot during the Season! They had an afternoon performance at the Joseph Smith Memorial building! I snapped this on our way in and then we got to enjoy their performance!

Grandmas and cousins came too! Then we had dinner at the Cafe and saw the lights afterward! It was a great night!

Yellow Belts

Aubs and Carter have been loving taking TKD in the comforts of our own home-- (See earlier post) They had their Yellow belt ceremony and both did so well!

Couldn't resist making these for treats to commemorate both a yellow belt ceremony and Christmas!