Celebrating Early

We celebrated Steve's birthday early this year because I have to get my tonsils out 2 days before his birthday. I didn't want him feel to neglected so I called a few friends to meet us and Tucanos to surprise him. He claims he was on to me the whole time but I think is was the hostess that sold me out. When we got to the restaurant the hostess told us that the rest of our party was already seated. Apparently she didn't quite understand the surprise thing. It was really fun to get out with friends and enjoy each others company. Thank you everybody for coming and celebrating with us! When we got home I gave Steve Rockband 2 and we stayed up playing it till 1:30. And let me tell you I'm a pretty sweet singer for a girl who can't carry a tune and Steve's can really rock that guitar. So challengers beware!!


Happy Birthday babe! Sorry you have to spend your real birthday taking care of me :-(

Breakfast with Santa

We went to Breakfast with Santa at Thanksgiving Point. The $20 breakfast was definitely not worth it, but the kids loved seeing Santa and all the other Christmas characters.

Julee & Ayden

Me & Gavin

Keely & Lisa

Gavin & Steve

Keely & Gavin with Mrs. Clause

Ben couldn't have cared less about Santa and the others, but he sure did have fun running around

Keely & Gavin with the Ginger Bread Man

This was as close as Keely would get to the Grinch & Gavin wanted nothing to do with him. Poor Grinch got no love.

Keely, Gavin & Ben (sort of) with the Sugar Plum Fairy AKA Tanya Thompson

The only Grinch Gavin would get near

Ho, Ho, Ho!!

Taking a break after the our big morning

Kids Village Christmas Party

I know I went a little crazy with the updates, but I neglected my blog for so long I had a lot to check up on. And I almost forgot Gavin's Preschool Christmas Party.

Kids Village always does such a good job with their Christmas party. Every year they have Santa, treats, crafts and the kids preform a few Christmas songs. Keely and Ben were still in town, so they got to go with us. It was lots of fun for everyone.

Keely, Gavin & Ben eating the yummy treats

Gavin & Santa

This was the only way Ben would get near Santa


Gavin & me making reindeer food

Trax & Temple Lights

Gavin's been asking me to take him to see the "big Jesus" and take him on on train ride for a while now. So I figured we could kill two birds with one stone if we took Trax to Temple Square to see the Christmas Lights. The kids had so much fun riding the Trax and seeing the statue of Jesus and walking around the visitors center, but waiting for the lights to come on was a little difficult for these excited children and their parents. We thought the light were going to come on at 5:30 and they didn't come on till 6:00. So by the time Temple Square was lit the kids were hungry and ready to leave. We saw the Nativity and caught a few glimpses of the light on the way out. It was beautiful, but I would have loved to spend more time seeing the lights.

I LOVE These Kids!!

When family gets together things can get pretty loud and crazy and these sweet little faces are the biggest offenders. But even with all the screeching, screaming, crying and yelling I love these kids to pieces and will miss them like crazy!!

Loads of Fun!!

Kangaroo Zoo


Jump On It


Dinosaur Museum

12 adults, 7 children and a baby....

is how many people we had at our house on Thanksgiving. We went a little ghetto using paper plates and cups, a Halloween table cloth to cover my brothers poker table and we served it all up buffet style. What can I say,? I'm just not really use to hosting that many people for a meal.

Steve and Zeb decided to deep fry one of our turkeys and I can't believe I forgot to get pictures of them at work. It was pretty crazy to watch! After they put the turkey in the oil, flames started shooting everywhere. I was sure someone or something was going to start on fire. It was a little over cooked, but good practice for next year.

We usually have my mom around and she does most the work. I knew Thanksgiving dinner was a lot of work but I had no idea how much. My sisters and I started cooking at 9:00am for a 3:00pm dinner. We ate for about 15 minute and then spent what felt like the rest of the night cleaning up. No wonder my mom's always so tired. That's a lot of work for only a few minutes of eating. But I have to say I think it was worth it. We ate lots of good food and it was great to spend the day with family.

Creating Their Own Fun

The day after Thanksgiving was a lazy day. I don't think Gavin and Keely got out of their pajamas till after 1pm. But that didn't stop them from having some fun. These two have great imaginations and can come of with some pretty interesting play. They built a fort, played spy games with their sweet glasses and at one point each put on one of Gavin's skates and tried to skate outside. These two sure do know how to keep them selves entertained.

Grandma Gibby

We were so lucky to have our Grandma Gibby with us for Thanksgiving. Shawn and Lisa surprised her with a ticket to Utah so she could spend time with us and her sisters. The great grandchildren loved having her around. We were lucky enough to catch this sweet moment on camera. My Grandpa Gibby pasted away a few years ago and Grandma was talking about how important it is to love and respect your spouses and how she would give anything to be able to hug Grandpa again. Right after she said that Gavin and Keely ran over to her and gave her a huge hug and made everyone cry. They have such big hearts!!

Uncle Mikey

Uncle Mikey is everyone's favorite uncle, because they know that when you are with uncle Mikey nothing is off limits. The word "no" is not in his vocabulary. You want some more candy? Sure! You what to climb on that? Go for it! You want to play with that? It's all yours! Mike watched the kids for Lisa and I one night so we could go out with some friends. When we came home at 9:30pm Gavin and Keely were running around the house like mad men hyped up on sugar. When we asked them why they're not in bed they said, "because Mikey said when he babysits we never have to got o bed!" Sounds about right...

These kids really are lucky to have an uncle who loves and adores them like their uncle Mikey. And Gavin and I are lucky enough to have him right down the road.