Trip to Az part five- FUN

 We did lots of fun things while we were in Arizona.  The best thing was that we didn't have to wear jackets!  It got to the 70s most days.  It was so nice.  So we went to the park a lot and we visited the zoo and we went on a hike and we visited Scott and Stephanie's house and Great Grandma's house....etc.  It was FUN!  I think my kids favorite part was going to the park.  They loved that it had sand.  Not many of our parks here in Utah have sand.  And every time I went to the park with them I couldn't stop digging in the sand myself.  It was addicting.  

 Here is grandpa walking with Calvin and Sadie to the park. 

 One day grandma pulled out a little craft for the kids to do.  I just thought this picture was cute.  

 Here they are with the finished product.  Although it was harder to figure out how to make than the package led it on to be.  ha ha.  

One day we made a trip to the Zoo.  Thanks to my mom for scoring free tickets!  It was pretty cool to see all the animals.  A lot of them were pretty close so we got a good view.  It was a good thing that my mom borrowed a wagon from a friend or else we would have been ready to go home after about 10 minutes probably.  Zac was a trooper and spent most of the day walking.  I was impressed.  The others caught a ride in the wagon or stroller.

 First we saw the elephant.  

 Then we saw the tortoise.  The lady was trying to get him to stand up, but he wasn't having it.  

 Emery and Calvin enjoying a ride from Grandpa in the wagon.

 We stopped to climb on the frog.  The kids loved the playground the best I think.  ha ha.

 Some kind of monkey...maybe a chimp.

 I love that we posed our picture right in front of the vending machines...couldn't we have at least gotten some animals or grass in the background?!!  ha ha.  At least we are all looking right>?

 Sadie spending some one on one time with this monkey.

 Zebra.

This was Emery on the way to the car.  She was mostly asleep.

 Grandpa pulled out a lot of pop up books and read them to the kids.  They all loved them.  

 Calvin and Zac building towers.  We miss Calvin...we wish you guys lived closer!

 This was FHE.  We learned about Noah and the Ark with these fun finger puppets my mom made a long time ago.

 We went on a hike.  The kids did much better this time.  We did this same hike the last time we were in AZ which was in August of 2012...and it was like 116 degrees or something.  This time was much more pleasant!  The coolest part was that you could see the new Phoenix temple from the trail.  Pretty awesome.

 The kids loved going to "Billie's house" aka great grandma's house.  She had fun toys and a fun dog to play with!  :)  It was fun for me to go catch up with her too since I haven't seen her in such a long time!  We love you Grandma!  Thanks for letting us come make a mess of your house!

Trip to AZ part four- Testing my new camera

 Rob got me a new camera for Christmas!!!!  I was so excited...except that I told him that if he got me a camera to let me open it first thing so I could use it Christmas morning.  Well I opened it very last, so I had to walk around and snap photos after the fact to get a feel for my new camera.  :)

 I told her to give me her biggest smile.  Ha ha.

 Cute Daisy.

 ????

 Isaac aka big eyes mgee.

 Getting ready for our traditional egg strata (eggseroneous) Christmas breakfast.  I used to hate this dish when I was younger, but it is sooo yummy!  

 I think everyone else liked it too!

 Zac and Calvin played with their tractors for quite a while that morning.  

 Evan taking his post Christmas frenzy nap.

Emery modeling Calvin's new hat.  ha ha.

Thanks for the new camera!  Now I don't have to apologize for blurry pictures anymore!  Well, I won't be able to blame a crummy camera anymore anyway...

Trip to AZ part three- Christmas Eve and Christmas day

On Christmas Eve, we acted out the Nativity with the kids.  That's always fun.  I remember doing it with my cousins when I was younger and I was always a sheep or the angel...In my memory anyway.  It is a fun way to really remember the true reason we are celebrating Christmas.  I really enjoyed it this year because I think that my kids and Calvin and Daisy are absolutely adorable!  Calvin was Joseph, Sadie was Mary, Evan was a donkey:

 And I loved how Calvin pulled the donkey by his ear the whole time.  :)

 Scott and Zac were 2 of the Wise men.  We only had two...next time we will have three so it doesn't confuse people.  Ha ha. And Emery liked hanging out with the wise men. She was an angel though.

 And she kept this on the whole evening.  It was pretty cute.

 Stephanie, Shanna, Daisy and Emery were all angels.

 The end.  I think Isaac and I were shepherds.  I don't quite remember what Isaac was...

Then we opened the presents on the Elf chart and called it a night for the kids.  We put them to bed and then got things ready for Christmas morning. The kids loved their gifts- thanks to everyone that got them something.  Here are a few of their favorites:

 Emery and Sadie got matching baby dolls.  Zac got a new blanket to replace his old favorite blanket.  I was worried that he wouldn't want to get rid of his other blanket but he really likes this one and he won't even sleep with the other one on his bed.  Score!

 Checking out their stockings.  They all got new jammies on Christmas eve too.

 Santa brought Sadie a jack in the box just like she wanted.  It was a big hit.  And it still is...all the kids that have come to our house since we have been home have loved it!

I don't really know what is going on in this picture.  Grandpa was the man with the scissors so he is probably helping one of them open something.  

It was a lot of fun spending Christmas morning with my whole family.  Reminds me of the good ole' days. 

Trip to Az part 2 - gingerbread houses

 Of course we had to make gingerbread houses!  They are always a hit.  There were lots of toppings to choose from (thanks mom!) and my kids had a blast.  I was surprised at how long they decorated them.  Sadie spent the longest on hers, but Zac spent a while on his too.  It was fun!

 Sadie loves being surrounded by sweets!  :)  She taste tested most of them before she put them on her house. 

 All the kids made one...except for Daisy.  Maybe next time! 

 Grandma was the official frosting squeezer.  

 Emery had a lot of help from Dad.  He took this a bit seriously i think...just kidding.  

 Zac was really funny with his house.  Grandpa kept telling him "the best part of making gingerbread houses is getting to snack on the treats while you do it!"  I don't think Zac ate one piece of candy the whole time he decorated his house.  It was weird.  

Emery did do some of the work.

Here is Zac with his finished product.  Nice work!  Emery's is in the background too.  I helped make the fence and the walkway.

This is Sadie's finished house.  Made 100% by her.  I love it!

Snow...a love/hate relationship

 We love the snow.  It is so pretty.  It makes things quite.  It is fun to play in.  It is fun to shovel.  Yes...I am serious.  I love to shovel the snow.  :)  The kids love to come outside and play in the snow while I am shoveling.  Win-win.  

 Look how happy she is!  

 Zac likes to throw the snow.  He especially likes it when Emery has her hood on because then he can throw snow on her head.  ha ha.  Don't worry.  She laughs about it.  Emery loves to eat the snow.  That is pretty much all she does while we are outside.  

 You can't really tell but the snow on the side of our driveway is almost as tall as Emery.  Thanks to our neighbor who used his snow blower and cleared it off while we weren't around.  :)

 Up to her thighs in snow.  It gets pretty hard to move around when you have such thick clothing on. 

 Sadie taugh Emery how to make a snow angel.  

 She didn't really understand, but she had fun anyway.

 We love the snow!!...

...That is until we fall on our face in it.  Or our hands get wet and cold. Or our nose starts dripping down our face. Etc.

Then we go inside and warm up.  Look at those teary eyes and rosy cheeks.  Playing in the snow always ends in drama.  

And then I am left with a big pile of wet snow clothes and socks and boots and towels.  It is worth it though...usually.  :)

Festival of Trees

 Back in December, we decided to take the kids to the Festival of Trees.  It is a pretty fun event, kinda pricey, but 100% of the proceeds go to the children's hospital.  So we felt ok forking over the cash to look at all the gingerbread houses and Christmas trees that people decorated.  Of course, we said no to all of the extras like face painting and balloon animals.  I know..we are so mean.  It was especially fun this time because Sadie's school teacher decorated a tree so we were going to look for that.  The only problem is that there are TONS of trees.  We got through about half of them I think when we found her teacher's tree and then we left.  ha ha. The kids were done by then anyway.  :)

 This was a huge gingerbread house that spun in circles.  The kids loved it.  

 And of course we loved the BYU themed gingerbread house.  :)  Go Cougars!

 The grinch tree.  Pretty neat.  

 Sadie would tell me which trees to take pictures of.  This one is covered in paper oragami ornaments.  

 These guys were sitting near a tree...it wasn't until we got up close that we realized they were fake.  ha ha.  

 I think this was Sadie's favorite.  With the penguin and the white tree.  So pretty.

 This one was Sadie's teacher's tree.  And I liked that pink and lime green tree behind it.

We were ready to go home.  I think Rob was holding Zac because he was done walking.  Sadie was a trooper.  It really is amazing how big that building is.  And these pictures don't show it, but there were SO MANY PEOPLE there.  I don't do well it large crowds.  So we headed out.  Maybe we will just take the older kids next year.  :)  Emery always wanted to touch the trees. 

Student of the Month

 Sadie was student of the month for her class in December.  She was so excited!  She constantly reminded me about the upcoming assembly where she would get her reward.   She loves school and was sad that she had 2 whole weeks off for Christmas break.  It helped that we were going to grandma and grandpa's house to keep her mind off of not going to school.  ha ha.

 Super blurry, but can you see her?  So cute!

 Here she is after the assembly.  

All the kids.  Great job Sadie!  I only hope her excitement for learning continues to stay strong as she gets older.