Christmas Events

Baking!

Marley loves to help...

Snow!

This is Blake and the kids doing some snow removal for our neighbor.

Temple Square!

We braved the crowds and ventured to Temple Square the Monday before Christmas. We had a splendid time! Marley loved the pink lights and Stratton loved riding his scooter around the place (I'm not sure if that is legal...). The ride home on Trax was eventful. All the cars were jam-packed with people!! We thought we might have to split up and have the girls take the kids on one and have the boys take the strollers on the next one. This did not set well with Stratton. We forced him on the overcrowded train and he had tears streaming down his face while he held out his arms to his dad, who he surely wouldn't see again for about 40 minutes. Luckily we all squeezed on and made it home.

Peace!

This picture is dedicated to Doug and Lu Johnson and their Rockin' Christmas card that we loved so much!

Christmas Eve!

Our annual reinactment of the Nativity. It is always precious.

Change!

Last year: Stratton cried when he got a coloring book and told the giver that he hates it!

This year: Stratton got a Nerf gun and was a happy camper.

P.J.'s!
The annual Christmas P.J. picture...

Christmas Morning!
Marley took a look around on Christmas morning and wasn't excited at all. I said, "Go play with your new stuff!" She said in a sad little voice, "That isn't mine." Once I showed her that it was hers she was happy!

Stratton found his ramp from Santa and LOVED it!
The kids were just as excited when mom opened her presents.
Boxing Gloves!
What a treat! Boxing gloves for Blake, Stratton and Marley. Now instead of family wrestling we can do family boxing!

The first boxing match of the day!

Christmas Day w/Cousins!

This is Marley hugging her cousin Brighton. He got her dress-up clothes and you'll see how much she likes them in the next pictures!

Princess Marley...while she was dressed up in these clothes she sang non-stop.

And then she was a ballerina!

Big Surprise!

This year was Stratton and Simon's big year. Grandpa always gets the next oldest child in the family a very nice sleeping bag each year. These sleeping bags will help them stay warm in the coldest weather. Thanks Grandpa!!!

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and

Happy New Year!

Trimming the Tree

Stratton loves decorating the Christmas tree and he was so mad at me because I decorated our tree without him. (He was with the Schaugaards in Kemmerer, having a blast!) Anyway, he was mad until I showed him that he had his very own tree to decorate in his room. He finally smiled and we had a great time decorating it as a family!

Cruise in Review...

What a great time we had on our cruise with Blake's family. We laughed so hard and got to see so many things...it was FANTASTIC! THANK YOU RUSS!

Our first day on the cruise we shared our talent with the rest of the passengers on the boat by taking THIRD place in the family scavenger hunt. I wont mention that the only reason we took third place is because the third place team was absent for the awards ceremony...we'll take it anyway!

Another talent...sexy legs??? Todd and Jake are strutting their stuff to prove they have some of the sexiest legs....suprisingly they both won an award.

Blake ordered escargot one night and let everyone try it. Cara's face tells it all!

The fabulous girls!

Blake's family:)

This is all of us! We are hanging out on the beach in Cabo San Lucas. We caught a van to Chileno Bay and snorkeled for a bit. It was beautiful and warm, although the saltwater is always a shock when you taste it!

On our way out of the port we saw this guy...a golden pirate. He looked amazing!

Our ship had miniature golf! I was impressed with everything our ship had...miniature golf, inline skating, ice-skating, a rock wall, a sports court and so much more!

Here we are in Mazatlan! We got taken to a beach far away from all the tourists and were able to spend some time with a few hundred hermit crabs and some weird looking black crabs. This beach was Blake's dream...we were able to boogie board!

All of us!

This day was Ashlee's birthday (Happy Day!) We went back to the ship for Johnny Rockets and they made her a birthday treat!

Check out this sunset!

This is our third port, Puerto Vallarta. It was by far the prettiest, it was so green and lush. We took a lazy boat ride and even tried to fish - that didn't work out so well.

Puerto Vallarta in the background.

We were walking on a path and came across 30 of these beauties.

Blake rock climbing (he's on the left).

Jeri - holding on for dear life.

Last dinner! This was our last dinner picture. We took one every night and Blake hated it!

The man on the left is our waiter...we called him Johnny. His name is something like Inut and he is from Romania. He was a hoot! I will always remember how he said..."Pleeeaaa-se." The man on the right is Jamaican so Blake and him talked every night. That reminds me..there were like 200 Jamaicans on this ship and so I didn't see Blake very much. He was always gone talking to someone.

Ashlee with her fancy drink!

Another awesome person we met on the ship-Dipa from Nepal. She is one of the nicest people I have every met! She was nice to everyone, but Jake.

What a fun, fun time!!!

Listen to these happenings:

1. At our first port - Cabo San Lucas we went to the beach to snorkel. The man who took us there had a nice chat with Blake's dad. We ended up giving him a Book of Mormon.

2. At our second port - Mazatlan we went to a beach to boogie board. We found out that the man's boss who took us to the beach is LDS and from Salt Lake City.

3. At our third port - Puerto Vallarta we went on a boat ride. The man who sold us the ride is named Martin and his wife is LDS.

I know this wasn't coincidence...we got off the ship and went through at least 100 people each time trying to sell us a tour or wanted to take us snorkeling, etc. Blake did all the negotiating and it was no coincidence that each time it turned out like it did.

Halloween Happenings

Strat's preschool class and his awesome teacher all dressed up.
Strat was Indiana Jones. Each time he put on his costume he would wear it for 10 minutes and then start taking pieces off.

We had a good time at a Halloween Party with our friends. Can you find Blake? The blue man! This is the only time you will see Marley dressed with her witch hat. She refused to wear it most of the time.

You would kiss this scary monster too...if it were YOUR grandpa!

Trunk or Treat!

Jeri's scary family:)

Blake's scary family:)