Family Nativity

Every year we act out the nativity story in Luke 2 as a family. We let the kids plan it all out, characters, costumes, props, etc. It's always really cute. This year we got to include Mimi, Baba, Mamoo, Justin, Cari, & Korbyn into our production. It turned out adorable.

Cadence told me I had to be Mary this year because I was "heavy with child." (Gee, thanks!) so Trek HAD to be Joseph if I was Mary. Bladen was Baby Jesus (like usual.). Mimi & Mamoo got to be shepherds & Taya & Korbyn were their sheep. Baba was the 3 wise men (in triple roles), & Cari & Lorien were the beautiful angels. But my favorite casting from this year was my brother Justin who Cadence thought would make a perfect DONKEY!!! Don't you just love it? She wanted me to ride him to Bethlehem. ha ha ha. We were all laughing SO hard. Justin is a perfect donkey!

Anyway, we acted it out & we all got the chance to remember the REAL reason we have Christmas. I love to have that reminder every year. It was wonderful!

Christmas Eve Dinner

And what would Christmas Eve be without Christmas Eve dinner? There's nothing like turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes & gravy, & razzleberry pie! YUM!

Christmas Eve Presents

I just couldn't contain myself. I HAVE to let the kids open ONE present on Christmas Eve to keep them occupied for the day. I bought a bunch of stuffed animals from the Disney Store (totally on sale) just for this purpose. I knew they'd keep them busy during the day to make the day go by faster for all of us.

And since I've only got one little nephew I had to get him one too! Korbyn is the cutest kid! I love his fiery red hair & his spunky personality. I wish we lived closer so I could be around him more often! He is a HUGE "Cars" fan so I bought him his very own stuffed "Lightning McQueen." He was SO excited! His mom told me he won't go to sleep without it now. That makes me SO happy.

Bladen loves DINOSAURS!!! I love how he says it. . . "Dino...............SORE! RAWR!" It's SO stinkin cute! So I had to get him REX from Toy Story. He LOVES his dinosaur.

Taya has been on a Belle kick lately, so she got a stuffed Belle doll. Taya loves "babies" & so now Belle is one of her babies. She's a natural little mommy!

Lorien's favorite Disney princess is Princess Tiana from Princess & the Frog. She was SO happy to get a stuffed princess for Christmas Eve.

And Cadence is TOTALLY in love with the new Rapunzel movie "Tangled." She wants everything Rapunzel this year, so she got a stuffed Rapuzel. She was VERY happy!

It was fun to let them open something early. They played with their stuffed toys all day long & slept with them that night. It was perfect!

Riding the Polar Express

Okay, so it wasn't the Polar Express, but the kids loved it just like it was. The mall near my parent's house has this little train that goes all around the mall. The kids were SO excited to ride it.

The girls piled into the front car with me & Bladen rode in the 2nd car with his daddy & his Baba. THEY LOVED IT!

The Christmas tree in the mall is also very beautiful. We had to get a picture of the girls with their Mimi in front of such a beautiful massive tree. Going to the mall around Christmastime is always one of my very favorite things! I just love the atmosphere.

Spike the Snowman

We were SO happy we drove into town when we did because Sunday night it snowed over two feet in Spanish Fork. It reminded me of our harsh winters in Germany. I'm a scrooge when it comes to snow (I hate the stuff!), but Trek & the kids LOVE it! So they spent the entire day on Monday building a snowman along with 3 large snow forts for snowball wars. They were out there ALL DAY LONG! They literally came inside PURPLE because they were so freezing. But they had an absolute blast! Spike (their snowman) was adorable & their snowball fights were quite memorable! They'll always remember this Christmas because of the snow fun!

Sunday with Mimi & Baba

After driving all day Saturday, it was nice to sleep in & take it easy on Sunday. My parent's church didn't start until later, so we got to slowly get ready before we headed out to church. Once we were all dolled up, we all got some pictures in front of the Christmas tree.

I never see my parents happier than when they are with their grand-babies!

Poor Bladen was DONE taking pictures by the time we got to Mamoo's picture & Taya wanted a "treat" so she was upset. But I love the way Cadence is hugging Mamoo in this picture. It's priceless!

And I had to get a big belly preggo picture of me in front of the tree of course. Man this kid is getting big. I swear he's going to be a nine pound baby!

Come On!!! Really?

I swear we can't go ANYWHERE without one of the kids throwing up. And the worst part is that it's never the same kid! Why is it that ALL my kids get carsick?

This time it was Taya! The poor thing threw up from Nephi, UT all the way to Spanish Fork! All we had in the car was a little red bowl & that became her throw up bucket. But as you can see from the picture, she kept pouring it all over herself & her face. It was DISGUSTING!! The last thing Trek & I wanted to do after driving 16 hours in 2 days was clean throw up out of the van. We were up LATE that night washing & cleaning in the freezing cold.

Poor little Taya. She only threw up when we drove. Once we finally arrived at Mimi & Baba's house she was totally fine!

Meeting Baby Emery!

After we left LA with Trek's parents, we stopped off in Vegas to meet our brand new niece, Emery Potter. FINALLY we have another kid on Trek's side of the family & she is BEAUTIFUL! Trek's littlest brother Talon & his wife Carolyn had their beautiful daughter on December 14th so she was literally only a few days old when we saw her!

The girls couldn't get enough of her. They are SO ready for me to have my baby so they can play "mommy" to him.

Bladen kept eyeing her because Mom & Dad kept wanting to hold her. I don't think he liked the fact that mommy was holding somebody other than him, although he kept saying "Baby" super cute when he'd look at her.

Talon is the cutest daddy! I'm so happy for him & Carolyn!

The girls could only handle looking at a baby for so long. Talon put them in the back of the SUV & let them run wild. They LOVED it!!!

Trek was happy when he got to hold her too. Bladen just didn't know what to think of it. I think he's going to be in for a little shock when Craiger finally comes.

Pit Stop at Opa & Oma's House

We didn't want to make the entire drive to UT in one day, so we drove to LA & stopped for the night at Trek's parents house. They always spoil us rotten with homemade pizza & milkshakes. (Opa makes the world's best milkshakes!)

The night we came in Mom & Dad had to run to Mom's work for their Christmas party so they got all dolled up & we took some pictures of them with the kids.

It was a WONDERFUL little break in driving. I love having them at the halfway point!

Lorien's Kindergarten Christmas Brunch

The day we left for Christmas vacation, Lorien's class had a little Christmas brunch for all the kids & their families. I brought some muffins & other parents brought all sorts of other yummy breakfast foods, & we all pigged out in our pajamas together!

Ms. Fairman gave each of the kindergarteners a homemade stocking full of treats, books, & other fun goodies. Lorien is SO lucky to be in such a wonderful teacher's class.