Uncles Funeral

My Uncle Reed passed away in Dec. before Christmas. This was hard news on all of my siblings as we all loved Uncle Reed. I have very fond memories of being at my grandparents home and having Uncle Reed and Aunt Annette there as well. He was a great man, father, and will be missed greatly! Sadly, funerals seem to be the only way to get extended family together sometimes. This is the case this time. Luckily the funeral was here in UT. My sister and parents came to stay at our home so we could car pool down to the funeral. 

Here is Ms M stealing grandma's pillow that vibrates. She is also in the blanket that Katielynn made for the new baby. She did a great job!

It was great seeing all the family at the funeral. I'm glad everyone made it safe as the weather was not cooperating. It was FREEZING!!! Our poor CA cousins were not prepared for the harsh weather conditions. 

At Thanksgiving Chel and I took selfies on May's phone. 

While we were eating lunch after the funeral I left for a min. and they paid me back with their own selfie. 

We will miss Uncle Reed but we are glad we have such good memories of a great man! 

Christmas 2014

Christmas Eve day we opened presents with Aunt Chel before she left. She gave all the kids blankets that they love and carry everywhere with them. We sure love Aunt Chel and all she does for our family! 

Christmas Eve night they opened their standard pjs and books before watching Christmas clips off YouTube about Christ. 

RB got to open one of his gifts early too because he needed his roasting pan to cook the turkey. 

Note to Santa. The left one is from MJ, and the right one is the one Lil wrote. 

Christmas morning the oldest woke up super early! MJ had a nightmare and was scared Santa hadn't come. RB checked and after reassuring her that Santa had come he put them downstairs to watch a movie. They chose Hotel Transylvania. I guess they were all Christmas movied out. Once the younger ones woke up they came up and we opened gifts. Here are some highlights of gifts. 

MJ talked all Christmas season how she wanted a big teddy bear and was thrilled when she got it. She thought for sure there was no way she would get one. 

Buddy got cars, planes, and more cars and planes with some clothes too. 

Yes, Ms M claimed every toy as her own once they were opened. 

MJ and Lil both got My Life dolls and love them!

Ms M trying to steal the teddy bear again! Hehe. 

Ms M loves Doc McStuffins.

The girls also got bath robes. Now no more running around naked after baths or showers. 

RB got a lot of cooking things and I gave him tickets to go skiing. One is for his mom and hopefully they will all go together with his brother and his two kids. 

My parents gave us Nerf guns and they have seen plenty of use all ready! 

We did wake up to a white Christmas too. I was surprised. 

Playing with the toys after all the presents were opened. 

Then we headed to family to eat and open more gifts. The kids had a great time with cousins and it was good to catch up with family that we don't see very much!  

This is what we did a lot of the day after Christmas. Laying around and being lazy! It was great. 

MJ went to a friends home to play. Her friend got a My Life doll too, so MJ took hers over to play. On her way out the door MJ says, "Ok, mom I'm running away from home now." It was funny! I had to snag a pic. of it. 

We had a great Christmas and I hope you did too!

Temple Square Lights & Shopping

This year we made our annual trip to see the lights a little later then usual. Since we have an extended Christmas break from school we decided to go on a Tues. instead of the weekend. It worked out really well. We would have gone the day before but I had a doctors appt. to tell us we are having another girl! We are pretty excited!

So yes we had to do our usual things. I was surprised at how much MJ remembered and wanted to do. We stopped at Deseret Book and looked at their machine. This year it was an apple juice maker. Last year it was an airplane thing. The kids love looking at the fountains at the malls too. 

A little break for the adults as the kids play after lunch. 

Ms M did this first and had a HUGE grin on her face. Of course she wouldn't do it again, but I did get brother joining in on the fun. 

Last year we skipped the train ride and MJ was furious. So this year we made it a point to ride the train!

Macy's windows are always fun to look at! So creative!

Lastly, Temple Square. We walked around saw the lights. The only bad part was it was pretty chilly this year. The wind was quite bitter and we moved fast to get into warm buildings. Poor Lil wasn't feeling the best either. But she was a trooper and kept a happy face on the entire time. 

MJ loves this the best. 

 We were about ready to leave and I asked MJ if there was anything else she wanted to do. She said she wanted to look at the model of the temple in the other visitor center. So we headed that way. I'm glad we did. Buddy liked looking at it with dad, and MJ asked some really good questions while pointing out her favorite rooms, the baptistery and the celestial room. 

While shopping this year, the kids got to pick out one toy they wanted to get. Buddy got a Jake and the Neverland Pirates sword, spyglass, and coins. This is him trying to get Ms M to give back his sword without being mean and just taking it. 

Victorious!

We had a great time and can't wait for Christmas to get here!