truman time

Provo

After Christmas, we spent three days in Provo. It was full of fun! The best part was being with family!

Especially Grandma and Grandpa that we miss so much!

There was a big present exchange....

We all gave Grandpa and Grandma a "Family Proclamation" book...

We went on campus to take family pictures. I don't have any of the pictures, but here are some random pictures that we took before and after...

Since it was a holiday vacation, the building was empty. The kids loved playing around.

A bunch of little monkeys!

We LOVE BYU campus!

Nice jump Jessie!

I hope these 5 kids will someday be walking these same sidewalks as students here!

We visiting the Bean Museum...

Grandma helped the girls paint their nails. Although most of them wanted to do it by themselves!

It was a full blown Beauty Shop!

After nails was make-up...

GAME NIGHT!

And then after games was dessert at the Freeze Stop! I think this was the first time my kids used a Jukebox!

YUM!

Ice Cream or not, these two just couldn't make it!

But the dads had fun talking...probably about braces!

The last morning we were going to wake up and get on the road but we woke up to a lot of snow. The kids wanted to go sledding. It snowed the whole time but everyone still had fun. The snow was sooo wet!

Mike and Wes...

Mark

Rachel

Harry and Tommy

Suzy, Grey and Kate

Truman

The big boys found a large pile of snow so they tried to make it a bigger "snowball."

They even got the dads to help but finally gave up! That thing was heavy!

Tommy

Rachel and Abby

Maggie

Grandpa and Grey

Wipe out! But Grandpa is protecting Greyboy!

What a great Grandpa! Grey loved it!

Jake and Wes

Mark and the girls (Jessie and Megs)

What a trip! After sledding, we went to Grandpa and Grandmas for lunch and then headed back home to finish our Christmas break from school in Vegas.

Dane's Homecoming

The day after Christmas, we headed up to Provo to spend a few days. On our way up, we stopped in Parowan for Dane's Homecoming talk. He did such a great job. After, we went to Larse's house for lunch. The food was great!

There was even a "Little Dane" on the table...

and a life-size one sitting on the chair...

There was a lot of visiting...

When Dane left on his mission two years ago, we had a little photo shoot with these 5 cousins....

I love that picture. So this year we decided to do the same picture at the same spot. The only problem was Joe wasn't there, he is on his mission. Danny filled in. I think the similarities between these two pictures are hilarious!

HILARIOUS!!! Anyway, here is this year's full photoshoot with the 5 older cousins....

Nice Karate kick Jade!

The teens and tweens wanted to try...

Then the younger girl cousins...

and the youngest boy cousins....

It was a fun stop on our way to Provo!

Christmas Day

It was a great morning! The kids slept in a bit (about 7:00am) and we had the traditional make ahead breakfast cake for breakfast. Then presents....

Rachel got what she wanted....and itouch4! Megan got what she wanted....a pink bunny pillowpet!...

Jessie got what she wanted....makeup!

And Tommy and Sam combined their Christmas wishes for an xbox kinnect! That's all they got, but they were not disappointed!

Mark got what he wanted... a globe! And Mark spoiled me! I got earrings, a watch and a mothers ring, which I LOVE! He is the best!

Megan made a gift for us in kindergarten a month or two ago. Since that day, she has been talking about this special present. She told me that she knew it was going to be my favorite present. I think she was more excited about giving this present to us then she was about getting presents for herself. The present was a plate. It was awesome and yes, probably my favorite present! I love you Megs!

But my favorite part about the morning was the hugs, kisses and the grateful hearts that the kids showed to us and each other!

Merry Christmas 2010!

Christmas Eve

This year we celebrated Christmas Eve with Zach and Sandy's family. It was fun to be together even though we really missed Grandma and Grandpa Truman!
Here are some pictures of the Nativity. We were really creative with our props!

Mary on the donkey...

Angels....

Joseph....

Mary and the angels...

The three wisemen...

The nativity....

Right before bed, we put the star on the tree (a new tradition to do on Christmas Eve)...

Mark's first attempt...

It was harder than it looks...

Almost!!

A few more adjustments....

And then finally...

PERFECT! Now we were ready for Christmas!

Right before bed we had to do the Christmas Eve present tradition. However, this year I changed it up a little bit. In the past, the kids have all received PJs for Christmas Eve. I didn't want to buy pajamas this year because Rachel has about 100 pairs of pajamas and the boys never wear pajamas. They just wear their shorts and a t-shirt. So, I thought why not change our tradition to be a "night-time themed" present every Christmas eve instead of PJs? All the kids got body pillows except for Rachel. She already has one so I got her a super soft blanket that matches her bed. The kids loved their presents just as much as PJs....