A LONG New Years week post

Two days after Christmas we drove to Las Vegas to spend a week with JOey's family.  Three of those days were spent in St. George.  We had such a great time, and, once again were reminded that we live in BFE far, far away from family;(  Here are a few shots of what we did that week:

We met baby Ty!  Such a good, sweet baby!

Had some Lukey and crazy Georgie bonding time.  Luke is always sweet.  

Georgie, sometimes, is too cool for boys.  I'm sorry Lukey.

Playing in the Sand Dunes with Mimi

The Condo that Rosie found was awesome.  The kids were ecstatic about bunk beds and the "flat screen" (as Tanner referred to it;) in the bedroom.  Ashlee and I were a bit aghast at the iCarly episodes that they kept finding on NickJr.  I felt grateful that we don't have cable...do I sound like a homeschooling Mom?!

Juliet and Ty...sweet, sweet, sweet

Juliet was 5 months on this day, so here's a picture of her newest obsession...her feet;)  I don't blame you, Juliet, I'm obsessed too!

Can you find our big guys on the hill anywhere?  One morning when we were all getting ready to go hang out and swim at the Rec Center we realized we were missing Isaac and Tanner.  A short while later someone spotted them WAY up high on the hill immediately behind our condo.

Here's a zoom of their location.  They were so proud of themselves.

Juliet and Aunt Jennie 

Their baby pictures look a lot alike! 

 JuJu and Mimi!

PoPop brought his Rhino so that we could do some off roading.  The kids LOVED it, especially Isaac.  And I liked the idea a lot as well.  It's like 4 wheeling except safer.

 Aunt J and the boys

 Don't they look like nerdy bird watchers;)  

But they do look adorable in their matching plaid shirts Mimi!

Georgie LOVES Coop!

A pregnant Aunt Sara!  FINALLY!! 

 

 Buddies

Best Buddies!

All the "Grands"!

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There we all are (minus Lizzie)! 

 How fortunate we feel to have friends that so happen to be our FAMILY!

Georgie, are you eating your boogers?

Christmas Night...in the tent.  I'll always have to wonder what's going on in there.

And We Woke Up To This:

Isaac made out with a TON of legos and spent his entire Christmas day building them.

 Georgie loved her new dollhouse and kept telling everybody how big it was.  "It's bigger than me!" 

  To brag a little bit (that's okay, right?), we were really proud of our kids on Christmas Morning.  As always, they waited in their rooms until we came in to get them.  I woke up around 7 am and heard them in there making guesses about what Santa might have brought them.  I made them wait a few more minutes while I brushed my teeth and threw on a necessary undergarment (I ain't 15 anymore;) and threw a few things together for breakfast.  They kept asking in their sweet little voices, "Can we come out yet?"

When I came to get them, they RAN out of their rooms with "Christmas Morning" grins spread wide across their faces.  Joey and I were concerned that maybe, possibly, Isaac might compare the size of his suitcase and lego boxes to Georgies doll house and think he got "less".  We were both so proud of him when he walked in and expressed sincere excitement for Georgie about what Santa had left for her.  In fact, his first comment upon seeing all the presents was, "Ooo, Georgie, look how cool!  A HUGE doll house!"  And then he moved on to his gifts.  They were both happy to take their turns opening gifts, savoring each one and saying "Thank You".  It was really, really nice.

We had a special guest this year:

Our Altus Grandmother, Ruth who we LOVE!!  She brought the kids some REALLY cool books ( I think I might like them more than the kids do!!:)  A few really nice things for me and a coupon for free babysitting for Joey (best gift EVER!)

 Here's Isaac scoping out Ruths gift from us.  It was one of the gifts I was most excited about giving this year:

An Ott Lite

Ruth is an amazing crafter/quilter/artist and this light is helpful for those types of projects.

Gigi and I making breakfast in the kitchen!  Georgie LOVES to cook with me.  For breakfast we had Apple Souffle, sausage, cheddar cheese scones, hot chocolate, juice and fruit.  (I only write this down for "future traditions" reference;)

Isaac in his new jacket

Baby's first Christmas!  Merry Christmas JuJu!!

Christmas Eve

 Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent at The Jones Family's home.  We had a buffet style dinner where we provided our Snow Man cheese ball, Blueberry Spinach Salad, and Green Bean Bundles wrapped in Bacon.  All are Christmas traditions.  During the day, Joey was home with us which was nice.  We watched movies, got our house clean in preparation for Santa and attempted to go roller skating (wishing it was "ice") but the rink was closed

At the Jones' home the kids put together a nativity, and played a few really fun games.  It was the perfect short and concise evening that left us time to prepare for Santa.

Georgie got to play Mary in the Nativity.  She was so excited and took it very seriously!  

Isaac was a wise man but my camera ran out of batteries...bummer so no pictures were taken.