When in Italy, or in OUR house!

Wanna know something we do as a family? And it's not just sometimes, but fairly often when dad is home. The kids love, no LOVE making homemade pizzas. They love getting to help, make their own, and well.. what kid doesn't love eating pizza. :) I never tire of watching my family do this. As much as I love to be a part of it, this is one of my favorite things to just sit back and watch. It's one of those small moments in time that I don't want to forget. Ever.

What do we do now?

So what did we do after the surprise, and serious jet lag? What didn't we do! We visited family in Utah for a bit, and then we headed up to Idaho to see the rest. The kids loved getting to play in the "real" snow and see all the family they miss so much. And of course, horse riding was a must on the list. Nutmeg was in heaven.



Poor guys. Had ice frozen on their eyelashes and nose hairs (although that didn't make for as good of a picture... I tried!)

I've got a secret

So Christmas Eve we jumped in and made some crazy plans. My brother was coming home from a service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I hadn't seen him in nearly 3 years and really wanted to be there when he came back home. So we bought tickets for the family to fly out to Utah on the 28th of December. I flew out and arrived in Salt Lake City an hour before Steven's flight came in. NO ONE KNEW WE WERE COMING! Matt and the kids came in around midnight that night (long story on why we had to fly separate, but all that needs to be said is that Matt was the hero!). I waited by Steven's gate and surprised him there, and then we walked down together to surprise everyone else. It was seriously awesome. See that picture in on the bottom left? That has to be my favorite. Well, actually no... I love them all. You can just feel the joy pouring out of each image. Ah. Makes me happy!

Christmas in a blur

As I was looking through the Christmas photos this year, I noticed a theme. I actually took more pictures of the "traditions" than I did the present opening bash. And now I am grateful to have these memories to look back at. The presents don't mean near as much to me as do the little traditions that our family has created.

So here is the gimps you are looking at... (left to right)

1- Dad recording the kids walking into the room to see what Santa left.
2- The "booby" trap to keep the kids upstairs until everyone was awake and ready. And don't worry, there were bells on the streamers, so there wasn't a chance to sneak under without us knowing!
3- The lot of cards from all of our friends and family. We love getting all of them!
4- Playing Christmas bingo while watching the Santa Tracker on the Ipad. Usually it's a game called Don't Eat Pete, but it was WAY to late this time.
5- What? Snow?? We actually went out late at night to build the snowman... because you have to enjoy it when you can!
6- The left over mess. I almost hate cleaning it up, because its the start of the end of Christmas.
7- Christmas lighs
8- We always do an Advent with candles, music and family.
9- Skyping family, since we aren't around most of them.
10- Nativity program, put on by the kids and dad. They loved it... we just need more hands!



More snow!!




And I got a new toy. Okay, a few new toys! A new camera, and a toy lens. Love playing around with the lens! Well okay, and the camera too! But cool, right?