Pre-Christmas Happenings

We were so thrilled that my parents decided to brave the roads and trek down to Texas from Utah. All of us, that is, except this one:Ha! No, actually she went to Grandpa and Grandma all week without a problem except this one time when everyone was around so I grabbed the camera and said, "Ok, all the kids sit with Grandma and Grandpa so we can get a picture!" Brooke was less than thrilled. Not sure what was wrong. Maybe she was really tired. The week was a bit of a whirlwind and I can't believe it's already over.We had one other child who was not happy about the picture taking moment. Actually, she was just fine until we asked her to move to a different spot so everyone would be seen. The result was a sulking Kate who then tried to sabotage the picture I did take with the rest of the kids. Her hand makes a nice touch, no?Here they are together minus Kate and her hand. Yes, Brooke was very tired.We finally got Kate into the picture and here is the end product. Carli, Brandon, and Grandpa are perfect specimens for a photographer. :) Megan is squinting, Brooke is crying, and my mom is trying to help Kate feel better by squeezing in close to her. Too bad they are not taller. Ha. We always say that Kate got the "grandma genes" which is nothing bad in any way, shape or form--her grandma and nana are 2 of the most special people in this world--they are just a little on the short side. ;)We passed some of the time on this day-before-Christmas-Eve by doing puzzles. Kate and Carli jumped right in with Grandma.

Dinner was pizza-making. Our kids love this and have some mad pizza making skills by now. We make a mean deep dish pizza for the adults with all the good stuff in it. It is killer and we have been making it a lot lately. :)

Up next is Christmas Eve!

Brandon's Birthday Bash

We had Brandon's party the Saturday after his actual birthday so here's what happened the day of. He opened his main present that morning, which was sitting on the end of his bed, Rock Band. He was pretty excited about that! Later, before dinner, he was able to open the rest of his gifts, one of which was this book, Runny Babbit, by Shel Silverstein. It is the most hilarious book when you read it aloud. He also got some of his favorite toy right now, Bakugon. Don't ask me what they are, I don't understand them. :)

After gifts we ran to the park with the fam and met Megan's Girl Scout troop there for their end of the year awards. We took pizza for Brandon's birthday dinner--cheese pizza and breadsticks with dip--his absolute favorite. He was a happy guy!Brandon and his buddy, Caleb, hanging out in the tree.Sydney and Megan enjoyed being in girl scouts together.Here are some of the girls saying the Girl Scout pledge (I think)At the end they always do the circle of friendship (I don't remember what it's really called, but this sounds good) :)I don't know what Kate ate or drank, but here she is in all her glory with a blue tongue.Ben and Brooke--so sweet together! Brandon's birthday party was a great success. After Kate's huge party I was ready for a nice easy event. He invited just a few friends to come over for pizza and cake. They opened presents and just played and hung out together. Talk about easy-going. It was great! Brandon had fun and enjoyed having his friends there.

Here they all are eating pizza.Brooke was enjoying the party, too. Isn't she just so sweet?! Looks like she is waving!Opening gifts. His friends definitely know what he likes!Funny looking cake, eh? I asked him if he wanted a rectangular cake or a double layer round cake. He said, "Both." Here is what he requested. It was really yummy!

Florida

We had a really lovely trip to Florida to spend time with Ben's family. I have to say that I have the best inlaws. I love them all and we have so much fun together. All the other cousins are boys, but my girls don't seem to mind that at all. The had a blast playing, swimming, eating, climbing on Uncle Andy, and building sandcastles and digging holes in the sand at the beach. Here are some pictures from our adventures. I'm going to have to do this in 3 posts to get all the pics in. :)

Carli at the beach

Kate at the beach hopping through the wavesBen's parents Wayne and Sandy at the beach. Aren't they cute?
It was so funny to see Kate and Megan in the same stance playing the sand.
There was a fun little miniature golf course at the resort we stayed at. Carli had so much fun. We were there about every day. The kids all loved it.


Our little nephew, Joey, playing golf. You can see how wet the ground is. It had rained really hard the night before and that area was all flooded.Carli and her cousin, Ryan, playing on the little playground.

Here are all the cousins eating popsicles. This was a common occurance that week. :)

We went to church Sunday morning and I couldn't resist a pic of everyone looking so dressed up. The plants around the resort were beautiful.
This was pizza night!

Kate and her cousin, Sam eating pizza. These two are quite the little pair. They loved hanging out together.
Sandy (mil), Lybi (sil), James (Ben's twin brother)
Uncle Andy (Ben's "little" brother) playing with the kids.