Christmas in Utah

On our way home from California, we stopped at Mom and Dad's for Christmas number 2.  :)

This is the way to end a cranky car trip... open presents!  It was also Mom's birthday, so we had Cafe Rio for dinner.  Mmmmmmm... Cafe Rio...

Oh, and for future reference, this is the year that Dad got Mom the dollhouse.  It's huge.  It's taking a lot more time to sand, paint, stain and glue every tiny piece... but you know Dad loves his projects.  :)

It's so fun to see the little girl presents.  Like this toy purse.  Complete with money, keys, lipstick and mirror,

The boys all got a backpack for their first Christmas with their names too.  Now we have pink!

Oohhhh... look what Bradley got after-all. :)  His Christmas wish come true.

The only thing these boys wanted for Christmas was Legos, Legos and more Legos. 

They were soooooo excited. :)

 Thanks Mom and Dad! :)

Since this was not a year when all our side of the family was together, we had to do Mom and Dad's Christmas program from our various points around the country.  But it all came together beautifully. Alli was gone on her mission but had recorded her part 11 and 1/2 months before in order to surprise them at the end.  Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad! :)





After we finished partying it up, we finished the remaining 15 minutes of our trip back home.

We had one last surprise waiting for the kids.

Since we couldn't transport these gift to California, we had Mom and Dad put them under our tree while we were gone.

The next morning they wanted to ride the new wheels, but I told them to shovel the ice off the driveway first.  Bradley was all too happy to use his new shovel.

Christmas in California: Family Pictures

Q:  How do you get 8 kids under 8 to look at the camera and smile without being silly?

A: Ummm... you don't.

Especially with 5 different cameras going at the same time.  Originally we thought that with so may people taking pictures we were bound to have 1 good one... Not so much.

This is when Charles instructed them all to pick their nose.

And this is when he told them all to eat it.

Bradley needed no such instruction, nor an invitation for such behavior.

Fun Fact:  

Top 2 kids are 4 months apart

Next 2 kids are 2.5 months apart

Next 2 kids are 1 week apart

Bottom 2 kids were born on the same day, just hours apart.

They just kept getting closer and closer...

(we should have switched Jaden and Forrest so they were in order by age)

      

 I guess it's even too hard for adults to know which camera to look at.

Pathetic...

So close...

Perfect. :)

Sherrie and her 8...

Originally we wanted a huge complete family picture, but with Chuck being away, it couldn't quite happen.  Maybe next time...

Christmas in California: Friends and Family

 Whenever I make it back to the hometown, there are 2 groups of friends I always try and visit.  My girls from High School, and the Collins Family.

I had a couple super short hours with Jessica, Crystal and Mara. We met at Mara's house like usual and just tried to catch as much as we could.  I miss those girls.

All our boys had a chance to meet each other and play together.  Between us girls we have 9.5 kids.  8 boys, 1 girl and one fetus.  :)

We also had a couple hours to see the Collins family.   I was hoping their Grandma, Barbara, might be hanging around, along with Mose and Polin, but I'll take what I can get!

We got to see David, Zach and Mary, as well as Andrew and Shanade and their 3 little cuties...

But I was most excited to see Keith and his little family.  Keith and I were best buds since we were babies.  It's been over 3 years since I've seen him.  I'd never met his baby girl, Morgan, and even worse, I had never even met his wife, Vanessa.  I remember I was too big and pregnant with Bradley to make it down for their wedding. 

Now that I think about it, I was pregnant and too sick to come down for Andrew's wedding, and I was too big and pregnant to go to Jonathon's wedding too.  You people need to plan your big days a little better!

Since the Lakers are so huge in the Collins family, I made little Morgan a headband for the big game.  This girl is seriously cute.  She is so sweet and content.  Can I have her?

The last little bit of our stay was spent hanging with family in Tehachapi, playing Ring Around the Rosies and singing some karaoke.

Christmas in California: Christmas Day

Christmas Morning!  Wow, how do parents do this?  Staying up to party on Christmas Eve, then staying up later, then staying up even later, and then not sleeping because small children are having trouble sleeping, and then getting up at the butt crack of dawn to have another loooong day full of fun... It's exhausting!

But here we are! It looks like Santa made it after-all. The adult sockings lined one banister...

... and the grandkids stockings lined the other.

And look!  Here are 2 more that Grandma and Aunt Amber worked on until... um... mere hours before Christmas?  Let's just say we didn't see much of them until Christmas day.  It was a Christmas miracle!  :)

When everyone was up and gathered back at Melanie's we let the kids give out the ornaments that they made this year.  Decorated snowflakes with a family picture in the middle.

After looking in their stockings, the kids got to exchange gifts that they picked out for each other.  All legos... Surprised?

Jaden had Brynnlee's name and after just a little bit of convincing, he decided against the legos and chose something that wasn't a choking hazzard.

He picked out 2 little outfits for her.

Brynnlee also got some awesome wrapping paper.  Best gift of all.

I made Zoe some headbands... hopefully she is a little more cooperative with wearing them, then Brynnlee is these days.  Darn it.

I was in a crazy mood one night, and decided to whip out the sewing machine and make Brynnlee a blanket for Christmas. 

Considering that I hate to sew, and I can barely thread a needle, I was just as surprised by the outcome as you!

Charles is the seamstress in our family, but he was out of town so I really was on my own.  I just needed my friend to come over one time and remind me how to thread the bobbin.  I had it finished by the time Charles came home.

What can I say, sometimes I shock and amaze even myself.  :)

Each Christmas we put together a book of pictures for the year to send to each Great-Grandpa. It was fun to get to see one be opened.  :)

Kaleb and Jaden got snow shovels a couple Christmases ago, that they use to help Charles shovel the driveway.  Now Bradley can join the fun.

"I think Santa may have overpaid for my dress."

The boys also have scooters that they ride every chance they get.  Now Bradley does too.

You can be a winner at the game of LIFE!  Look!  I got a wife!

This was our Black Friday purchase.  Charles braved the stores... for this.

Melanie and John had our family for gifts this year.  Here's the kids opening their loot.  Thanks Mel and John!

I gave Charles the 12 Dates of Christmas.  We have 12 dates preplanned and paid for, and babysitting arranged.  This will be our year to have some fun.  :)

Charles' Aunt Shel surprised each of the kids with their own Christmas book.  And not just any Christmas book, but one that she recorded herself reading.  The boys love to open their closet door for light at night and then lay down and listen to their Aunt Shel read them a story.  And since there are 4, they take turns and listen to them all.  Thanks Aunt Shel!

And here we come to the anticipated Santa gifts...

No, Santa did NOT get Bradley more magnet blocks...  As you can see he got something even better.  A sheet a bubble wrap.  Another one of Bradley's favorite things.  Oh don't mind the "most sought after children's toy of the year" lying right there.  I'm sure Santa had a heck of a time getting his hands on one, but that really doesn't matter when you have bubble wrap!

Did Kaleb get what he asked for?

Did Jaden?

One of the gifts that all the grandkids received from their Grandparents was a knitted sweateer with a hat to match.  Here is a picture of my kids wearing theirs.  Unfortunately we never got a shot of all 8 kids in them.  Thanks Grandma!  I think Kaleb loves his sweater the most, they are camo colors for one, and he has even asked to wear it to school. Jaden like to wear his hat around the house.

Poor Brynnlee was so tired...

After the presents, Bradley went out to test out his new wheels.  His cousin Forrest was a great coach. :)

I can't believe I don't have picture of the Christmas dinner.  It was Spaghetti with meatballs and pepperoni and sausage, and it was... amazing.

Bradley zonked out and Charles had a tough time trying to wake him up.  Heck no, was he gonna take a long nap and then keep us up all night!

Flying with uncle Forrest...

Uncle John playing cowgirl with Zoe.  :)

Right before bedtime, Kaleb and Bradley had a pretty serious game of cards going on.  They couldn't play without their can of soda.