So many pictures so little time!!!

Wow this last trip to Florida was a total whirlwind!!! We slept very little and crammed so much into the time that we were there it was incredible! I'll post later about the Ragnar and Disney, but for now here are a few random shots of our first couple of days.

Jesse & I traveled together with our baby girls. We stayed up all night Tuesday to leave at 1:00am and drive down to SLC to catch our flight. By the time we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale at 3:30pm Wednesday, we were absolutely exhausted! But it was so fun to see Cami & her family we were glad to be there.

Tyree & Gage made wonderful happy and smiling faces at each other. Considering they were born just 46 hours apart we figure they must recognize each other from up there.

And this was how the whole week was. You just slept whenever and where ever you could.

Everyone else arrived throughout the day on Thursday. We put Skye & Ryan to work building a fire engine for the top of one of the race vehicles.

Reagan was a great helper sitting in the saucer and playing.

We couldn't let the day go by without taking a photo of the three babies together. It was so fun! They have such cute little personalities. Tyree is a total ham! So you have Tyree born Sept. 18, Gage born Sept. 16 & Reagan born Oct. 27.

Like I said, sleep was in pretty short supply this week, so you caught catnaps when you could.

But she woke up when grandma offered her bites of pulled pork. She really liked that!

That's Parker, Lily, Tyree, Gage, Reagan & Ransom. Only 6 of my parents' 14 grandkids, but still a good chunk of them.

Other posts are forthcoming. But I think this one is just too much cuteness for one post!

I just wanted the leak fixed!!!!

I've been after my husband for months to please fix the slight leak in our bathroom faucett. Finally today he started that project. He shut of the water and from there things went downhill fast. It went from fixing a leak, to installing a new faucett, to needing a new sink, to perhaps having to get an entirely new cabinet since none of the sinks available today are made to fit bathroom fixtures from 1960. *Sigh*

I have a headache!!!

Spoiled!

Why yes. Yes we are. Especially me! (Although the kids and Travis were pretty well taken care of too.)

Santa doesn't wrap the presents he leaves at our house. I think he's too lazy. Either that or he knows that mom & daddy would rather have them unwrapped so the kids can play with them until we're ready to get up and going. The rule at our house is you can play with the Santa stuff (so gifts and stockings) but no opening presents until we're all there and daddy says so.

So a zoo for Parker and a car for Gideon.

And of course, overstuffed stockings.

I actually beat my children out of bed. Not really sure why. I slept great for about 4 hours but then woke up at 4:45 am and couldn't get back to sleep. So I tossed and turned for about an hour before finally giving up and getting out of bed. It worked out well though, I was able to get myself ready for church (well not getting dressed or anything just hair and make-up) and start working on some of the food for that evening.

Gideon was up just after 7 and wasted no time finding his new remote control Finn McMissile car. It not only drives well, but shoots missiles. The poor cat has been in hiding ever since he became a target!

And then he grabbed his stocking to see what fun and exciting surprises were hidden there.

There, now that's the way to empty a stocking.

He was so desperate to show daddy his new stuff, he couldn't even wait for him to get out of bed. Instead he ran upstairs, flipped on the light and shot missiles at his face until he got up.

Parker has been equally as happy with her little zoo.

And Trav got a kick out of the little light sabre filled with candy as well as the "pooping" Darth Vader Santa found at Wal-Mart.

Parker wasted no time trying to break into the candy.

Finally presents!!!!

Can you tell he's disappointed that it's just new church clothes?

As for me, I told you I was spoiled. Between my husband and in-laws I got everything I asked for. A new phone, 2 pair of boots and some skinny jeans. As well as a few surprises like jewelry, perfume and a night at a luxury B&B. (Which we've decided we're using on New Year's Eve and have already made the reservations! YAY!) I'm all about getting "practical" gifts that I'll actually use, but to me that stuff is all practical because I will use it! I don't mind getting spoiled at all.

Trav got some nice things he seemed excited about as well.

Parker for her part didn't seem to have a favorite. She was just excited because we were all excited I think.

It was a little early for this tired girl.

I got a nice set of blue topaz jewelry from my husband. That's one gemstone I didn't have any of, so I really was happy to get it.

Parker was pretty good about eating most of her eggs but Gideon by this time had already had several bites of a chocolate Santa, an ear off his marshmallow Yoda and lots of candy cane, so he wouldn't eat anything.

So funny story. I have no idea why but ever since he saw a commercial for it months ago Gideon has been BEGGING for a "Happy Napper." I didn't get what the big deal was since it's essentially just another stuffed toy, but he would go NUTS every time we saw one anywhere. And he was very specific that he needed the dragon. We even had a meltdown in Walgreens one day when I wouldn't buy it for him. (That was when he told a complete stranger that daddy was going to come home and kick mommy in the butt for not buying his toy.)

Lo and behold guess what he found wrapped up under the tree!?!?!?!?!? A dragon Happy Napper. As a bonus, Parker got the Lady Bug Happy Napper and he's enjoyed playing with both. They're actually cuter than I originally thought. They sort of remind me of the old Popple toys they had when I was a kid. Each animal comes with a house attached to it's back (in this case the dragon comes with a castle) but the house zips up inside them when they're "playing" or you can zip the animal up in the house when it's "napping."

I asked Travis to get a nice picture of us ready for church and he managed to cut my head off. Again. Thanks babe. But at least you can see the kids in their nice new church clothes. Getting them there was kind of a challenge. Gideon did NOT want to quit playing with his new stuff long enough to get dressed or go to church. But I'm a mean mom so he didn't really have a choice in the matter.

After church we went to Nana's house where we discovered there were more presents and surprises from Santa Claus.

After leaving their house in complete disarray, we came back home to get ready for dinner. The in-laws came over as well as Jesse, Kelly & Cody and they all got to open a few gifts before we were ready to eat. Cody thought he'd be cute and model his new compression shorts for us. I'm just glad he did it over his pants instead of under!

I didn't manage to get any pictures of our dinner, but it turned out quite lovely and absolutely delicious. Travis smoked a beef brisket and in addition to that we had twice baked potatoes, deviled eggs, garlic green bean casserole, brussel sprouts in a bacon cream sauce, rolls and for dessert my famouse cheesecake trifle.

Uncle Cody brought the Grinch down from grandma's house for Gideon. he was ecstatic!

Jesse and I didn't mean to dress like twins, it just kind of happened that way.

Parker is something else let me tell you! She thinks she's as big as anyone in the room and if you can do something she can too!

Like carry the tin of popcorn around. Anyway it was a great holiday and we feel very blessed. Despite all the gifts and food and material pleasures we enjoyed, we're most grateful of course for the birth of our Savior and his subsequent sacrifice which allows us to be a family forever. And that's really the most important thing anyway.

How do you spend Christmas Eve?

So I'll confess that I'm always a little bit lost at Christmas time without my mom around. Since her birthday is Christmas Eve our holiday always started on Christmas Eve when I was growing up. Even as an adult, when my family is near we always get together for birthday and caroling and we know we'll each get to open at least one present that night. But when I'm 2500 miles from my mom I'm never sure what to do with myself on Christmas Eve. It's just kind of weird. I have to look for ways to keep myself busy.

So today I baked and went running. When I asked Gideon what type of cookies he'd like to leave for Santa he emphatically answered "Baseball cookies." Since I had no idea what that is, I had to improvise.

While I was working on the food, Gideon "helped" by cutting out play-doh cookies on my freshly mopped kitchen floor.

Then when daddy came home we had a pretty epic nerf gun battle with the prize Gideon won at Cub Scouts the other day.

After that I ran 5 miles, although since it's so cold I totally wussed out and did it on the treadmill. Oh well, it still counts. And then I made this cute wreath which we took over and shared with my in-laws for dinner. It's a chicken-salad type of filling and actually turned out quite yummy.

After dinner, we came home to find that uncle Cody (who arrived late last night) had been to our house and left a friend. Gideon is ecstatic to have the Grinch in our front yard!

And then it was time for new Christmas pj's and cookies for Santa.

Baseball cookies. Aren't I clever?!?!?!?!?!?! Thank goodness for white icing and pull-apart twizzlers!

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!! And Happy Birthday mom!