Christmas 2014

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays!  It gives us a chance to spend time with family and loved ones and truly feel of God's LOVE!  This year we spent Christmas at the Allreds home.  Taija, Luke, and Mika all LOVE being at Ari's house.

Christmas Eve was spent with some friends  - an AMAZING meal and a wonderful presentation of everyone's favorite Christmas book.  The kids were surprisingly good throughout most of the stories!

Christmas morning finally arrived and the kids were so excited.  For the first time EVER I think Ari was the one to wake up the others!

We were all once again SPOILED by Santa, Nana & Grandpa, Unc & Auntie Tina, and ALL of our family.  Thank you to everyone who made our Christmas a truly memorable event!  

Nana & Grandpa come to Visit

Once again my parents came out to the East Coast to celebrate the holidays.  Most of their time was spent at the Allreds, but we were able to visit and hang out with everyone!

First up was ICE SKATING!  We had never taken the kids before and I was a bit hesitant (my kids in general do NOT like the cold), but the kids LOVED it.  Justin couldn't have been more proud!

That evening we headed over to see the temple lights at the Washington D.C. Temple.  They were beautiful!

Mika had fallen asleep in the car so it was just me and these two silly kids!

The following week we were able to make it back up to Arnold's Family Fun Center. It was a TON of fun.  I think the BIG kids had just as much fun on the go karts and the little kiddos.

Thank you Nana and Grandpa for some wonderful memories!

Random DECEMBER FUN

The month of December was quite the whirlwind of FUN!  There are always so many activities planned.  We of course HAD to go see Santa Clause.  He had come to visit at the library just across the street.

Next up was a great activity that was planned at Taija's school - Claymont Elementary.  They have a Pajama Night with reading/crafts in some of the classrooms.  Taija was talking about for DAYS in advance.  She was so excited to take Luke and Mika around her school!

Last year I remembered wishing I had taken the kids around to see more 'lights' and so when I heard about this AWESOME house not too far from us I just HAD to take the kids.  Luckily it was a night that wasn't too COLD.  Luke was so EXCITED to see all of the lights and the 'blow-up' things.  It was so worth it just to see him so HAPPY!

These are the cute dresses that my mom got the girls!  I LOVE them. She even sent a tie for Luke, but it sadly is not pictured.

A little play-date with friends to frost cookies!

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is getting cards in the mail!  I love to see how all of our friends are doing and how BIG their kids are getting!  Friends and Family are the BEST!

Thanksgiving in Utah

Growing up my family ALWAYS spent Thanksgiving at my Auntie Janet's house.  I was so excited to be able to do this again after MANY years.  Things have changed throughout the years, but ONE thing has always been constant - I have eaten in the KIDS AREA.  This year was no different!  I LOVED it!  I once again didn't take too many pics (I was a little preoccupied with chasing my kids around), but here are a couple

My kids were so excited to spend time with their second cousins (I think that is the right terminology, my cousins' children)...Kaida, Duncan, Audree, and Allie.  We weren't able to see them for very long, but love that they play well together when we do!

Thank you Auntie Janet for ALWAYS hosting Thanksgiving and letting us CRASH the party this year!  LOVE you guys!

UTAH TRIP

At the end of November we were fortunate enough to spend 2 weeks in Utah!!  The kids were so excited.  Seriously they kept talking about EVERYONE who lives in Utah, and when the majority of your family lives there it really does seem like EVERYONE!
Grammy and Pa came to the airport to pick us up - since we were stealing Grammy's car for the ENTIRE 2 weeks we let them take us to  lunch. :)

And the vacation of injuries started there...Luke decided to run right into the side of a table.  Unfortunately for him the table didn't move too much.  Oh well, what's a little bump, right?!
The next few days were spent with the Smiths - Nana, Grandpa, Auntie Tina, and UNC.  We thought about going to the zoo, but quickly changed our minds when we saw the forecast of COLD!  So we went to the NEW Living Planet Aquarium!  It was pretty cool.  Thanks Nana for spoiling us!

Silly Auntie Tina!

We also spent some time at Unc and Auntie Tina's house...the kids had to see Trout and Maddie!

We made plans in advance to catch  up with so many of our friends that we don't get to see too often.  The Nagelis were of course in our itinerary!!  We spent the morning with Jenny and the crew, Shawn was able to meet up with us for lunch - yay for Chick Fil-A. That afternoon we decided to venture out and go swimming at the new rec center in Herriman (I seriously wish the East Coast had similar rec centers with AWESOME indoor pools)!  It was here where injury #2 occurred, but sadly this one took us right to the Insta-Care for stitches on little Mika's chin.  She was a trooper, didn't even flinch!

That evening we left all 3 with Unc and Auntie Tina (good practice for them as they are expecting a little girl due in April) and enjoyed some adult time with Jenny and Shawn.  Did I mention we LOVE spending time with our friends?!  It makes me sad that we live so far away, but maybe one day...right?

We were also able to spend some time with the Hirasunas.  But being the slacker that I am I didn't even take ONE picture.  Soni even took us on a tour of her NEW house.  I have started a list of EVERYTHING that I need when I finally get my home.;))

Next on the list was to spend time with the Call Family.  The kids were so excited (not sure they ever truly forgave us for visiting the Calls without them)!  

These two boys are like two peas in a pod...literally!

One morning Katie and I stole away for some much needed 'girl time' and enjoyed a relaxing time getting pedicures!  These are some pics of what the boys/kids were doing

Taija wanted to know when we could get a pony?!

While we were in Utah Justin's Grandma - Mama - came to visit too!  We were so amazed that she was willing to make the visit.  The kids remembered her from before - Luke always refers to her as my Mama.  It is so cute!  One morning while the big kids were outside playing Mama decided to play soccer with Mika.  Mind you this lady is 87 years old - I was so worried she was going to trip over something!!  Thank you Mama for the memories!

The rest of the trip I was NOT so good at taking pics - SORRY!  Here are a few random pics taken with Pa.  One day we ventured North to visit Kim and Larry and their kiddos.  

We were also able to be a part of Miss Zoey Anne Holdeman's Blessing Day.  The kids LOVE their baby cousin!

We loved being part of family activities and look forward to when we can go back to Utah and once again catch up with ALL of our family and friends!

Here are some of pics we took with ALL of the cousins...and Pa!  And Grammy!

Don't mind Taija's black eye...injury #3 was sustained jumping on Pa's couch right into the back of Luke's head.  Needless to say Luke walked away without a scratch.  Taija not so much.  The worst part was the next day she fell off one of Grammy's stools and the stool fell backward onto her left cheekbone.  That left a beautiful black mark as well.  After 2 weeks away from school we sent her back with 2 BIG black eyes - she was so excited to tell us about everyone who asked about it.  I was just waiting to get a phone call from DCFS!