my favorite weekend of January

Our favorite weekend in January has come and gone. This year it snowed which I don't remember the last time it snowed this much while we were there.  Being the awesome sister that I am, I took my three kids, plus Shelbie's oldest two kids swimming for the day.  It was easier when Mom, Whitney, and Karly (have I mentioned before how much I miss those girls) showed up.   Did I mention there was a nasty, nasty snow storm?

Shelbie was not able to come swimming with us Friday. She had a Doctors appointment that we hoped would be a quick in and out but turned into an actually quite scary ordeal. Which is another story for a different post. It still makes me teary when I think about it.  Thus is why I took her oldest two with me. I realized that having 5 kids under the age of 6 would be incredibly hard. 

We had a fun time swimming all day in the snow and the pool felt super warm when the big silver dollar size flakes came floating effortlessly down. 

Siri, Chamberlain, Gunnar,  and Jett loved swimming outside in the snow.

Hudson, Lex, baby Bram, and Baby Harrison liked being in the warm pool inside or in the hot tub.

I loved every minute of it. My favorite part was watching how much snow collected on the kids eyelashes outside. It felt like a scene from a story book. 

Then when it was time to head home the roads were too snowy to drive on with 5 kids all by myself. My wonderful parents got me a room for the night and we split the kids up and had a sleep over which they all loved!

What a magical weekend it was.

I'm already looking forward to next year. 

I must state that I did not take as many picture as I would have liked. Since I had two good swimmers, two swimmers who used water wings to stay afloat, and a baby in my arms pretty much the entire time.

The only picture I could get of Hudson. He said it was too cold to swim in the snow.

Also a big Thanks to Tanner for playing with my kids the entire day in the pool.

 

Chamberlain is all Legos

Chamberlain is into Legos.

Santa brought him lots of Legos. He has lost about 5 teeth and his Tooth-fairy money has/is going to more Legos.

I took the kids on our yearly Little America swimming trip and he was such a huge help that his reward was Legos.

Chamberlain loves Legos.

To be honest I love buying legos for Chamberlain.

I love seeing what he builds and where his imagination takes him while he is building and battling his Legos. His favorite Legos are Batman ones although his pride and joy is his Han Solo little figure. I love that everyday when he comes home from school he has snuck a Lego guy or two in his pocket, and whips them out to show me which ones he took.

I will continue to buy Legos for Chamberlain as long as I can and as long as he will keep conjuring up new things to build.

We even moved his desk from his room to the living room under the window (his choice) so that he could play with his Legos while I was cooking, cleaning, playing with the other kids etc... He said that he loved the view from the window... He will sit as his Lego table for hours, building and building.

I love my little Lego boy.

Siri is all girl

Lex gave Siri the perfect gift; a blow dryer and hair set.

Siri has been in heaven doing peoples hair with her blow dryer and scissors.

She also got a stroller and demanded that we put baby Navy in it so she could push her around the house. While Shelbie was getting ready we may have given in to Siri's wishes. 
I am amazed at how different Siri is from Chamberlain. I mean to say that all the girly stuff is just in her. We have't bought many girl toys she has a few dolls and that's about it. This Christmas we went all girly for her and she loved it. Still to this day which is at the end of January she is playing with all her Christmas toys and loving them. Its very rewarding as a parent to see her enjoy the things we thought she might like/love.
 

Christmas 2012

Christmas is really a blur for me.

There were lots of presents and happy faces but the actual morning and opening of the presents seems to escape me. 
I do remember the difference between the younger two kids vs. the older two.
Siri and Lex liked opening each present and wanted to play right then with everyone. They seemed to be happy with what was in front of them. Chamberlain ripped open his gifts as fast as he could. 
He was grateful for what he got (especially all the leogs) but he stockpiled his gifts and was eager to open more and more.
I loved being able to compare and contrast the age differences and the reaction of all the kids together. 
I do remember thinking Christmas with kids is the best. I also remember thinking I would be ok with never getting another gift as long as I could give to my kids. I found so much joy in watching the kids open their gifts and play with each one.   
I love being a parent it so rewarding and very fulfilling. 

Happy girl, sleepy boy.

 Of course Christmas morning wouldn't be complete without someone crying.

 One super sick little boy.

He didnt even want to open any presents he just wanted to sleep. Poor kid.

 One happy little boy.

 One happy little boy.

One happy and content baby.

The rest of the time was really a blur because I caught that horrible flu of 2012/2013

that made the news and I was out for over 3 weeks.

I finally caved at the week 3 and went to the Doctor for some very powerful meds.

Merry Christmas 2012

Pinata

The Laycooks gave us a new tradition a few years ago and its still going strong. 

Whenever we are together either for Christmas or the New Year we have a pinata.

This year we did it on Christmas eve.

Its really fun and the kids love it.  

This year Lex and Siri were old enough to understand what was going on. 

Lex took to the pinata and Siri wasnt sure why we would hit this colorful horse. 

She tapped it a few times but gently, trying not to hurt it, while Chamberlain ripped into it. 

Its funny because just before dinner Chamberlain started to not feel well.

I made him go lay down on my bed and immediately started to doctor him up.

With a 20 minute nap and lots of water he went from this below photo.

To this breaking the pinata. 

 

Christmas Eve.

This year we invited the Tuckers over for Christmas Eve dinner.

They are an older couple in the ward who live across the wash from my parents. 

They often spy on my parents with telescopes and come driving over if they see lots of action happening outside. I guess thats what you do when you are retired and are losing your marbles. 

They are however some of the nicest people and we were glad that they could join us for and evening of entertainment. 

We had dinner as usual and a program full of entertainment.

My favorite part was Tim, Josh and Hudson's rendition of Feliz Navidad.

We were all rolling on the floor. Kudos to them for being such good sports.

Hudson didn't miss a beat he held still the entire song and sang his heart out.

 

 

All around it was a great evening and I was glad I could spend it with my family.

live Nativity

This year we decided to go to the live Nativity at the Tuachan.

It was neat I think. I believe we all had fun, even though it was a bit on the colder side. No matter what we were in a beautiful canyon all lit up with Christmas lights... whats not to love about that. 

We saw Santa, rode on old Salty the train, sipped hot cocoa with pink frosted sugar cookies, and even ran into our dear old friends (their entire family of like 30 now) the Cotters.

Because it was so cold I only got a few pictures I mainly focused on keeping Harrison warm.

I had to take one of Siri in a beanie that my Aunt Siri knitted for us when I was Chamberlain's age. 

I remember getting the hats with little booties she knitted as well. I even remember the family picture we took of our feet with the booties on. We all laid on the ground with our feet up on the wall and snapped a picture to send to her as a Thank You.

And as always my Mother saved them all this time. She saves everything which has proven to come in handy pretty much most of the time.

The only Picture we got this year with Santa.

Hudson and Chamberlain were the only two who were brave enough to sit on his lap.

Lex and Siri were both stand offish and enjoyed watching from afar. 

Maybe next year.

 I know the above photo is a bit blury but its the only one I got of some of the lights.

 Sweet hats knitted from the 80's!

 Siri watching from afar. Navy in the stroller and you can also see Mrs. Clause in the background.

 Fearless older boys asking for toys!

It still cracks me up that these two are the same age but how different they are in size.

They are the best of friends and I hope they will always be the best of friends.