Long Christmas get-together.

My family reserved the Mutual Dell Lodge for our Christmas get-together. It was such a good experience that I hope we can do it every year. It was totally free and they had so much for us to do. We went sledding first. Olivia even tried snow boarding (standing on a sled). She's got pretty good balance! Then we played games inside, colored pictures, ate yummy food and set up our beds to sleep there. The highlight was when one of the three Magi (wise-men) came to visit. It was so great to have the Magi instead of Santa there. The magi told us all about his travels to find the baby Jesus. He showed us a slide show of all that he saw. It had pictures of the shepherds who were watching their flocks when the angel came to tell them of Jesus' birth. We saw the big, bright, new star that appeared and we saw pictures of Mary and Joseph and even baby Jesus. It was wonderful!! We all felt the spirit there. I really hope the Magi will come visit us again next year! Hint, hint, Dad!

Thanksgiving Pictures

I said I'd be playing catch-up... Here are pics from around Thanksgiving.

Quick trip to "Lost Begas".

We decided a day or two before that we were going to go to Las Vegas. Aaron's parents, Grandparents (Rudds), Aunt Kerrie and her family (who live there), and Mandi were going to be there. We didn't want to miss being with everyone so we packed a few bags, invited Kristi (Chewey) to come along and we took off. Does the song, "I drove all night" come to mind?

Aaron and I at the Bellagio.

At night we went to see the light and music display in the old part of vegas. Makell was dancing around like crazy until the movie on the ceiling started. She was mesmerized.

Papa took us all out to eat dinner in some fancy top floor restaurant. It was really yummy and so generous as always of him. It was so fun to see him with Jacob. I don't know how I didn't get any pictures of Grandma or great Grandma or Grandpa! I'm kicking myself.

I took a few pics of Chewey. Of course she wasn't really gambling but I thought they turned out so well that I just had to post them. Below, she's getting robbed by the one-armed-bandit.

Here is Aunt Mandi and Chloe. It was awesome to see them again. We wish so badly they lived closer so we could spend more time together.

Kris posed next to this cool car we saw in a parking lot.

I love Aaron's family so much. I really am so lucky that I get along so well with all my in-laws. I feel like one of the sisters or one of the kids. It's always so fun to be with them.

Halloween '09

Trick or treat! This year I made costumes. It was so much fun and I think they turned out WAY better than anything you can buy in a store.

Aaron carved a pumpkin for each girl.

Mandi gave Jacob this outfit so he got to be a baseball player.

Olivia got to be a hot air balloonist. She LOVED her costume. She thought it was the greatest. I admit I thought her and Makell's costumes were the best out of their entire school. I could be biased though-- naw, I'm right.

Joci was a scuba diver. How cute is that?!

Makell was a black widow. So awesome! Everyone loved her costume at school too. My mom made a black widow costume for me when I was little and I thought I'd carry on the tradition.

I did her hair like a spiderweb. It did take a long time but she was surprisingly patient.

We quickly threw Macey's gumball costume together. I sewed an old shirt up, added some pink striped tights and Aaron drew on the Dubble Bubble. She stayed nice and warm while trick or treating. People could not stop looking and commenting on all the costumes. It was so much fun.

Fall Family Fun!

We decided to get out of the house and go on a little adventure before it got too cold outside.

First we went to the river bottoms and hiked around a bit.

Then we went to a park and played in the leaves.

Then we rolled down a hill.

The girls had fun playing on the slide and other equipment.

More fun in the leaves...

I had to get some father and son pictures. Such handsome boys!