New Year's Eve

Chris and I both went to the gym this morning. Following the gym, Chris had some client appointments and I headed home to referee.

Mark and I watched the kids play all day and they had a good time. I made chicken and rice for dinner with broccoli and then Ricky, Mark, Chris and I headed over to the Garrett's house for some New Year's Eve fun.

At the Garrett's, we ate and played Moods. Then we headed downstairs for some Karaoke which was quite entertaining. I had no intentions of staying up until midnight, but we did and I was glad. After arriving home around 12:30, we sent the kids to bed. Everyone was still awake except for Aislinn and after I finished tidying up, I headed to bed too.

It was a nice New Year's Eve spent with family and friends.

Magic Kingdom

Mark and I got the kids up around 7:30 and headed to the Magic Kingdom for the day. Mark and his children hadn't been there for a long time and we were able to go with them. It was quite busy, but we had a lot of fun and got to do all of the rides that we wanted to do.

It was quite cold, but we were brave, or silly enough to go on Splash Mountain. Somehow, I ended up in the front row. We filled up the whole boat with all 9 of us.

Around 4, we were in desperate need of some ice cream. Isn't that a cute picture?

I ended up leaving with Brennan, Lauklan and Kerstyn around 9:15 and Mark stayed with Thomas, Kylea, Kerstyn and Greyson until about 11. We were all exhausted, but had a great day.

Birthday Celebration for Jarom

After sleeping in this morning, we headed to Zaxby's for lunch and then to Chuck E. Cheese's to celebrate Jarom turning 3. The kids were very happy about both things and they played their little hearts out.

I had to get a picture of me and my buddy Holly.

As you can see, Chris is serious about his game playing...

Happy Birthday to Jarom!

Ammon's Blessing Day

There are 16 of us staying at Dad and Kenney's house. That is quite a crew. Especially when 9 of them are 13 and younger! Needless to say, it was quite a feat for us to all be up and ready to leave the house to go to church by 8:30. We didn't have a single problem. That is, until we went to get in my van and we realized that my keys were nowhere to be found! Mom had taken them last night by accident. So, we ended up barely fitting into Kenney and Dad's cars and we got to church right in time.

Ammon's blessing was beautiful and we were glad to be there for it.

That is quite a crew, isn't it?

Here are a few shots from after church with our crazy crew. We had a lot of fun, but it was super chaotic at times. We were glad to be invited, none the less.

Merry Christmas!

Before it all began...

Let the opening commence!

My present from Chris and the kids. A bracelet with a charm for each of the childre and Chris and me. I love it.

The mommy must smell good.

After we got all done opening up gifts, we headed to Tallahassee for more family fun.

Bike rider

Lauklan and Kerstyn took Aislinn's training wheels off today and she learned how to ride a two wheeler super quickly!

Aislinn is very proud of herself and she worked on her newly developed skills all day.

I think it was great timing since she most likely wore herself out.

Hopefully every one will go to bed at a decent time tonight so that Santa may arrive and the tired mommy and daddy can go to sleep.

The office was closed today, but Chris worked from about 7 - 3:30. I came and went too, to try and help. I'll just say it wasn't my idea of what our Christmas Eve would be.

Christmas Work Party take 2

I took some pictures at the party on my phone, so I am posting them here. We all had a really nice time.

Mary, Ricky, Brenda and Judi below

Do you like my food storage in my formal dining room? Leave it to the Mormons...

Greg, Janie, Tony, Deb, Cindy and Chris
The office is closed tomorrow, but Chris will be going in to do a closing that HAD to happen. It's always something. However, so I won't be too upset, I'll say, I'm glad that we have a closing to do and a job.

Work Christmas Party

It was time for the Work Christmas Party again. We had a great time!

On the agenda for the day: food, then games and then some more food and laughing.

Greg, Cindy, Me, Shelby and Janie

Tony, Deb, Greg and Cindy

Deb

Chris getting a look at his newly framed picture. The picture was given to him a few years ago and we finally framed it for him.

Group shot - we have a great team

Family Dinner

I ran into the office this morning and then took the boys for haircuts. After all that fun, we met up with Grandma and Holly's family at Cici's for lunch. The kids absolutely love that place, I simply try to endure it...

We went back to the house after that and the kids played for hours. The worked up another appetite for macaroni and cheese with hot dogs for dinner while the adults had left overs. Grandma rejoined us after her work Christmas party and even Uncle Ricky came over and Daddy came home.

Don't we look like we're having a good time?

Girls date

I took Ailsinn and Kerstyn shopping today at Justice and then to lunch at Macaroni Grill. We had a nice time and I learned a few things.

1. I have absolutely no idea what looks good. According to Kerstyn...
2. Aislinn knows what matches and what she wants. Period.

Boy, I'm in trouble...

Our Christmas Sabbath

Chris didn't get to go to our ward today, but we did have some family there. Ricky came, Holly was there with her family and then of course us. It was a beautiful sacrament meeting full of Christmas music and hope. The choir sang prelude music and special music in the middle of the meeting. The congregation sang several Christmas hymns too and the Bishop and President Ingalls spoke.

It was a very nice meeting with the focus on the birth of our Savior. I was glad to be there and have a part in that special meeting.

EPCOT

We woke up this morning and headed to EPCOT with the kids minus Kerstyn. She woke up earlier this morning and got ready and headed to EPCOT with all the others. Grandma, Holly's family, Uncle Ricky, and Aunt Carolyn's family. We were the slow ones...

The weather was absolutely ugly! It was cold and rainy. We loaded up our ponchos and headed out though. Grandma was beyond excited to have all of us there. We were to have our picture taken in front of the ball again. We had it done 10 years ago and it was time to update the picture. We also had lunch together at the Coral Reef Restaurant then headed to see the Candlelight concert. We all had a great time. I loved the concert, of course. Brennan, Aislinn and Chris slept through it. ;)

It ended up stopping with the rain around 2 and the rest of the day was pretty nice. It wasn't sunny, and it was kind of cold, but it wasn't raining, which was good. We didn't end up leaving the park until around 9 which was later than we had planned to leave, but the kids were being good and we were getting on rides pretty quickly.

The interesting part was trying to remember where we parked because I was so distracted with the rain and trying to get everyone in their ponchos that I didn't pay attention to where we were parked. Luckily, Chris did a better job observing where we were and we got there pretty quickly. Whew!

TRON

It was the kids last day at school today before the holidays. It was also the opening day of Tron. Brennan has been looking forward to this for months and months. We all decided to meet at Chili's for dinner and then send off the boys to see the movie while the girls and a few of the boys went back to Grandma's to relax.

So, Chris, Ricky, Dane, Kerstyn, Greyson, Brennan, his two friends Ethan and John, went to see Tron while Holly, Jarom, Ammon, Aislinn, Lauklan, Devin, Grandma and I went back to the house.

Dinner was good, but slow and apparently the movie was all that Brennan had been hoping for. I'm glad.

The tale of a teacher and friend

We have a great home teacher.

He is a friend too, which is even better.

He is always there for our family and we know that, which provides us great comfort. I know that he wasn't assigned to our family by chance and we are super thankful that Heavenly Father knows our needs and sends us people to help us in all aspects of our journey.

He came for a visit tonight. It didn't start until about 9:45, which is pretty typical since he is super busy. But, he came. And visited. And listened. And loved.

We are blessed.

Leftover night

We have a night in our house about once a week that is termed 'leftover night'. It is exactly that. A night where we eat usually all of the leftovers in the refrigerator. It cleans out the refrigerator which I like and makes room for other goodies. Like more leftovers to come from the next several meals that I will make. Yes, shocking, but I do cook every once in a while. ;)

I made my normal large portion of chicken and rice last night for dinner. We had Grandma and Uncle Ricky over and I guess it was good because there wasn't much 'leftover' for tonight's meal.

At the start

JC and Carolyn

Married 12/11/10

We overslept this morning and didn't get to leave until around 8:45 when we were supposed to head out by 8. But, we did make it to Tallahassee around 12:45 with about 15 minutes to spare.

The wedding was beautiful.

Carolyn and Bay both looked stunning.

Our kids were in jeans, but we were there.

We survived the day and got back to our house a little before midnight tonight.