Holidays 2012

We had such a fun time this Christmas! We spent a weekend in the country with Grandma & Grandpa Gibbles and my entire family. We had delicious food, fun games, snowmobile rides with sledding, and lots of good laughs. We love spending time with our family!

On Christmas Eve Brynn and I made Santa some cookies in the morning.The cousins spent the afternoon sledding and Daddy got off work early to take our kids. We spent Christmas Eve night at Grandma & Grandpa Mills and had the most delicious prime rib and Grandma made her famous cinnamon rolls. YUM! The kids watched movies and played and opened up their jammies. We came home and set out "Jumbo Kringle Cookies" for Santa and wrote him a note and the kids were off to dream land.

We spent Christmas morning at home. I woke up at 5:30 and figured since I was already up... everybody should be so I jumped on everyone's beds and yelled "SANTA CAME!" lol. I love the excitement in our children's eyes on Christmas morning. The kids came down to our Christmas tree on the main floor and opened their stockings by the fireplace while Daddy went down and lit a fire in the fireplace downstairs. We went down stairs and the kids were so much fun as they opened their gifts. They took their time with each present and we had a lot of fun playing and reading and just enjoying each other.

Brynn got McKenna! She has been begging for her all year and planning every detail of their lives together with each new American Girl Doll magazine she received in the mail. They are pretty cute together! They have the same color hair and eyes and they both do gymnastics!


Gavin got a new horse that he named "Horsie". The faster he rides him the faster the sound effects are and he LOVES that. He can also feed him a carrot and listen to him munching it. (Gavin also got these OBNOXIOUS teenage mutant ninja turtles that have sound and the longer you pull back their arms and legs.... the longer the sound effects last. I'm not quite sure what Santa was thinking on that one.)


Daddy made his delicious crepes with strawberries and chocolate and powdered sugar for breakfast on Christmas morning. We played all day and Grandma and Grandpa came by to see us. We all took a much needed nap that afternoon. When we woke up I made honey ham, cheesy potatoes and candied carrots. We set up our new TV and watched Brave with the new surround sound. It is definitely a much more fun experience and the kids were enthralled! I love my family with all of my heart and I'm grateful for these memories we get to make together~!

Before Christmas, we had a big snow storm and Daddy and the kids went out and built 5 snowmen/women/children! They had so much fun and our snow family turned out pretty cute!








Did you happen to notice the teeny tiny baby snowman in the picture on the left? We are expecting our third baby in July!!! YIPPEEE! I am pregnant! I never thought I'd say that, to be perfectly honest, but we couldn't be more shocked and excited! Brynn has been telling me for years to fix my belly and have more babies and we've told her that it doesn't quite work like that. We were perfectly happy with our daughter and our son and felt like our family was complete but God had other plans! We've had 2 ultrasounds and the baby is growing healthy and strong! We couldn't be more excited and it was super fun sharing the news with family over the holiday. We'll find out if it's a boy or girl in March so I will post more later.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a very joyous New Year! Love you!

Nightly readings of Christmas books!

Annual SLC trip!

The lights were AMAZING this year!

It was SUPER cold and the kids would rather be back swimming at the hotel ;)

Morning of Thanksgiving... I'm so thankful for my kids!

Brynnlie's 5th Birthday

Brynnlie turned FIVE!!! I still can not believe it. Time flies way too fast! She told me that she wanted a strawberry shortcake birthday. She also said that she wanted her very own steak at sizzler and wanted to go miniature golfing. hahaha
 

I had to sneak in her room the night before and take a picture of her sleeping the last time as a 4 year old.... (crying)


She woke up to a vanity, stool, and mirror and was so excited that she got what she asked for. She can now put "make-up" and jewelry on 26 times a day. :) hahaha


She opened up a present every couple of hours all day so that she could take time to play with each item. She loved it!





Daddy got off work early and took us to Sizzler. Brynnlie loves Sizzler because of the salad bar. There is nothing she won't eat as far as vegetables go. She is the Vegetable Monster at our house. We didn't think she could eat an entire steak all by herself but she definitely did!

Afterward we went miniature golfing and we had a lot of fun! I actually beat Matthew by 2 points!!! (I still have the score card on the fridge to remind him. HAHA) Brynn really thinks she won the whole thing though. She actually did get a hole in one and we all jumped up and down and screamed. :)



 

We invited some family over for strawberry shortcake and Brynn opened a few more presents from her Grandma and Grandpa. She told us it was the best day ever!




We love you so much BrynnieBoo. You are incredibly smart, beautiful, funny, positive, brave, loving, compassionate, patient, and helpful. We can not imagine life without you. You are the light of each of our days. You are the greatest big sister in the world. You amaze your mommy and daddy every. single. day. You are SO VERY SPECIAL!!!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our Sweet Punkin Eater Baby Cakes!

Gavin's 2nd Birthday!

Gavin turned 2 today! He woke up to a bedroom full of balloons and Brynnlie and I sang Happy Birthday to him. He got out of bed and we danced around the room kicking the balloons up in the air. He giggled and immediately knew this was going to be a special day. I asked him how old he is and he put both of his pointer fingers up and said "TWO"! He ran into the kitchen and saw his birthday decorations and yelled, "BIRTHDAY!" (sounded more like BIR-DAY!) We took his new 4-wheeler off the table and he jumped on it and pushed all of the buttons and laughed.


We took Brynn to school and he sat in his chair and ate breakfast while I filled and iced his cake. (I made the layers last night and froze them so they'd be easier to ice... and it worked!) I kept singing happy birthday to him and after a few times he started singing happy birthday too. We picked Brynnlie up from school and ate lunch. Daddy came home early and we blew PURPLE bubbles outside (what a fun mess) and drew with his new side walk chalk all over the back porch.

You are a Cheeser Gavin!

This cake would win the Ugliest Cake Contest but it sure tasted Yummy!

Gavin and Daddy took a nap while Brynn went to her friends house to play and I went to get my hair cut. Gavin slept some more while daddy took Brynn to tumbling. After naps and tumbling we ate hamburgers at the park and played on the jungle gym and watched a soccer game. We came home and Gavin finished the dinner he didn't eat at the park. Every time he ate a bite he could get a sticker to stick on his face and arms. He loved that game. After dinner Grandma & Grandpa came over with a couple of aunts and uncles for presents and cake and ice cream. He LOVED his chocolate cake and ate the entire bowl! He played with his new toys while we talked. He got in his jammies and sat on Grandma's lap to read his favorite book "THE BIG RED TUB!" He laughed and laughed at all of her noises and expressions.

We washed his stinky feet and Matt and I took him in his room to go to bed. We said, "I LOVE YOU! and he said, "I WUV U!" We both kissed him on his cheeks at the same time and he smiled. We said a prayer as we held him between us and we thanked our Father in Heaven for this amazing miracle we have been blessed with. We could never have dreamed up this life of ours and how happy and blessed we are with our two beautiful children.

We LOVE YOU FOREVER & ALWAYS GAVIN! Happy 2nd Birthday! :)

Spring Chickens

This year Easter was spent at Grandma & Grandpa's house in the country. We rode 4-wheelers up in the hills, snuggled up and watched "Puss n' Boots", went to church, and had a delicious dinner made by Grandma Kay. It was very relaxing and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Here are a few pics from Easter mrng.

1st Christmas Home

On Christmas Eve we headed up to Grandma & Grandpa's house for dinner. They made their famous prime rib which turned out delicious as always. After dinner we watched the grand kids put on the Nativity. Grandma & Grandpa had taken all the grand kids to their house for a "dress-rehearsal" earlier in the week. Brynn said it was a lot of fun and they got MCDONALDS! It paid off because the play had several "scenes" and was pretty impressive. :) After the play the kids all opened their first present from their grandparents.... SURPRISE -- Jammies! We put them on and headed home so that we could get Santa's cookies & milk put out by the fireplace and put reindeer food outside on the lawn (sparkles mixed with oatmeal).

This year was our very first Christmas in our own home! It was amazing to wake up in our own beds and have our kids come snuggle with us before we went down stairs to open gifts. It was very relaxed and our kids are at such cute ages. They weren't in a hurry to open their presents.

Our babies right when they woke up. They're ready to see if Santa came. (This is Gavin's new "camera smile". hahaha)


They opened their stockings and one present before we had Daddy's Famous Crepes. Matt had set up the table for breakfast and made the crepe batter the night before.




We then went to Sacrament meeting and enjoyed some amazing talks and songs. It was really neat to have church early in the morning and sing songs and here stories that remind us of what Christmas is all about. Brynn sang "Away In A Manger" the rest of the day. We came home and got back into our jammies and went downstairs and opened up the rest of our presents. The kids wanted to play with each toy and read each book before opening up another gift and we had SO MUCH FUN watching them!!!





I made my first Christmas dinner and it turned out pretty good if I say so myself. It wasn't super fancy but it was a really relaxed meal and we enjoyed it together.
Chris & Ellie came on Christmas afternoon and stayed the night! We always have so much fun with them and love them SO much. We felt pretty darn lucky that they would share part of their Christmas holiday at our house :).

It has been a FANTASTIC Christmas! We are so grateful for our babies who make the Christmas season sparkle!!!

Christmas in the Country

We spent the weekend before Christmas with my family and we had a BLAST!!! We had planned it all out and made all the assignments on Thanksgiving so we'd have plenty to do.

We played basketball on the new hoop the guys installed on Thanksgiving weekend. We went on rides up in the mountains on the new quad Grandpa purchased. Tiff had Bingo all ready for the kids with super fun prizes. The adults played White Elephant and played minute-to-win-it games one night and I admit that I did pee my pants a little laughing so hard. We went skeet shoot-n' on the back hill (imagine me saying that in my best cowgirl twang). We cut out and ironed paper snowflakes and hung them all over my mom's windows (if there was a national competition on cutting paper snowflakes... I'm sure my brother Dave would win it!) The kids rode their scooters and plasma cars down the super long driveway.

I'm so sad that I didn't take any pictures. (Tiff & Ellie - send your pics my way ;))

My family is amazing and we love each of them so much! I can't forget to mention my mom's FABULOUS cooking.... YUMMY! :) It was good times and we are so very blessed to have our family close!

Salt Lake 2011

One of our newest and most cherished holiday traditions is going to Salt Lake together. We love to swim, go to dinner and see all the beautiful lights on Temple Square. And mostly, we enjoy snuggling together and watching a movie and eating treats as we look at the temple outside our hotel window. It's awesome to bond and share these family memories (Brynn talks about it randomly throughout the year.)

Thanksgiving 2011

We spent a couple of days at my parents for Thanksgiving this year.

The guys installed a new basketball hoop.


We played a game of soccer while the kids jumped on the tramp and Grandma took some of the grand kids for rides on the horses. (The 1st pic. is of Brynn doing a flip)





The cousins have so much fun when they're together.



We went back up to Logan and we hit the "November Fest" which kind of bombed this year. We went to Arthur Christmas with all of the cousins. We put up all of our Christmas decorations and had a nice long relaxing weekend. It was a good start to the holidays. :)