Christmas Day 2010

Christmas day was awesome! Nate told the boys they couldn't come out of their room until 6:00 a.m., so sure enough Gavin was in our room at 6:10 a.m. We then sent him to wake up Liam. After having them go to the bathroom and such I told them we should sleep for a little while longer after which Gavin said "No!", but there was no response from Liam. Liam had fallen back to sleep on the floor! We had a good laugh and re-woke him up. We decided to let Ashlyn sleep for a bit, so just the four of us went out to see what Santa had brought. Once again Santa went way overboard with presents. We all took turns opening one and made the opening present part last about two hours. My parents came over for our traditional Christmas breakfast and they stayed for a little bit, but had to go to visit the rest of my siblings. After they left we just spent the day playing with our new stuff and relaxing. I will admit that I was exhausted in the afternoon and actually took a little nap. We also had a yummy Christmas dinner mostly made by Nate. It was wonderful. We had such a great Christmas and feel so blessed that have done so.

The boys finding presents for each other and Mom and Dad to open.

More present hunting. Don't mind my knees! :)

Ashlyn and her new big head Mickey!

Ashlyn wasn't to in to opening presents. She actually spent sometime just sitting on them. She was the last one to finally finish opening presents. I think she was more interested in eating Candy Canes.

Gavin with some of his stuff. Way too many Lego sets!

Gavin couldn't wait to start building. He started his building with the Hogwarts Express which he finished by the end of the day.

Liam and Ashlyn playing and watching Nate play his new PS3.

Playing the new PS3 and Christmas day relaxing.

Christmas Eve 2010

We had a great Christmas Eve just being together as a family. We took time in the morning to clean the house (Santa doesn't bring gifts to a dirty homes!) :). Then we decided that since we weren't going to have a white Christmas that we would drive and find the snow so we could go sledding. We drove up near Snowbasin and found a great sledding hill. The snow was very deep, but icy so we could walk through it. The kids had a blast. After we got home we had dinner and spent time doing traditions, one of them being driving around and looking at lights. To our surprise when we got home the Christmas Elf had left us all new pajamas! Here are a few pictures from our Christmas Eve. I didn't mean to put them out of order, but they are. :)

Family pictures in our new Christmas pajamas.

The kids. We couldn't get Gavin to smile normal. Oh well.

At the bottom of the hill.

Gavin going down.

Ashlyn hanging out on top of the snow watching us sled. She did go down a couple times with Nate until she got too much snow in her face and didn't want to do it anymore.

More sledding.

Near the top of the hill. Gavin wouldn't go down with Nate at first, but once Nate convinced him to go Gavin realized how fun it was and they ended up going down numerous times while Liam, Ashlyn and I sat in the car to stay warm!

Gingerbread Houses

We spent yesterday afternoon building and decorating gingerbread houses. Of course Nate had to make REAL gingerbread, no graham crackers for us. :) The kids had fun eating and decorating. I didn't get pics until today because the camera battery problem. So here are the houses.

Nate was making Gavin laugh so I had a hard time getting a decent picture.

Laughing.

A little better. Isn't his house great?!

Liam smiled perfect for once.

I took this picture a few hours ago. Can you tell the kids are excited for Christmas? They are bouncing of the walls with excitement! Merry Christmas!

Temple Square Lights

Gavin has been asking since Thanksgiving when we would go see the lights at Temple Square. We finally made it down there last night (23rd). It wasn't too crowded or too cold so it was a great outing. I only managed to grab one (funny) picture before the battery died on our camera.

The lights were beautiful as usual. Sweet Ashlyn just kept saying "Lights, wow!" She is so funny!

Hess Christmas Party

We had our annual Hess Christmas party at my parents on the 22nd. I didn't get very many still pics because I was taking video instead. But here are a few of the festivities.

Gavin could not wait to play pool with Grandpa.

The kids playing pool with Grandpa. I think Grandpa just got a ball in! Look at him cheer! :)

The Santa Jello made by my sister-in-law.

Getting ready to eat tons of food!

Gathering for the talent show and Nativity. I didn't get any pics of the Nativity because I was filming and I forgot to grab my camera for all the fun games we played. So this is just a little taste of the fun we had. It was a great party!

Snowmen

Today we were feeling sort of sad because we didn't get very much snow from a storm that dumped snow on places an hour south of us, so we decided to take advantage of the VERY little snow that we got and made some snowmen. The snow was VERY wet almost slush, but we still managed to make a couple nice snowmen. Just wish the snow would hang around for Christmas, but it looks like we will have a green Christmas this year!

The boys said the middle snowman was me. I didn't know my hair is that crazy! :)

I love Liam's face in this pic.

A close up of the snowmen. You can see that we didn't have much snow left at this point.

Spike (the cat) was investigating the snowmen and jumped up on top of the tall one. Spike almost blends in with the snow. Gavin threw a snowball at Spike which got him quickly off the snowman! :)

Cookie Decorating

We decorated our sugar cookies on Sunday. Of course there was more eating that frosting going one with the boys, but I guess that's the fun of cookie decorating. The boys have continued to want to eat them everyday, so I finally told them they have to stop so we can save some for Santa!!

Gavin's Gingerbread House

No this is not the post about our gingerbread houses that we make each year. That is still to come. This post is just a quick look at Gavin in school. I got to go help out with his class while they made Gingerbread Houses. It was a lot of fun.

1st Grade Christmas Program

Gavin had his 1st grade Christmas program on Wednesday. I went during the day and helped him get his costume on and then watched the program while the kids performed in an assembly. Then we went back that evening for the performance for the parents. The kids performed 3 skits having to do with Christmas around the world. Gavin was part of a skit about "Los Reyes Magos" or the three kings. It is something that is celebrated in Spain around Christmas time. He was the king "Melchor". He had to say a few lines in Spanish asking kids if they were good before he gave them presents. I pretty much spent a month getting his costume together. His Spanish teacher gave me a few instructions on what he should look like, but I had to come up with all the stuff. It was a little stressful, but I think his costume turned out great!

Ashlyn's outfit

Many times a day you can find Ashlyn in her "play" outfit. This includes a hat (usually fisherman hats), a green exercise band posing as a necklace, and a Harry Potter wand. I'm not sure what exactly she is playing while in this outfit, but she loves it. Usually I get zapped by the wand or she makes gun shooting noises. Isn't great to have two older brothers to learn from?! :)

"Put up the tree before my spirit falls again"

We went last Friday evening and found our Christmas tree. It was a pain to get up, but is beautiful now it is lit and decorated. Of course, you can't beat the smell of a REAL Christmas tree. Earlier in the week we put up our fake tree that sits in the living room. As you can tell from the pictures, I choose the decor for the fake tree, and the kids pick the decor (our family ornaments) for the real tree. Bring on the Christmas season!!

Gavin was pouting and refused to be in any pictures so you just get Liam and Ashlyn.

I can't believe I actually got Ashlyn to smile AND look at the camera for all these pictures!

The Book Report

Gavin is in 1st grade but is reading at 2nd and 3rd grade levels. Because of this, his teacher is giving him extra projects to do to push him harder in school. His project for November was a book report. During the month he finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, so that was the book he decided to do his report on. He had to do a written report, a 'change the ending' paper, and something artsy, so he made a diorama. Here is a sample from his report:

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is fantasy book. It starts out at number four Privet Drive at the Dursley’s house. Most of the story takes place at Hogwarts. Hogwarts is a school in England. It has secret doors and secret rooms. It has a lake called the Black Lake and a forest called the Forbidden Forest where fantasy creatures live."

Gavin enjoyed typing up the report even though it took a long time. He was able to present his book report to his class and another 1st grade class. He came home yesterday and said that he even presented his book report to the principal! It was a proud moment for us as parents. I don't like to brag about my kids (but I will) Gavin is such a smart and special kid!