Christmas in Arizona, Brianhead and Hoover Dam

Well after a week in Washington the kids and I headed to Arizona to meet up with Daddy and the rest of the family. The kids missed Josh so much especially Brooklyn. She is such a daddy's girl. She just kept hugging and kissing him, it was soo cute! While in Arizona we were busy busy busy. We went to the Temple lights, and Christmas shopping for the kids gifts, spent some girl time going to a movie while the boys had a boys night as well. The food was amazing, the kids had so much fun with their aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma and grandpa. Brody loves grandma bingham and all their traditions in her room. Brooklyn loves grandpa and became quite the grandpa's little girl while we were there. After Christmas we headed to Utah for some skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, and tubing. We had sooo much fun! It truly was a blast!!! Brody and Ellie took a skiing class together and Brody was a natural. He had a lot of fun and was smiling and laughing despite how cold it was there. On the drive back to Arizona we stopped at the Hoover Dam and toured the visitors center and the surrounding areas. We want to tour the dam one day but kids arent allowed so another time for that. All in all Christmas was a very memorable occasion for our family. We loved every minute and miss Josh's family already. Hopefully we can get them out to visit us soon. It is good to be back in our schedule and sleeping routine...yeah! And I love my gym so it is nice to be back to that even if I came back 5 pounds heavier! Church stuff is keeping us busy but I would so much rather be busy than board. Happy New Year!

Christmas Gifts

Once again these pictures are out of order but oh well. While in Washington we had a little Christmas with my parents. The kids loved opening their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. Brooklyn was so excited she got clothes (she must take after her mama!) And obviously she was also upset when the present opening was all done. Brody loved his new transformers book. Thank you mom and dad for all the gifts and the fun time we had while there.

Christmas Outfits

First Day in Washington (Trip December 2009)

These pictures are out of order but for whatever reason my computer wouldnt let me change them around. As tradition goes I have a hard time staying in Virginia when Josh has finals since we dont see him at all, so I take off with the kids and have fun while he studies in peace and quiet. Anyways, our first day in Washington started right as we arrived at my parents house after a long plane ride. My mom always has a snack for us waiting on the kitchen counter...something I love about going home. Brookie especially loved this snack since she was able to dip into the bowl all by herself. She loves to dip any and all food and lick it off. Then we went to get my parents Christmas tree. They had waited for me and the kids to get there to get their tree. All bundled up we headed out to the Christmas tree lot we always go to near our home and cut down our own tree. My dad had already picked out a great one with Jess before we were even there. He did wait for my mom's approval....smart man! haha! jk! Anyways it was quite the laughing matter to see us cutting the tree down. Taylor tried at first and according to my dad didnt get very far and then I finished it off. To argue our case of why it took so long...the saw was really dull! It was a fun first day and Brody and Brooklyn had fun cutting down the tree.

"...one horse open sleigh..."

Before we left for the holidays we went on a horse and carriage ride...for FREE! (I love finding free things!) Anyways we had so much fun. The horse's name was Fancy and Brody giggled all the way. Brooklyn was really tired and grumpy. We had never taken a carriage ride in Salt Lake and I always wanted to. We will definitely make this a family tradition each year while we live here in Virginia.

Our Gingerbread Train

This year instead of buying the pre-made gingerbread houses we decided to attempt to make our own gingerbread. I think that it is commonly misunderstood that to make gingerbread take a lot of work. Really it was quite simple and it made our home smell SOOO GOOD!!! Our gingerbread train turned out pretty cute we actually had more to the train but i couldnt find anything in the house to build it on that was long enough so this had to do. Brody had a blast helping daddy put it all together and tasting all of the candy while doing so.