We had a week of vacation this year during the kids spring break!

We went to St. George on Monday and didn’t come home until Sunday! It was a ton of fun!

An hour and a half into the trip we picked up the Falabella kids and let their parents get towed back and figure out what to do with  a broken van! 2nd road trip (already) that we’ve had a FULL 12 passenger van 🙂 On Monday we got to stay at the new Condo! We ate McDonald’s and watched the NCAA basketball championship game.

TUESDAY – we swam and then swam some more!! My kids were so excited. They loved the pool. I had fun swimming with them and trying to help them learn how to swim.

WEDNESDAY we went on a hike to the Lava Tubes. We found some neat caves. The hike wasn’t too far but we did not come prepared… I honestly came prepared to be 8 months pregnant and sit around by the pool BUT… the cousins had some fun things planned so we had to go check them out. I’m glad we did. We ended our hikes a little earlier than most but the kids did pretty well.

THURSDAY – we hiked again! Millie loved the cold water and thought she was big enough to walk!! All of our kids jumped in the cold water.

FRIDAY – my favorite day, we went down to the river and let the kids play and dig and explore. The older people played water baseball all day and the pregnant lady sat on the beach, counting kids and enjoying the weather.

SATURDAY – last day of vacation! Play ground, pool, and BBQ. Packer learned to survive in the deep end of the pool. I’m not convinced that he was fully swimming but he was doing really well. Cali is close also. Ray and Rose learned to trust their life jackets and we just had fun.

SUNDAY – after church we headed for home. All of the kids chilled out with their tablets. I slept.

The Spring Break St. George trip is always one of our favorites. We love being with family and we love all of the ‘summer time activities’ when it’s still spring.

TRADITIONS, TRADITIONS…

Christmas Eve means McDonald’s at noon.

Christmas Eve means being with family.

… acting out the birth of our Savior.

… and eating tomales with (or this year with out) Udine.

… eating all of our favorite snacks.

… tracking Santa as he travels around the world and gets closer and closer to us.

… and drinking too much Guatemalan punch. (again missed out on this year)

… basking in the excitement of all the kids and cousins.

… new pajamas.

… the only night of the year the children actually WANT to go to bed.

We got to have a special get together with Grandma and Grandpa and exchange gifts and eat treats and just enjoy being together:

I think my Father in Law was the picture man for this event because this is all I’ve got. This has become one of our favorite Christmas Traditions and valued time with grandparents.

This was Tuesday the 23rd. The 3 oldest kids went to the dentist in the morning and then we had Christmas with the Grandparents and then we had to go to the salvage yard and say goodbye to the Mitsubishi.

Friday – 12/19 – LAST DAY OF SCHOOL – happy kids! The kids enjoyed playing outside a little, Packer taught us the joys of push pin art. Millie and her dog – one of 3 words she can say. Boys getting out some of their craziness. And Benji lost a tooth – he wanted Santa and the Fairy to come on the same night but he pulled it a day early.

Monday the 22nd of December we had the Netty Families over to decorate Gingerbread houses! Ben told me to remind him to make a double batch of dough and to make the houses 3-5 days early because they have been too soft the last 2 years and caved from the weight of the candy.

This was also the day that I went out to get Pizza and got in a car wreck on State Street. I was turning left and the other car ran the red light pretty late and I was sitting in the intersection. I was blessed to walk away with a bruised knee. The two women in the other car were taken to the hospital but I heard they were ok. That was the first major accident I’ve been in and it was a little crazy. I knew the car was going to hit me so I just braked and braced for impact, I then pushed my car out of the road and went to check on the other vehicle that didn’t stop until it ran into a building! Ben’s car was crunched enough to be considered a total loss. So, not a Christmas miracle, but I’m grateful that no one was seriously injured and that I didn’t have any of my kids in the car with me. We are searching to replace Ben’s car… let me know if you find a great deal!

Sunday 12/14/14

We had soup and bread for dinner – everyone brought something to share and Jamie hosted and it was great. We had our get together a little early this year because of Diego’s surgery but it was kind of fun doing it that early.

After eating we jumped right into the cousin gift exchange. It was fun to watch the kids give and receive and to see all of the personalities. This year we had Carter, Sydney, Lily, Caitlin, Kiah, and Ellie – lots of older kids. Our kids got a Hoverball, Remote Control Car, Frozen Book, Frozen Purse, Go Go Car, and Little Critter – – so much fun. Adults got to exchange gifts as well and Ben and I got a new game: RoboRally!

Movember did happen this year – – -glad it’s over…

Pete, Udine, Rick, Ben

We got to baby sit the other day. Millie loved having someone smaller than her around – so did everyone else… Having Cousin Bennett over was lots of fun:

12/13/14

SOME of us met up for our yearly “off to Cabela’s” picture… Pete, Matt, and Emily met us there. Families are getting bigger and busier…

We stood in line to see Santa and all of the kids asked him for a few things that they really want this Christmas!

We spent a few minutes at the shooting gallery and in this huge Moose Chair.

And we stopped to see the fish!

Then we headed to Carl’s Jr for lunch. The kids played with cousins while adults chatted.