Fun Fun Fun!

This is Gavin's favorite Christmas present- from Grandma Sill (she is pretty much the coolest person on earth now in Gavin's eyes). She gave him a K'nex ferris wheel and Roller coaster.. Dallas and Gavin put the ferris wheel together the weekend after Christmas and they just put the roller coaster together the other night. Dallas was up half the night working on it. I think he has had more fun with it than Gavin has! It really is a cool toy. I just don't know where I am going to keep it.. It's pretty big! I guess we will keep it up for a while, then take it down and they can have fun putting it back together another time!

Happy Birthday!!

My baby girl is 8 years old!! We didn't have a party since we went to build-a-bear but we did have a few friends over for cake and ice cream! I didn't get any pictures of them though- What was I thinking? Mackenzie really wanted a turtle cake. I am definately not a talented baker but we did our best! She was happy with the results so that's all that matters! She has wanted roller skates forever so that's what she got!She also got some toys from her friend Kolby!

and a baptism pillow-case that she gets to color with some special crayons..and a robe- she has been wearing it pretty much constantly since! She also got some money from Grandma Anderson and she really wants to go spend it!

We hope you had a Happy Birthday Kenzie! We Love you very much. You are such a special girl and you have been such a blessing to our family! We are so proud of you!

Party Time!!

Mackenzie's birthday is on the 15th and every year for their birthdays, the kids get to choose to either have a party with a few friends, or to go and do something with the family.. boondocks, chuck-E-cheese, the zoo, the aquarium, whatever they want. I try to make a big deal out of their birthdays and I want them to choose how they want to celebrate! This year, Mackenzie said she just wanted to go to build-a-Bear. So, saturday we went to Layton and rode the "train" (the frontrunner) to Salt Lake to the Gateway. Grandma, Trey and Tage came with us! Waiting for the train!

Avery was happy until she saw a train pass by. Then she decided she was NOT riding it. Our train came and as I went to step on it, she dove out of my arms, and into Grandma's. Too bad grandma was getting on the train too! She cried for about the first 10 minutes saying "get me off!" Then she settled down and was ok. We went to Jason's Deli for lunch then we were off to build a bear!

Waiting in line to get their bears filled! So excited!
Bath time!

On the train waiting to go home.. We didn't know the train scedule so we just got on it as soon as it came to the station. We waited and waited... after about 30 minutes, we asked someone what time the train would leave and they said we still had another 30 minutes! So we waited some more.. the kids had fun playing on the train though I think!

I think we have a happy Birthday girl. The smile says it all!

Of course Avery made her favorite animal.. a monkey! She named the monkey Seven but since we got home, the monkey's name has changed to Three Seven
Mackenzie made a dog that carries a puppy in her mouth. She named the dog Isabelle and the puppy Bella.

Gavin made an army wolf named Rusty

Trey made a star wars bear

and Tage made an OwlMackenzie with her dogs in their house. After an hour and a half on the train, we made it back to Layton. Grandpa ordered us some pizza for dinner, then it was time to head home! Avery sleeping with her monkey when we got home. We all thought it was a pretty fun Birthday party! I also got to see my sister Sherin's new baby Sydney while we were in Utah. She is 6 lbs of cuteness!! I wanted to bring her home with me!

Sledding!!

The other day me and the kids went sledding. We didn't last too long with Avery but we had fun while we were there!! I took Avery down twice. She hated it the first time then wanted to go again.. The second time she hated it even more!
CRASH!! She got up and her face was COVERED in snow!

Hopefully we will be ble to go again before the snow is gone!

Santa found us!!

It looks like Santa found us! We even made a new record this year! We didn't wake up to open presents till 8:00. Well, actually, Mackenzie woke us up at some point and asked if we could go open presents. We told her no and she crawled in bed with us. A half hour or so later, she asked again so I asked her to look and see what time it was. Her reply was.... 4:24. I told her to go back to sleep and that we could get up at 6:30. The next thing I knew, gavin was jumping up and down at the foot of my bed and it was 8:00 am. The kids were so excited!

Dallas's stocking

Mackenzie's stocking

Gavin's stocking

Joni's stocking

and Avery's stocking
This has to be the most important gift of the day.. Avery got her monkey!!

I got some boots

Avery got..CHAPSTICK!! I think she loves chpstick even more than candy! And that is saying a lot!

Gavin got a guitar

Mackenzie got the wii just dance 2 game. I have been watching her and Dallas play it all weekend. It's pretty entertaining!

I got the older kids some new sleeping bags and had their names embroidered on them. They turned out really cute!

This is all of my stuff. Mackenzie picked me the ironing board all by herself! I was impressed!
This is what Gavin picked for Avery. He ws so excited when we bought it!
Avery with the rest of her things. She got the tent, little sleeping bag, and lots of babies and accessories!

This was our family gift. A picture of the Bountiful Temple.

Mackenzie and her goods!

Gavin with all of his new thingsand this is what Dallas got minus a sweatshirt that he was wearing.

Overall, we had a great Christmas! In fact, I think this one has been my favorite so far. The kids are getting older and are lots of fun and we didn't have to go anywhere for 2 days! We just stayed home and played games, watched movies, and had fun spending time together!

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Everyone! We have had a great Christmas! I took about a thousand pictures so it's a little overwhelming. I will start with Christmas eve then I will post pics from Christmas later! The night before Christmas eve, we went to Dallas's parent's house and spent the night. The kids had so much fun playing. Mackenzie was awake till about 12:30, Gavin till 1:30, and Avery was up till 2:00. She doesn't travel well. She can's sleep unless she's in her own bed so it was a long night! Then, Mackenzie woke us all up at 7:00 so none of us got much sleep. Christmas eve, the kids just played. I had to run to a few stores to pick up a few things and it was INSANE!! I will not go shopping on Christmas Eve EVER again! We had the kids exchange gifts while we were there- then we had a yummy dinner.

TageTreyThis is what Mackenzie got from Grandma and Grandpa. She has wanted an American Girl doll but she has Never played with dolls. Not even when she was tiny so I did not want to spend $100 on a doll that would just end up shoved in the closet. So, Shelley got her this doll that looks a lot like the American girl dolls and Mackenzie didn't even know the difference. She was so happy!! The kids all got books from Grammy. Mackenzie LOVES to read. She reads every night in bed. Gavin wanted a K'nex roller coaster SO BAD and Shelley was going to get it for him but when she went to wrap it, this was all she had. She had bought the ferris wheel to go with the roller coaster but somehow, the roller coaster went missing. We looked EVERYWHERE and everyone was sold-out. So, she bought him this dinosaur to make up for it. It's a really cool toy. It dances, it talks, it runs, it barks, it burps, and it bites. Gavin loves it! Avery wanted a monkey for Christmas and Grandma found her this colorful one. She was pretty happy! KysonAvery LOVES babies! She is such a cute little mommy too! Grandma and Grandpa also got her this baby. It laughs, it cries, it talks, and it crawls. She loves to make it cry! Avery- trying to hold all of her goods! Avery and Chelsey When we got home, the kids opened up their new jammies. The kids usually get a new blanket too on Christmas eve, but this year we did something a little different. Mackenzie and Gavin got little snuggies! They are the funniest things but Mackenzie has wanted one forever! Avery got a blanket that she of course won't use because nothing compares to her favorite blankie! We also had a little drama- When we were on our way home, Mackenzie said "you can fix my doll's arm, huh"! Well, then she tells us that when they took the doll out of the box, one of the arms broke off but the doll had a tight shirt on that held it in place. So, of course, I tell her "no problem!" Well, we get home and that arm is impossible to get back on. Then Dallas decides- if he can get the head off so he can get his finger into the body, he will be able to get the arm on... well, he gets the head off and now, he not only cannot get the arm on, but he can't get the head back on either! Mackenzie was so upset! She was almost in tears. So, he has me open up the seam on the back and he pulls out the cotton so that he can get his hand up in the back. He tries everything.. and still he cannot get the arm or the head back on.. At this point, it's a little beyond being able to exchange at the store, so it looks like Dallas owes her a new doll!! This is a picture from the other day. Mackenzie was making an igloo.
Also, I try to get at least one new christmas decoration every year and this is what I got this year. I think it's pretty cute!