After Christmas Fun!

The day after Christmas we packed up and headed to Utah to be with Tom's mother, Mary.  She has been very ill and we wanted to be able to help her recover from a recent surgery she had.  It was so fun for our family to be there with her!  I just wanted to help out in any way we could so we made some fun dinners for her, cleaned her home, and helped her with doctor appointments. 

 I had to model this darling scarf Mary gave me for Christmas.  It is super cute!!

On Saturday morning, the kids and I drove to Idaho to see their cousins who had just moved to Idaho Falls.  They were so glad to see family and we were super happy to see their new home and play in the snow!!!

 Here is darling McKenna!

 Kissing Kelsey!

 Sydne Jade - sporting her totally cute new hair cut!

 My mom and dad even went sledding which I think, is pretty cool for being in their 70's!  I want to do that when I am a grandma!

 Hailey couldn't get enough of the snow!

 Spencer always seems to sled the farthest!

It just made me so happy to see them in a beautiful house and everyone doing well!

I love how Hailey is laying on Rylie's back watching a movie.  Soooo cute!

 This is Sydne's seminary building near Hillcrest High School.

 This was the view out of her front door on New Year's Eve.  Yikes!

 Look at cute Keegan's face!

 This photo says it all . . .

My mom and dad spent two weeks with Melanie's family. It was so nice for them to be there and support Melanie, especially now that she lives so far away.  I loved being able to see them too!

I think this is such a pretty front door entry!

This is their huge basement.  The girls were practicing dance for Sydne's high school dance team.

One thing Arizona homes do not have is great storage like Utah and Idaho homes with basements do.  This storage room is absolutely huge and goes around to the right of the photo for another 5-6 feet.  I would love storage like this!

Here is their beautiful dining room where we played games after dinner.

Stairs to their basement.

Rylie's room :)

On New Year's Eve, we packed our car and got ready to head back to Utah to meet Tom.  There was a big snow storm that morning and my parents were really nervous about me driving.  So, my dad and Tim were kind enough to give me a blessing.  It had been such a long time since I had a blessing from my dad and it brought tears to my eyes listening to his voice.  What a treasured memory that will be for me. 

 We made it safely back to Pleasant Grove and found that it actually was snowing more here than it was on the drive from Idaho!  The kids had fun catching snowflakes on their tongues!  ha ha

 On our drive back home to Arizona, I asked  Tom how it went taking care of his mother for the few days I was in Idaho.  He kept saying, "It was such an honor to be there for her."  He had such a great perspective about the whole weekend.  They watched movies together, he made her breakfast every morning, helped her in and out of the shower, and even got her to tell some fun family stories that he recorded in his journal.  Those are precious memories for Tom that will last him a lifetime as well.

 For some reason, the drive home seemed unusually long.  We were all really sick of the car by the time we got home!!

Since we drove home on New Year's Day, we still had Wed-Sun to relax before school started again.  It was nice to have that time to get some of Christmas put away and get organized for "reality" to hit again!  ha ha 

Christmas Happenings

Really, where do I even begin?  I have let our family blog go by the wayside and to be honest, it's been really nice not to worry about it.  But now, I have to face reality and get it up and going again.  I have a bazillion photos to post and sift through and that will take a lot of time - but it's oh so fun to relive those memories!!  

We were very blessed to have a fun family Christmas this year.  Here are some fun pictures of what we did!!

 With Tom's mother ill this Christmas, it was different for everyone. Colleen, Tom's sister, spent the holiday with her mom because her surgery was just days before Christmas and she needed 24 hour care.  It was such a sacrifice of love on her part to be away from her family and we all missed them terribly.  But, we felt so grateful that we could be together at least and having the Roundy's at our home was SO much fun for us!!

 Hailey adores her cousins and they are so darling with her--they always have been!

 We had to keep with our Christmas Eve tradition and eat peppermint ice cream and watch "The Polar Express."  That's the very last thing we do before the kids go to bed.

 We snapped a photo when the kids were asleep.  It's a tradition that they all sleep in Kohler's room every Christmas Eve!  (I love how Kelsey's arm is flung over Kohler's body!  ha ha)

 When we hear movement upstairs, then we know it's time to wake up.  The kids know they have to stay in their room until we come get them.  Then, they can run across the walkway and "take a peek" at what Santa brought.  (Hailey's blanket with all the holes in it is "perfect for peeking" she said!)  Then, we gather in our upstairs family room where we have our morning scripture study.  We watch a short video on the birth of our Savior, to remind us why we are celebrating this special day--then we have a family prayer.  Then----the kids are about to burst with excitement----so we run downstairs to get the cameras ready!!!

 My favorite gifts of Christmas are the ones the kids give each other.  They buy them with their own money and it's always the most fun to watch!!

 So, about halfway through opening presents, everyone gets really hungry for our traditional monkey bread!!!!  It's to die for!!

We also had hot chocolate and right after breakfast, this is what Rider (our dog) looked like!

 The kids said, "Mom, Rider got into the hot chocolate!!"  When I took a closer look, it wasn't chocolate.  He had taken the bone he got from Santa and BURIED it in the yard!!!  He has NEVER done that ever before and has never seen another dog do that.  We have given him several bones before and he just chews them up on our back patio.  But, Christmas morning, this guy chose to bury it in the mud.  His paws were muddy and his face was a mess.  It was hilarious!

So, here we are - Christmas morning---giving the dog a bath!?!

 Every year Kelsey writes the most heartfelt sweet letters to Tom and me.  It always makes me cry.  Kohler said, "Aw, here come the tears from mom! ha ha"  I can't help it.  She says the most wonderful sweet things in her letters.  It's always my most favorite gift of Christmas.  

 Kohler - being his normal, goofy self.  You gotta love him!!!

 Yes - I put laundry baskets out so everyone has a homebase to keep their stuff in.  We don't want anything getting thrown out in the trash!

Every year I wonder how it all will turn out and every year I think, "This is the best Christmas Ever!"  Our son Spencer summed it up perfectly when asked what his favorite part of Christmas was.  He said, "I just loved being with my family.  Even if I didn't get any presents, my favorite part was being all together. I love that!"  

My feelings exactly.