Happy Birthday Dad!

The day after Christmas is my Dad's birthday.  We had fun celebrating his birthday with him.  We packed our lunch and meet up with them at Faust park. We rode the carousel together a couple of times.  The kids loved it, and so did the adults.  We brought our picnic inside and ate it there, it was freezing outside so we just sat and ate and watched people ride the carousel. 

After the carousel we walked over to the butterfly house.  We went into the little craft room and the kids got to make this fun butterfly.  They colored it and then cut it out, glued it on a Popsicle stick and then glued a gem in the middle.  They turned out really cute! Garrett would wave his around in the air telling everyone it was flying around.  

 

 We watched the little movie they have there about butterflies and then headed into the butterfly house. The kids had such a fun time walking around and looking for all the butterflies on the handout. 

 We enjoyed just taking our time and several times just sat down to observe the butterflies flying around.

 After the butterfly house we went back to the house.  I stopped by the grocery store with my Mom and got a few things for dinner that night.  I made 2 big pizza's from scratch and we bought some bread and had a big salad with it.  It all turned out really yummy! We love homemade pizza.  JJ was able to come over after he was done with work and join the fun. After dinner we sang happy birthday to him!

 The cake was really yummy, cute Charlotte especially loved it!

 After cake we opened some presents.  A bunch of us all went in and got him this nice jacket.  It is weather resistant and lined so it is nice and warm.  He really likes it and it looks good on him.

 The cousins all enjoyed running around and playing together, there was a few fun games of ring around the rosie which always ended up in a big dog pile at the end.

 We had such a fun day celebrating my Dad's birthday together! I hope he had a special day and knows how much we love him!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning we told the kids to wait to go downstairs until we were all up and ready.  Lucy got up first and it was almost 7, we sent her back to bed for just a few more minutes.  She then came in our room and told us that Santa had come, she must have forgotten and been so excited.  We then got Garrett up and all headed down together.  It is always so fun to see the kids face on Christmas morning when they see all the presents!

They were so excited about the train table Santa brought them and started to play with it right away! 

 We opened up a few presents from Santa and saw what was in our stocking.  We had made cinnamon rolls the night before and when they were done baking in the oven we all went and had some rolls, juice and orange slices for breakfast.  It was nice to sit down together and eat something.  We took our time opening our presents, going from person to person.  It is nice to be able to really take in the gift.  I know when I pick out a present for someone I am always excited to see their reaction when they open it.  It was fun to see the kids get excited for the other one when they got a fun gift. We all enjoyed seeing what everyone got! The kids got several fun new books, it is always fun to have a good book to read and be excited about.

Lucy was easy to shop for this year.  She just got into Barbies and doesn't really have any Barbie stuff.  Santa brought her some new barbies and we got her a Barbie house.  I almost didn't get it because I didn't know if she would really like it.  I got a good deal on Black Friday and I am so glad I decided to get it.  It is by far her favorite gift.  I love that everything folds up in it and it can be stored nicely.  She got some other small things that she really enjoys too.

Grandma and Grandpa Smith sent her this Indian doll and Grandma made a quilt to go with it. 

Garrett got lots of fun toys too, he loves them all! It was funny to watch him open up gifts because he would immediately want to play with it.  He would un wrap it and then he would take off to go upstairs to play with it.  We were constantly hearing him getting out more toys to play with the new ones.  We would call him back down, it was so fun to see him so excited about his new things. 

 I got a new jewelry armore that I am really excited about.  I am anxious to get all my jewelry better organized and put away.  I got some new jewelry to put in it.  I also got a new shirt, workout clothes, pajamas and a new watch.  Jason S. had my name for the gift exchange and he got me an immersion blender.  I can't wait to try it out.

JJ's big gift was a new bike! He is so excited about it.  He has been so good about not riding it until he got it on Christmas morning.  He would go sit on it down in the basement and asked a couple times to ride it around our street but I wouldn't let him.  I was able to surprise him with a few small things.  I ordered him a new long sleeve BYU t-shirt which he was really excited about and the kids got him some new screwdrivers.

JJ's Mom quilted us this beautiful Christmas table runner! I love it and she did a great job on it.

After we were done opening up presents we all got ready for the day to head back over to my parents house.  We made some sweet potatoes to take over for a big Christmas lunch with everyone.  The kids each got new sweatshirts and both wore them over.  Garrett got a really cool spiderman hoodie and it has this fun mask thing that comes down and covers his eyes.  He looked pretty cute sitting there shooting his webs at other cars.  He got a fun backpack from Grandma and Grandpa Smith and was excited to put a few of his new toys to take over to my parents house.

We ate a nice lunch with everyone and my Dad brought up this fun table for all the kids to eat at.  They looked so cute all sitting there eating.

We opened a few more presents at their house.  My parents gave both Lucy and Garrett a remote control monster truck, which they love! Lucy got a tote bag that you can color and Garrett got a spiderman that rides in a truck.  They loved all their gifts and go so many nice things. My parents gave us a nice gift and a nice Christmas blanket.  We snapped a few group pictures before Lauren and Braden headed back to Mississippi and Bryan and Christy went to visit Bryan's family in Illinois.

We stayed and hung out with everyone all afternoon and into the evening.  It was nice to have the cousins play with all the new toys.  We had a nice time relaxing by the fire and visiting with everyone.  It was a wonderful Christmas.  Several times as we were opening gifts we stopped and reminded one another just how blessed we are and how nice all the presents are that we got.  We feel so lucky to have so much in our life and it was nice to be able to just spend the whole day together enjoying it!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve JJ had to work 1/2 a day.  I took the kids with me to the gym and then we came home and got ready.  We meet up with everyone at my Grandma's to have lunch with her.  My parents picked up some Subway sandwiches for everyone and we brought some veggies, fruit, chips and drinks to go with them.  My Grandma called and reserved one of the dinning rooms and it worked out great.  We had plenty of room to spread out and eat and let the kids run around and play while we visited.  I always enjoy visiting with my Grandma and talking with her.

My Grandma is always so thoughtful and usually will have something small for the kids.  She got the girls a little snow globe and the boys a hot wheel.  Grandma also opened some Christmas presents from my parents.

 My Dad' Birthday is the day after Christmas and my Grandma gave him his present to open a few days early.  He got a nice new John Deere book, Charlotte and Tyler were excited to look at it with him.

 We went out into the foyer by the big Christmas tree and took some pictures.  Grandma always looks so nice and she looked so nice in her Christmas sweater.

 Here are all the Rahm great-grand kids

 After Grandma's we went home and let Garrett lay down for a short little nap.  We also made some cornbread to take over to my parents that night for dinner.  When we got there they were all busy making sugar cookies to leave for Santa.  The kids jumped right in and helped roll out and cut the dough.

 Olivia

 Charlotte, she was really having a great time with her little amount of dough. 

 Everyone helped make so many fun cookies.  We had all different shapes of cookies and a good variety of thickness.  The kids had a fun time helping .

 After we were done with the cookies we opened a few presents and skyped with Kelsey and Todd.  My Dad opened up their birthday present.  They sent a sweater for him, he looks really nice in it.

 The cousins do a gift exchange each year.  Olivia and Jayne had Lucy and Garrett and they got them some new slippers.  They love them and were so excited to have new ones.

 Lucy and Garrett got Jayne and Olivia some My little Pony stuff.  Olivia got this pink set and Jayne got a white one.  They love My little pony things and were so excited to get them.

 JJ had Lauren this year and he got her some new workout tops, a new workout DVD and a water bottle.   

 I had Natalie and got her a pizza stone, cookie sheet and some new earrings. 

My Dad had me and got me a picture frame/wall hanging and a new jacket that I can wear to the gym.  I am so excited about both of them!

 Jordan had JJ and got him a new backpack water bottle to use with his new bike, a knife and a first aid kit.  He is all set to hit the trails! He really likes them all!

 I wanted to make something for my sisters and decided to make them all a cookie plate for Santa.  I got some plates with a gold trim and then used a paint pen to write on them.  I then baked them in the oven to set the paint.  I think they turned out really nice and it is fun to have something personalized.

 After gifts we ate a nice dinner together.  We ate so many nice dinners together and it works well to have everyone pitch in and bring something.   We then headed home a little early that evening so we could have some family time with just our little family.  The years in the past that we have had our own Christmas and not traveled up has given us some special memories.  I really wanted to make sure that we were able to do some of our family traditions and spend time with each other.  It is nice to have family in town that we haven't seen in a while but it is equally nice to just be home with our kids.  We read some Christmas stories and learned about the symbols of Christmas.  We watched the Nativity movie and then made some frosting to put on the cookies they made at Grandma's house. 

 I gave them each a bowl of frosting and let them decorate their own cookies.  Lucy wanted her frosting to be yellow and she added sprinkles to her cookies.

 Garrett frosted his cookie and had plenty of samples in between. 

 Their cookies turned out really nice and I know it was really fun for the kids to be able to make their own!

 After the kids went to bed JJ and I worked on a few little last minute things while watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on TV.  It was nice to be able to relax before heading to bed!  I wanted to get a picture of everything out before we headed off to bed.