two posts in one week!

So I had mentioned that my mom and dad took Allie and Tyler for a couple of weeks. My parents are amazing people!! My kids came home having learned many wonderful new things. I took them down while Brandon was gone to a training. We got to see Brandon's Mom and sister and her precious new baby(i have no pictures). I went back to CO. Then we came to Cedar on Christmas Eve after Brandon got off of work. We worked as hard as we could to get as much done as possible while Allie and Tyler were with them. I went through just about every room and area of my house and cleaned and organized! It feels so good!!! I finally know where everything is and gave most everything a place. I really needed that time to get back on top of things. Brandon was able to mud and tape and build Allie and Tyler a closet. It was so fun to organize the closet and put things away where they were actually going to stay and not just be there until they had a new place.

Trent did really good until about the last 3 days. At first we could tell that he was just LOVING the attention. Brandon and me all to himself. He just ate it up! And then he started to get bored with us. By the time we left on Thurs he was pretty much done with us and ready for some fun.

Christmas Eve was SO great! We did the Nativity with all the kids acting the parts. Of course the youngest kids always steal the show. Trent and Kaige were the dang cutest Shepherds. Allie was an Angel and Tyler was a Wiseman. He had "golden" in his gift box for baby Jesus.

Also I found this awesome tractor lego set for Tyler. I knew he would love it so much even if he is a little young for it. We spent hours and hours putting all the tractors and farm together so it would be all ready to play with the next morning. It stayed together for all of about 5min. I think we may just superglue the set so we don't have to keep rebuilding.

Christmas was CHAOS and so much fun. 17 people all opening presents together and 5 of them little kids. Every gift they open they want it out of the box to play. We had a lot of fun!

We stayed in Cedar and played for a few days and then drove to AZ. That was the longest drive!! We left early(5am) thinking we could get there early but because of weather and other events we did not get there until 5 30 after more than 12hrs in the car. Not fun! AZ was so fun! It was a nice break from the cold. The kids spent so much time outside. It was great! We got to see cousins, play in cotton seed(never done that before, very cool!), see old friends and relax.

Also Brandon and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary! We have celebrated 4 out of five in Ft Thomas even though we have never lived there. I think we need to make a plan for this next year to be somewhere different. We love Ft Thomas but I think I am ready to do something really extraordinary for our anniversary. I cannot believe that it has been 5 yrs. Not that that is really all that long but it seems shorter than that. It has been so great! I love Brandon so much! I love how he takes care of ALL of our needs and really surpasses my expectations.

After coming home from all the traveling I feel like we have been able to enjoy life a little more and really appreciate everything that we have been blessed with. It was a nice, needed break! I love my Savior and have enjoyed the Christmas season celebrating his life and teaching my kids about His life. It was great to be gone from our house and not feel guilty that we weren't working on it because we couldn't. We just spent time with our kids and friends and family. I love Allie, Tyler and Trent! They are so forgiving and fun to be with!

Here are some pictures: These are really not in very good order at all but it is taking too long already so just try make it all make sense. They are mostly Ft Thomas first and Cedar City last.


Nephew Blake and Tyler. The whole 3hrs we were there Tyler NEVER left his side!! So cute!


Brandon jumping off cotton seed

Me and Allie jumping off the cotton seedpoor allie LOLand the landing, not that we really ever left the ground.

Tyler in the seed


All the kids in a hole in the stack of cotton seed.


Allie climbing the cotton seed


Tyler


Family pic taken with self timer. THe best we could do.


So tender!! Tyler really took to Brandon's grandma. She is not all that sweet at this age but he just loved and she loved him. He even climbed on her lap the next day to watch TV and she was fine with that. He asked her to help him open his new toy from G and G Sanders.


Abby(old roomies little girl) and Trent


Allie (we decided to take some pics with my NEW camera and because Ft Thomas has so many fun places.)
Trent


Hilarious!! The kids came around the corner with these and were doing a little Potato Head Parade. My cousin Chelsey's kids.

Me, Tyler and Trent jumping in Ft THomas. Trent LOVES jumping!


Trent drove this paint roller ALL over Ft THomas. It was very cute!

Allie on the pig at Hog Hollar

wagon ride with cousin Talon

Christmas dinner

cuteness


Making(mostly eating) gingerbread houses with Aunts before we got there to my moms.


Allie with new Barbie scooter and some barbie boots Becca found at the thrift store.


Trent LOVES this toy!!


Tyler/workerman


Cute aprons my mom made all of us


Tyler with his lego set


Allie finding her jewelry she wanted SOOOOO bad!!! She did not believe that Santas elves would know how to make jewelry like Target. SHe said, "well maybe they just buyed it there."


Nativity
Angel
Wisemen with their "golden"
Shephard

Trent and Tyler matching clothes from Aunt Tara


Allie baking her first cupcakes. She LOVES this!!


Tyler helping paint my moms wall for Christmas
Painting crew
cutest little family, new little nephew born 16th of december
family photo minus Brandon who wanted to get out of his Sunday clothes
my little bro Bryson(15) trying on the pants that Brandon gave him because they were so big he could not keep them on.

Me and Kendra T-shirts and Sunday skirts

Bryson sporting Tyler's new work hat. The mic works and the is a little speaker on top, it is SO fun!!
Tyler and Rebecca