Snow, snow and more snow!

I know, I know, you probably know how much I love the SNOW!  I hear people complain about the snow, and I think, "How sad for you".  

It brings me such happiness!!

My friend and I took our girls out for a little fun in the snow!

After snowshoeing for a while, we found a hill that someone had sledded on.  So the girls took off their snow shoes and had a blast!

A marshmallow river!

Snow shoeing with Kristen Rutter!

On one of our snow shoeing outings, we ran across this cool shelter.

Mom and I

Sometimes we get a little hungry!  Hey... we burn 500 calories/hour!!

This is one of my favorite trails.  We follow a river for a little while, and it is breath taking!

One of my closest friends Shauna Hunt

My mom and I went cross country skiing.  It had snowed the night before, so the mountains were blanketed with beautiful white snow.  The forest service had just groomed the trail, and we were the first ones on it! 

Seriously?!!  I'm fairly confident HEAVEN HAS SNOW!!!

I love when my kids create their own snow hobbies!  

Connor and a friend invited dates to go snow shoeing. 

Getting together with friends

The holiday season provides a great time to get caught up with long time friends.  

I am one of the lucky ones!  

I have been blessed with some of the most amazing women to call as my friends.

These ladies and I have met for lunch every month for the past almost 20 years!!  

They are all accomplished, hard working women, 

I simply adore them!

My sweet friends from high school.  

We are missing Lori who lives in Minnesota, but the seven of us were the greatest of friends and I credit much of the decisions in my life to their good examples.  

Last of the Christmas parties

Every year we have an adults only Christmas party.  Sometimes we go to a play or a concert, out to dinner or to Temple Square.  We even took a snowy sleigh ride once!  Since we have some new babies, we decided to stay in and have a dinner and party at my home.  

Allyson put together a delicious Italian soda bar!

We had ham, turkey, salads etc

Then came the fun part...The white elephant/funny gift exchange.

No good gift exchange is complete without a SNUGGIE!  

This Chewbacca mask, complete with sound, was a hit!!

Tuxedo boxers!

I put together this picture collage of my crazy family and framed it..;)

A selfie stick!  We all wanted that!

We also had a fun party with the Jensen's.  Lee and Lisa hosted a yummy Chinese food dinner.

We exchanged family gifts, and as it just so happened...we thought of giving the same gift to each other!!  

Great Minds...!!!

Wisdom teeth humor!

Poor, poor Connor had his wisdom teeth out right after Christmas.  Unfortunate for him, but entertaining for us!  

He has a terrible fear of IV's and as luck would have it, the first vein didn't work, and the nurse had to try again with the second arm.  He was beside himself, but handled it very bravely!

Following the surgery, he was high as a kite, and talked non-stop on the ride home.  I have never laughed so hard, the kid should do stand up comedy!  

Here is a little snippet....

Christmas Day!

A magical Christmas with my little family.  

We received a stunning snow storm Christmas Eve and woke up to a winter wonderland!  

Inside was warm and peaceful...until everyone woke up!  :)

I love this little scene each year.  It's like time has stopped for a moment.  Little by little my children are making their way from our home, and these magical Christmas mornings will change.  

This saddens my heart.

Santa has been generous!!

Enjoying the chaos!

I made quilts for Parker and Taylor this year.

Connor asked for this cool jacket for Christmas. It is made by a company that plants 10 trees every time you make a purchase.  I love my environmentally aware son!

The go-pro!  

I can't wait to see what adventures will be captured on the go-pro!

Taylor decided to combine his birthday present and his Christmas present in order to get this mini-segway.  Yay!

Connor crashed on the slopes while sledding,  and couldn't smile because his upper lip hurt so much.  Poor kid!

Digging our way out!

My favorite Christmas present!

We were able to skype with Alyssa and enjoyed seeing our cute daughter in real time!!  

Love her so much!!

Christmas Eve

It's my most favorite day of the year!!  It really is!  I love the anticipation of Christmas Day, and the fun we have as an extended family.  The house is clean and beautiful, the kids have had fun from sun up to sun down, we've eaten delicious food, and talked about the Savior and shared testimony.  

I love Christmas Eve!!

We took all of the cousins and went sledding.  It was a perfect sledding day, blue skies, great temps and happy children.

My big boys had to up the ante!!

We all cheered them on and laughed when they crashed!! 

Learning to sled!!

Ashlyn and Rachel

We hosted a nice dinner of ham and turkey. 

Lots of food!!

Ashlyn and Hadley are inseparable!  They even had matching shirts.

 

We had a little talent show, Here is our program.  :)

Rachel had pieced together a quilt.

Ashlyn displayed some photos from her photography class for her talent.

Parker played the mandolin.  

He played a fun Irish tune, and everyone started clapping along.  His Irish blood has been tapped!

Reilly read the nativity for all of us.

My beautiful, sweet sisters.  Where would I be without them???

Connor took this panoramic picture and I will treasure it always!  

As I look around the room, I feel so blessed by the good people I get to call my family.