New Years Trip to Utah

Since we opted to stay home for Christmas, we decided we would travel to Utah for New Years.  Honestly, since we have moved to Colorado, we have been back to Utah every month from June to January.  We figured our extended family was probably getting sick of us anyway, they haven't seen so much of us since who knows how long!  Anyway, we spent about a week in Utah, hanging out with family, sight seeing and just having a good time.

 While there, our Overton side of the family decided to have Christmas 2.   We woke up, had breakfast all together and opened presents...just like we would if it was Christmas.  My sweet sister even had stockings filled with fun goodies and tinkers for all the kids.

This year Aunt Trudy and Uncle Oz had some exciting news.  Grandma opened a present and learned she was going to have a new grand baby later this year!  Trudy is pregnant!  We are all so excited.  A few days later (New Years Eve in fact) we learned that my brother and his wife are expecting a baby this year too.  2 new grand babies...so exciting!

 I am so lucky to be married to this guy for time and all eternity.

 My oldest and I

 I think the last time we went to see the Christmas lights at Temple square in SLC was when Cora was a baby!  That was 9 years ago!  I really wanted to go again this year.  We had a great time, even though it was cold, snowy and wet!  Matt's sister and her family came, and my Sister and her hubby came, so we had a big group.  I don't know why I didn't try to get a shot with all of us together, but here is my little family at least.  Well...the ones you can see that aren't too bundled up anyway.

I love to see the Temple.

Our first family picture of the New Year.

I hope 2015 is a great year for everyone!

IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

This is my most, absolute, favorite time of year...besides summer break,  I love having my kids at home with me!!  Too bad I don't feel disciplined enough to teach them, or I would keep them home with me everyday!  Anyway, I digress...IT'S CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!  I love starting and keeping traditions with my little family.  We have been having so much fun the past couple years doing Christmas on our own.  First off, we stay in our pajamas ALL day!  I love it.  We see what Santa leaves us, peek in our stockings and then we eat breakfast.  Cinnamon rolls and fruit salad are usually on the menu, with the occasional bowl of cereal.  After breakfast we read our last few scriptures about Christ's birth and what that means for us today, and then the present frenzy begins.  I love it!  Did I say that I love it yet...because I really do, love it that is.

We like to take our time and do it slowly, we open gifts one at a time.  With the boys this year, it went extra slow...they wanted to unpackage and unbox everything!

I think Santa came....

This picture is so dark, but it is the only wide angle shot I took.

Here is a better one.

I love our tree...we left it up until the third week of January this year...

Getting ready to open our first gifts!

The boys had to try it on!

Here they are as their beloved "White Guys".

My things!  They sure loved their new pillows!

 Every gift HAD to come out of it's packaging...we just couldn't possibly go on to the next gift until everything was unboxed!

It took awhile, but it sure helped prolong Christmas, so I wasn't complaining.

 This guy...

 I sure do love him...more every year.

He is such a Character, cracks me up.

 I think Cora has a bit of her Dad in her...

Somebody tell this girl to stop growing up please!

 My awesome brother and his wife made this tray for me.  It is repurposed pallet wood and I love it!

 All the Christmas packaging mayhem.

our recycling only comes every other week...it took us a full month to recover!

 The boys got this beast from Santa.  Not quite sure what Santa was thinking, but they Love it!  They had to try it out right away, jammies and all.

 I sure do love Christmas and all that it brings.  Mostly I love the time spent together with my sweet family and the memories that we build together.  I hope we always feel this close together!

Merry Christmas, may we always remember our Savior's Birth.

Christmas Eve

Long over due, I know, but I have to add these glimpses in our lives for my kids...since this is basically our family journal.  We decided to stay home again this year for Christmas.  I am finding I like this more and more.  Traveling at Christmas gets so busy, and your always worrying about seeing this person or that family, and frankly you just run out of time.  Before you know it Christmas is over in all the rush.  When we stay home for Christmas break, we can just relax in those days before Christmas.  There is now huge rush, all the shopping has been done, we can just enjoy the season and enjoy the moment.  When we travel, we usually don't have our own kitchen at our disposal.  When we stay at home, like we have done for the past few years, we can bake cookies, make gingerbread houses, prepare yummy treats for Christmas and make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.  These are all traditions I have loved starting with my own kids.  And that is exactly what we did Christmas Eve.  We ended the evening with our traditional Christmas Eve soup, Driving around Christmas light hunting and watching "The Christmas Story".  

 I love to find the little Christmas touches the kids leave around the house.

Cora decided to decorate our (empty) bubble gum machine as Santa.

Don't you just love little boys in Long Johns?

I do!

We got snow for Christmas Eve this year, so the boys have to wear their long johns to play in the snow...it's part of the snow playing code.

 Hannah enjoyed teaching us how to use mini wheats as shingles.  

 Cookies for Santa

 Our Christmas Eve soup dinner

 Of course we get to open our Christmas Eve present.  This varies from year to year.  It's not always pajamas.  Sometimes it's a book, sometimes it's a toy...it just depends on if the kids need jammies or not.  This year, all the kids just happened to need winter jammies...so that is what they got, along with some cozy slippers!

 Ani is such a great big sister!

 We decided to leave out oats and carrots for Santa's Reindeer.  Shortly after we put everything outside, we looked out the window and saw these beautiful visitors.  We quickly grabbed more carrots and went outside to watch them eat.  They weren't Santa's reindeer, but we still felt pretty honored they chose to visit our home for Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

Hannah's Violin Concert

We were lucky to find an affordable violin teacher for Hannah shortly after we moved here.  They gave a wonderful recital for Christmas, Hannah played in the whole group, in a trio and also had a solo.  She did so great and is progressing so well.  I hope she always has a love for music!

Trimming the Tree!

I love Christmas. 

I love everything about, the decorations, the lights, the food!

Matt always teases me because it takes us like 10 minutes each night to shut everything down.

 Picking out their favorite ornaments to hang is always a highlight.

Finally the star :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

From our family to yours

Pikes Peak, 14,000 feet in elevation.

We went to the top of the world.

It was even higher then the Zugspitze in the German Alps.

We went to the top of Pikes Peak, over 14,000 feet in elevation.

No we didn't hike, we took the easy way and rode the cog rail up.  They have these all over in Europe, but they are not so popular here in the States.  The one here is only one of three in the States, ironically enough it was manufactured in Switzerland.

 Getting our tickets.

 The mechanics of the Cog Rail.

 In our car, waiting to go up!

 We made it!

I was really worried about elevation sickness, but the kids did great.  Only Matt and I were really effected, and then it was just a weird, light-headed sort of feeling.

We went on a perfect clear day.  They say that we could see from Oaklahoma to New Mexico from the top of this peak.  I couldn't really tell, but we could see pretty far.

 Here we are at the Summit.

They had really yummy, fresh doughnuts.  However the Hot chocolate was really lacking.  Still it was a yummy snack, and reminded us so much of our Europe adventures.  You would find little cafe's at the strangest places...clear up on cliffs, inside church's, so interesting.

Me and my "Big Boy Jack Matt".