Chirstmas Day

Christmas Day was such a fun day. We started at Grandma and Grandpa Miller's house. Of course they spoiled our kids but isn't that what grandparents do?




We started a new tradition of drawing names this year on the Miller side. Ryan and Abbey had so much fun with this. We went to Target and of course Ryan picked out a nerf shooter to give to Mitchel. He was so excited to give it to him!

Abbey and Adrianne drew each other for the drawing. Abbey couldn't have been more excited. We went to three different places to decided what to get her. Finally, she decided on this hooded shark towel for baby M. along with some lotion and soap. Very practical, my Abbey. Adrianne got abbey littlest pet shop (which she loves) and walkie talkies that you can decorate. I am sure she and Ryan will have fun going on their secret mission with these! I wrapped Adrianne's gift in wrapping paper that Abbey decorated out of butcher paper. This was such a fun experience for Ryan and Abbey.

Christmas at the Gamboa's. After we spent the late morning and early afternoon with the Miller's we headed of the Ho Ho's. The kids were once again spoiled with presents. They all had so much fun opening and playing with their new toys with their cousins.

As the night grew on, Allie decided to spice up her outfit with some ornaments off Grandma's tree. Looks good Al!

Christmas Morning 2009

Christmas morning is so magical! So magical in fact that Jeff and I woke up about 5:00 am and waited for our kids to get up. We thought for sure this was the year they would wake US up. So Jeff took a shower, I opened all the bedroom doors and of course Allie was in our bed so we tried to wake her up. Still nobody was making a sound. So about 6:00 am Jeff and I had all we could take and flipped on the Christmas lights and threw the words Santa and presents around hoping they would hear us and get up! Finally, after about 15 minutes of noisy talk and Allie trying to wake them up, Ryan and Abbey came out to find Santa had found them!

It turns out Santa is okay with weapons and decided Ryan did not have enough of them and brought him a full sized gun and one that fits in his holster along with 500 caps to shoot out of them! It's a good thing Santa is a boy!

Abbey want Tumbles the dog. She rolls over and barks like a real dog. I love this side of Abbey. She loves animals and wants to nurture them. Since this is as close as she will get to a pet, I think she loved it!

Allie has two loves...High School Musical and Elmo. Since she is too young for barbies, Santa brought her this adorable Elmo that tells jokes, tells stories, giggles and laughs when you touch his nose and tummy. He will keep her company once the kids go back to school!

One of my goals for next year is to learn the basics of sewing. My mom is a great sewer and I want to be able to show Abbey and Allie how do it someday. So with the help of my mom, I made us all matching pajama bottoms. Abbey helped me pick out the fabric and everyone thought it was fun to match.

I always make Christmas breakfast. This year I took everybody's favorite things. Bacon - Ryan's favorite, Muffins- Abbey's favorite, Eggs- Allie's favorite and milk- Jeff's favorite. And as for my favorite - all of it!

Christmas Eve

One of my favorite traditions is to reinact the Nativity. Jeff reads from the Bible and the kids dress up as the characters. Abbey was Mary, Zach - Joseph, Maddie - Angel, Ryan and Jake- Kings and Allie was a shepherd. This picture doesn't show how beautiful the costumes were. My mom decided at the last minute to sew the costumes and they were very nice.

We played a few rounds of Bingo. Maddie was our caller and Grandma and Zach were the big winners of the night.

We started a few new traditions this year. One of them was to come to Christmas Eve in our pajamas. I think everyone enjoyed being cozy for such an active night!

Everyone was so excited for Christmas we needed to burn off some energy. We decided to go to Boondocks. The kids had fun playing games and playing in the playland.

Gingerbread House

Every year we put together a gingerbread house. This was our creation for 2009.

Cookie Decorating

Jake, Maddie and Zach braved the snowy weather and came over to decorate sugar cookies for Santa. Their was lots of knife licking and finger licking. Mmmm...Santa can't wait to eat these cookies!

Abbey's Christmas Program

Abbey and her friend Sophia.

Abbey was so excited for this year's first grade Jingle Jam! She has a speaking part and could not wait to sing all of the songs. I think her favorite was Felize Navidad:

Snowball Launcher

Ryan loves the snow. He has been so excited this last week with all of the snow. He built a snowball launcher complete with fort.

Ryan's Jr. Jazz Team

Ryan started Jr. Jazz last Saturday and here is a look at his first game!

Bye Bye Ugly Light Fixture!

We moved into our house 10 years ago, I told Jeff the only thing I wanted to change were the brass light fixtures in the house. Well as the years went by, that project went to the bottom of the list. But I was shopping at my new favorite store HOME AGAIN ( a consignment shop) I found an awesome deal on a light fixture. So my handyman installed the light and the brass is gone for good.

Principals Award

Abbey won the principals award for October. The theme for the month was the student that "always does her best and helpful to others". Way to go Abs!

Our Trip To Breckenridge, CO

Ford Credit sponsored a trip to Breckenridge, Colorado for the top 4 people in Utah. Jeff was one of those, so we got to enjoy this fabulous trip! We were treated to yummy food and a massage the second day we got there. In years past when we have gone, we usually go on a guided snowmobiling trip the third day. (The first year we went, Jeff and I tipped the snowmobile over and it could have been very bad!) With the lack of snow, the snowmobile company would not allow passengers during the tour so everyone had to drive their own snowmobile. Well, for those of you who know my driving record, it probably was not the safest decision for me to steer myself on one of these things. So Jeff and I opted to lounge around while some of the others went on the tour. It actually worked out because we enjoyed another massage while others were freezing cold in the wind and cold air! It's not often you get two days of massages and relaxation! Much more our style! I would have to say the relaxing, good food, taking naps, watching movies was alot of fun. But one of the highlights for me was I probably beat Jeff at UNO (and I am not exaggerating) probably 40 times out of 45! He even stooped to cheating and still could not break my streak!

Thank you so much to Grandma Ho Ho and Uncle Michael and Aunt Adrianne for watching our babies while we were gone! They had a fabulous time and were very well taken care of. They got to have pizza, see Bolt, look at Christmas lights, take a bath in Grandma's tub and have lots of laughs. Thanks guys!