Merry Christmas Eve

A little holiday spirit. I hope it puts a smile on your face.

Christmas Tree

I grew up always having a real tree so I've made it a tradition in our family as well. It's fun to go to the tree lot as a family and all work together to find the perfect tree. The kids loved the miniature trees. Sorry kids, maybe next year!

Clara exploring the tree forest.

We found it!

Now lets strap it to the car and head home.

The finished product.

The kids were so excited to help hang up all the decorations. They needed to be rearranged a little, the tree was a little bottom heavy, but they did a pretty good job. Now if we could only get all the lights to stay on.

Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas Alexander

My little sister finally tied the knot to her long time boyfriend Nick Alexander on November 25th. The day was perfect and everyone was there to enjoy this joyous union. We had a beautiful wedding dinner the night before. Whitnie and Nick have so many friends and family that love them very much. It was fun to hear from family and friends tell funny stories about both of them. You are both going to have a great life together.

Look how cute Mr. & Mrs Alexander are!

They are so perfect for each other. They make each other laugh all the time and Whitnie was glowing the entire time. Congratulations love birds!

The man of the hour.

I can't get enough of these too. Don't they look a lot alike? You know they say that the longer you are together you begin to look like one another. Well Whit and Nick have spent a lot of time together already, if you can't tell.

I know that they are not looking at the camera, but I thought that this is a beautiful picture of Whitnie's dress and bouquet.

Nick's parents Jeff and Ann Alexander and Whit's lovely parents Jeff and Sherrie Hill.

Mandy and Holly enjoying the cold beautiful day.

Wow! Who is this gorgeous couple, oh wait it's Mandy and I. Man we are good look'n.

Congratulation's again Whitnie and Nick. I love you very much and wish you nothing but happiness and love for the rest of your lives. I will miss seeing you at mom an dads everyday. Good luck baby sis. I love you.

Just Jumping Around!

So I'm really jealous of Aaron my brother-in-law. And he has a lot more guts than I do with my wife. He decided to trade in his old motorcycle for an upgraded one. Of course it was a surprise to my sister and his Christmas present for the nexr ten years, but all I can say is Aaron, it was totally worth it. Well done!

So Aaron and I decided to go and take his new Honda 450 R "the sweetest bike ever" for a little test in Cherry Creek. Cherry Creek is out by sand mountain, but you just don't have to pay to get in. So we loaded up the bikes last Saturday and went out for the day. We had such a great time and I couldn't get enough of the sand dunes. For those of you that have been out there, they are so much fun. There are so many bowls that you can just open it up and circle around and around. Aaron and I would be laughing after every loop. It is hard to explain, but you can feel the force of every circle pulling you down. It is so much fun. The only thing that you have to watch out for that my dad learned the hard way, is going over the sand ridge and not knowing what is on the other side. Luckly no real hard crashes, just some bruises. Aaron after our first 2 hour ride wasn't feeling very good, and ending up throwing up four times. I guess all the bouncing and jumping didn't settle with him very well. Sorry man.

Aaron putting his new bike to good use.

Aaron letting me enjoy his new bike as well.

Ryan's 31st Birthday

Ryan's birthday was back on the 17th. Ryan's sister Whitnie also has a birthday just a few days prior so they had a joint family Sunday birthday dinner to celebrate. This is the delicious, moist, homemade pumpkin with cream cheese frosting birthday cake I made for them. Whitnie actually got to pick the flavor since Ryan was unreachable down in southern Utah on a boys dirt bike trip.

The two birthday kids

Whitnie & Ryan




"Happy Birthday!!"

The next morning, on Ryan's actual birthday, when the kids got up nice and early we headed off to Magleby's Fresh for a birthday breakfast with Dad.

All the kids loved the french toast.

Our beautiful fresh morning faces!

That night we left the kids and went out to dinner at Tucano's, and since Ryan is such a big 007 fan it was perfect to top off the night with the new James Bond movie.

Happy Birthday Babe! I hope you had a great birthday. You really deserve it.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year. The kids would ask me everyday leading up to Halloween how many days left. On Halloween morning they both got up and cheered " 0 days 'til Halloween". They were excited to say the least.
Ellie had been planning on wearing this dress to be a princess for awhile but McKay changed his mind day of and went with Jack Sparrow over Spiderman. We already had both costumes, so it didn't matter to me.

He even got the pirate pose down.

Jack Sparrow heading to the bus stop.

Before Halloween night we stopped by both Grandparents homes to show off the little ones.

My niece Hailey as a hippy.

Clara in her cute witch costume. This was Ellie's costume from when she was the same age. It was fun to compare pictures.

Opening up her goody bag Grandma & Grandpa Hill.

Ellie & McKay with their loot.

After stopping by to see the Grandparents we headed over to Bracken and Talia's for dinner and trick-or-treating. All the kiddos ready to go.

Skylar, Clara, McKay, & Ellie

Clara figured out the whole trick-or-treating thing real quick.

We went trick-or-treating in Ryan's old neighborhood in Orem. It was amazing! There are so many kids running around that the majority of the houses didn't even close their front door and just sat out on the porch with the candy. A handful of houses even gave out full size candy.

McKay will ALL his candy!

The three hitchhiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion.

Talia, Bracken, & Skylar

McKay with the "real" Jack Sparrow.

We had a great time! The big kids loved it and the babies were really good sports. Even the kids at heart got plenty of candy. Thanks to the Hudsons for having us over.

Happy Halloween!

All I want for Christmas

IS MY ONE FRONT TOOTH!

McKay's top front tooth has been wiggly for awhile. I felt it earlier today and it was getting really loose. I told McKay that he should wiggle it a lot to help it get even looser so we could pull it out. So, tonight I'm up in the kitchen while he and Ellie are down watching 'Home Alone'. All of the sudden McKay cries out " It came out!" I run downstairs to find him with a big smile on his face and a tooth in his hand. He was so proud of himself. We even had to call Dad and tell him the news.

In the picture above he is holding his tooth, even though you can't see it. You can however see the big hole in his smile, and the nice band-aid on his forehead. That is what happened when my fingernail meet his forehead.

This is the tooth! I hope we remember to give this one to the tooth fairy. The last one got lost.

Pumpkin Carving

To get in the spirit of Halloween, for family night last week we invited over my family for pumpkin carving and pizza. Wyatt, Courtney, Lindsay, Kim, and Colton all came over for a good time.

Wyatt and Courtney showing off their original design, Alpine Event Rentals. It's my brothers event rental company and any advertising is good advertising right?

Ellie showing off her pumpkin. She drew the face and Ryan cut it out.


Ryan having a little too much fun working on McKay's pumpkin.

Kim and her boyfriend Colton, and yes he is that much taller than her. It's not that hard though when she is only 5 foot, on a good day.




Lindsay, Ellie, and Courtney scooping out the innards of their pumpkins.


The finished products.

Mine and McKay's (thanks to dad)

Ellie's

Lindsay's, and Wyatt & Courtney's

Kim & Colton's

All in a row.

We had a great time. Thanks to everyone that came over and helped us celebrate.