Winter Recital

As you saw in the videos the girls did awesome in their recital. Sienna's was a Princess Tea Party and Jordon's was Musical Chairs. I felt so bad for Jordon because she felt terrible that day. She had the chills and a fever but that wasn't about to stop her from performing. I'm so proud of both of my girls. They did awesome!!

Ballet Recital

Wow

I can't believe I went a whole month without posting a thing. I'm such a slacker! Well as I'm sure for many of you December flew by.
The weekend before Christmas Bruce and I ventured to the mall which was INSANE so that the girls could see Santa. We waited an hour in line, but hey we do crazy things for our kids ...right?? Anyway, they were happy and that is all that matters.

Santa told me he got a kick outa talking to Jordon with her 2 front teeth missing.

On Christmas Eve we had my family over (32 people) for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and gift exchange. This year I decided instead of the hoagie sandwiches we usually had we were going to have a real dinner. Ham, cheesy potatoes, salads, rolls ... the whole kit and kaboodle! It turned out great! Afterwards we had a short devotional by Cade and then onto the gift exchange. The cousins were so excited! I think it turned out perfect. We sent the kids upstairs while the adults had our exchange. All in all I think it was a great night. Everyone was gone by 7:30pm to do their own traditions at home.

Rod, Cala & Dan chillin before dinner. See the delicious rolls Tasha made ... YUM!

Tasha, Karlene, Rod, Cala & Dan

Cody, Collin & Hailey playing football outside before dinner

Alexa, Sienna & Peanut aka Alia

I could not keep this little one away from the gifts

Getting situated for our devotional

Time to open gifts from the cousins

Hailey, Alexa, Jordon, Cody, CJ, Collin, Colton, Payten, Alia, Sienna, Daigen, Vaughn & Bosten

Grandpa giving all his Grandkids piggy banks he made for each of them

Our tradition that was started from my Mom's side of the family is to open presents Christmas Eve. The kids could hardly wait! We were opening our gifts within 5 minutes I swear of everyone leaving. Jordon and Collin separated all the gifts out. By 8:30pm we had all the kids except for Collin in bed for the night. Santa Clause came about an hour later. Bruce and I were in bed by 10pm. Not too shabby!!

Gifts from G&G Baird

Clay Matthews jersey

Christmas morning the kids woke up between 7:30-8am. They were SUPER excited to see what Santa had brought them. It was a 2 sided art desk stocked with crayons, markers, colored pencils, scissors, glues sticks and all kinds of papers. Jordon also got a Monster High doll and Sienna got make-up. Alexa got a little dinosaur toy that spits balls out. Collin got some Green Bay Packers fat heads.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Mud Lake. We took off shortly after 4pm on Wednesday. Alexa cried the entire drive over except the last hour when she finally went to sleep. We arrived around 8:30pm I believe. We got all settled in at G&G's house and put the kids to bed. The kids were up bright and early and Bruce got up with Alexa so I could sleep in a bit. He is great about doing that. Thanks babe!! We had breakfast and got the kids ready. Bruce and his Dad took Jordon & Sienna with them around 10am and headed to Leslie's in Rexburg. Harleen and I stayed while Alexa napped and prepared food. We took off for Rexburg shortly after 11am. Leslie had prepared a delicious feast. We had a TON of dessert that was to die for. We laid around and visited with family. The girls played great together and enjoyed all the attention. We headed back to Mud Lake around 5pm. On Friday Bruce and I met up with Cala & Dan in IDF and did a temple session. We went to lunch at Olive Garden afterwards. I really enjoyed the IDF temple. Bruce stayed in IDF and helped his Dad find a laptop while I drove back to Mud Lake. Well Bruce usually drives home so I don't pay much attention to on ramp details getting home. The on ramp was closed and I had to detour through IDF. At this point I have NO idea where I am but I know I'm going in the wrong direction. I called Bruce and asked him if heading to Ucon was the right way in which it was not. I program into my phone's GPS on how to get back to Mud Lake. I took a few back roads in which the on ramp from Osgood was also closed. Took another back road and finally got on the interstate at Roberts. Come to find out the interstate was closed due to a dust storm. Anyway, I made it back safe and sound. Bruce and I packed things up and headed home that night while the kids slept. We learned our lesson once. It was nice to visit Bruce's family but I don't think we will be making an eastern Idaho trip again for a while.

Us with Andrew & Courtney

Girls playin with Gmpa

Helping Gma cook

Alexa chillin

My birthday

For my 36th birthday my sisters decided to have a mini girls weekend and go to Twin Falls, ID. We took off around 3pm on Friday. We arrived in Jerome where Kim lives at 5pm. She had made us roast, garlic mashed potatoes, squash and carrots. It was so delicious!!! Thanks Kim! After that we took off for Twin. We checked into our hotel got changed into our dresses and went to the temple. After the temple session we headed to Chili's for some dessert. Nothing like a molton lava cake for your birthday! Karston and his girlfriend met up with us there as well. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel. You can tell we are mother's when 10pm feels late and all you want to do is go to bed.
Saturday we got up bright and early got ready and had breakfast. Went to another session at the temple. It was so nice to attend 2 sessions with ALL my sisters. After the temple we changed in Cala's car and went to lunch at Cafe Rio. We drove around for a little bit trying to decide what to do. There weren't any good movies out so we did the next best thing. Shopping! After that we headed to Moxie Java for some hot chocolate. Then we took off for Jerome. We chilled at Kim's for and hour or two and then headed back home. It was nice to get a way for a little over 24 hours with my sisters. Thanks for planning such a great birthday. Love you!

Long Overdue

Seems time is slipping away by the seconds! Alexa turned 1 year old on November 5th. We had a little family party over at our place that evening. We had pizza, cake & ice cream. Can't get much better than that!! The cousins played outside while the adults visited inside. Alexa LOVED her cake. I believe she ate about 1/4 of it. Which in the long run gave her a tummy ache that night. She didn't sleep very well. She enjoyed opening her gifts.
I can't believe it has been a year already. Alexa is such a beautiful blessing in our lives. Without her I honestly don't think Bruce and I would be where we are at in our lives today. We really drew strength from each other during the whole experience. We love you sweet Alexa more than words can describe!

Birthday cakes

Birthday girl and Daddy

and Mommy too

Loves the attention

Is this okay??

Oh, it's good!

Don't mind me

Enjoying the cake

Do I have anything on my face??

Opening gifts

Look who's ....