During Christmas Break

During the break we had some sick kids but we still managed to have a good time.

It snowed! Wendy came from California and we actually saw her several times!
Here the kids are playing in our backyard.

She even took Ruby and Squish ice skating one night while I was working!

We saw Katie and her kids for the tiniest amount of time possible, like 30 minutes-not long enough!!

Lots and lots of Basketball. And sometimes in a horse head mask.
Sonic has been wanting one for forever and finally got it. I know. Why? But it is actually pretty funny.

Gracie turned 8! Here she is with her sidekick.

Nina with her buddy Kiki-especially when Kiki let's her watch Frozen videos!

Nina finally expressed interest in what Santa brought her-a slide!!

We went to Build a Bear to redeem gift cards from Christmas. That was a fun outing!

Look at Nina's colorful Panda!

We had a fun New Years Eve celebration with family. We ate at the Training Table and then went back to cousin's to hang out and wait for midnight.

And Wendy did my hair that day. She cut about 5 inches and have me "peekaboo" color streaks.

Christmas Eve and Day

Christmas Eve we spent at cousins as usual. We had a nice back to Bethlehem dinner. 

The kids performed a beautiful program. I love this picture of Squish and Gracie singing.

And for Christmas Day our tradition is that we are in charge. This year we had Shrimp Etoufee and it was delicious. Then we went to see Annie again then came back to open presents and have a hot cocoa bar. 

Christmas morning was full of excitement and cheer. Here is what Santa brought! Sadly Nina got sick and woke up throwing up in the middle of the night!

Here are the excited kids ready to see what Santa brought them:

Sonic got an Assassin's Creed Jacket. Yes, I know.

Squish got a basketball hoop!

Santa brought Ruby a real live hamster!
Nina finally woke up long after presents were opened and had no desire whatsoever to touch hers.

December Events

Christmas Season is in full swing!

We saw live Reindeer!

This was the day we saw Annie in a free movie premiere a week before it came out!
I love this wet picture of Nina!

Squish did Break dancing this year. Here he is at his end of the year recital!
It lasted all of about 10 minutes but he rocked it!

Christmas Train

This year we went to see the lights at Temple Square one day just as they turned on at 5 pm. It was awesome and it warranted a selfie with Ruby!

Nina's cute Christmas outfit

Our friends the Ruiz family

Nina in her best Christmas Dress (she had 3)

We bought these cute little mini homemade Gingerbread houses and decorated them.

This is our Santa picture this year. Santa at Chick-fil-A. Kind of sad but he really was a great Santa, his beard was real and he had a light that turned on at his fingertip when he touched the kids noses. Very cool!

Happy Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2014

These are the only pictures I could find from Thanksgiving weekend. And I give full credit to my sister's blog.

We had a delicious turkey dinner and lot's of guests from Wyoming. Then we rested for 5 minutes and went shopping for Black Friday, because that's what we do. Then we woke up early for more black shopping. And then we had pizza that night where we took a picture with the Statue of Liberty because that is as close to NYC as we were going to get. We had some unexpected expenses come up like our second car breaking down again, so we weren't able to make our annual trip to NYC this December. Big frowny face.

Why was Sonic all alone?

Halloween Day

Halloween Day is crazy for face painters! I had my day planned from minute to minute and between private appointments and other events, I was so proud that I was still able to go to the school parade to see the kids in costumes. Everything was going smoothly until it was time to pick up the kids from school and I couldn't get a hold of Papa Duck to pass off the kids so that I could go to my last gig of the day-a Halloween Party. In the end I had to take the older kids to the party and they waited outside in the car. It was kind of stressful but it all worked out.
We met cousins and went trick or treating at our favorite neighborhood in the east Sugarhouse area. By the way, Ruby threatened Papa Duck that if he didn't dress up for Halloween this year, she would not give him a Christmas present! So he was a Knight with an afro :)

Then we went to have ice cream and almost everyone ended up having slurpees next door (?)

Guess who was matching 50's girls?
Sonic-boo

Squish turns 6!

Squish gets to have a birthday around Halloween and there is never a shortage of fun things going on! He also shares his birthday with uncle Julio.
 

With the fabulous cake Aunt Lisette made for him. It was just as he requested. Lucky boy!

Birthday breakfast with his biggest present--a huge dog he named Rocky

He had a celebration at his Kindergarten classroom where we talked about things that happened during each year of his life. Then several of his classmates got to give him birthday wishes. One wished him a trip to Disneyland. Another wished him a new car. When the teacher Miss Sherry asked Squish what his birthday wish was guess what he said? "To work for Jetblue like my mom!" Haha, he's a boy after my own heart. :)

After school we went to our usual place--Gardner Village. Squish loves it because it is all decorated for his birthday, we have yummy treats, and he gets to pick out a toy. This year he picked out a big eye stuffed animal named Duke.

Labor Day

For Labor Day we went to Red Butte Gardens because they were having a free entrance day. After that we had a picnic and spent 30 minutes looking for parking at Hogle Zoo only to find out that we were wrongfully told it was a free day there too. Ah, memories! Then most of the family went to see a movie and I took Ruby to go get her hair done!

Look at this cute picture! Nina does love her aunt!

Ruby turns 10!

Ruby is now in the double digits!

We went to boondocks to celebrate, of course.

And Red Robins

And it was her year to have a birthday party. She wanted to do it in the DJ Room at Classic Fun Center.

It was a Puppy themed DJ party actually, and she had a great time with all of her friends!

Fourth of July Holiday

We spent the 4th of July holiday the way we have for the past few years--in Layton face painting at the huge Liberty Days event! I don't have any pictures of my painting because I was busier than a one armed paper hanger, but Papa Duck was my line manager and Sidney and Kailee painted too, as needed. The rest of the family helped with the kids and were a huge help.