Natalie's first date!

Natalie had her first date two days after her 16th birthday!! She went out with her great friend Dallin. They had been planning to go on their first date together since they were about 14. They had decided to go to iceberg and whatever Hunger games movie was out. And they did just that! They went to iceberg and then to see Catching Fire.

They took a jar full of little papers to iceberg and wrote down a lot of future date ideas. They thought of things to do together and with groups. They had a really fun time.

Christmas at Oma's!

Every year after we open presents at our house we head up to Ogden.

We spend time with Maria and Brandon and his family.

We open lots of presents.

And we always have a great dinner.

This year the kids all got new towels fro summer fun!

Natalie's Sweet 16!

Being Christmas day, Natalie never sees friends on her birthday. Her sweet friends thought that wouldn't work for her 16th birthday! It needed to be special. They got with Hallie and she unclocked the basement door for them to sneak in. We sent her downstairs to find these kids in her room. They sang happy birthday.

And brought balloons full of notes and pictures for her.

It was so great of them to come on Christmas. Natalie felt very loved!!

 She got a cupcake maker from her friend Jenae.

A Michael Buble cd from her brother and sisters.

And what she thought was a ukulele bag!

But it was a new nicer ukulele too! She was so happy. She has spent so much time teaching herself to play. We thought she should have a nice ukulele instead of the old one Oma found in the basement for her to learn on.

Finishing the day off with Cheesecake!! I think it was a great day for her!!

Christmas 2014

Here are the kids in their Christmas Jammies. (except Aiden is too cool to change!)

My beautiful girls. I was so excited this year to find Jammies that actually coordinated!!

Strangely enough it is hard to find Christmas colored pajamas! Especially for little girls. I will enjoy it when I can!

Here they are with their tired eyes on Christmas morning!! They get up at 6 every year! Good times!

Here is the tree Christmas morning. This year looked a little crazy! My kids are truly spoiled. But the presents include the big black bags full of comforters from Grandma and Grandpa. Big bags with pillows for everyone. That took up a lot of space! The kids got the usual clothes and a few toys. The big presents this year were a basketball hoop and kindle fires for the kids. It was really fun.

Christmas socks. On our new couches. We got them in November. Our old ones were 10 years old. It was time for an update. I was worried that the red might be a bit much, but I like it because everything else in my house is pretty much a neutral color.

The Homey Gnome

Russell showed up to Christmas eve in this fabulous outfit. It happens to be the same thing he wore the first day he met Dana. It was his bowling outfit. Somehow she still loved him and married him. Now we all love him. Spiffy outfit and all!

Here is Russel opening his special present from Shane. For like 6 or 7 years Shane and Russell have been regifting a tiny little guy they bought in a candy machine. They bought it at Big Judd's and he is a little "homey" gangster looking guy. They hide it in each others cars, shoes or whatever. It has been a fun ongoing joke.

I was at Walmart this summer and they had a "homey" gnome. I thought of Russell right away. I bought it and saved it for Christmas.

It looks especially good with his lovely outfit! My kids were so excited to give it to him! We hope you love your gnome  Russell!

Family fun downtown

We decided to take our kids for our own little family Christmas fun. We went downtown to City Creek for dinner at the Cheesecake factory.

We got there really early but it was still a long wait. We walked around the mall and enjoyed a beautiful night.

The wait gave us some picture time!

After dinner we went to temple square to see the lights. There were so many people there. More than I have ever seen.

I'm sure it's because it was the week of Christmas, but still it was a crazy amount of people. We didn't stay long, but it was a great night.

Maria Retires!

Maria retired after 30 something years working for the Ogden school district. We celebrated her retirement with dinner together.

We went to the Timbermine with the whole family. It was a fun night and a great celebration.