Merry Christmas!

Dustin and I were able to go visit my family in Utah this year and had a really great time. Everyone was able to make it except for Kam and Jess -- I really missed them. Mom made Makenna and Elle little blankets for their dolls that have the Disney princesses on them. Makenna's is purple and Elle's is pink. Dustin had tons of fun with Ryan and Meagan's boys. He was just as excited to see them as they were to see him.....I guess he needed someone to play with. Dustin played football with them and had the boys stuff their shirts with pillows -- they had a great time. Makenna didn't get to go outside a whole lot because she along with lots of the other children had a runny nose and cold. I, on the other hand, spent one whole day sick with the flu....not too fun. Mom and Dad took the kids for us one night so all the adult kids or brothers and sisters, could go play games at Julie's house -- it was nice to get away without the kids. Dustin and I gave Jen and Trent a candlelight dinner at Julie's house for a Christmas present. Julie did an awsome job being our waitress! The kids had lots of baths together and Makenna felt that she, as the older cousin, needed to wash Elle's hair....poor Elle! Anyways, we had tons of fun and can't wait to see everyone again.

Makenna Christmas Caroling

Not sure how to turn this post around. Makenna is singing "Silent Night" at the Terry's house.

Christmas Sunday

These pics were taken after church because I forgot to charge my camera before church. They kiddo's didn't get too mangled up at church so I thought I would attempt pics of them in their cute little Christmas outfits again.

Several Attempts at a Family Pic

Makenna makes me laugh when I look at these pics.....she's a difficult one! These were taken at Dustin's graduation.

Yeah...He Did It!

Dustin just received his Bachelor's Degree in December. It is crazy that he actually has it because that is all we have known the past 6 years we have been married. It is a stress reliever to have this part of his schooling done -- now on to Physical Therapy School. Dustin took 19 credit hours his last semester, worked, and did his calling.....WOW -- I could never do that! He also graduated with an awsome GPA, but I won't say what it is because he doesn't like me to talk about him. Anyways, I am so proud of him! Not sure of our plans for the next year....only time will tell. The goal is to go to Physical Therapy School sometime in the near future. Good job Dustin!

Makenna attempting to feed Hollis

Makenna was suppose to be helping me clean up and the next thing I know she is trying to feed Hollis. I guess it looked more fun than her dolls -- this was the real thing! It just lead to a lot of frustration because every time she tried to give him the bottle he would try reaching for it and knock it away. It didn't take her long that she figured out the only way to make this work would be to pin him down.......poor little Hollis! Although, I think he thought it was a game and was a real trooper through the whole ordeal.

Thanksgiving with the Elliott's

We did Thanksgiving with the Elliott's this year. The whole family was there....yeah! That first picture is of Makenna snuggling up with Grandpa Russ with Mocha's travel blanket....YUCK! Anyway, we got there late Wednesday night and both of the kids got a cold Wednesday morning before we left. It was a night of HELL! I think that was the worst sleep I have got since Hollis was born. He would sleep for only about 15 minutes and then wake up crying.....that lasted all night. At 5am I finally had Dustin go out to the car and get Hollis's swing to see if he might sleep in that -- we had tried everything. Luckily, he slept in the swing from 5am-6am and then woke back up. That was the most sleep we had all night. Then my wonderful mother-in-law took him at that point so that Dustin and I could sleep for another 2 hours. THANKS JANIE! Every night was a little rough there but that first night was definetly the worst. I would always have to go to bed early when everyone else was playing games because I didn't know how much sleep Hollis would give me that night. Besides that, the food was good and we had a lot of it -- thanks Steph and Janie. They did all the work, I just made a few pies. The boys and Janie, Steph, and Becca played an early morning Turkey Bowl. I just watched from the car with my sick kids and recorded a little bit of it for them. We played cards and Josh and Becca taught us the game MAFIA which was a lot of fun. You can't help but really get into that game. Maybe I will teach it to my family at Christmas time. I am sure they would like it a lot. We also did a little shopping or more like "window shopping." Then Dustin took me, Janie, Russ, Josh, Becca, and the kids up to Bayfield, CO to see what it looked like up there. I really liked it up there. It is very pretty and it started to snow on us a little which I loved! The video is in the car on the way back from Bayfield. Makenna was making up her own song and insisted that Grandma Janie did all the actions with her. It was hilarious! She did it a few times. Anyway, we had a great time!