Christmas #2 in Bunkerville

After our Christmas at home, we packed up the car and headed south to much warmer weather.   We spent a few days in Bunkerville with my parents and got spoiled rotten.  It was really fun to just relax and reflect on the holiday and the real meaning of Christmas.  We were there for Christmas Day and the kids had a super fun time with Grandma and Grandpa.  

One of the kids favorite things to do at Grandma and Grandpa's......watch movies with them in bed.  

My dad has become a modern day Betty Crocker.  He got Mom a new wheat grinder and a Bosch mixer for Christmas.  He has been taking advantage of his two toys more than Mom!

I never thought my dad would enjoy baking bread so much.  It was cool to see how much fun he was having.  Another one of his hidden talents I guess!

Tanzi found a funny puppy mask and was sportin' it around.  

A Bunkerville tradition is have Santa ride around through town on the firetruck.  The kids were anxiously awaiting his arrival.  

Mom and Tanzi enjoying some warm Bunkerville sun. 

There he is...Santa on the firetruck.  They hand out treats for the kids.  I love it!

Enjoying the peanuts in their bags.  

The kids love Grandma's and Grandpa's jetted tub.  It makes lots of fun bubbles to play in!

Santa even came to the house to bring a surprise for the kids.  Lucky kids!

My Mom made some new stockings for us and we love them!  Thanks Mom!

Christmas morning started with diggin' through stockings. 

Opening their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa....new shoes and pajama's, the perfect gift.  

Christmas shirts and happy kids.

We had such a great Christmas in Bunkerville.  We don't get down there often enough, but truly enjoy our time with Grandma and Grandpa when we are there.  Thank's Mom and Dad for making our stay so awesome.  

Christmas #1 at Home

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  I had almost two weeks off of work for the holidays so we actually got to have a couple of Christmas's.  We went down to my parent in Nevada and then went to visit Mauri's parents on their mission in Ventura, California.  Before we left, we opened family gifts, which is the bulk of Christmas for us.  The kids wrote letters to Santa to tell him that we would be in Bunkerville at Grandma and Grandpa's to make sure they got their Santa gifts delivered there.  We opened gifts at home and then left on our trip.  The kids had a great time opening gifts and were happy with everything they got.  

 The tree and gifts before the kids ransacked everything.  

One of the new ornaments from a set of snowman ornaments she got.  

One of the Santa and Bell ornaments she got as well.  

We had to wake up Tanzi because we couldn't wait any longer.  She looks really excited about Christmas!

Crazy hair.

Waiting patiently.

The whole family ready to open presents!

They would open a gift and want to play with it.  They didn't care about opening more of their presents.  

Tanzi was sure happy with the piece of candy she had!

Happy with my new Aggie hoodie and sweats.  

More presents. 

Mauri got some nice new stainless steel cookware. 

RSV and New Winter Clothes

This season has been a killer for our family with sicknesses.  All of us have had the flu at least once, colds have been very present at our house, and even the little "Miss" got RSV a few weeks ago.  She had to have breathing treatments and seemed to recover pretty quickly, but it hasn't been fun living in Allen house the last couple months with all the coughing, sneezing, nose-blowing, puking, headaches, sore throats, and achy bodies.  

Tanzi at the hospital with mommy getting diagnosed with RSV.

One of the many treatments for RSV Tanzi had.  She actually did really well and kept her mask on.     She even started to hold it and would keep it on.  It seemed to work though and she was back to healthy breathing in no time.  

We have been debating on when to give the kids their new winter clothes.  We had a couple of snow storms we though we would get them out for, but we didn't.  We finally decided to give them their coats, pants, boots, gloves, and hats.  The are really warm and nice and the kids love them.  Tanzi really liked hers and always goes to get hers when we say we are going outside for anything.  

The three with their new coats.

We went to Temple Square an their warm winter clothes came in really handy.  

Tanzi just looks so cute and tiny in her new coat.  

Allen Family Christmas Party

 Yesterday was a super busy day for us, but it was also super fun.  We started with our ward party in the morning.  Our ward has been doing a breakfast Christmas party the past few years.  We really like it because it is different than all the other standard ward parties and it is early in the day.    

As soon as we left the our ward party, we headed down to Farmington to my brother's home for the Allen Family Christmas party.  This is the second year of doing a family Christmas party and we really like it.  We had a nice lunch, read some Christmas stories, exchanged white-elephant gifts,   had an ugly sweater contest, and enjoyed everyone's company.  We were going to go look at the lights on Temple Square, but it started to get snowy and cold outside when it got dark so we decided to call it a night.  Here are a few pictures for our adventures today! 

This picture actually wasn't from any of the activities today, but we thought it was super cute that Tanzi was pushing a picture of Jesus around in her baby stroller!

A special visitor came during the ward Christmas party!

Reading Christmas stories, a family favorite.

A cute picture of Aunt Meagan and Kyri.....not sure what their conversation was about, but it looks really entertaining.  

Getting ready for the gift exchange.....the kids had a lot of fun!

Tanzi was wearing Kyler's Perry the Platypus hat and had clear down over her eyes....not sure how she was able to see anything.

A great day filled with Christmas spirit.  

Recent Updates

I have decided I'm going to TRY to update the blog every Sunday. If I do that then it won't take long AND I can keep up a bit better. I really just love looking back on my blog, especially when I update it regularly. So, here's a go at my first Sunday/weekly post

Not much has been going on lately. I mean, outside the regular holiday going-ons, which Gary has already posted about. Thanks to him I'm not as far behind on blogging as I could be :)

We've had one snow storm so far this year and it happened to be on the weekend we were gone. Luckily it was cold enough to keep the snow on the ground for a couple days.

Graysen, Tanzi, and Jadyn having a great time!

Tanzi and her hat....what a crack up!

On Thanksgiving day we were able to celebrate Gary's birthday. His birthday was the following day, but I figured we may as well enjoy cake and ice cream with company. Now, I know my cakes  obviously don't compare in looks to the ones Gary makes, but I do have to say that this one probably tasted better than his :) No offense to him, but this was made from scratch and not from a box. Nothing like pumpkin cake for Thanksgiving dessert and for your birthday, right? YUM!

The kids were quite anxious for him to blow out the candles

Sometimes, when I hear my kids yelling and fighting with each other all day I wonder if I'll be able to make it through the day with my sanity. On this day, however, I was given a true melt-my-mommy's-heart moment. I was vacuuming and when I got into Tanzi's room this is what I saw. No fighting or being mean. True sibling love. Everyone happy. And my heart truly did melt.

I LOVE these kids!!

For some reason she always falls asleep while eating her green smoothie. They just have that effect on her...

The kids LOVE to color while we are making meals. It is now commonplace to scrub crayon and pen marks off my counter....maybe I should start leaving it there....true artwork from a child!

The last time I gave everyone haircuts Tanzi was crying because she wanted one too. So, here's a picture of Tanzi's "first haircut", where I cut practically nothing off. She was quite happy with the situation, nonetheless. And I've been wondering why her hair is growing like crazy in the back, but doesn't seem to be growing at all on top. I have recently learned it's because she pulls her own hair out. While sitting in her highchair Tanzi will pull her hair out! Then she gets mad because her hair is stuck to her messy fingers and I get mad because she gets food all over in her hair... Is it normal for a child to pull their own hair out? It's not in clumps, just a few strands at a time, a few times a day....which apparently adds up

Most people won't appreciate this photo....however, I love it!! I asked Gary to please get Tanzi dressed. And, bless his heart, he did just as I asked. I couldn't stop laughing, though, because I thought she looked like an elf. Only certain tops go good with leggings, and that was not one of them :)

Don't worry, our bed doesn't generally look like that...it's called changing the sheets. Yes, we do that on occasion :)

Christmas is Coming

This is by far my most favorite time of year. I LOVE it!! And I love that I am completely done Christmas shopping too! This means that now I can just enjoy the magical feelings of the season.

Here's a quick look at a few of our Christmas decorations.

This is the tree in our bedroom. I LOVE it! It's the kid's tree, so all their ornaments go on it. Hence, the several ornaments all in one spot. Kyri and Gray get mad when Tanzi takes an ornament off the tree, so they will put it up high. And most of them have found a nice gathering spot....out of Tanzi's reach :)

Our Christmas countdown calendar.Since our decorations were up before December, the kids had to wait patiently before adding any ornaments to the tree. Yesterday was a pretty exciting day around here.

Thanks again for this awesome gift, Tammy!!

Every year I get at least one new Christmas decoration from Gary. Well, this year I picked out a few of my own. :) Thanks, love. This stocking holder was one of them. I am so SO happy to finally have a spot for our stockings instead of just on the couch. And I can't wait until we have our new stockings Gary's mom is making for us! I will definitely have to post pictures of those after Christmas!

Our Christmas village. My friend told me it looks like an accident waiting to happen, with little kids around and such. So far there have been no incidents. Tanzi had to touch everything as I was getting it out, but hasn't touched any of it since.

Our tree!

I got new decorations for our tree this year (and a new tree, too, actually) I really love the new decorations!! Now I just need to find some ribbon or something to add to it to make it complete. But that will have to be part of my next years new decorations...I've spent way too much on them this year :)

I know I've posted this in years past, but I truly LOVE our nativity. It is so simple and SO unique! Thanks for your one Christmas decor contribution, love :)

Lights on the tree

We have a few lights on the house too,but Gary decided not to go out in the rain to take a picture of them. And because of the rain the tree doesn't look as amazing as it normally does. In fact, my neighbor told me her kids are jealous of this tree because it's pretty cool and really bright. All thanks must go to Gary for the outside lights!!

I love looking down the street and seeing so much Christmas spirit. I can NOT wait for that magical day to arrive! 

Merry Christmas to all!!