2nd Christmas and New Years

I am a little behind on blogging. I am finally getting around to posting the rest of Christmas and New Years. As always, life is busy, but even more so these days. Kent has some pretty hard classes this semester, and has to study like crazy. On top that, Kent and I are taking on a twelve week weight loss challenge. I am finally going to try to loose the rest of the weight I put on almost 3 years ago. So along with family and work, exercise and healthy meal planning and preparation have moved up the priority list. So there is not much extra time to spare. In short, my blog posts might be fewer and further between.
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We got all my brothers and sisters and their families together at Mom and Dad's to celebrate a late Christmas and New Years Eve.

Us kids usually go in together on a Christmas gift for Mom and Dad.


This year we got them a camera.






Mom was really surprised. She has been wanting a new camera, but we have all been telling her that you need to be a person that actually takes pictures to justify a new camera. All the while, planning on getting her one. We threw in a Cabela's gift card for Dad too, since Mom was really the one that wanted the camera.
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We also draw names for each other.





Jessica made these amazing picture blocks for Nicole and her family, and for me and my family. We LOVE them! We just didn't get a picture of ours =)

Mom and Dad got Kent a gun case.



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There is something about the men in this family. They love to wrestle.
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Brotherly love.

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The next morning, the kids all opened their gifts.

Grandma and Grandpa Petersen got us all one of these clocks.

Mom got the girls lots of stuff, Zuzhu pets, slippers, other toys, and these beautiful dresses.

Our girls LOVE dresses.
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We put our girls hair in rag rolls for family pictures. Aren't they cute?

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More rough housing.

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Kendra is mid-air jumping on Dane.


What a good uncle.
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I'm not sure who's idea this was. Pile up on Kent's back.

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There is always lots of yummy food at Mom's house.

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Our New Year's Party

Grandma and Grandpa Petersen came from Utah to spend new years with us. They have a family tradition of making candy canes during the holidays. So they brought all the stuff and made candy canes with us.

First, Grandma cooks the candy. When she is done, it is thin and super hot.

Then Grandpa cools it on a cold marble slab.

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Next comes the pulling.
It is still really hot and you have to work fast.

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Next, Grandma adds the stripe, and we all get to shaping candy canes.











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Our first batch was root beer flavored, the second was lime.

They were both YUMMY!
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Somewhere during our second batch of candy canes, Camryn and Kendra disappeard.

We found them on Grandma's couch.

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We went on to play the Newly Wed game, and eat a wonderful spread of snacks. Grandma and Grandpa Petersen beat us all. I guess there's something to the years spent together.

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Happy New Year!!!!

Camryn and Kendra brought in the new year together.














The Next Morning...

more good food.

Dad made his amazing biscuits and gravy.

And we still had lots of treats left over.

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Not such a morning girl.

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Over this trip our girls discovered something in a new way.

The Wii.

Travis brough MarioKart on this trip. Our girls LOVED IT!
We have a Wii at home, but before this trip I could count the times we had played it on one hand. Kent went and bought MarioKart for the girls. Along with that, they have now discovered other games we already had.
We put it off for awhile, but I guess it was inevitable. Video games are now a part of our house.
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Taylor and Amanda brought their sweet Boxer puppy, Zoe. They also brought their two Chiuauas on this trip. Add those to mom's dog, and we had 4 dogs in the house. Good thing they are all well behaved.

Dane is the Chiuaua wisperer.



With all us girls together, we couldn't go the whole time without doing some crafting.

We made more flowers and jewelry.

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It was another GREAT time with family. I hope everyone had a great New Year as well. Good luck with your resolutions!

Christmas 2010

Camryn's Kindergarten class went to two Assisted Living Communities to sing Christmas Carols. I was lucky enough to get to go watch.

Camryn is is the back in the middle, right in front of her teacher, Ms. Jacobson, playing the guitar.

Her class also had a Christmas Party.

I was able to go and help the kids make these gingerbread ornaments. We started with sandpaper cut out like a gingerbread man and the kids ground cinnamon sticks over them so they smelled nice, then decorated them with glitter gel.

Kendra can't wait until she's in school too. She got to pick out a dress to wear that day and had her done in a curly bun. She got to play with kids at Grandma Lori's house (a friend in our ward that watches the girls for us). She will be in Kindergarten before we know it. This was our Christmas Tree this year. I don't do the same tree every year. I have lots of different decorations I have accumulated from after-Christmas clearances. This year, our tree was silver and white.

I had to get a picture of it, because I had to take it down BEFORE Christmas.

Kent had a break from school between semesters, and I was able to get a few days off work, so we tackled our hard wood floors. Refinishing them has been our list of projects for awhile.

First we had to clear everything off the floors. The only floors not being re-done were in the kitchen, bathrooms, and our bedroom. Everything else had to be bare. Hence the tree coming down. I think getting our couches out of the living room was the hardest part of this entire project. We started on Saturday before Christmas, and moved furniture back in 7 days later, on Christmas Morning.

BEFORE--The Living Room

AFTER

Here is everything set up for Christmas morning. We took our small little porch tree inside so we at least had A tree.

We were done just in time for presents with the kids.

Then I made biscuits and gravy for these silly people.

We also painted the dining room and put up chair rail just before we started the floors. You can see that finished project in the background. We hadn't had time to move the table back in yet.

After breakfast, we all played.

Kent's gift this year was a new hunting rifle. I got a Cricut Create, that cuts vinyl. I am SO EXCITED!!! I also got a new camera. It was a great Christmas for all of us.

I have to share some things about our girls. They get so excited about giving people gifts. We let them pick out a gift for each other, which they LOVED!

The hard part is that they can't keep a secret at all. Us girls got Kent binoculars that were supposed to be a surprise. They came home and were all giggly. Trying to keep the secret, Kendra said, "Daddy we got you a surprise, and it's not binoculars!" Camryn jumped in quickly, "yeah, we got you some princess stuff!" They giggled and joked about what they didn't get him for awhile.

Then, Camryn came home from school with a gift wrapped for Kent and me. She tells me it is a surprise. Then she says, "the santa on the outside of the gift actually goes on December." I just say, "oh really." She is quiet for a minute then asks, "Mom, do you need a new calendar?" I tell her I do. Then she says, "I think you'll like my surprise, but you have to wait until Christmas to open it!" She was so sweet about it all. I don't think she realized she told me what it was.

We love our girls, and we had a WONDERFUL Christmas with them. I have to try to cherish this time, because I know I will miss it when they are all grown up.

She's Crawling

On December 15th, we saw Corinne really crawl for the first time.

We tried to catch it on video.