Happy New Year!

We started our New Year's celebration in the afternoon with swimming at the Rec. center. After dinner, we did our Christmas Eve shopping that got delayed this year due to colds. We teamed up (Nick, Em, Ty; Colin, Tiffany, Calvin; Jen, Devon, Tameeka) and did some sneaky secret shopping for each other at Wal-Mart. We decided we like doing our shopping tradition on New Year's Eve better than Christmas Eve because there's hardly anyone at the store, and there's more presents to look forward to after Christmas is over! Here's the gifts we got:

Colin- mug and hot chocolate mix, Jen- a pretty brown bowl (like to put soup or oatmeal in!), Nick- slippers and a jar of pickles, Calvin- chocolate chip muffin mix, hat, candy bar, and a coconut, Devon- permanent markers, drawing paper, and spray paint, Emily- bottle of 7-Up, markers, andP.J.'s, Tyrese- robot transformer (which we later found out was broken so we exchanged it for a fire truck the next day), Tiffany- head bands and colorful craft puff balls, Tameeka- princess slippers (which we exchanged the next day because they were too small, and we got a pair for Tiffy too because she was so sad she didn't get any!).

So, after our shopping and gift opening, the T's went to bed, and Colin made some lots of popcorn . After playing "High School Musical", we lit some fireworks at midnight, drank lots of sparkling cider and had some pretty hilarious burping contests! (I'm still considering whether or not to post video footage of that). Then we watched one of our favorite movies "That Thing You Do."

Devon learned how to make some fire crackers, and most of them were a success! (under close parental supervision of course!)
We picked up the game "High School Musical" at the D.I. for $2. We played the game for a little while and then realized why someone donated it (it got kind of boring). So, we decided to do our character's pose on the front of the game. Can you guess who is who?


Happy 2011 everyone!

Scouts

The scouts went ice skating during break. Colin was pleased that he didn't fall once! Here's Calvin trying his balance at ice skating. "I owned the ice," he later told me when I asked how the skating had gone. He was joking, of course!
Devon gracefully crashing!

Merry Christmas!

The kids all sat so patiently waiting to open their gifts- I just had to take a picture. After that, the chaos set in!
Cool science kit from Uncle Kirk!
Ma and Pa...send me some pics from your camera because this is about the only one I got with you in it! Pa is in the background patiently trying to remove all the doll pieces from the box. They sure do secure toys into their packages these days!

Keda is unwrapping her chew toy present from Emily!
I wanted a picture of all the kids and I with one of their gifts. Here's a "Snake Plant" we got for Devon. For some reason, I can't find the pic with Calvin. He got some zebra striped sheets to go with the zebra striped blanket he made last year. Nicole was in Reno for Christmas, so that's why she's not in any of these pics!
Tameeka with her horse, tiara, and earrings!
Ty was excited to get a Barney movie!
Tiffany liked the flower we got for her hair.
Em has been needing some new belts!
Colin really takes his cooking seriously! He made broccoli cheese soup in bread bowls for dinner, and he's making sure his bread bowls basted with butter and sprinkled with cheese, don't burn!
Dinner was a success! Although, when the kids found out all the yummy food Great-Grammy had at the residence she now lives at, they were pretty jealous and wished they could have had all that turkey, ham, potatoes, desserts, etc. etc. Glad you're being taken care of, Gram!

I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas - Video

Calvin's first school performance as the wild-man hippo! Sorry the video is so shaky and blurry (especially during the hippo-snake move).

Amy, Ashkan, and Kian!

Amy, Ashkan, and Kian came for a visit from Reno! It was great seeing them and we had lots of fun! Here's some pictures from their visit. This first one was taken at the McDonald's play place.
We went to the canyon (Swinging Bridge) and hiked around a bit.

Sisters!


Taking Keta from the garage, into the kennel in the backyard (so that we could play outside without her jumping up on all of us!)

Calvin auditioned for the part of the Hippo in "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas." Video soon to come!

Playing at the park!

The lights at Temple Square were beautiful!




Amy helped Emily and Devon with their English assignments.
It was fun with everyone doing school at the kitchen table! We even had a "tea party" with a yummy carob drink (carob powder, cinnamon, milk, and honey to taste).

We miss you guys!

Family Dinner

Emily did a knock-out job cutting this rather large Costco cake (left over from our ward Christmas party the night before!)
Baby Rebecca is adorable!
Brad and Whitney!
Erika, Jeremy, Lisa, Kedra, and Rebecca (providing the background music)
Great smile, Tiffy!
The triplets loved playing with Rebecca and feeding her pretzels!

Kelli and Chelsea!
I put this pic in the wrong spot...anyway, here we are at McDonald's! We have play group every week, and here's Nicky holding adorable Isaac. His mommy Alicia, and sister Morgan, are also in this pic- and Tameeka who loves baby Isaac too!