The Stay-cation

Well, we are 2 days into our STAY-cation.  (We are using this word as much as possible for the next few days...partly to be annoying, partly to remind ourselves that we are actually DOING something!)  Our plan was to head to Vegas this weekend, but instead we opted to stay home and spend our gas money on things around here that we never do.  Friday, we picked the kids up from school and went swimming at the Legacy Center--with their water slide and kid friendly pool--then ate at our favorite, JCW's.  Today we headed up to Soldier Hollow and went tubing.  Our friends from Vegas were here this weekend (part of the reason we opted to stay home) and they came with us.   SO FUN!

I never post pictures of me--probably because I'm always the one taking the picture.  But ya--I exist.













Jenna was exhausted about halfway through--I thought she had fallen asleep, but it turned out she was just a really good faker!  So realistic! We did love us the tow rope that took you to the top of the runs everytime.

This is just before our last run--everyone is tired, but trying to please me and pose for a picture.  p.s. I hate my hair...and why do I FEEL 20 years younger than ILOOK in pictures????

Kesley and Audrey--cute ladies.

After tubing we headed into Heber and ate at Dairy Keen--good burgers and shakes.  Then we headed to the Homestead to swim in The Crater.  I'm not sure if it was exactly what the kids were expecting--With all the scuba divers underneathe us we couldn't jump off the dock or anything.  And everyone HAD to wear the stupid yellow life jackets that buckled between the legs...not ideal.  It was kinda like floating around in a bathtub for 40 minutes--but it wasn't a bathtub at home, so I guess it was fun... 

Kinda hard to get a good picture with all that STEAM!

Valentines Day

We had a lovely Valentines Day.  Mine started at 1:30a.m. when Jenna came running into my room.  I had snuck a balloon and a little bag of goodies into each of their rooms after they had fallen asleep, and she woke up and saw, "something is ON my ceiling! No, really!  ON my ceiling!"  She had a good laugh when I walked her back to her room and turned on the light. :) 

Brent and the kids surprised me with new perfume and a yummy dinner in the "SMITH BISTRO" complete with candle light, menu, chocolate dipped strawberries and great staff.   It was the first time I've ever had to break up a fight between the staff while being served--but it was awesome!

Christmas Break--in review

Looking back at all these pictures I realize how much FUN we had this Christmas Break.  School starts again TOMORROW---and I am pretty excited about that--but I am already missing our vacation.  I only had my camera phone, so pictures aren't awesome--but at least it's something, right?

OK, how to go about this.  Things started with a bang at the VanCott Christmas party--but I already blogged about that--so moving on from there:

Dinner & Lights with most of the Smith Clan! We opted not to hit Temple Square and walked around the Riverwoods instead.  I don't know WHY my stupid computer won't let me change this picture around...DUANE! I NEED YOU!

Pizza and the park with Gillespies--Love this cheesy lady:

Christmas EVE tradition of making gingerbread houses--I thought the girls won--but then Gavin pulled out his plastic bubble SNOWMAN!

Kids right before bed--SO EXCITED!

THE TREE! 











Christmas Day!  Dressed up for church:

Very easy and relaxing Christmas Day night with a fire and a movie and LOTS of Lego building!  I think this kid built every Lego kit he got for Christmas in one marathon build!

Day after Christmas Ice-Skating in Midway with Grandma & Grandpa VC money!  SO, SO fun!

We had such a blast, I took the girls up again a couple days later!

We squeaked in a couple of movies during the break--favorite had to be Dolphin Tale that involved cousins and ice-cream--Oh and WAY too much popcorn...





Breakfast at the Crackle Barrell--THANKS Grandma and Grandpa Smith!

New Years Eve party at the Shumways!  SO MUCH yummy food, excited cousins and FIREWORKS!

Grandma and Grandpa Smith gave the kids each some Christmas money and Kesley bought some new roller blades (supplemented my mom & dad...), Jenna bought Kesley old ones that were still like new and Gavin decided he couldn't live without some too, so we are taking him to buy some today!  Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!  Kesley is pretty good and Jenna is catching on really fast---I think we found our new family fun activity!

Brent and I broke ours out too...and he proved he still has it!  And yes, we were both VERY sore the next day!

You may be wondering where Gavin was--well, he opted to stay home that afternoon & have a read-a-thon on the garage roof with his friend, Truman!  He finished Harry Potter-book 1--just don't ask him what it was about! :)

And finally, we capped off the vacation with a trip to Temple Square last night to see the lights--very pretty and so peaceful--except for the fighting... Gavin took this picture--I think he did alright!

Brent and Gavin are at Mission Impossible right now, and I am taking the girls to see Puss in Boots this afternoon--but I think that about sums up the vacay--so sad it's over!

VanCott Clan Christmas PARTY!

We sure missed you, Mom & Dad at the VanCott Clan Christmas Party!  Good food, lots of treats...sorta skipped the talent show--and the Nativity--but we did sing all the carols, does that count?  We kinda got sidetracked playing our new favorite family fun game "MINUTE TO WIN IT!"

Joseph ran the show and Danny brought his computer and projector with the official music and countdown---soooooo fun!!  With 58 people it was a little crazy, but I did capture two of the games on video:  The first is a game where Johnny, Brian, Duane & Rob have a nylon sock on their heads.  The sock has a tennis ball at the bottom of it and they are trying to knock over a row of cups with just the ball.

The second video will not upload--I'll try again tomorrow.  It is of Mary, Holly, Liz & Olivia trying to "bounce" out 10 wiffle balls that are in a Kleenex box strapped to their backs.....HILARIOUS!

Happy we got to hear from you guys at the end. Hope the baptism was wonderful.  Love you guys!  Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS Decor

I never did get any pictures of my decor up. I like how things turned out this year.  We had a several new traditions start:

1.  Fun--kid friendly tree.  Apparently my homemade ornaments and white lights were not particularly "fun" according to Brent----whatever.  Anyway, I re-strung the tree with colored lights, added a few BIG round bulbs for extra FUN and we bought some SUPER F.U.N. kid ornaments that I probably would have drooled over as a kid.  The result--(which looks SO much better in person)
My old boring stuff was transferred to our largest Alpine tree which looks very lovely in the entry.

 #2 I added a star wall behind my Nativity.  We have many Nativity sets--most of them kid friendly so they can enjoy setting them up, but my nice set sits on the entry table.  I have wanted to somehow put a large star above it but never quite knew what to do.  I saw this one in the craft store and had an idea...I kinda like how it turned out!  I think this will definitely be a new tradition.

#3  I had an extra garland and lots of ornaments I bought at a garage sale a couple years ago.  Jenna had a great idea and I think it turned out pretty. 

 #4 The Holiday shelf.  I started this holiday shelf last Christmas.  Each month is a new theme and it has been so fun.  This year I had just gotten back from Disneyland and I think I may have been channeling the "It's a Small World" ride when I set this up the day after we got back....it's very glittery and sparkly--the picture just doesn't quite capture that.

One last one of Jenna in front of the super fun tree!

 Now...on top of all the Christmas decorating and shopping, I threw in 2 room makeovers!  My room and Gavin's room.  I'm exhausted.  I haven't taken pictures of them yet, but I will...

A very MAGICAL Thanksgiving

We got spoiled this Thanksgiving.  Grandpa & Grandma Smith took all the Smith clan to DISNEYLAND!  I am kicking myself for not getting more pictures, but here are a few I did capture:

1. Turkey dinner & Bellagio Water show with Bonnie & John.  We stayed in Vegas on the way down.  Just looking at that Honey Baked Ham is making my mouth water--so good!--Oh!! and the banana cream pie!!!  Great way to start my Food-cation. 

and I had to include this cute shot I got of Bon & John at Disneyland--cute!

2. COUSINS!  The kids don't get to see Bronx, Belle & Eva very often.  Jenna had Eva in a head lock hug whenever possible! 

3. The Disneyland Hotel pool.  If Brent had his way, we would have spent the entire trip just like this:

The kids loved it too--heated pools, water slides, nice hot tub.  It was a great break from the mad house that was Disneyland.  This is Jenna doing her ALL TIME FAVORITE swimming gag---"The SHARK"

4. A hotel across the street from the park!  After a long day of magic, it was nice to only have to carry sleeping beauty for 5 minutes!  Seriously--only way to go!

5. GIANT Lego store!  Gavin was in Heaven!  In fact, Grandma bought him a set the last night we were there and he opted to stay back at the hotel with me and build it instead of one last night in Disneyland!  That's true love.

Super fun trip!  Thank you Grandpa & Grandma!