Great Wolf

Yaya and Papa treated us to the Great Wolf Lodge. Its so fun (and embarrassing) to go swimming in the middle of winter :) We had a great time.

We couldn't help imagining next year fun with Locke & Katie family

My Dad called Ezra the lone wolf because he could have the best time all by himself if he wanted to.

Elliot's little hand-me down bathing suit was so cute on her.

 

She has sprouted! Look how long she is

Ezra looooved these little shoot'em up jet skis

 

and surprised us by waiting in line so patiently for the mini water slides.

 

Rowdy had a blast and even passed the general eyeball height test and onto a bigger water slide with his Papa and Dad. unfortunately the later lifeguard was a stickler for the above the line policy and so they waited a long time in line fer nuthin', but Rowdy had a blast he was everywhere. He is such a good boy. I have no doubt he was polite in all his adventures. Its nice to be able to have that kind of trust in a 4 years old.

 

We just stayed one night but had 2 days at the water park. 

Thank you Papa and Yaya for the fun.

Christmas part deux feat. Yaya & Papa

My Mom and Dad got here on the eve of the 26th. It was like Christmas!! They even brought Rowdy's requested hand puppets for Elliot. It was so nice to see them and get some QT

but then we always get so spoiled its even harder to let them go back home

Elliot adored Yaya. If Yaya wasn't holding her she would crawl through the house calling her

Aunt Katie MADE Elliot's hat!! Isn't it so cool?! It looks so professional. The top is a little flower stemmy bud. It is adorable and Elliot totally leaves it on! Thanks Aunt Katie.

We had lots of fun trips to the parks W Papa & Yaya

Rowdy has a style all his own :) 

I love that he is so independent in getting himself ready

Elliot loves trying to ride Bikes w her bros. She just scoots along

Feliz navidad

Since our bedroom is on the other side of the house we decided to utilize the underused, but full of potential, baby monitor. Rowdy had some fun with that before finally falling to sleep. He is super excited about Santa Clause this year. He wrote a sweet letter to Santa asking for smash and crash cars, a dinosaur, transformer shirt and a hand puppet for Elliot :)  At 7:00 he woke up and we just woke up Ezra & Elliot.

 We went to church at 11:30. Its was practically all music. It was Beautiful and it was super cool the Tad and Amelia Bowlers were there and Lynda and Paige and Zoe and a lot of our YW were in the choir. plus it was Christmas! IT was soo neat to go to church on Christmas. I loved it and the choir was Amazing. I know they worked really hard but it was like their efforts were being magnified. It was so cool. and I was especially glad they let us join in on a few songs. It was goosebumpy.

 We came home and opened our presents. Ezra and Rowdy love angry birds so they were pretty stoked about the beanies, and also the razor scooters Rowdy had seen earlier in the month and told him they were for someone else :)  Thanks for everything family and friends. Especially my new beautiful blogalicious macintosh :) It was a great morning. We finally got to put baby Jesus in the manger on the felt calendar my Mom made for us kids when we were little. I love that thing. I love my testimony too. We are thankful for Christmas.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve morning we had Biscuits, gravy, Fresh orange juice and the cousin gift exchange at the Carmacks

  New tights!

Rowdy loved his new transformer costume

So did Ezra

& We were all fans of Paigee's reusable sticker tie

 

That was fun. and before we knew it it was noon. 

We went home and made dinner for a family in our ward who had just had a baby. Then we headed over to the Brown's (as in Karin & Jill Stewart for you San Berdoo peeps). They really didn't know what to think about my Christmas jumper. Bryan was thinking of disowning me as a friend and Karin thought I should've come over with big hair so I would look like a sister wife. Anyway I forgot my camera but we enjoyed a fabulous Christmas Eve fiesta with delicioso Mexican food. Brian and Karin are such good cooks. And all the kids had fun together. It was a lovely evening. They pointed us towards an amazing Christmas tree on the way out of town. Wow

A couple of houses down had "Happy Birthday Jesus" written in Christmas lights. That's what its all about right? We've had to keep reminding Rowdy of that this year, and therefore ourselves. but what a lovely day, and a lovely time to remember. 

Happy Birthday.

Beiber Ward Christmas Party

...as in the Justin ward.

Something about this picture reminds me of American Gothic.

 

Maybe its my amazing Christmas Jumper

My First pie won the Best "Non-Traditional Pie" ...I knew the Dinos were a good idea

 Elliot, loving life at the table of Lynda & Livee

It was really nice. They did a little Christmas around the world. Rudolph in French was pretty funny. My favorite tradition that I heard was in Mexico the children would go from house to house symbolic of Joseph and Mary not finding room at the inn. But at each house they would get a little treat and end up at a Christmas Eve Celebration.

We are loving our sister missionaries; Reynolds & Hawkes. Our ward got "pink washed" last transfer and it has been so so awesome for the YW in our ward to go on splits and just be around them. and plus Rowdy is now probably going to marry an RM.. (he'a mega-flirt)

Cody had to recoordinate his fingers trying to button up this lovely lady snowman shirt

Blessed are those who stary and clean up. Good man.

This picture had such potential.

Ah well Merry Almost Christmas everyone.

elliot gives him another chance

Pre Production Christmas card

"Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy"

Got a new computer for Christmas. Hopefully I will get my act together transfer files and remember to post our real Christmas card up here soon. The real one came out cute. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas

Alien children and The Monster House

Our version of Gingerbread houses this year

We have since slowly devoured them. In the mornings I can hear the boys hanging from the kitchen counter and giggling trying to pick off candies before they see if we are awake :)

Changin' it up

 Rowdster is a good writer. He decided himself to master the capitals and lower case letters and has moved onto block letters. He does these letters with minimal help. I love them

Here comes Christmas!

Oscar Party

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving was our YW in Excellence. We did an Oscar Party spoof. Here are some of our girls. It was such a nice night. I was on a little bit of a high for the next week. Thankful that everything went smoothly. Thankful it was fun and the spirit was there and that the girls felt really special. and the YM had a blast helping with the food that was Amazingly yummy. It was just a lovely night and everyone pitched in and our efforts were definitely magnified.
I love being in YW with these girls. I was so so nervous when I got called but the concerns I had were almost instantly taken care of. Lots of people have offered service, especially with the little ones, and we have grown closer as a family, extended family and to the YW and members of our ward. Blessings have poured out. What a great group of girls (39 of them!) and what a neat chance to share testimonies, make fun memories and learn together. There is so much more to say but it is are probabaly better suited for the journal. Love these girls, love the gospel, love these girls loving the gospel.

He's coming to town!

I love grumpy Santa Pics. Ezra was not about to let us take another one.

Diamond Hunters

Last weekend we went To Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds. Cody has been wanting to go for a long time now and it was the last few days of his vacation. Elliot stayed with the Carmacks. We packed up some grubbies. It was muddy and fun. The scenery was great. All the taaall trees turning fall colors. The boys had a blast, despite their faces in this picture



 There were lots of nice rocks. Quartz and Calcite made our day more entertaining...

(They look a lot like diamonds)  

 

We stopped to eat at the Burger King/Gas station in Texarkana with a group of nuns.They were so happy. and that made us happy.

The gas station was also selling Big Brownzz, stress relieveing brownies... not recommended for children or pregnant women and not to be consumed before operating heavy equipment!?!!  Hopefully non-related to the nun visit

It was just a good time.