Finally..my Super Long Mega Holidays Post!

We surely had a great Christmas this year. Let's just say that I am glad that it is over! All the hustle and bustle and a million things to do..it just isn't the same kind of "fun" that I remember as a kid! The best thing about Christmas though, is the joy and excitement in my children. Here is Lauren with Santa and Mrs. Claus. She is super happy!

Jamie would have nothing to do with Santa, but took a Candy Cane anyway.



Here is Jamie around Christmastime. He thought he was cute, so did I.

Okay...now for a second here my comments aren't matching up with the correct picture, and I can't fix it, so I apologize for that! Bear with me for a minute here....
















Matt's Dad, Leo and his wife Tina on Christmas Eve. We had a great dinner over there, and opened presents together that night. The kids always love seeing each other!

Lauren was having a ball playing with Maddie. They are both such darling girls!

Three Lovatos!

All the cute kiddos! This year there were 4, next year there will be 5! We are growing! We can't wait for Kristen to have her little munchkin in the gang!

Maddie loved the present I got her! She was laughing and kicking her feet. I adore that little girl!!!

Jamie loved the present that Pa Pa Leo and Grandma T T gave him. He was so excited for the bike that he was actually trying to ride the box! Silly boy!

This was gonna be a Matt and I photo, but Jamie had to butt in! Ha! I do love my boys!

Leo wanted a picture of his wife and grandkids, but

Jamie was having NOTHING to do with it! Go figure!

Here is a shot of my little family. The best one I know!

Matt's brother Greg, his wife Alex, and one of their daughter's Isabella. Our family AND friends!

Matt's Step-brother Steven and his boyfriend Collin.

Most of the Lovato clan. Coolest Peeps in WJ! Check out Lars! Strike a pose girlfriend!

Later that night we went to my parents house to open our Louisiana presents, a tradition that goes as far back as I can remember! Here are my hottie sisters!

So..that night my battery died, so I didn't get too many photos. I was able to snap one with Jamie LOVING the cars (of course) that he got from my brother!

Santa came to our house. This is what awaited my kids in the morning. Lauren was up a mere 1.5 hours after I finished it all. Whew! I always say I won't do all my wrapping the night before, but every year I do!

Jamie was THRILLED to get the "CARMACK" that he had been begging for three months. The smile on his face made everything worth it. What a cutie pie!

He was also thrilled to get to ride his assembled bike!

Lauren was EXCITED to see the Barbie house that she had been longing for. It really was nearly as big as she was as her dad told her it would be!

Christmas Day at my parent's house. My sisters..Sarah and Ashley and her boyfriend Victor..and my two little monkeys. There will be another monkey in this picture too! Can't wait for another munchkin!

This WOULD be a nice family Christmas Day photo..if Matt wasn't pulling an "Earl". Well, I guess that you will just have to imagine what it would look like if his eyes were open!

My little sister Sarah is prettier than she thinks she is! I love to have her as a sister, a co-worker, and a friend.

Victor and Ashley. Ashley, or SKIPPY as I call her...is also a great friend. Love to spend time with her...she is determined and brave and also prettier than she thinks she is!

And here are all of the kids. What a MOTLEY CREW...he he he.

Oh, and FINALLY a shot of my parents. They are the best parents and grandparents! My kids LOVE going over there. Thanks for all you do for us!

Sarah and Lauren, the posers.

Merry Christmas! Sure love my little kiddos!

The next day, the kids loved playing with their Zhu-Zhu pets. These were courtesy of our renters, Chris and Pam Crouch...so thoughtful of them! These hamsters are sure neat! More priceless smiles.

Here is Jamie in some new threads. I love going to his closet and finding all these new clothes! It was badly needed! He is not a baby, but a boy!

A couple of days after Christmas..it was Matt's sister's birthday, the kids loved playing with Uncle Dave.

Happy Birthday Kristen!

A couple of days later, I met Alex for lunch. We thought it was hillarious that our daughters were dressed IDENTICALLY! We didn't plan it, we didn't even know they both owned the same shirt. SOO cute! They love each other! I am so glad Lauren has a cousin close in age, they get along so well.

For New Years Eve, instead of the traditional party at our house, Alex and Greg hosted the shindig at thier house. Here is Alex and her mom, Claudia.

This picture looks so wrong! I promise though, that is sparkling cider NOT champagne! Nobody needs to call DFS!!

So, on Christmas Eve Jamie got a super-bad black eye. This picture was taken a week after the incident and you can still see how bad it was. Good thing he is so cute, you almost don't notice.

Three muskateers! The cute kiddos!

Greg and Alex and a "smiling" Dakota!

Gee whiz, can Matt take a normal picture?! I guess not! Oh well, I guess I will keep him anyway.

Kristen and Dave! Hopefully next year when they have a baby, they will still be partay animals!

Me and the best little girl and buddy I know!

All of the girls....I hate when there are three people with cameras taking pictures at the same time! No one is looking at the same camera! Oh well...

Jamie's first car-nap of the year! He made it to midnight and about 5 minutes of 2010! HA!

The next day we upheld another tradition. We went to Red Lobster with my family. I didn't take many photos that day (my camera battery died again!)...but I did get one of my mom holding Zoe like a baby. I think she may be ready for another baby.....BUT man, Zoe kinda has crazy eyes here!

My mom and Sarah. (my mom posted more photos on Facebook of this day, if you are wanting more)....

Jamie cracked me up when he came out of his room looking like this...hmmm...guitar, black-eye, hard-hat, and dirty face. Yup...all BOY!

Too cute!

A suprise for New Years is that my brother came into town for a visit. Jamie was excited to see his Uncle John. (ps..I think John has his hat like that so he would look taller than me, because I am really taller than him!)

Okay...rule of thumb...don't take pictures against a bright backdrop. Well...I am still glad to have gotten a shot of me and my favorite brother.

Well..that is my super long mega post! I hope you enjoyed it as it took me only a few hours to create it. Awww....hope you all had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope you are all as relieved as I am that it is all over! The holidays AND this post! HA!

Recent Happenings

I have to apologize...I've become a bad-blogger! Christmas is such a busy time, with the bad weather, the shopping, all the preparation...plus crazy Scentsy time and making jewelry too! Life gets a bit hectic. Let me give you a brief summary of the past couple of weeks.

*Lauren is off track, which has actually been nice, as I have had to stay up later than normal to get some stuff done, so it has been nice to sleep a bit longer in the morning. At night, we have enjoyed watching all the Christmas Specials that are on this time of year....as well as yummy cookies from Lauren's school fundraiser:
*As Matt and I were putting up all the Christmas decorations, Jamie thought (for some crazy reason) that he would shove this button UP his nose. We had no idea until the NEXT morning when I was bathing him, I noticed something shiny up there. I called Matt at work in a total panic. THANK GOODNESS WE LIVE 2 MILES FROM WORK! We thought we were going to have to go to the Emergency Room as our first attempts only shoved the button up further! FINALLY Matt got smart and used a paperclip to hook the button and remove it. I couldn't stop shaking after it came out, I think I shook the rest of the day!

*Oreo, the cat, has enjoyed the Christmas tree. What a silly cat!

*Matt's work, bought us family tickets to a Jazz game. We got to be on the floor and do the fan tunnel as the players entered. Jamie didn't know quite what to think.

Our family at Energy Solutions Arena. This was their first Jazz game!

My cute little girl had a blast!

They gave us all Jazz shirts to wear, the kids shirts were adult shirts and were huge on them. BUT Jamie wouldn't even let us take his coat off.

* Lauren had her Christmas dance recital. She did such an awesome job. She makes me get teary eyed everytime I see her dance.

We celebrated her performance afterwards at the Texas Roadhouse. Good times!

*I also had a sleepover with my sisters. I rented some scary movies, we had snacks and we stayed up late. They are so much fun, I am so lucky to have them! Aren't they cute!?

I also invited my friend Beth to be an adopted sister and join in our fun. She has become such a good friend to me the past few months, although it feels like I have known her forever! I was glad she was able to make it, even though she hated the movies I picked!

Sarah kept teasing me about my Snuggie! I tell ya, it is the coolest thing ever...but somehow everyone thinks it is funny! Here she is trying to imitate the Snuggie ads! Pretty good, eh?

My kids love Beth too. Or "Miss Beff" as Jamie calls her.

My sister Ashley is the weirdest sleeper ever. She had worked a 10 hour day and had been up since 5, so she was the first to crash. Believe it or not, she is sleeping here AND keeping her phone safe!

**Here is Lauren in her camo pants. Pretty stylish.

Okay, confession, I actually bought the two kids matching camo outfits. I know it is cheesy, but I love it!

Cute Lauren and her hairbow. She loves to have her picture taken.

*This month they started to build the house next to us. They did ALL of this framing in one week. The lady building the house is actually a First Grade Teacher at Lauren's school..so she could actually be Lauren's teacher next year! Cool huh? I met her the other day and she seemed super nice.

*We also got to travel to Clearfield to celebrate my Grandpa's 85th birthday! It was great to see almost all of my aunts, uncles, and cousin's on my dad's side. I wish we got to see each other more often!

*Last Saturday our little family met Beth and her family (hubby Josh and daughter Harbor) for dinner at the Olive Garden and then we all went to see Santa at Matt's Mom's friend Jewel's house. Lauren was shocked that Santa knew so much about her. Jamie wouldn't get near Santa! Lauren told Santa what he wanted...a scooter, and what she wanted, a Barbie house. Luckily, we even showed up at the same time as Matt's sister and brother and his wife and kids (sorry no pic...too crazy!) It was a bit hectic...but it was a good time for all!

*Okay, last entry. Tuesday night my parents had offered to take both kids overnight. WOW! It was great to have a night at home with just Matt and I...that never happens. Matt and I were up late, prepping Christmas stuff..when at 2 am there was an Earthquake. It was a 2.7, not huge, but not small either. It was really weird. It felt like a bomb went off or like a car hit the house. Matt knew right away that it was an earthquake and it was verified on the U of U Seismology site. The epicenter was about 4 miles away.

*Well, I am sure that I will have to blog soon, as I will have about a million Christmas pictures to share. Christmas is so much better with kids, and mine are at a great age.....pure joy and excitement!! It brings out the kids in ya! SO..Merry Christmas to all of you out there! I hope you catch the Christmas Spirit..and you get more BUMHUGGING than HUMBUGGING. Ha! That isn't inappropriate is it? This is what happens when I function for a month on less than 5 hours of sleep a night and too much candy. Seriously though MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas Card Photos

Every year for my birthday, we get our pictures taken at Kiddie Kandids. This year, with my birthday being on Thanksgiving. We went the day before my birthday. While this used to be a fun event that I would look forward to, I have come to dread it because of one word: Jamie. This year, he was no different. What could have been a simple thirty minute session became a dreadful three hour ordeal. I have no idea why he hates pictures so bad! I am so surprised that we got any decent shots. I don't exactly LOVE these pics, BUT they were the best we were gonna get. The ladies at Kiddie Kandids were sooo patient. Despite ALL the crying...Jamie during the session and me at the end. Here are the shots we ended up with.
I am impressed that his face is not red or tear-stained, I guess that his expression tells it all!

During his tantrum, Matt and I decided to get a shot of the two of us, since there was space on our session. We haven't had a professional shot of us in 6 years, so I guess this was a nice surprise.

Since Lauren looked so cute and was behaving so well, I decided to get a shot of her too. Sorry these pictures are so grainy, I had to have my mom scan these because there is no longer a way to download them off of Kiddie Kandid's website. Even through it is blurry, I still think my little girl is adorable and sweet looking. I can't explain how much I LOVE her!!!

So, those will be some of the photos we will be sending out this year. Only those of you blog readers will know the high price at which they came. Up next on my to-do list, another Jamie un-favorite...SHOPPING. Oh boy! Merry Christmas to all, anyway!