CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

We had a great time for Christmas this year! It started out with a storm that brought us a TON of snow, Malana is 3 feet tall so this gives you an idea of how much snow we got!
On Christmas Eve we reserved the church because my family is getting huge! Here we are eating dinner (this is just my brothers and sister and their families!)

At the church we played some games including this silly one, a take on musical chairs.

And we also played this one, the first person has to get the tail off of the last person.

Then we turned to a more reverent note. Each family shared a talent or story, we sang Christmas songs, and then the kids dressed up and acted out the nativity while my dad read it.

This is Malana's cousin Trevor, his parents weren't sure that he could handle being in the nativity but he was having none of that, so he gathered up the tinsel, draped it around his neck and booked it to the stage where he sat with the angels, cute!!

Malana was an angel this year and loved it! She twirled and twirled in her costume.

Christmas morning, waiting to see if Santa came yet (and waiting for Grandpa to finish his shower)!

Malana and Addy. Malana was so fun at Christmas this year! She really got into it and kind of understood what was going on, it was the best present just to watch her be so excited!

Her main present this year was a kitten, and she LOVES it. She has chased it around for four days straight, she love to hold it, chase it, and play with it. She already has a ton of scratches but she doesn't seem to mind. We decided to name her Rue after a character in the book "The Hunger Games".

This is how we passed alot of our time, ROCK BAND!! It was a ton of fun.

The day after Christmas I went looking for Lana and I found her like this: Watching a movie and holding the cat, she seriously loves that thing.

We decided to try something new this year, the day after Christmas all of the girls came over and we had a Christmas Tea party. It was fun, the girls really enjoyed themselves. At the end we had each of the girls stand up and we went around the circle and said something that we admired about that person, it made them feel really special.

This is Malana learning how to Curtsy.

Princess gear!

This is on Sunday after everyone else had gone home, Malana and the kitten were both EXHAUSTED!

Six great years!!!!

Six Years! Travis and I just celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Saturday! I can't believe that it has been six years, it has gone by so fast! This year we celebrated our anniversary with a kid free day (Thank you Barbara), I was craving one on one time with Travis, so we decided to go to a movie and then get take out from Olive Garden, and not deal with the hustle and bustle of a restaurant (who's idea was it to get married so close to Christmas anyways?) . When we got home we ate dinner by the fireplace (very romantic) and then we turned on some good old fashioned Christmas music and danced. It was Seriously the best anniversary that I have had, and best of all it was cheap (the movie tickets were free - thanks Alisa!, the babysitting was free, AND the dinner only cost us 5 dollars- thanks again Barbara!)! It was just nice to spend time with Travis without Malana, and enjoy each others company. Here we come year # 7!!

On another note, this year for Christmas for the neighbors, I made different kinds of carmel apples, they turned out delicious, and Malana was a great helper!

Bald?!?!?

Okay so, I was looking at my blog at the post with our family pictures and when I saw this one, I noticed that the top of my head looks like my brothers heads... bald! I'm not joking! My hair is always falling out like crazy, and maybe I'm exaggerating about looking like my brothers but seriously it's pretty thin! Maybe I will have to start saving the clippings from Travis' mop to make me a wig!

a box, a bed and sitting on your head!

Malana and I found the best hide-n-seek spot ever! It took Travis forever to find us. This box was in her closet and we had the flaps down so that you couldn't see us at all. Malana is surprisingly good at hide-n-seek and it is her favorite game. she picks a new spot every time and is completely quiet(sp?) while she is there.

Malana has always slept in our bed, and I have always held her to put her to sleep for her naps, I know, I know big mistake, I just love cuddling her so much! She just screams and screams when I put her in her crib and I am a softy. So we decided to try turning her crib into a toddler bed and see how she did, I couldn't believe it the day we set it up I put her in it and said "you stay here it is night, night time" and she actually stayed!!!!! (there was a LITTLE whining involved but no crying) and she didn't even try to get out. I think that she liked knowing that she could get out if she wanted to, maybe it was a fluke, maybe she was just tired but I was amazed!

For some reason she has been fascinated by sitting on Travis' head and thinks she is hilarious! Also Travis got a haircut, notice the difference between the family photos and this one? the Ladies at school kept telling him he looked more grown up. His hair was getting pretty long!

Family Pictures!!

We got our family pictures back! Here are a few of my favorites...
Also shout out to my friend who took them:
If you live in the Utah Valley, I highly reccomend her, her websites are heathertaylorphoto.com/blog/ and heathertaylorphoto.com so check them out!! She is reasonably priced, great with kids, very professional and she does a great job!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend! On Wednesday night we went bowling, which Malana thought was great, and who knew bowling shoes could be cute. She would roll the ball down the ramp and then jump up and down until it hit the pins, very cute!

Travis and his brother Jarad.

On Thursday we had our Thanksgiving feast, took some family pictures and played games!

This was the first time that all of Travis's brothers and sister have been together for about 10 years!

Top row: Travis, Troy, Jarad, Ryan

Bottom Row: Alisa, Barbara, and Leonard

It wouldn't be a family gathering without a little wrestling!

Barbara had a lot of fun things planned for the kids to do, some of the crafts came with suckers which Malana and Alex gobbled up!

G.Q.???...enough said!

Travis and his brothers (and occasionally me) stay up until one or two in the morning playing call of duty on the X-box. On Friday we went to Leo's (a cheap and smaller version of chuck-e-cheese), the adults played a couple of rounds of laser tag (which Travis wanted me to inform you that he got the second highest score EVER) which was quit entertaining and the kids played in the play area, which Malana loved. The boys also shot Travis's paintball gun, which included a few army crawls and somersaults along with a few holes in the siding (oops). Meanwhile the girls made and decorated real wreathes, they turned out beautiful!

The finished project! (It's a lot prettier in person, there is a green bow on the top, but you can hardly see it in this picture)

Then on Saturday when we got home we decorated our giant Charlie Brown tree. Travis's parents got it for free at their work Christmas party, and it is pretty homely, but if you know me you know that I give inanimate objects feelings, and I could never reject it. This is the first tree that we have ever had in our six years of marriage and I think that it is a pretty fitting tree, and it smells like pine what more could you ask for?!?