Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the days after...

We spent Christmas with the Ray family at a cabin at Bear Lake, in Northern Utah. Because there were so many snow storms, our group was not as large as we had originally expected. One of the best things about this weekend was the time we got to spend with our new family members. Below is a picture of our new nephews, Tommy and Tyson. Their Mom, Raquel, is marrying Brian, my oldest brother. It was a great time to bond!Ben and Lori, and Dan and Ashley brought Their Wii. We had some good DDR goin' on (check the video bar)!
Tyson and Adam getting excited for Santa!
Charlie eating Santa's cookies!
Grandma and Papa-pie enjoying Charlie and Adam.
Tyson, Charlie, and Tommy waiting on Christmas morning to see if Santa came!
Tyson and Tommy....ready to go!
Santa brought Charie his "go-racer"! We decided it was a good thing that Santa came on Christmas Eve, not Christmas night! (For Charlie's sake!) 
Adam loved his monkey ball! Isn't Santa fun!


The wrapping paper was the most fun for Adam!
We did some sledding the day after Christmas. It was so cold that we were probably only outside for a half an hour! Seriously, it was SO cold!
This picture was taken the morning we left the cabin. You can almost see Bear Lake in the right corner. My regret is that we didn't take a picture the day before when the sky was clear! On the day we left everything was white, including the sky! This is the most beautiful blue lake! I'm sorry you can't see it!
Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Ray! We had a wonderful Christmas! It was fun being "snowed in"!

'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the house...

The week before Christmas was busy! One night I came home after a ten, or so, hour day at work. I counted nine diapers on the porch! I wasn't the only one who had a long day! It was just so funny that I had to take a picture. Later, I found out something that made it even funnier. Apparently, our neighbors left a treat in the screen door. They had to reach over all of these diapers!!!! I keep wanting to apologize, but I'm too embarassed! We're officially white trash!
Snowy days bring snowmen! Charlie and I built our first snowman together. He was a cute little guy. Jamison (Charlie calls him Jaminess), the boy next door, helped us.
Charlie and I made several batches of Christmas treats to take around to the neighbors. Charlie especially enjoys making cookies. He says almost every day, "I know, let's make cookies for the neighbors!" I love making cookies with Charlie. He's sweet as sugar!
Adam is really enjoying the tree! In this picture he's playing with Charlie's new toy train. Our friend Susan Rowe gave it to him, and he loves it (so does Adam).

Christmas fun!

We have had a fun holiday season. Charlie, especially, is enjoying all of the festivities. The picture above shows Charlie with a hallmark decoration that I won in a white elephant game. The morning after the party we told Charlie to close his eyes. We pushed the button, which started the music, and we yelled "SUPRISE"! He was "suprising" us for a couple of days after that!

Hogle Zoo has "Zoo Lights" during the holidays. It was really fun, and REALLY cold! We stayed for almost an hour, but it was too cold to stay any longer.


These turkeys were kind of just hanging out at the zoo.  You'll notice there are four turkeys in the picture below.
It's not uncommon to find Adam under the Christmas tree. I would say he's the perfect little package!
Charlie helped me decorate the tree. He's a really great helper!

Cookie Time

Aunt Carolyn helped the kids make sugar cookies last Sunday. It's always a big mess, but it's also a lot of fun!

Above: Charlie and Libbie making silly faces.

Below: Charlie, Kelton, and Kaden cutting out cookies.

Charlie's smart, so he ate as much cookie dough as he could get away with!

What a pretty girl!

Two Big Boys!

Adam joined Charlie in the tub for the first time on Sunday. Adam loved splashing. He had Charlie (and himself) soaked, in no time!

Charlie's Daddy bought him a his very own snow shuvel. Now he can help clear the snow.

A week and a half ago, Charlie got a big boy bed. Those of you who know Charlie probably understand why we were nervous. We thought that he would never stay in bed! On the contrary, he has been perfect! He hasn't gotten out, until it's morning. He opens his door and announces, "I'm not asleep anymore!"

Look Alikes

Who is who?!

Seattle

We enjoyed a fabulous one week vacation in usually rainy, sometimes sunny, Seattle! We had a great time!

Grandma Vicki went with us on a walk on the Cedar River. We were hoping to see the salmon spawn, but the water was too high, and we may have been a little early. Charlie did get to see a couple of fish, and he definitely make the ducks fly!

Tanner is such a fun cousin for Charlie! They wrestle and play, and of course, eat treats!

Grandma Vicki misses these boys when they are away!

We had dinner at Grandpa Craig's house the night before Thanksgiving. The boys had fun playing games, and playing "Taco" (Charlie's interpretation of "Tackle").

I couldn't resist adding the slumber party pictures! Grandma and Papa Pie always welcome us all to hang out in their room. Charlie and Tanner snuggled up on the blow up bed on the floor. Charlie loved relaxing in Tanny's bed!

Thanksgiving was wonderful! It was great to spend time with Great Aunt Susie, and Great Grandma Toni! You'll see that our day included lots of food, some napping, and plenty of clean up!

The day after Thanksgiving we all went to the Seattle Aquarium. It was pretty cool!