The Holidays

The holidays brought lots of busy running and lots of parties. It's hard sometimes to manage all the stuff that goes on during the holidays, but some how we managed it again this year. We had the Hall family party at my grandma's again this year. It was rushed for us because we also had the Sagez party that night. The best thing about the hall party is to watch the kids do the pinata. Last year Gabbi was easy to manage in the crowd and she sat and waited so patiently, but this year was a different. She had so much fun taking her first turn, that it made it very difficult to make her wait for her next turn. She almost got hit with the bat because she couldn't wait. It was a crazy game, but all the kids had fun.

This year the Sagez party was held at Amanda and Dan's place. It was nice of them to offer their place. I know how crazy it can be to host a party. It's a nightmare sometimes, but when it pulls off in the end, its a great relief.

Christmas Eve and Christmas morning we were at my parents house. We had dinner and goodies for the night. We also got to watch a movie. We watched A-team, it was a good movie. After the movie was over, Jeff and Tiffany got there and we did our jammies and story. My favorite part of the night. The story this year was the Christmas Orange. It was a really cute story, mom did good. Christmas morning we did our tradition Belgian waffle breakfast that mom and dad do a great job on every Christmas and then we did gifts after ward. Mom's gift wrapping system actually worked this year. She remembered how she did it and that it always step number one. All the kids had a blast, it was a great morning.

Before we went to mom and dad's that morning, we did have Christmas as a family. We had to wake Gabbi up, which is always fun. It won't be in years to come, I'm sure. She was very excited to see what Santa brought her, even though she was afraid to see him this year. She had a lot of fun opening her presents and Owen's. It was a blast. Gabbi got a doll house from Santa and Owen got a glow worm. Mom and dad did the boring clothes of course, and a couple of books.

After Christmas morning at my parents, we had Christmas afternoon with Ben's family at our house. We did a lunch and just visited. Of course the boys had to have a game on, but that was just peachy. The kids had a blast playing together, they always do. Gabbi had fun showing off her toys from Santa. She had to show everyone.

Finally; last but not least was the Monday after Christmas with Ben's mom and siblings. We had it at Greg's house. The kids couldn't wait, it was funny. Greg and Annie out did themselves and they shouldn't have. It was very nice of them. We all had a good time visiting and opening presents.

So there you have it. The very busy holidays.

Family Pic's

So finally after 2 months we got new family pictures taken. We did them ourselves with the help of the timer on the camera. They turned out pretty good. I was very pleased

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FRG Christmas party

The Family Readiness Group for Ben's unit put together a Christmas party for all of the reserve members and their families. They have had a nice lunch, activities for the kids and even Santa Clause. I was hoping that Gabbi would be better with Santa Clause, but no go. She freaked out like she did last year. Finally we were able to get a picture of her with the whole family. It couldn't be just her and Santa Clause. The FRG did a really nice job and the kids had a blast.

JD is 4

Can you believe it, JD is now 4. We got together and celebrated his birthday with both sides of the family. It was a lot of fun. We gave him a tool set and JD also got a bike for his birthday and was very excited for it. He got on and rode around the gym. He did pretty good too. My how kids grow.

Christmas Decoration

I was very excited to put up our Christmas decorations this year, they were all new. I went out last year the day after Christmas and got over 200 dollars worth of decorations for only 50 dollars. I got ornaments, ribbons, garlands, pretty much new of everything. Mom helped me tie the ribbons, but the rest of it was all me. I loved putting it all together.

New recipe

I ventured a new recipe and they all told me it looked so good that I had to take a picture of it. It does look really good, if I do say so myself.

Wedding

Ben's younger sister, Beth, was married Nov 18th. She asked Gabbi to be a flower girl and she loved it. Both her and Cloie had a blast. They even got to carry their on bouquets. I felt bad because during the ceremony Gabbi and Cloie started to use their bouquets as swords and kind of had a sword fight. I tried really hard to get her to behave, but you can't help a two year old sometime. The wedding and reception were both very nice and Gabbi did have fun playing with Cloie and Ellie at the reception.

Owen's first Pictures

We did Owen's pictures as well. Here are a few of my favorites.

Halloween

Halloween is always a busy time. Any holiday is a busy time. I try my hardest to try to do it all and most of the time is goes smoothly. This Halloween was a lot of fun. Even Owen got to wear a costume. It may not have fit him very well but he got to wear it. We had a Halloween dinner with my mom and dad where we decorated pumpkins. The kids always love that. Then we also did the square dancing party with Grandma and Grandpa Hall. Gabbi loves that party because she gets to dance. This year she was Minnie mouse and Owen was a tiger. We also did the Halloween carnival with my ward. Each of the kids went to stations and played Halloween games. We didn't get to stay very long because two party were on the same night. Gabbi's favorite game at the carnival was bowling in the dark. She thought that was pretty cool. We also did a trunk or treat at Nana's ward. She loved that because of course she got candy. I even enjoyed it. I got to say hi to all my friends that I missed from the ward. And of course we went to visit grandparents to show the kids off. Gabbi hated to have to take off and put on her costume so many times, but its always fun to visit with family, so she dealt with it.

Getting used to each other

Its been an interesting and bumpy road now having two kids. The hardest thing had been Gabbi. She wants to help as much as possible, but sometimes its to much help and she just doesn't understand that. We were very excited that she at least likes him enough to want to play and help with him, I just wish there was an easier way to make her understand that he's not as big as her and is a little more fragile. But with all trials there eventually is light at the end of the tunnel, I just can't wait till that time comes.

The big day pictures