Snowed In!!!!!!!

When I woke up yesterday morning I noticed that it had started snowing. I didn't think much of it, but it never stopped. It is still snowing, and we are pretty much snowed in. I don't get this weather. What happened to Global Warming? School was cancelled today, and I assume it will be tomorrow also. I'm so glad Eric is home, because he braved the snow, shoveled the driveway, and fixed the furnace. We woke up this morning to a very cold house. We couldn't figure out what was wrong. He went to Walmart to get a new filter, picked up some chains for my car and almost didn't make it back. After the new filter didn't work he remembered we had an air intake outside that allows air to get into the furnace. He went outside and cleaned all the snow out of it, and then our heater worked. I would have never thought of that. Now it is kind of fun being snowed in. Eric picked up some movies on his adventure, and now we are set for a few days of family togetherness. I should clean up the house a little. I was so cold this morning that I drank hot chocolate in bed and watched tv while my husband worked hard and was our hero.

Last night Ben and Taraka came over for dinner and helped us make our ginger bread house. Olivia had been bugging me forever to do it, so I thought I would call in reinforcements. Ben is quite the house builder and Taraka is an awesome decorator. Carter, Olivia and Tucker are really good at eating everything off the house as we decorate. There was a coat of frosting and candy balls and gumdrops throughout the house. The kids had the greatest time, so it was all worth it. It turned out to be a very slobbery and not that gorgeous house, but it was made with love!

Carter is constantly pushing the barstools around the kitchen to get to whatever he wants to get up on. I tried to push this one back, and this is him scolding me.

Last Thursday Olivia had her Christmas dance recital at the nursing home. She was so adorable and actually did her dance. It was quite an improvement over last spring when she got on stage and waved at me the whole dance. The whole recital consisted of 3 songs and lasted 9 minutes. Now that is my kind of recital!

After the recital we headed to the Christmas Family Fun Night at the kid's school. They had a really fun dance that all my kids got very into. They also had math games, Santa and a bookfair. Jackson won the game where you guess how much money is in the jar. He won like $27. It was the best day of his life.

This is Hayden with his teacher Mrs. Barnes. She is the greatest teacher ever! Jackson had her too, and we are very attached.

Hayden's Baptism

I'm so proud of my cute little Hayden! I can't believe he is 8 and just got baptized. He wants to be so good and follow Christ. He does a great job!

It was a really good baptism. Eric baptized and confirmed him, his grandpas gave the talks, his grandmas gave the prayers, and all his cousins did the musical number. MaryBeth played the piano, Devey, Jon and Chris did the strings, and the rest of the cousins and Hayden sang "When Jesus Christ was Baptized." He had every cousin from both sides there--except Andrew since he is on a mission. It was probably the loudest baptism I have ever been to, with all the twenty something kids. Eric made a really nice video of Hayden's life so far to show while they were getting dressed.

Eric's outfit was straight from the 70's. He thought it was cool, so he picked it.

This is all of Eric's family that was there. I haven't got a picture of my family from my mom yet.

Thanksgiving Day

Isn't this outfit HOT?!!!! Thanksgiving morning Olivia got herself dressed. She came downstairs looking like this. We all got a good laugh. Now that is some sense of style!

We got up early Thanksgiving morning to get breakfast and all our day's cooking started. Then Lindsey, Anita and I went on a walk to burn off a few of the calories that were coming that day. Eric, Parker and Jeff went to the Shock practice center for a pretty intense Turkey Bowl. We all went to watch. Parker told us they were going to play until they all had injuries. Jeff got a minor one and sat out for a minute but was back in soon. Parker pulled a hamstring and was out for the rest of the day. Eric didn't get any injuries, but he was complaining for days about how sore he was. After the adult games, the boys got to play, too. They all had a great morning. Jackson told me he got an interception, a hail mary catch and a 20 yard run.

Johnny wore this t-shirt to the Turkey bowl. He said he found it in the lost and found in High school like 8 years ago. Evidently he didn't bring home any tshirts for the weekend. We had to tease him a lot, but I think he liked it.

Malik, Rhys and Jorie got to come with Eric's parents. It was so fun to have them. Corey and Brenda were moving last weekend, so they got a few days to unpack kidless. I hardly knew that Malik and Rhys (or my boys) were even there. They were down in the basement playing the whole weekend. Camden, Owen and Olivia were down there playing, too. They all get along so well. My kids favorite thing in the world is to be with their cousins.

We seriously had the best Thanksgiving feast ever!!!! It was totally non-traditional. We had no turkey. Aria was the only one that was sad--sorry Aria!! We had crab legs, prime rib, salmon and halibut instead. Everything turned out awesome. It was beyond tasty! The Pypers came over, too. It was great having them with us, and all the Enloes loved them. Taraka's dad caught all the crab, so she brought the crab tools and knowledge that we lacked. Her dad gave Eric all the crab in exchange for some shock playoff tickets. We definitely got the better end of the deal. We had never cooked prime rib, but Lindsey got some recipes off the internet. Hillary contributed all the yummy fish.

This picture was taken at the end of dinner. Parker would not have been holding Leif until at least 45 minutes into dinner. That would have interfered with him shoveling the delicious food into his mouth and groaning in happiness. Parker was the first one at the table eating happily way before anyone else got there. He told us he didn't think he could have Thanksgiving at his house, because there is no way he could patiently sit and cut the prime rib for everyone like Eric did. Ben got all the crab legs out of the shells for us. By the time we got all the kid's plates ready, Parker was ready for seconds. We think Parker is pretty funny, but I'm not sure Aria thinks he is that funny.

We had all the adults in the dining room and the kids in the kitchen. We were in such bliss we didn't even care to know what kind of mess the kids had made in the kitchen. There were 11 of us adults and 11 kids.

Can I just tell you how much I love Eric's family! We have the best time together and get along so well. It didn't even seem crowded or overwhelming having 19 people stay at my house for the week (including our own family.) I just love all my sister-in-laws and mother-in-law tons. It was the best going shopping, having lunch, getting pedicures and seeing a movie with you. We missed you Brenda. It wasn't the same without you!!!

Thanksgiving Fun

The week of Thanksgiving was completely crazy and so much fun! My brother Mark's family came in the Sunday night before Thanksgiving. My kids still had school, but they were on half days so we still had lots of time for activities. They couldn't handle being away from Austin, Braden, Chad and Hadley, so we stayed up at my mom's for a few nights. Monday we went with my whole family to Triple play and went to the indoor waterpark. My poor nephew Braden had a broken arm, so Hayden stayed and did arcade games with him while the others swam. After dinner the kids did laser tag. We even hurried home in time for a girls late show of Twilight.

Tuesday we did our big Costco run while the boys were at school. Mark took Olivia with him and his boys to Cabelas to entertain them while we shopped. Then we all headed to Bolt in 3-d. We all loved it. It was even fun for the parents. Austin, Braden and Chad got to spend the night, and my boys skipped school on Wednesday. We all went to Jump and Bounce. The cousins were all so cute as they laughed their hearts out tackling each other, boxing and going down the slides in trains. We went to lunch after and met Eric's family as they drove in from Utah. It was then time to say goodbye to the cousins on my side. My whole family was headed to the lake for Thanksgiving. It was so sad to not be able to be with them, but we were really excited for all of Eric's family to be here!

When I was in Arkansas last summer I did my neice Hadley's hair everyday. For some reason she always wanted me to do it and would sit still for me better than Heather. When she got here she wanted me to do her hair again. I got in the hair mode and got ambitious with Olivia's hair. This day Heather thought I better take a picture of it!