Great Wolf Lodge

 For Christmas, instead of getting us all presents, my parents got us a trip to Great Wolf Lodge. It was such a great gift! We went at the end of January and had a blast.

 One of the big hits for our kids was getting their faces painted and getting a balloon sword.

 At night there was a little show for kids in the main lobby area and Darcy went up at the end to meet the wolf. Parks was so fascinated by him and was determined to get his attention to wave at him (which I don't think ever worked), but when it was actually time to go up and get a picture with him he wouldn't do it.

 The main attraction at Great Wolf Lodge is the awesome indoor water park. We spent lots of hours there. My kids are serious about wearing goggles, and I thought Parks looked especially cool in his. :)

 Unfortunately this blurry picture is the only one I got of Darcy in her favorite spot. She spent the majority of her time in the wave pool.

Parks, Jase, Matthew, and Ezra warming up with Grandpa

Drew's 33rd Birthday

For Drew's birthday this year there just happened to be a snow day for both him and Darcy. It was such a sweet treat to get to have everyone home together to celebrate.

The first thing we did was call our friends to go sledding at a school nearby. It was a beautiful sun-shiny day and we had lots of fun. Then we came home and watched a movie together. I made manicotti (Drew's favorite) for dinner and a German chocolate cake that he requested. I have never been a fan of the German chocolate frosting from a can, so I found a recipe to make it on my own and we were happy with how it turned out.

Drew is my favorite guy, and I am so happy he was born.

Glued to the movie

 This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. Drew was honestly not prepared for the competition he would face when he went to blow out his candles. Apparently the boys thought when the happy birthday song was over it was a free-for-all for those candles. We ended up giving Drew another turn (and each of the kids there own turn also).

Christmas 2016

 I am finally getting around to posting about Christmas. I didn't take many pictures this year. It seems like it was all a little fast and furious and I kept forgetting to get out my camera in time. Opening gifts at the Christensen's was just a free for all and I didn't get one single picture of it, but I promise it was great. :)

Drew got to take two straight weeks off from work because of all the time off he had built up and it was so so wonderful to have him around that much. Because of my current, painfully pregnant status it felt like exactly what I needed.

We stayed home on Christmas Eve for the first time and woke up at our house on Christmas morning. It was on Sunday this year and I had been a little nervous about getting everything done in the morning in time for church, but the kids woke up nice and early and we had time to spare. I actually loved having church on a Sunday. It made it a little easier to remember the real reason for the holiday and to focus on the Savior. Drew sang in the ward choir and Darcy sang a song with the primary kids. (We just can't convince Ezra to go up there.)

 I realized there were fingerprints on my camera after this photo shoot which made all these pictures hazy, but here we are all dressed up for church on Christmas morning. Drew was really excited to get to wear his red pants.

 After church we headed to my parents' house. With his normal flare my dad had come up with some pretty awesome gifts for people this year. Ashley has said that she wants to be a dental hygienist, so my dad decided she should start practicing now, and naturally she needs her very own dental chair to start doing that. That's going to be a fun one to find a place for.

Brian is pretty serious about his hot sauce. He puts it on pretty much everything he eats. My dad saw an idea for a hot sauce holster for him, so he got to work and made one out of some leather and branded it with a B for Brian. Brian had also gotten a holster for a gun, so he was pretty much prepared for anything at that point.

 Our sweet 94 year old grandma is fading quickly these days and around Christmas time we were really starting to notice that she was declining. We were all wanting pictures of and with her. Here she is with Haley and Carrie.

My grandma has always been an avid reader, but her vision has gone pretty much completely now and was mostly gone at Christmas. My dad got her this book for Christmas and sat and read it to her. I couldn't get over the sweetness of a son reading to his mother, who had most certainly done the same for him many times over as a child.