Sokols

December 26-29, 2013

The Sokols got to town Thursday night and we had an adult only dinner at BJs.  It took forever and we learned our lesson about trying to go out with so many of us.  That night Anna and Juliet spent the night and we all got up to take family pictures.  We survived the pictures and then came back to our house to eat sweets - sticky buns, donuts, and orange rolls for breakfast. Lee's family headed back to CA.

Later that afternoon we met up at Container Park. It's an artsy, shopping area for start up businesses with a park area in the middle.  They had a huge tree house and these foam building shapes.  Seth and Anna made a car and Cam and Anna checked out performers on a little stage area, while the adult checked out the little businesses that were in stacked shipping containers.

In the evening, they pull drums out to the opening of the park and let the crowd play.  The workers lead them in different beats.

As it got dark, they lit this giant preying mantis structure and fire shot out in rhythm with the beat. Juliet was terrified by the shooting flames.

We picked up free pizzas from CiCi's for Dave, Jeff, and the kids to eat while watching the BYU football game, while the moms went to Cafe Zupas to have a quiet meal.

The littles slept over at Grandma & Grandpa's with the Sokols and had some adventures on the Strip. That night we had another grown up meal at Hot N' Juicy Crawfish.  Dave and I got crawfish and shrimp. Tthey came with heads and feet in a bag of spicy sauce.  Prepping them to eat totally freaked me out and I did squeal a bit.

It was good but messy.

Jacque was soaking her hands in the sauce and sucking them.  She ate like a caveman.  My hands smelled like the spices for 2 days!

We finished up our meal with deep fried oreos at a neighborhood bar.

We ended our long weekend with the Sokols at the Sunset Station buffet Monday morning, right before the they headed back home.

Christmas Eve

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

On Christmas Eve, Donna came over and we had everyone's favorite dinner, Parmesan Crusted Chicken with mashed potatoes.  We watched The Nativity video from the church website, even though the kids were going nuts.  Finally, it was time for presents.

Seth's first gift he opened was a pack of light bulbs. They were for a lamp he did want, which he opened later.  He was was so disappointed about the bulbs but was trying to be nice about it.  It was cute.

Dave mostly got winter gear for cabin trips, including a North Face jacket he has wanted for a long time.

Seth has gotten Alexis a jacket too, so they took this pic together.

I got a big basket for the family room and new soft blankets to go in them.

Everyone was happy with their gifts and we opened up some of the new games and played awhile, drank some root beer the Witts had brought to us and watched Seth's new movie, Napoleon Dynamite, before the kids headed for bed.

Christmas Day

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

The kids had all slept in Lex's room upstairs.  For the 1st time ever, we had to wake them up to see what Santa had brought. Cam got an iHome for her iPod, Seth got a drum set, and Santa had taken Lex's iPod, fixed the screen, and returned it.

We headed to Grandma & Grandpa Jenkins' house for a waffle breakfast and a gift exchange, which started with Grandma Hein having the kids open weird stuff she bought for the cabin, like fly sticks and mouse traps. We had made Mom a scrapbook of the cruise they took us on.  I think she was close to tears!

Abby was the "innocente" this year.  She had asked for a Snuggie blanket, but Ryan got her Snuggie diapers. The blanket was in the box.  Jo scored with this gift too, getting all the diapers for Jude.

We all hung out their for a while, the kids loving time with their CA cousins and their newest cousin, Jude, then everyone went home for naps.

That evening the whole family came over for Nacho Supremes and a Ping Pong tournament.  We had gotten Dad Duck Dynasty DVDs, so he wore this camo jumpsuit when he came.

Ryan won the tournament this year, but I played my best game ever!

The girls inside tried out our new Just Dance game.

And Jo wanted to add a new Colombian tradition to our Christmas Day, and brought crazy smoking sparklers and illegal bottle rocket type fireworks. Our neighbors came out to make sure it wasn't gunfire! 

We love all the family time at the holidays!

Tree Trimming

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Friday afternoon we went to Home Depot to get our tree.  We let it open until Sunday night, when we decorated it.

It is always fun to go through our old ornaments and remember making them or getting them from friend or family.

I love the house filling up the the scent of the tree.

We have to check the the last 2 years scrapbooks every year to see who's turn it is to put the star on.  As the girls are getting bigger, it is getting harder for Dave to help.

Our tree is always a little ghetto with all our homemade ornaments, but it feels like home.