A New Sister For The Week!!!

We took McKenzie home with us for the week. We tried to go to the Jazz game Monday night but couldn't get tickets. Rich met us in Salt Lake and we went to Gateway for a bit. We were all disappointed we couldn't go to the game.

Someone told Max that Kenzie was going to be his new sister and he took that very literally. He woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and he came into our room and the first thing he said to me was "mom, I can't believe I have another sister!"

Alexa and Kenzie went sledding with Alexa's friends all day Tuesday. Me and Max were home by ourselves and decided to watch a movie. He asked me "mom, when are you going to grow your baby?" I told him that it was growing right now. He thought about it for a minute then said, "so then there will be 4 girls and 3 boys." I did the math in my head and it didn't add up so I asked what he meant. He said, "You, Alexa, Kenzie and the baby." I had to tell him that we really couldn't keep Kenzie forever and that her family would miss her too much if she didn't go back home. Then he said, "that's OK, I want a boy baby anyway." Very funny conversation!
Alex got home from his trip about 7pm, he had a blast!!

I found these pictures on Alex's camera and thought they were great, plus these are the only ones that got taken while she was at our house.
My kids love it when we have visitors!! We went to a movie and the mall one day but we didn't really do anything too exciting, sorry Kenzie!! They did have a "Parks and Rec" watching marathon. Alexa got season 2 for Christmas and we already had season 1. They were on their butts ALL DAY watching TV while Rich and I were WORKING our butts off taking down Christmas and cleaning the house! It made him kinda mad and he made sure they had chores to do on Saturday!!!

Alex goes to SIX FLAGS!!!

Rich and Alex left after Sacrament meeting to head back to Spanish Fork. They went to the Duvall's for dinner and then Jeff, Harrison, Parker and Alex hit the road for California!! They were supposed to go the week before Christmas but the weather was terrible and they didn't even end up opening Six Flags on the day they were going to be there so it was a really good thing they waited!!
Here are the only pictures Alex got of Jeff and Harrison (while they were eating dinner)!!

They drove to Victorville, CA and checked into the motel. It took them 8 or 9 hours to get there.
Parker and Alex are CRAZY!!! Alex was so excited he could hardly sleep!!!


They got up and ate breakfast and hit the road again for an hour drive to SIX FLAGS!! The park opened at 10am and they got there right after it opened. It was a very busy day though and the park filled up fast!!! Alex's favorite ride was X2 and they were able to go on it twice. They only made it on a few rides because the lines were long and it closed at 6pm.

Alex didn't want to loose his camera so he didn't take it inside but snapped these in the parking lot before they left.

 

They had dinner at Olive Garden and headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. Alex fell asleep on the way back and Jeff said he was curled up in a little ball in the car. I am sure he was exhausted since he didn't sleep that well the night before!

Her some photos of the drive home. Alex and Parker bought a souvenir T-Shirt of their favorite ride. They had a great time even though it was a quick trip and alot of driving!!! Thanks Jeff for making Alex's dreams come true.

Christmas Day in Logan

I was driving so it is a good thing Alex kind of takes after his mom, he took pictures of everyone in the car (but the driver) on the drive up to Logan.
***Notice how sunny and brown it was...not very Christmas like but what do you do???
We stopped for gas, hot chocolate, diet coke and krispy kreme donuts. We made it there just after 12pm.

 

Here are some "jems" from Alex's camera...some "pre-present opening" shots that are fantastic!! With Alex taking pictures now my blog posts are going to be twice as long!!!

On with the gift opening!! We had to wait a bit for the Clark's to make their appearance but as soon as they did the kids were ready to go!! We draw names so we wanted to do the gift exchange first. We did youngest to oldest.
Harper was first and I can't really remember what everyone got, I think she got some jeans.
Nixon was up next and he got some jeans too!!
We had Korver and got him a ramp with some cars, he loved it!!
Owen got some jeans.
Max got a new Transformer!! He was really excited!!!
We had Brinlie and got her a Belle doll with 4 different outfits!
Brooklyn got some cute boots and some clothes, I think.
Alex got some sweet new Etnies
We gave Jake a rat hat and some gum (his favorite).
Kenzie got some cute skinny jeans and some boots.
Alexa got a leather jacket...she loved it!!
Melissa got a really cute coat from Mel.
I had Amy and got her some tights, jewelry and a scarf.
Jason got basketball shorts and a book from Monica.

I missed Steve and Monica opening their gifts...sorry guys!!!

Jason had Amb and did all the shopping by himself and really made her happy. Her favorite thing was a locket necklace with a picture of him inside it!!!
Melissa got me some new perfume, Viva La Juicy, it smells delicious and I love it!!
Rich got a Chili's gift card and some treats from Dave.
Amb went all out this year and got Mel some "Bear Paw" boots!!
And last but not least Rich got Dave two pairs of shoes and a gift card to Burger King.

 

Next mom and dad opened all of the gifts from us.
We got dad a Utah Jazz warm up suit and some treats.
Mom got the Thomas S. Monson book and some charms for her new charm bracelet.

Then it was time to open gifts from Aunt Debbie and Aunt Janet. They always get us the same thing so we all open them at the same time!
Aunt Janet mailed each family this huge tube of gumballs...it was a great surprise!! Aunt Debbie gave each family a DVD and a "turbo twistie" for all the sisters (it is a towel for your hair). It is always fun to see what they get us each year, they are very thoughtful to send us gifts even though we NEVER see them!!!

By this time in the day, some of us were getting sleepy.
And Korver was roasting in his sleeper!!
Isn't she the cutest???

Mom and dad pulled out the gifts for the kids first. Sometimes we have 2 or 3 different "opening" sessions but we told them this year to just give them all the gifts and be done with it (the kids are always asking, are there more presents??).
It was pretty chaotic as you can see. They did the littler kids first and it was just a tornado of wrapping paper and boxes. Max got a dragon ramp for his matchbox cars and the cool Bumbleebee costume, a pillow pet and some other stuff. He just wanted to open everything and play with it right that second!!

After we got the room back in shape it was Alexa and Kenzie's turn.
They both got the same stuff. A snuggie, some teenie bopper magazines, and a FLIP video camera!! Alexa was really wanting one of these and she was really excited!!!

Alexa was standing there and I motioned for Kenzie to "get her." She took her down with ease...it was pretty funny!!

Alex, Jake and Brooklyn were last to get their gifts. They all got a snuggie too but the best thing was THIS...
a motorized scooter!! Alex has really been wanting one of these, too bad they have to charge first!! He will have SO much fun on this!! Alex also got iDraw for the Wii and that was another thing he really wanted!! They went downstairs to play it right away!
The adults were next and I got a "yoshi blade" and a snuggie and a griddle (that will be awesome for pancakes) and a KINDLE (an electronic book). I have really wanted one of these for a couple years and I can't wait to put some books on it and get reading!!! Rich got a gift card to Texas Roadhouse, Inception (DVD), the George Bush book and money for his bike fund. He has been saving up to buy a road bike so he was thrilled!! I am not really sure what everyone else got but everyone was happy and excited and exhausted!!
Jason is under the pillow...he was really tired and couldn't take it anymore!!
Mel and Amy put the pillow pets and snuggies to very good use!!! Some people went down to watch Inception while some slept and some watched Despicable Me upstairs.
The little boys were having a blast and loving this movie!! It is a very darling show!
Korver and Nixon were not sharing the cheeseballs very well...maybe I should say that Korver was hogging the cheeseballs and didn't want Nixon to have any!!
What a face...nice Korv!!!

 

While the little boys were fighting over cheeseballs, Max was having a blast with this giant sized stocking!!!

 

Of course Alex had to get in on it too!!

 

A few last random pictures from the day and THE LONGEST POST OF MY LIFE is now complete!!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas Day and are so blessed to be able to share it with family!! Can't wait til next year!!!