Happy Birthday Meagan!!!

Meagan had her birthday on December 28th. We were in Utah and she loves having her birthday in December and loves being at grandma and grandpa Larson's house. Grandma said she could get in her bed to have breakfast in bed. All the other kids wanted to know why they didn't get to be in grandma's bed and we told them because they aren't at grandma's house for their birthday. ( only a slight technicality) She got a new i-pod, some clothes and make-up. She is moving up in the world now with wearing make-up. She went shopping the day before with her aunts who picked it all out and promised to show her how to apply it. (Mom's know nothing anymore!!) We went to church and then we went back down to Uncle Adam's restaurant where we had her big birthday party with all the cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. She loved it!! On her birthday she also got a great wonderful birthday present............

Happy Birthday Kaden!!!

Meagan's other great present was that her new cousin Kaden was born on the same day as her. We all had our dates in the baby pool and when Aunt Alicia went to the hospital on the morning of the 27th we knew they wouldn't share a birthday. All day long we waited with updates on how she was doing. Everytime we would call Aunt Andrea she would tell us it is getting closer, probably within the next hour. We couldn't wait!! Then it got too late and we had to go to bed. We told Aunt Andrea to text us no matter how late. At about 12:50am on December 28th we got the text. Kaden had been born at 12:10am. I knew Meagan would be happy. When everyone woke up we told Meagan and she was so happy. She told us that she was secretly hoping he would be born on her birthday but thought everyone would think that was weird. Her and her cousin are now exactly 14 years apart. Now when he is 14 she will be 28 and maybe a mother of her own. Kaden Benjamin Elwood is one cute baby. When we were at the hospital Eric was busy playing his gameboy until his other cousin Brayden came in and he said, "Hi! Brayden come see my game I'm playing and oh ya there is one cute baby over there!" We all laughed!

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

When we were in the States both Idaho and Utah had snow. The kids were so excited to get their snow clothes (that had shrunk in the past year) on and go play in the snow. In Utah they had 2 feet of snow and they kids got practically buried in it. They didn't stay out too long because snow gets everywhere when it is that high and they were frozen. Luckily grandma always had lots of hot chocolate!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

The presents were wrapped and the the kids were in bed and David and I crawled into bed ready for a long winter's nap. But the children were so excited they could hardly wait and as soon as the clock in their room turned 7am they were running into our room and telling us it was time to get up. David takes his sweet time getting up and putting on his glasses while the children jump up and down on our bed. Santa was really good to us this year. The kids all came upstairs one by one starting with the youngest. The older kids could hear screams of delight and couldn't wait to see what they were getting. Santa brought Eric a camera that he took 207 pictures just on Christmas day. Emma got her ripstick that she has been begging for. Heidi got her I-home. Meagan got a new camera also. They all got a few more presents and were so happy. We decided to only give 5 presents and they weren't disappointed or upset. They told us just great mom and dad. We don't care and I think they really meant it. Meagan and Heidi were excited to get ripsticks also. Heidi also got a coupon to get her ears pierced. Emma got her own I-pod and Eric got everything Scooby-Doo. We had a great morning. After we played for a while and decided to get ready we went down to Aunt Renee and Uncle Adam's house to see our other grandparents and have dinner with all the aunts and uncles and cousins on Tracey's side. We went to Adam's restaurant to have dinner. Since the restaurant was closed we had the entire thing to play in. The cousins played hide and seek and lots of other games. The guys watched football and the sisters all just talked. Then we went back to Aunt Renee's house to have the annual cousins gift exchange. The kids love this every year. We also did the adult exchange. The kids loved all the presents from the cousins and thanks Aunt Tino for the movie tickets, the hymnbook and the beautiful picture of the Sacred Grove. We love it all!!! We couldn't leave until the kids played "Rock Band" a few times.We had a great time. Thanks again Uncle Adam for letting us use the restaurant.

Temple Square

Every year as far as I can remember being married to David we have gone to see the lights at temple square. It is definitely a tradition. Now with 4 kids we drag them along every year and look for our favorite "Red" tree. Unfortunately it hasn't been lit the last few years. We have had to find new favorites. This year they had a nativity scene in the middle of the reflection pool. It looked so pretty in the middle with all the little floating candles.

We now get a picture of the giant orange tree at the entrance to the Main Street Plaza.

We always love to listen and hear the story of Jesus' birth in the grassy area by the Christus. The spiritual feeling you get seeing the baby Jesus and then turning around and seeing adult Christ is sometimes very overwhelming. I love that my children love doing this every year and look forward to it almost as much as I do.

Here Comes Santa!

Our Branch Christmas party had a special visitor come!! We were so excited to see him and sit on his lap and tell him what we wanted. Emma really wanted Santa to bring her a ripstick

and Eric really wanted a camera.

Meagan and Heidi didn't want to tell Santa what they wanted. We told them they might not get what they wanted but they figured he would know. Meagan also wanted a camera and Heidi wanted an I-home for her Ipod.