fun with the cousins

Last week we all got together to eat pizza, have fun and do some holiday craft projects. It was so much fun having everyone together!!! Dan, Nichole and Audrey drove down for christmas and pulled into town just in time for the festivities. I'm so grateful to have such a wonderful family.

Natalie showing off her projects...


Margaux


serious Sabrina :)


Nathan and Ben watching tv


Hannah and Natalie


Barrett eating pizza and "hanging" out...


Nathan & Audrey wearing the pj's they got from Grandpa & Grandma.


Grandma with all of the kiddies...


more christmas pics to follow...

15 years...so soon?

Today is our 15 year wedding anniversary! I can't believe how time files. Anywho, just wanted to share.

Happy Anniversary Brad...i love you.

i love love love christmas...

Every year we get at least 2 real christmas trees. One for the living room and i mainly decorate it, of course this isn't a control freak thing ;) and one for either the family room or Nathan's room. This year the tree that Nathan picked out was a "mystery" tree. It was wrapped in red netting and we didn't open it and look at it until we got home. A friend of ours told us about a family that every year they get a "mystery" tree and part of the thrill is opening it and seeing if they got a good or bad one. I put my foot down on the big tree. Brad of course thought it was genius idea (of course i'm sure it was just because i am so particular on how i want my tree to look - i want lots of space, tall, kinda thin...) i put my foot down and said HECK NO! Well we actually got really lucky with the little guy that Nathan picked out. Our mystery ended well.

Here is our main tree. This is actually our shortest tree since we moved into this house. We have really high vaulted ceilings and when we first saw the house i immediately thought - "Yes i can get a really tall christmas tree!" Much to Brad's dismay i think that was my moms first thought when she walked in as well. Hmm where do i get it from??? Nathan took this picture so it's kind of a strange view.

Our "mystery" tree. So very cute. This year instead of putting it in Nathan's room he said we could put it in the family room.

Nathan chillin' by the tree...

The other day i gave Nathan the camera and told him to take some pictures of his favorite things around the house. Here are some of his pics...

We have a new tradition. Every year we buy a new Nutcracker. We started this a few years back. Of course i jump started the collection before we started the tradition :) Here is our collection so far (of course this pic was taken before we bought this years)

Our Nutcracker Village

One of the many Nativities we have around the house. Also we apparently had Nathan's Arapaho Indian project sitting on the piano next to it. HA! p.s. i got 100% on this project, i mean Nathan did... ;)

It's fun to see things from his angle.

Very cute Nativity mom made for all of us.

And Spongebob???

who knew?

I took this quiz to see what holiday character i am most like... CLARK GRISWOLD!?!? When i first saw Clark i thought what the heck? I'm so not like Clark Griswold! So i decided that they were wrong and that i would re-take the test. There were a few of the questions that i was between answers so when i re-took the test i put those answers. AGAIN Clark Griswold. I decided that maybe they knew something about me that i didn't and then i looked up above this badge and read what they said about me, i mean Clark...read below and see for yourself...



The holiday season brings out your competitive side. You want to give the best presents, have the best-looking house on the block, and cook up the most delicious holiday feast. You strive to be number one at everything you do, which makes you prone to holiday freak-outs when things don't go as expected. As long as you stay calm, you're great to have around during the holidays – mostly because you're trying so hard to make sure everyone else has the BEST possible time.

Holy cow...I'm Clark...you don't even want to know how many different christmas tree places we usually go to before i find the perfect tree... HA!

Orange Stake Creche

Last tuesday night we went to the annual Creche in our stake. We had so much fun checking out all of the beautiful displays. There was a children section where they can dress up and make crafts etc.

Nathan as a wise guy


shepherds


the king - not to be confused with elvis...

Disneyland fun

Last night we went to Disneyland with Grandma and Grandpa Riley (sorry mom) :) We had so much fun. The fun started with us hitting every single red light possible on the drive over. We finally got past the Disneyland sign in the Lion King parking lot when dad (driving) saw his eye on the prize (parking pay booth) and gunned it to get there first. Mom (not driving) quickly notice that dad was about to run over little innocent orange cones. She knew she needed to act quick and warn my dad and started yelling out "CUPS CUPS!!" My dad swerved out of the way and the little orange cones (CUPS) were safe. Disaster averted - thanks mom for thinking quick on your boxes, i mean feet. :)

We had so much fun! We started out in California Adventure where we went on Soaring over California and California Screamin' (which at the end of the night i accidently called Screamin' over California) two times! Nathan, mom, Brad, and I went on California Screamin' and when we got off we figured that dad could also ride it and not have back issues. We jumped back in line and rode again - to much fun. Brad and I took mom on Tower of Terror (Nathan refuses to go on that ride again) she loved it! Then we went over to Disneyland. We rode Space Mountain(Nathan's 2nd favorite ride), walked around, and had fun checking out all of the christmas decorations.

When we were on the tram ride back to the car we were a little delirious (ok so maybe it was just me) and we were laughing about the night and this guy sitting next to mom leaned over and said that his daughter liked my laugh! HA! The rest of the tram ride she sat and stared at me waiting for me to laugh. Talk about pressure. Of course i gave her what she wanted :)

while driving in the car...

Last night we were driving in the car and Brad started telling us about this posh grocery store in NY. This posh upscale grocery store was advertising the sale of the "Hams for Hanukkah". I do believe there is a marketing director out looking for a new job at this point. We laughed and laughed. We told Nathan that they don't eat ham and when he got it he also laughed. Brad continued and started telling him about Hebrew National hot dogs and that they are kosher and how they can eat them because they don't have pig in them. On the side he said yeah they just have cow lips in them. I looked at brad and we chuckled. Nathan very serious said "cows lips?" then sat for a moment pondering the thought then said "then how do the cows eat without their lips?" as if they specifically harvest cows lips - yeah they raise cows and then take the lips only and let them go back out into the field to live out their dream life. We laughed then set him straight with the cold hard truth and then he started to sign the Hanukkah song he learned at school.

Cows lips - sick.

snowflake fun

I don't know how i got to this site but Nathan and I have been having tons of fun making our own snowflakes.

http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com

try it...you'll like it.

The truth comes out...

Today Julie had to go into the office for a little bit so Margaux and Barrett came over to play with me. We had so much fun. Barrett was so excited to see all of the non-baby proof items i have around here. He moved at a constant pace from one thing to the next. Wow - it really made me realize how long it's been since i've had a young one living here. Margaux was so funny. I took her to the bathroom and sat her up on the potty. I walked away and she said "so Aunt Shannon, how is your day going?" It's great Margs thanks for asking! She loved looking around at all of my christmas decorations. I found some pictures of Nathan from when he was younger and showed them to her. She loved seeing Nathan her age and younger. One of the pictures was of Nathan and me. She looked at it and said "Aunt Shannon, is this you when you were different?" to which i replied "yes Margaux it is." :) Key word being "different" aka skinny. What a sweet, smart little girl. Well now that they are gone i guess i better be off to the gym...

Thanksgiving in Utah

I know it's a little late but we went to Utah for Thanksgiving. Dan, Nichole, and Audrey let us crash with them at their house. Nichole made a wonderful turkey dinner and we had a blast playing their wii. Audrey was so excited to have company that she tried to stay awake all night. You know i shouldn't say this but we got away with the whole baby thing pretty dang easy. Nathan slept thru the night the first night home from the hospital and every night since (with the exception of any nights that he woke up sick). We never had sleepless nights. Dare i say??? I think i'm pretty safe to say without it coming to bite me in the end - it seems as though it's just not in the cards for us to have more kids. Of course now that i'm jobless, Brad is in the process of changing careers, and i've just put in black and white that we got away easy if it was ever going to happen i'm sure it would be at a time like this. :) i won't hold my breath...

We had so much fun in St. George. Dan took Nathan and Brad out to see Sand Hollow, where Dad and Mom are investing in our families future funness.



Nathan with Audrey. Nathan is such a good cousin.


We have a new tradition...when we go to St. George we hike. I say tradition - ha - we have been to St. G 2 times since Dan and Nichole have moved there and both times we have gone hiking and exploring. Tradition! Last time we went to Zions and had so much fun. This trip we checked out another place - can't remember the name - but it was beautiful. Here are a few pics of the beauty...











Brad living on the edge....


Nathan found this stick and turned it into a gun - hmm boys and guns - what's up with that?