2011 wrap up

Quick-like synopsis of December:
Instead of doing secret Santa or exchanging gifts at work, our echo lab at the U adopted a Salvation Army family for Christmas. I was so excited to make matching beanLees for the gloves I got for our family of 7. It was the most special part of Christmas this year for me.

Temple Square round 1: I threatened any of my family that if they came up to temple square and didn't let me know, I would disown them! Staileys came up and we had a BLAST! They got on Trax about Murray and we joined them on the 21st south stop. The boys loved riding Trax and were thrilled when we appeared on the train at one of the stops!

The Stailey boys were all wearing beanLees I had made them and that always makes me happy. But then Archer looking like Ralphie from A Christmas Story always makes me happy too! HILARIOUS!

We finally found something to eat (long, hysterical story) at Carl's Jr.

We love our Duncan!!!

Scott took some fantastic pictures of the SLC temple and the lights. He is so artistic!

There were SO many people there that night! Holy canoli! We got separated a few times. At one point, Duncan and I were alone together (totally lost) and he said, "I think my mom and dad are lost!" :)

These guys claim to be the parents of these four handsome men, and I let them think so.

The REAL parents.

We had THE greatest year with our 6 year olds in primary! We made them each a beanLee for Christmas, and it went over even greater than I had hoped. These kids were a huge part of our lives this past year! From left to right: Scott, Cooper, William, Big Scott, Megan, Cydney, Ku'u, Brylea (missing: Rex). We will miss them SO much.

Moving on to Kaiya's birthday December 18th. It was a Mickey Mouse theme and turned out really cute. She turned 3...and I can't believe it!

Ahhh, Miss Scarlett was in attendance, looking adorable as usual!

Brett and Robyn with Ben, who apparently thinks he's #1! Other wee guests.

Possibly the beanLee masterpiece so far. It was a Scotty and May May collaboration that turned out pretty swell. Ya, awesome huh?

How cute is this? I think Benny looks so much like Scotty and I love it!!!

I LOVE this picture

Temple Square round 2: We met up with some of Scott's family to see his cousin Chase Kempton. He was going into the MTC the next day Dec. 21. Clearly in this picture you can see in my face the fear and remembrance of ME going into the MTC Dec. 21 1995! LOL

Laurel and co. were there. Here is Scarlett in her purple beanLee.

Love my buddy, Jakey (in his beanLee too!)

Sarah.

We were SO lucky and received a visit from Norm, Lisa, Cache, and Taylor. I made Tay a couple of new beanLees. This one is her "shower cap." How pretty is Lisa in the background?

Look at her cute little lips! And beautiful Norm's baby blues!

This poor big guy somehow had a few days of the stomach flu...bad news bears! Every 2 hours we were takin' the fella outside and at about 4 am one freakin' morning I was cooking him rice as part of the BRAT diet! Honestly, both ends of a 160 lb. beast, yup as bad as you are imagining!

Christmas Eve was a blast spent at Staileys with my mom and dad and Norm and Lisa. We ordered PF Changs (a Stailey tradition) and had good times and laughs until late. I made this little beanLee for Tay and it turned out to be one of my all-time favorites!

Grammy Stallings said it best when she said Taylor looked like a little Norwegian baby!

Everyone left Staileys except Scott and me. We were so lucky and were invited to spend Christmas Eve sleeping over at Staileys and waking up Christmas morning with four VERY excited boys. Ethan and Carter had a sleep over in Duncan's room and let us sleep in their room. Deron's Christmas present to us was letting our dogs in their house! What a treat for us! I went upstairs to check on the boys before they went to bed, after they had placed out treats for Santa and Melinda was saying a prayer with them. I threw my camera in the room in the dark and just snapped a picture.

Then the boys wanted to take another one. Again, no idea what I was shooting at as it was all pitch black.

And then another one...

I then hear Melinda, "OK, boys, calm back down." (I love to get them all crazy) And Carter says, "OK, one more"(which always turns into 2 more) and he does this in the dark...

And then Christmas morning came! The boys came downstairs and yelled,"Santa came!" And the mayhem began, and it was flippin' awesome!

Bo got a new sweater and he and Bronx had a great time together--humping and all!

I love the look on Duncan's face. He was unwrapping as quickly as possible and then quick like a bunny on to the next present. He was delivering presents to people and if they weren't unwrapping them fast enough, he was volunteering to help!

Carter is just getting too big!!!

And Ethan...sheesh! He is a full adult--playing Jr. Jazz, running the 3rd grade, reading the encyclopedia, etc.

Scott surprised me and put 3 years ('07, '08, '09) worth of blogging into books! What a great present! That takes some SERIOUS time! Family history...check! Thanks again, Scott!

When Duncan brought this box over to me, I wasn't opening it fast enough so when HE opened it, he SERIOUSLY, DELIGHTFULLY exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, It's a box!!!" Like it was THE best thing ever! I also loved that Archer came to sit in my lap for a good majority of the morning!

Look at that sweet, little face! He was so thrilled with everything! It was truly magical with these little guys. Duncan isn't even looking at some big gift for him. He is looking at the gift that the Staileys got ME! That expression on his face is the perfect representation of the real gift of giving

Silly Melinda didn't want Scott or me to not have anything to open, so she had us each a present to open! She got me these killer pair of boots--that I LOVE!--and Scott got a t-shirt with Shawn and Gus from Psych and it says "Spirits say your pants are on fire!" If you're a Psych fan, you can appreciate the flawless humor!!!

Thanks again, Shiner! Honestly, such a great surprise and so thoughtful!

Ace got a new slide!:)

Some of the loot!

While Scotty had the camera (obviously with no first-thing-in-the-morning pictures of him) he also slipped Ace a Kit Kat!

Melinda also got me a new coin purse--she spoils me! I was currently using a glad ziploc, which by the way was working just fine! The benefit is, it's cheap, replaceable, and you can see exactly what coins you have right through the see-through baggie!

Blurry and perfect!!! Look at those little goosey lips and bulldog cheeks!!!

We attended church with the Staileys, where my uncle is the bishop. He spoke and it was wonderful! We played some games (one of which was my funny Santa gift from this year--a trivia game about FRIENDS--thanks Mama Lee), snacked, got to talk to our missionary Matt (home June 21, 2012--hot damn!) and thanks to the Staileys, had one of the hap-hap-happiest Christmases since Gene Kelly danced with Danny F. Kaye!

p.s. no pictures of Frank from Christmas morning--he slept right through it!