Christmas Day 2012

 The elves were up late last night prepping for the big day...

 The kids were so excited, it was awesome.

 Still continuing on with the Strings tradition, although we use short ribbons instead.

 Zeya got a remote-control dump truck and some fancy new underwear!!

 Jasmine was not happy Christmas morning and could care less about following a ribbon around to find a present...

Zion was so excited!  

 He got some plastic swords (what was I thinking?  Another gsale find...) which have since been thrust behind the piano to never again be retrieved.

Anjuli got a Light Bright!  I didn't even know they still had these things around.  Another gsale find so it was probably pretty old, but still works good as new!

The big gift this year was a Geotrax train set from Santa.  The kids have loved playing with it, Zui especially.

 I got Zui a tent which, ahem, we still haven't used... hopefully soon before this baby comes.

 Jazzy girl finally getting into the gift opening.

True love, Anjuli gave Zion some Avengers socks which he absolutely loves :)  Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Anjuli!

 Anjuli turned 6 on December 12th!  I can't believe my oldest is 6 already!  Time has flown by.  Zion and Zeya helped put sprinkles on the dress...or are they snitching the frosting, probably both :)

 Anjuli knew she was only getting one present for her birthday, since her big birthday present was a flight to California to see her cousins!

 Anjuli wanted to have a dance party afterwards.  I think this idea stemmed from the dance party we had in Cali with her cousins.  It was fun for all of us.  Happy Birthday, Anjuli!

Trip to Cali

One night I was missing my family and started just checking flights for fun.  I found surprisingly cheap tix to Sacramento for only $288!  I couldn't pass it up, within the next day I rearranged my piano teaching schedule, called Cinds to see if I could come, and begged Zui to let me go :)  I got the go ahead and later found out Corina decided to come also!  She was bringing along Evie, so it only made sense to bring Anjuli, too.  And I had to take Jazzy since Miri and Jaz are only a few weeks apart. 

Seeing Anjuli and Levi together was one of the best parts of the trip.  I thought maybe it would take them a while to warm up to eachother again since it's been a while since they've seen eachother... nope!  Best buds instantly.  They were always together, and sleeping together, too!

This was really the BEST part of my trip: a day of skiing with my sistas!  Kenny gave Cindy (and all of us!) an awesome Christmas present.  He arranged for this trip to happen, and for childcare for all our kiddos (thanks Mom and Dad!!).  I had never been skiing before, ever.  It was seriously the funnest day of my life.

Cinds is holding out an open arm for Julie...sure wish she could've made it, too!

 The next day we headed to Fairytale Town!  Anjuli was in heaven...

 Family dinner and birthday party celebrations!  We celebrated Sarah, Levi, and Anjuli's bday on Sunday night.  Even Chris and Brittany came up so we could see them and baby Charlotte! 

 We sang 3 times, that's right, for each of the special birthday kids.  I thought that was really neat.

A dance party followed the birthday celebration!

I love this: campfire in your backyard.  It was so cool roasting marshmallows and making smores.

We ended the night by gathering around the piano to sing hymns and Christmas carols.  It was so special and the spirit was really strong.  Definitely another "best" moment of my trip.

I'm so glad I got to see so much of my family and spend great time with them!  I really cherish these moments all together :) Love you fam!

Family Pics

 Our friend and photographer Rebecca Moat took our pictures again this year.  Always so stressful but once it's over I'm glad we did it!