January Happenings

The month of January seriously flew by. We had a lot happen that kept us going, going, going all month long. Below are a few highlights of the month.

BRADLEY - he absolutely LOVES having friends come over and playing with others. This particular day we had Eli and Taylee over and he was in heaven.
CARTER - He is one silly kid. It is amazing how creative my children can be with things around the house. My cleaning gloves have been used as socks and the kids also love getting a straw, inserting it into the top of the glove and blowing it up.

TANNER - He received his Webelos in Scouting. Here he is pinning the mother's pin on my shirt.

CAMILLE - She is in the Girl's Choir at school and was able to sing the National Anthem at the beginning of the Flash Game on January 25th. Byron was out of town, unfortunatly, but I took all of the children. Melissa and Dad & Mom Beck also joined us there. Since it was a school night we weren't able to stay for the whole game, but enjoyed the time we had there. Camille and her choir did a great job. After they sang, they were invited to form a line to cheer on the players as they came out onto the basketball court. Camille was given high fives by many of the players. She loved it and felt very small out on the court with all of the tall players:).

During the game, Parker won a t-shirt. They were being thrown into the audience and one went right past us, then was knocked right into Parker's lap by the girl standing up behind us. Parker was glowing he was so excited. The shirt went down to his ankles, but this didn't stop him from wearing it.

Below is Camille singing the National Anthem - she is the shortest girl on the left.

Parker and his cool new shirt.

Dad Beck, Camille, Bradley & Parker

Tanner, Mom & Dad Beck, Camille & Bradley

Johnathan with Aunt Melissa

PASTEL DE CHOCLO - One of the foods that Byron absolutely loved from his mission to Chile was pastel de choclo. It is a corn-based casserole with chicken, hamburger, and tons of onions. I have had a few times and have fallen in love with it also. I found this recipe in a cookbook and decided to make it for Byron. Upon hearing I was going to make it, Byron was so excited. It was quite a process, but I had a lot of fun making it. The strangest part was getting fresh corn on the cob, cutting off the kernals and blending it. This made the yummy topping. Byron & I loved eating it, but the kids weren't quite sure about it. It didn't taste exactly how I remembered, but pretty close.

Parker was my big helper in the kitchen. Here he is helping me cook the onions. Parker wanted to help me cut them up. It thought it was so funny because we both had tears streaming down our face - we were quite a sight :). Parker didn't stay too long for that process, but loved helping me cook them.

The finished product - yum!

CRAZY HAIR DAY - The kid's were able to wear their hair crazy to school and were so excited to see what they could do with it. Luckily they were all in need of a haircut, so it was a little easier to style. I got a good laugh out of them all looking into the mirror. Bradley even joined in the fun.

Johnathan, Bradley, Tanner, Carter & Parker

Cute Bradley!

FARM COUNTRY - Byron had been to a conference in Las Vegas for a few days and upon returning we enjoyed spending some time with him at Thanksgiving Point Farm Country. It was a bit chilly, but the sun felt so great.

Byron, Johnathan, Carter & Parker feeding the cow.

Tanner, Carter & Parker feeding the llama.

Bradley on a cute wooden tractor. He looked right at home with his boots on:).

While we were there they were milking a cow. All of the kids took turns and even Bradley did it. Above is Carter taking his turn.

Camille milking the cow - such brave children.

Bradley & I before he got the courage up to milk it himself.

All of us enjoying a tractor ride.

New Years Eve & New Years

I can't believe it is already 2010 - 2009 went by way too fast! We enjoyed celebrating up at Dad & Mom Beck's house. We arrive in the evening to a huge amount of snacks. We spend the next few hours playing games, eating, and talking. It makes me laugh how easy it is for kids to stay up until midnight. They loved playing with their cousins! Below are many of them enjoying some time together.

Carter, Cooper, Parker, Ashlyn, Johnathan & Tanner

Eric, Jeff, Byron & Dad Beck enjoying card games. It makes me laugh how Camille is always playing with the adults - she is way too old for the kid games:).

As midnight neared, the kids all got into their pajamas and were able to get something to bang. This picture was taken at 11:59 p.m. - the kids were all really excited to go outside and make some noise and didn't really want to have a picture stop them from doing so. They are all sporting the new pajamas from Grandpa & Grandma Beck from Christmas.

And the banging starts . . . . .

Bradley didn't like all of the loud noises - he was one sad little boy!

Byron, Bradley & I right after ringing in the new year.

Bradley loves sitting in Byron's lap.

We spent the night and had fun the next morning with family. The kids started bright and early playing games again. Their Grandma is always so willing to play with them and they love every minute of it.

Bradley & Cadan enjoying the magnetics together.

More game time - and they seriously NEVER get tired of it.

Cadan & Bradley enjoying their lunch on New Years. The adults ended up going out to eat for Eric's birthday. It was so nice to leave the kids in good hands (Camille & Cooper) and enjoy some time childless. I really think they enjoyed having us gone also.
Here is Eric - the birthday boy.
The following day we went to see "The Frog and the Princess." Dad & Mom Beck, Melissa & Eric joined us in American Fork for the movie. I was so impressed! The music was so good and such a cute storyline.

We had a great weekend and ready to see what the year 2010 has in store. . . . .

Sarah and Zachary & Jared's family visit

My cousins, Sarah & Zachary stayed at our house for 2 days (Dec. 29-30th) while their parents had a much needed break. Upon hearing that my Aunt & Uncle had never gotten away without their children since they have been married 16 years, I told them they had to leave them with us so they could enjoy that much needed couple time. I am glad they took me up on it. The kids had such a fun time with them here. Sarah & Zachary have some pretty crazy food allergies, which makes eating a little hard, but we all survived and it made me be more creative in what foods I made. Luckily they are old enough to make their own foods also, so they were great at eating what they brought with them.

Sarah & Zachary don't have a Wii at their house and ended up playing it WAY too much while here! I think they made up for the past 3 years of lost time:). All of the kids played Mario Kart over and over again. Zachary also played the piano with all of the children gathered around him. I wish I had taken more pictures. They got along really well together.

That evening we took them up to a great sledding park by our house and let them enjoy sledding for about 1 hour. They all had a great time. I sat in the van with Byron and Bradley, so I didn't get as many pictures as I wish .

Johnathan after getting hit with a snowball.
Cute Parker going down the hill with a garbage bag. He actually got going pretty fast and loved it.
The crew (minus Tanner) - Zachary, Johnathan, Parker, Sarah, Camille & Carter
Carter on his garbage bag.

We are lucky to be able to see Jared's family every year for Christmas since he goes to Corcoran the same year we do or comes here to Salt Lake when we stay home. This year we were able to spend a day with his family. We had fun going to the dinosaur museum again with them. Last time they were up here they came with us for the first time. Apparently Tavis hasn't been able to quit talking about it so we went again. We all had a great time together. Byron took the day off from work so he could spend it with us also. (Above - Bradley, Carter & Parker enjoying the basketball game at the Dinosaur Museum.)

Danielle, Jared, Parker, Camille & Jade

Camille loving the opportunity to hold Jade.

Tanner & Zachary in the sand.

Bradley & I

Bradley, Camille, Carter & Parker Camille had fun capturing pictures of her cousins. Here are just a few she took of Jade & Tavis.


Jared & Tavis

After we had seen enough dinosaurs for one day, we headed back to our house. We got the kids fed and headed out to Chili's with the adults. What a nice break to have the children under good hands and to be able to actually have a decent conversation without being interrupted. After talking for quite some time we realized that the inevitable had to happen - we had to return to our children at some point. We had a great time with them and the kids loved playing with Tavis and Jade.

Few pics from Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

I forgot to post a few more pictures from Christmas Eve. Here are Byron & I.

Dad & Mom Beck also opened their gift from all of the children this night - we got them 4 tables and some tablecloths. Melissa wrapped each table and they were brought out individually each time. I think by the time the 3rd table came out they couldn't quit laughing. This present will last a long time and was so needed.

Christmas morning always happens quicker than I want. We had told the kids they can come in at 7:00 a.m. - so right on the button they came into our bedroom to get us up. Luckily I could talk them into going back to bed for 30 more minutes (such obedient children:).

We formed the annual train to see what Santa had brought for them. They are good sports to let me take pictures while they are waiting anxiously.

(Camille, Tanner, Johnathan, Carter, Parker, Bradley)

Bradley got a cool car track from Santa. Here Camille is showing it to him and helping him turn on the cars.

Tanner is excited about his Wii game and new football.

Bradley really didn't understand what Christmas was all about. He was intrigued, however, with this present that Johnathan had put under the tree with his name on it. He would carry it all around the house saying "my present for Christmas." He never did try to open it up which was awesome. By the time Christmas finally came, he was excited to only open up this particular gift. Now he definitely knows what "Christmas" means and wasn't wanting to stop opening presents after he started.

We have a drawing to pick somebody that we will buy a gift for. This picture is taken before the kids open their gift. (Camille, Carter, Parker, Johnathan & Tanner)

Camille was so nice and wanted to buy a present for everybody. She really took a lot of thought and preparation to get the perfect gift. She bought Byron an electronic dart board, me a beautiful gray scarf, the four oldest boys a 4-square ball, and Bradley a cute bumblebee book. It was fun to see how excited Camille was for everybody to open their presents. The ball was a definite hit! The boys have been playing 4-square in our basement for the past 3 months with a soccer ball. I never even clued into this that they needed a ball for Christmas, but Camille did. She was excited to give it to them and they were in complete heaven. There hasn't been a day when that ball hasn't been bounced around in our house - that is probably the most used present from Christmas by far.

After we stayed home for the morning, we headed up to Grandpa & Grandma Beck's house. All of the kids got some really cute pajamas. Parker was so excited for his spiderman ones.

Tanner with his ball pajamas.

Jeremy, Sarah, Clara, Melissa, Eric, John, Sharon & us were there on Christmas Day. We had fun playing games, eating and talking.

Bradley had gotten some play dough and cutters for Christmas and had to bring them up to Grandpa & Grandma's house. Here Clara and Bradley are having fun.

Christmas is always such a magical time of year. I absolutely love it and feel kind of empty after it is over. One of my favorite parts is how much we see family during Christmas time. My kids can't get enough of the time with their cousins, aunts, uncles & grandparents. I seriously think they like being at Grandpa & Grandma Beck's house more than our house. They love playing games and Grandma is always so willing to play for endless hours with them. They definitely get way too spoiled there:).