the beck family: Christmas Day & New Years

Christmas Day - I loved being able celebrate the birth of Christ on a Sunday. It seemed like it had so much more meaning. We let the kids open all of their presents that morning - no earlier than 7 a.m. because Byron & I love to sleep:). I'm sure the kids were all up way earlier than that. They played some games of monopoly while waiting. Camille, Carter & Parker all got guitars, Tanner got an I-pod touch, Johnathan an I-pod classic, and Bradley a remote control car. I was so excited to surprise Byron with 3 pictures of Archibald McPhail framed and mounted. They turned out amazing and I was glad I was led by Uncle Robbie to a very inexpensive person to help me. Byron was sweet to get me a I-tunes gift card and a I-Phone that I received a few days later in the mail (boy has this fun thing changed my life - absolutely LOVE it!) We had a great Christmas and the kids were definitely spoiled.

Camille has been wanting a guitar for many years so she could learn how to play. After receiving it, she grabbed out a Christmas piano book and started teaching herself how to play it by playing chords. Within a couple of hours she was playing "Silent Night." She has since taken off and can play amazingly well for never having any formal instruction. She is impressive with how fast she has learned it and really good also.

Our traditional line-up before walking into the living room - Bradley, Parker, Carter, Johnathan, Tanner & Camille

This cool remote control truck worked for a couple of hours, and then it broke - this poor boy had to wait until the next day to get another one that he could play with. He loves riding it all over the kitchen area or even outside.

Carter got a blue guitar and is so excited to learn how to play it.

Johnathan with his I-pod Classic - he loves listening to music and can hold more music on it than he will ever need. He also has the capability to watch movies, so he is excited to watch some that were downloaded already on it.

Tanner got an I-pod Touch and very excited to have a more updated (but still used) I-pod.

Parker with his cool black guitar.

The pictures I got for Byron - love how somebody drew 3 gorgeous pictures of my relative that was in the Willie Handcart Company. Such an amazing story, it is fun to have his pictures in our entryway of our home.

Camille had Parker's name and made him this cool hat - one pretty excited boy. Not sure how she does it, but I need her to teach me how one day:). Camille wrote . . . ." HaHa he thought that she got it from DI or something like that then she told him that she made it and his face went blank... Then he said something like Wow, well you did a really good job!"

All the kids with their presents from Grandpa & Grandma Adamson - they ended up getting books and money (which they were so excited to spend).

My cute kids before church - so handsome and beautiful!!!

After church we went up to Dad & Mom Beck's house to give them our gift and spend the afternoon with them. We gave them two ladders and the game "Pit." We enjoyed spending time together and the kids loved playing with their cousins.

Opening their present from us.

Uncle Eric was so nice to play "Pit" with the kids - is such a fun game, but very loud.

The next day the kids had fun playing monopoly.

We are lucky enough to see Jared & Danielle and their sweet family at least twice every year since her mom lives by us. We got to spend an afternoon with them and loved the time together. Jared was so fun with the guitars. He had to teach Johnathan, Carter & Parker how to play some songs. For the song "In The Jungle," there are 3 chords that are played over and over. He taught each of them their own chord and then when we were singing the song, he would point to the child that would play that chord. It was pretty darn hilarious, but really fun.

New Years - The boys were having a fun time checking out Cameron's new Nintendo DS. I went downstairs to see them all crowded by Cameron - pretty funny!