Christmas!

Wow, we had a wonderful Christmas. On Christmas Eve we drove around looking at Christmas lights. After we got home, we each opened one gift that had matching PJ's that Andrew and I made. Then set out cookies for Santa that Keagan, Deker and I had made earlier that day.
When the boy's woke up the following morning, they found their Santa gift and looked in their stocking. They both got computers which they have loved playing with. In their stockings were doodle boards, fish & fishing pole (which Andrew and I made) and a few treats.

For breakfast that morning, we made Santa Pancakes which were very yummy. I found the idea last year on Ramblings of a Crazy Woman. Here is how they turned out.

After breakfast we opened the rest of our gifts. The boys each got a toolbox with a toolbelt (that Andrew and I made. I found the idea on Here), books, puzzles, firehat and few other misc. things. After that, we spent the rest of the day, playing with our new toys, relaxing and packing for our trip to Nevada.

The next day, we traveled down to Southern Nevada to spend some time with my Mom and Dad, brothers, sisters and their families (27 people in all plus 2 on the way). I don't have many pictures from this part of our Christmas, but should be getting some soon.

We exchanged our gifts (the adults drew names earlier in the year as did all the cousins). On Sunday we all went to church with my parents then had a very delicious Christmas dinner. The girls then escaped to throw a little baby shower for my sister-in-law Melissa who is due in 2 weeks. Then back for yummy dessert.

Deker was quite taken with the babies (his twin cousins Emmalyn and Brooklyn). Anytime they were in the room, he wanted to hold them. Hopefully that is a good sign and he will be a good big brother when our little one arrives. Keagan had a blast playing with all his cousins and was quite upset to be leaving.

We had a fun time this weekend getting us more in the mood for Christmas. We started off by going on a Sleigh Ride with Santa Claus. It was pulled by 4 strong reindeer (an ATV) and Santa even had christmas music for us to listen to.

Here is us with Santa on our sleigh ride.
Here is what the whole thing looks like (This wasn't taken by me, it was from where we found out about it).

Then on Sunday morning, we decided to have Christmas Tree French Toast which turned out very yummy!

Yummy Peppermint

This time of the year always makes me want peppermint candies and all things peppermint. Around Thanksgiving, Andrew and I bought a package of peppermint oreos and boy were they delicious.

With Andrew gone today (he left Wednesday morning to drive a route to Eastern Idaho and wont get back until this afternoon/evening) my two little helpers and I put on our aprons and got into the kitchen this morning to try our hand a making our very own homemade Peppermint oreos. The boys and I had so much fun mixing, licking the spoons and bowls (the most important job) and rolling all our dough into little balls.

Keagan wanted to roll all his into little snakes and Deker just wanted to do what the rest of us were doing. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of us while we were working but here is a picture of the finished product. They were are so Yummy! I just posted the recipe on Smithalicious, you can check it out by clicking here.

Santa Clause is Comming!

On Monday night we braved the Mall crowd and took Keagan and Deker to see Santa Claus. Deker, of course, didn't want to have anything to do with him. Keagan, on the other hand, surprised me and was very excited to talk to him and see him.

On the drive there, Keagan wanted to know where his Reindeer and sleigh was, so I told him to ask Santa. He did and Santa told him that they are at the north pole eating healthy food to get strong for their journey on Christmas Eve.

Next Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas. Do you think he asked for any kind of toy? No, he wants a green present and in the green present he wants Santa Jammies. This has been his answer for the past couple of weeks. I have no idea where he came up with that.

By the way...Deker is only smiling in this picture because he was walking toward Andrew and noticed that Andrew had the camera.

Yummy Toffee

My talented Sister-in-law, Matti, makes the most delicious Toffee. She has perfected her recipe throughout the past several years. Matti has recently opened an Online Toffee business called Bella Toffee. So, if you are in the market for some delicious Toffee, check out her Website.

Snow!!!!

On Saturday morning, we woke up to snow on the ground. Keagan & Deker were so very excited! So, in honor of the snow, we made Snowman Pancakes.

Here is our family of Snowman Pancakes.
Keagan proudly displaying his Snowman Pancake.

Deker proudly eating his snowman pancakes complete with smearing it all over his face.

After devouring our yummy pancakes. We bundled all up and proceeded outside to shovel our huge driveway.

Needlesss to say, we all had a great time. Unfortunately, about 30 minutes or less after shoveling the driveway, it proceeded to snow again, a lot. So after naps, Keagan and Andrew did it all over again.

Baby #3

As some/most found out from my Halloween costume, we are now anticipating the arrival of Baby #3 to arrive in our family this Spring. My due date is May 23, but because of my history with my two previous boys, I am expecting this one to make its arrival anytime after the end of April.

My first appointment was the end of October and they did an ultrasound and everything looks good so far and they also confirmed that there is just one growing in there (since I now have two sisters that have twins, I was anxious to get that confirmed).

My second appointment was this past Friday where we heard the heartbeat which is always exciting to me. At my next appointment is just over a month, we will have our big ultrasound and hopefully find out if we will be having a boy or a girl. After which I am excited to be able to start sewing and getting things ready for our new arrival.

Thanksgiving

I know this is a few weeks late, but I decided better late than never. For Thanksgiving this year, we hosted all of Andrew's family and my Mom & Dad and my brother Neal at our house. There was a lot of people, but it was a lot of fun. I kept forgetting to get out my camera, so I don't have a lot of pictures from it. But here is a sampling of what I got.
Olivia seemed quite taken with my Dad.

She also seemed quite taken with my brother Neal even though he couldn't get down and rough house as much as he usually does (he wrecked on his 4-wheeler the Friday before which resulted in a broken collar bone among other things).

Even Aubrey sat down with Neal for a few stories.