A Wonderful Christmas!

Well, alot of fun things have happened since my last post! Here are some memorable updates on some fun family traditions that we just love!

Caleb and I made Christmas cookies on Sunday night. He loved getting all dirty in his church clothes! He helped me roll out the dough and chose the cookie cutters. He thought it was fun! You can tell by his big smile!

Christmas Eve was not only snowy but quite memorable. This year was the first year that I got my kids Christmas PJ's. Don't they look so cute!!! They each unwrapped their PJ's and then we went over to my parents house for dinner. The cousins all get in their new PJ's too. It's kind of a pajama party for all of the kids. They love it!

Christmas morning was so fun! First of all, I couldn't sleep because I was so worried that Caleb would wake up in the middle of the night and see the presents and want to open them at 2am. Fortunately, that didn't happen. They didn't know what to think of all of the gifts spread out all over the couches. Caleb loved his two train sets that he got! (Thanks grandma and Santa). This was especially fun for Caleb because he got to open Izzy's presents because she didn't seem interested. I love this last picture of Izzy holding a Christmas ornament that Caleb made for B and I at pre-school. Isn't it precious?

After cleaning up from the presents and playing with the new toys, we thought it would be a lot of fun to go sledding. On Christmas eve, we drove to 6 different stores looking for a sled. It was worth it! Just look at that big grin on his face. We live on a mountain so it's so convenient to drive up the street and have some fun together. Despite the cold and the wind, Caleb didn't want to stop!!! It's hard dragging that sled and trying to carry him up the hill with about a foot of snow to walk in. But, it was worth it to see him happy!

To end the day, we always go back over to my mom and dad's house and open our exchange gifts that we bought for each other. The kids get so excited to see what they got from their cousins and of course, we look forward to what my sister's and their hubbies give one another. My parents always go above and beyond when it comes to Christmas! They shop for all five of us girls and our husbands and they're so generous! Thanks mom and dad!

After my mom's we went to my sister Jodi's home and had a nice dinner with our long-time friends, the Deputy's. We grew up with them and this has been a tradition that has gone on for about 20 years. It's so fun to be with family and friends!

We are so sad that Christmas is over but all of the memories that we make during that short period of time are priceless! It's a wonderful time to reflect on the birth of our Savior and his life here on the earth. We feel so blessed to have two sweet kids that we absolutely adore and wonderful families that are a tremendous support to us! We look forward to next year when we can make more memories!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Fun!

Every year we decorate cookies for Santa at Grandma Jensen's house. The kids have so much fun loading all of the sprinkles on! I know for a fact that Santa is REALLY looking forward to muching on those yummy treats!

We took the kids to Thanksgiving Point last night to see the fun drive through light show. As you can tell, Caleb actually drove us through the lights. He loves it when daddy lets him "Drive!"

Aren't the light cute?

Izzy just had a great time sitting in the back muching on some taffy

Today we went bowling with the kids and Caleb had so much fun! He was so excited about his cool shoes and his very own shiny, yellow ball!

Caleb thought he was pretty hot stuff as he watched his big yellow ball SLOWLY roll down the lane. By the end of the game he stood up there all by himself and bowled a couple of strikes! (With the bumpers on of course)

Little Izzy just sat and watched wishing she could crawl out on the slippery lane.

We have so much fun being together as a family! Most of all we LOVE to have our camera handy so we can take fun pictures of moments like these that we never want to forget!

Is There Something Going Around?

Holy cow! How about this awful weather! I don't think that I have ever seen a snow storm like this one before! I'm so grateful to be in a nice, warm home right now.
These past couple of days have been kinda rough for us. On Tuesday night Isabel threw up and later that night I did too. Well, after spending all day at home yesterday, I feel fine and little Izzy is still throwing up. Have any of you gone through this lately? Is there something going around? I'm just praying that Caleb and Brandon don't get it cause that would make a pretty miserable Christmas! So, I'm crossing my fingers right now that this will pass soon. Also if the weather doesn't let up soon, we all may be home bound tomorrow with our kids. I'm just glad that all of my Christmas shopping is done. So, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

A Fun Christmas Party At Taco Time!

As many of you know, my dad owns a number of Taco Time's in Utah. His partner, Jim and his family, are very close friends of our family. Every year we have an annual Christmas party with their family and all of our kids. This is something that we look forward to every year. As the years have passed, our families have grown bigger and the venues that we have had our parties at have grown quite small for our large group. Now, we have it at one of my dad's stores. All 50 of us pack into the store and have lots of fun!

The kids love taking orders on the cash registers and serving everyone drinks. They all hope to work there one day. We have a yummy taco dinner, games, a pinata, and best of all Santa comes to visit all of the kids. They all sang Christmas songs and jumped up and down in excitement as they anticipated his arrival. It was fun to see all of their faces light up when they saw him.

Caleb couldn't get enough of the party. He got so much candy and presents that he didn't know what to do. He was a little nervous about seeing Santa in real life but, he soon warmed up to him once he told him what he wanted for Christmas. Izzy just watched and wished that she could run around with all of the "Big Kids."

What a fun tradition! We are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends! We look forward to another fun night at Taco Time next year. This will be a tradition that will go on forever! We love you Dunyon family!

Look At Your Mail!!!

So, last night we got home and began to open our mail. There was a bunch of those stupid mailers and advertisements intermixed with our other letters. Well, one of the mailers was for a Larry H. Miller car dealership and it was a scratch and win. Normally we just throw those away and don't even bother with them. Well, B decided to scratch it and we won an Ipod! We couldn't believe it! How often do you ever win anything from those dumb things anyway? I'm excited to go get it tomorrow! So, if you are like us and you throw away all of that "junk mail," next time you should think twice before you do it cause you could be a winner! What an awesome early Christmas gift!

My kids LOVE Christmas time!

Tonight I just had to capture the sweet thing that my two cute kids did. I had just got done finishing my neighbor gifts when I noticed that Izzy was already playing in the middle of them having a great time! Not to mention that she loves pulling the ornaments off of our tree too. I just had to take this cute picture!

We also went to B's parents house to say goodbye to them because they are going on their three week long vacation to Hawaii. They also had a special surprise to show Caleb before they left. Caleb is obsessed with trains and when he saw this musical train that grandpa bought, his eyes just lit up! His grandma and grandpa spoil him! He loves them so much.

Going to The Lights With My Family

On Sunday night we went to Temple Square with my family. As you all know, it was SOOO cold! We had fun looking at the beautiful lights, sipping hot chocolate, and muching on home-made cookies that my mom made. Caleb gets so excited to be around the cousins! He spent alot of time rolling around in the snow and playing in the water at the fountain. Yes, he did get really wet! But you know Caleb, nothing keeps him from having a good time. Not even the freezing cold weather. If you notice that in alot of pictures of Caleb, his mouth is always open. It's cause he is screaming during the picture! Ha/ha! It was fun!

The First of Many Christmas Parties!

Last Saturday we had our first

Christmas party of the season. We Celebrated the holiday with Brandon's family by having a nice dinner and playing fun games. My kids love to be around their cousins and adore their grandparents! B's parents will be in Hawaii over Christmas so I insisted that we have a party before they left. I wish we were going with them and get away from this freezing weather! We had a ton of fun!

An Early Christmas Vacation

Last Wednesday we took off on a much needed family vacation! So, what better place to spend it than at the happiest place on Earth. We spent two days at Disneyland and had a ton of fun! Last year Caleb was too short to go on any of the big rides but, this year, he went on pretty much every ride. He loved every minute we spent there! His favorite ride was the Thunder Mountain Railroad (are you surprised?) and he is afraid of the "Octopus Man " on Pirates of the Caribbean. He's wondering when we will be going again. If any of you have never been to Disneyland this time of year, it is definately the best time to go! It is decorated so cute for the holidays! The lines are also only about 10 minutes long and the weather is beautiful! We had a blast!
That wasn't the end of our trip though. We went back up to LA and spent time with family. We went to dinner and to see the lights at the Los Angeles temple with my sister Heidi and her kids. It's fun walking around to see them in a sweatshirt instead of a heavy coat and gloves!
We also visited another one of Caleb's favorite places on Earth, the Train Museum. He absolutely love trains and to be able to play around in a life size train engine was a dream come true for him. Last time we took him there he was so excited that he wet his pants. He was able to control it better this time!
We also spent time with B's brother Mark and his family. We are so lucky to have such wonderful families!
Even though the trip lasted only 5 days, we had so much fun spending time together as a family! B is so busy at work now and I'm so grateful that he was able to escape for a couple of days to be with us! There is nothing more priceless than seeing the joy and excitement on your kids faces when they go to Disneyland! I think that we will make this a yearly tradition!