NYE

A group shot of most of grandma marianne's great grandchildren. Grandma gives presents in sections: greats, then grandchildren boys then girls, and then her own children. Then she opens presents everyone gives her and grandpa Gordon.

 Macie and I enjoying the party

 The great grandkids had a book exchange. Sydney was excited she got $10 dollars to buy books from her new nook. That was from the Rueckert cousins. Jordyn got Pete the Cat and CD from Matt Shaw.

 A rare shot of just Jeff and I. So happy to be married to my "bestie." I put it in quotes cuz that word is kinda getting on my nerves, but Jeff really is my best friend.

 This time last year the 3 of us were pregnant. What a difference a year makes.

 Jordyn with Aunt Katherine and her cousin Jake, below.

 Shannon and I with Grandma and me with Jase, below.

 Getting ready to countdown to the New Year. By this point, Macie, Levi, and Sydney had fallen asleep upstairs. 

 Running around outside banging pots and pans and blowing noise makers to celebrate the New Year.

We had a great time. We even got to see a movie, just adults, hang out with Grandma Karen and Paul, and have lots of hanging out time with the cousins. 

California

We drove to California for NYE. We stayed at Great Grandma's Marianne's house. The first day we spent in Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach visiting Uncle Ryan, Aunt Allisen, Uncle Danny, and Grandpa Levin. We went to the beach and met our friends, the Arnold's before heading back to grandma's house for the night.

 Being with Uncle Grant for the first time.

 I love Jordyn's face of pure joy.

 Racing the wave

 We loved watching the sunset

 So happy to be in the water playing even if the water is freezing!

 no better place than eskimo kisses at the beach

 A great black and white picture of my brother's grave marker. The kids talk about Uncle Grant pretty frequently and even tell friends and family about their dead uncle:/

 Spending time with Uncle Ryan and what will be Aunt Allisen in a month in a half! They spoil you kids. We ate lunch with them, Uncle Danny, and Grandpa Levin before the beach.

9 months

Macie is now 9 months. She over came her first illness. It was nice to have her sleep again at night, have an appetite again, not have a runny nose. The positive about her being sick and being on Omnicef is that it gave her diarrhea and she began pooping regularly. Yes, another child that avoids pooping. 

 This is a happy girl though. This month she crawls even more and even crawls up ALL of our steps. Not down of course; just up. She started furniture walking as well. She is like our rumba (floor vacuum) crawling around everywhere and putting everything into her mouth. I'm usually right behind her swiping my finger in her mouth to get the little paper or crumb out of her mouth.

 She says mama and dada. Occasionally she'll say mama and dada and actually calling us that, not just babbling those syllables. She also says "all done." She repeats it and it sounds like "ahhh duhh." She's a very curious, vocal, happy, playful, loving, sweet lump of love.

 She's growing up so much.

She makes some pretty good faces. She's in her shirt here that says, "first Christmas."

Christmas Day

The kids woke up to this after running through the Christmas paper. The girls were getting very impatient because Levi slept in until 8:30 before I finally just woke him up.

 Santa gave the kids a trampoline. Funny thing is….he put the net on upside down so the kids had to crawl through a space until Jeff fixed it. To no surprise to us Sydney landed a back flip on her second try. The kids jump on the trampoline everyday.

Levi opening up a batman toy from Jeff and I.

 Jordyn opening a karaoke machine from us.

 Sydney with an awesome reaction to her new nook. She's already read 3 books in one week. She loves it! The girls also got Heely's from my parents. I think that's Sydney favorite gift. She loves them! Jordyn is taking baby steps learning to use them.

 This cuties on Christmas morning.

 In the afternoon after we watched our family video Jeff, Sydney, Jordyn and 2 of our neighbors jumped into our pool, our 1st *polar plunge. There will always be an aestrick next to it since it's not truly a polar plunge. There has to be snow and freezing outside temperatures to be a legit polar plunge.

more christmas fun

 The Sunday before Christmas we snapped some pictures after church before the kids ran inside to change clothes. Sydney played the violin one Sunday in the ward orchestra and the next week she participated in the sacrament christmas program singing a song with the activity day girls.

 So fun when the playfully get along and enjoy one another's company.

 One activity we did was making some managers with baby Jesus inside. It was in the Friend magazine and we had an FHE lesson about the birth of Christ.

 Christmas dinner: roast, mash potatoes and gravy, and corn. One of our favorites.

 And of course gingerbread houses. This year I made my own. It was fun because each of them got their own house and decorated it how they wanted. These are the end results.

 The kids loved this and of course ate during the activity and ate more after they were done.

We had a wonderful Christmas season. The kids finished at Benjamin Franklin and start Quartz Hill after the break.

 On Christmas Eve we went to a Rehabilitation Center/Nursing home and sang to the residents. We came bearing gifts of an orange and candy cane.

 We sang with the Perkins, Huss' and Neely's

 Christmas Eve night we ate dinner at the Huss' and frosted sugar cookies. The kids didn't get to bed late though.

 Levi and Jeff talking to one of the residents .
 

The girls singing carols. It was nice to serve. Another service we participated in was Jackson's eagle project. One saturday the kids and some scouts collected donated items in our neighborhood to families that were experiencing rough times. Then after the items were wrapped we dropped them off at the families' home. The kids loved the ding-dong ditch thing.