Christmas 2008

We had a busy, but very fun Christmas this year. We did 5 Christmas's in 3 days and I don't think we could have done any more than that. We had a lot of fun though, and the kids enjoyed every second of it. We started with Christmas morning at our house. We told the kids they weren't allowed to get up unless the sun was up and that they weren't allowed to go into the front room until we came to get them. Bridger started freaking out about what would happen if he had a nightmare and he couldn't come into our bedroom (since you have to walk through the front room to get to our bedroom from theirs). I assured him if he had a nightmare, he could come into our room. So, at 7:30, Bridger & Sydni showed up in our bedroom...Bridger claimed he had had a nightmare, so he needed to come into our room. I set myself up for that one. I got a Santa bag that the kids set out, hoping that Santa would fill it with presents. When the kids noticed there was something in it, they started jumping up and down, Sydni was dancing all over the room. Bridger dove into the bag and pulled out the three presents in the bottom.
The kids had a lot of fun pulling everything out of their stockings. Bridger thought it was the funniest thing that he got a banana in his stocking.

Sydni dancing around as Bridger opened the Santa bag.

Cooper got a fun scanimation book...it's really cool.

Sydni got anything and everything Barbie or Princess, along with a huge doll house to put in her new room.

Cooper liked pulling the paper off all of the presents, but he didn't like how long it took to get them out of the packaging.

Bridger has been begging for rollerblades. Hopefully this won't be the cause of our first broken bone.

Christmas afternoon we took the kids to see Despereaux. They weren't really into it and Cooper was done before the previews were over. After that, we went to Jeff's mom's house, and for som reason, I don't have ANY pictures of that. Kris, if you have pictures, will you send them to me???? The next day we went to Jeff's dad's house and had pizza and opened presents. That was fun, and AGAIN...no pictures. That evening we went to Jeff's Uncle Jim's for dinner. The pictures are out of order, so that comes later. Saturday morning we went to my mom's and had another Christmas morning at her house. I LOVE this picture of Jeff and Coop.

My mom always does fun things for the kids. She got them Disney hot cocoa with Disney Princess and Cars mugs. The kids went crazy over it and they had fun ripping open the mini-marshmallows and spilling them all over the floor. Luckily Aidan was there to vacuum them up! (just kidding Rachelle!)

I got my mom and sister, knock-off purses from New York. I wrapped them China-town style in the famous black garbage bag. When all the presents were passed out, they were still in the corner...I guess they looked like garbage. My mom was SO excited that she opened hers first. Rachelle was nervous to open hers and she ended up opening hers LAST. It was killing me. That's okay, I opened her gift to me last too because I REALLY wanted this cute necklace from her spa, and it ended up being exactly what I wanted!! Thanks sister!

Sydni and Riley were SO cute opening their presents. They got a lot of duplicate presents and since Sydni is younger, she opened hers first. Riley would get really excited about what Sydni got and then she would search through her presents to find the same one to her and open it. Everything they got was princess, barbie or fairy! They are TOO cute!

After presents and french toast, we took the kids sledding. We saw this fun hill on the way to Jeff's uncle's house, up at the golf course by AF canyon. So we decided to take the kids there.

They had a LOT of fun, even though it was REALLY cold. We took turns taking the kids down because the hill was pretty steep. There WAS one time that someone sent Bridger down on his own, and I wished I had a video of it. He was FLYING down the hill and then totally wiped out. It looked like a movie on fast-forward! Luckily he was okay!

Jeff getting ready to take Sydni down.

This is Sydni at Uncle Jim's house. She always finds all of the princess stuff in their special princess bathroom.

Sydni bundling up to go play in the snow.

Bridger & Sydni in the fort that Jeff's cousins made.

Bridger had a lot of fun with his medical kit that he got for Christmas.

He took everyone's blood pressure.

I taught him the proper way to give an injection!

We had a LOT of fun this Christmas. Even though it makes the holidays hectic and crazy, we are so glad that our families are close to us and we can spend time together! Thanks everyone for 5 wonderful Christmas's!

Happy Birthday Cooper!

Happy Brithday Coop! Now that you're two years old, it's time to take away the passa!!! This is NOT going to be easy! I can't believe my baby is two years old already! I keep telling you to stop growing up so you don't get naughty...too late! The terrible two's have begun! You're still the sweetest though. I love you, Coopy!

Better late than never.

We have been so busy trying to get the last-minute things in the basement finished for the appraisal. So, we FINALLY got our Christmas tree last night. We headed over to Lowe's to look at the toilets and picked up a tree while we were there. I guess we must have been pretty late, because all of their fresh-cut trees and Christmas decorations were all 50% off. That worked for us. We got it home about 8:30p.m. and went to set it in the stand and it wouldn't fit. Luckily, our neighbors, Brad & Ashley, had an extra tree-stand for us to use. They've bailed us out like 20x's now...we owe them BIG TIME!! Thanks guys! For some reason Sydni called the tree-stand a kick-stand, and when she said her bedtime prayers, she thanked Heavenly Father for our new kick-stand! I thought it was pretty cute. We didn't put the lights on last night, because it was too late. So, I spent ALL day putting the lights on! I HATE putting lights on the tree. We let Bridger & Sydni put the decorations on tonight. Don't they look great! (As soon as we put them to bed, we'll rearrange them!)

I have a small nativity set that the kids asked me if they could set-up. I said sure and let them do it while I did something else. To my surprise, they did a REALLY good job. In fact I was shocked at the placement of the characters and I was thinking that my kids had some really good primary teachers or that they were just geniuses. Then, Bridger told me that they just followed the box. The characters were placed exactly like the box. I thought that was pretty smart too! What cute kids!

Bathroom tile...

We are REALLY trying to have our basement done by Christmas this year. We've been saying that for 3 Christmas's now. It's going to be REALLY close! We are trying to refinance the house and in order for it to appraise for more, Jeff is in a rush to get the last few things done. Yesterday he did the tile in the bathroom. I really like the tile we picked out and I think the design turned out really nice. I think it's fun to watch the progress like this. Check out how ugly that wall is. Jeff with the signature tongue out at the camera.
The start of the design.

The floor is done except for grout. The tiles on the floor match the darker tiles on the wall. It's hard to tell from the lighting. We have to wait 48 hours for the thin set to dry and then we (Jeff) can grout.

The finished walls except for grout and caulk. Didn't Jeff do a good job? We might actually be ready for carpet BEFORE Christmas!

Off to the MTC!

Yesterday was a busy day. We were up bright and early and scurrying to be ready in time to take Chadd to the MTC. We got to mom's house and Chadd was throwing his luggage in the car and doing the last minute things like tying his cute red tie that he picked out!!! Everything was loaded, so it was time to go! Chadd was ALL smiles. I've never heard anything negative or even an ounce of doubt come from his mouth. He was VERY eager to go.
Unloading the luggage at the MTC...check out that COOL backpack!

One last hug for Rachelle. One of the MTC workers walked by and said, "I hope that's your sister you're hugging!" Yes...it is!!!

And, he's off to drop off his luggage. Doesn't he look handsome? I am amazed at how much older and more mature he already looks. It was such a neat experience to go to the temple with him for the first time and to see him set apart as an Elder. I am so proud of Chadd and so excited for the experiences that he is going to have these next 2 years.

Chadd checked in and got his name tag. He is getting his instructions here.

Mom had to rip the seam in his pocket so his nametag would fit in. We were laughing and joking around, calling it the ceremonial cutting...we're dorks.

Chadd asked Chase to do the honors of placing the nametag...since he is his twin. Chase did it in super slow-motion so that we could get all the pictures we wanted...hence the concentration on his face. By this time he had been putting the nametag on for about 2 minutes!

Elder Bobo.

The twins. One last handshake. Check out Jeff in the back! He started posing for the photo shoot since we were snapping pictures one right after the next. There are like four pictures in a row with different poses, it's pretty funny.

The fam. Sydni, Jeff, Bridger, Kevin, Elder Chadd Bobo, Cooper, mom, Chase, Rachelle, me and Cole.

Walking to the chapel, I hurried and snapped an illegal picture and got scolded for it!!!

We are going to miss you, Chadd, but we are SO proud of you and can't wait to hear all of your neat stories. We LOVE you!

Fireplace

Jeff put the rock up around the fireplace this weekend. We started by laying the rock out before Jeff put it up on the wall. Yes, I said we. We worked together and we are both still alive!!! Jeff did most of it because I got too frustrated and kept wanting all the good rocks that he kept stealing. We thought it turned out pretty good, so Jeff got to work. Jeff always does everything above and beyond. He put up two layers of tar paper, which you really don't even need for inside, but hey why not! Then, of course the chicken wire. The first rock he layed was the hearthstones, which I love a lot more than the first ones we had. I had changed the hearthstones when I went to pick up the rock because the sample they had looked much lighter. When we got it home and layed it out though, we HATED the hearthstones. So, I had to take them back and talk to the manager since they don't really do returns. But, they ended up letting me exchange them for the darker ones and I am so glad because I LOVE them!

Jeff started putting the columns up and some of the rock was too heavy to stay up on its own, so we taped them up!

Daddy's big helper! Check out those muscles!!!!

Just a little tape!

Mortaring the cracks with our homemade frosting bag! I told Jeff he was doing such a good job, he should make Cooper's birthday cake!

The finished product! I think Jeff did a pretty ding dang good job (that was for you, Kevin). We had a mantle, but I hated it so I had to take that back to the store that doesn't do returns too! So, hopefully we can find a good mantle and it will be complete. Jeff thinks all it needs now is a 52-inch flat screen TV.

Great job Jeff! I'm so lucky to have such a handy husband!!!