Christmas 2014

 Christmas in Illinois 2014

 This is a Lego board I made for my boys as a surprise present!  It is to hold all their lego action heros!  The Lego guys can be taken off, played with, then put back to store.  It also serves as a good piece of art in their room!!

New Clothes and Jackets for both sets of Grandparents!

Our Christmas Tree

Took a picture of Mom while she was here in November!

Ward Christmas Party 2014

 Ward Christmas Party 2014

 

Clay played a duet saxophone number with a friend and both Clay and Hayden played a little piano number.

 This year at our ward Christmas party we have a gingerbread house wars!  Made all the houses before hand for the contest 16 in total!  It was super fun and everyone said they loved it!

 Young Womens magnet boards I made for a Christmas present for them!

Neighbor gifts this year!

Christmas down south

Christmas 2013

Before we loaded up in the car for the road trip down to Grandma and Grandpa Cottrell's for Christmas, our family had our own little Christmas party which the kids opened presents from us and Gr & Gr Thompson.  We took our stockings to Louisiana because Santa would know that we were going to be there for Christmas morning. 

 Roman did not leave these head phones on for more than 5 minutes but I just had to take a picture because its just too stinkin cute!  We love road trips and my boys were troopers

 It was a bit on the cold side this winter in Louisiana and we usually put on jackets, but that did not stop Clayton and Hayden from jumping in the cold pool over and over again.  I have no idea how their bodies could handle going from the hot tub to the ice cold pool, that would seem like a form of torture to me and they did it to themselves!

 

December 2013

Digital Cards- Christmas 2013

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas 

2012

 This year is the first year since Clayton was a newborn that we actually had a Christmas morning in our own house.  Nathan and I lived away from both sets of our parents, so when holidays come we take turns visiting them.  This year was originally planned to be with my side of the family, but when it came to buy plane tickets the prices were absolutely crazy for Christmas time travel.  We found better deals for a Thanksgiving trip out to Idaho so that's is what we ended up doing.  Before I always had to pack our kids stockings, figure out how to pack a few presents or just have a pre-Christmas present opening at our house.  I loved having the magic of Christmas Eve with our boys, the excitement that comes with going to bed anticipating the morning ahead.  We had a great Christmas morning and we had our own big breakfast meal of french toast, bacon, fresh fruit, orange juice and then stocking candy!

Justin's Horse Dash from Grandpa & Grandma Cottrell!  It's a pillow that has tons of pockets on his back, mouth, and feet to carry his special treasures!  He absolutely loves it!  He packs it full and sleeps with it every night.  I did have to sit him down and explain why his horse couldn't be stuffed with Christmas chocolate, he was OK with it since I traded chocolate treats for smarty candies that wouldn't become all messy inside his fun pocket!  I am showing off Roman's new shoes!

 Clayton and Hayden are so into art right now! Great they were stocked with some great supplies!  They had fun all morning making masterpieces!  They have a binder full of great drawings, paintings, and mini kid storybooks.  Our main present  to our boys was season passes to Six Flags Great America.  It was so funny giving this to them since it was printed certicate saying "Congratulations!  This gift entitles you to endless fun all summer long at Six Flags Great America! and Six Flags Water Park!  Love Dad and Mom.  Each certificate was in a wrapped envelope which we gave to the boys to open all at the same time.  To a kid on Christmas a envelope is totally not a cool thing to be handed but,  I loved watching the moment when they relized what they were holding and they were super excited jumping up and down and talking about the rides they wanted to go on first!  Nate and I have passes too and it will be a great way to spend some fun family time together riding rides and enjoying some waterpark fun.  Merry Christmas to all our family and friends !

Christmas down South

 Smiles like these are constant when we go visit Gr &Gr Cottrell in Louisiana!!  We left cold and chilly Illinois for a warm and sunny Christmas down south! 

 Kristy, Scott and Shayna were there with us as well and we all took a day to go see the big Mississippi and feed the birds.  This was a HUGE HIT with the kids and we were all lucky not to get pooped on!!

 Here come all the birds!!!!  Cover your heads!!

 The French Quarter!!  I LOVE the Flea Market there. As you can tell you can find all sorts of things there!  Justin was cautious about the alligator heads but eventually give them a 2 second touch and snatched his hand right back! I think he thought it was going to snap at him like a alligator game that we have back home does.  We ate some yummy authentic Southern food in a indoor/outdoor cafe.  Mine was Louisiana seafood gumbo...yes yummy

 The French Quarter in Downtown New Orleans, is such a tourist attraction that you never know what you will find. Artist, dancers, jazz musicians, people selling goods, fortune tellers, kids tap dancing on smashed pop cans anything to get tips from spectators.  Here is a guy that made his very own Transformer costume.  His arms and legs had what looked like roller blade wheels on them and the big tires actually ran on a small battery and when he got on all fours he turned into his car and drove around the crowd!!  He would them stand up and flip the front bumper back and transform into the robot.  Clay and Hayden loved it!!



You can always see these funny guys striking a pose and keeping it for what seems like forever to me and then make jerky movements to spook people walking by.  Its hilarious to watch!

 Steve and Diana are always great hosts!  I love making dinners together, playing games, enjoying time in the hot tub, and movie nights, they all are a must.  The kids loved making homemade ornaments with Diana and they turned out so great.  Christmas morning is pajama time, opening presents and lots of WOWS, AWESOME, and THAT'S SO COOL!

Thanks Gr & Gr Cottrell for such a great vacation and Christmas time spent with you!!  We are all so lucky to be part of such a great family!!