A Long Overdue Christmas Post...

... That is way too long! But really, how am I supposed to cut it down anymore? I only choose a few out of the almost 300 pictures I took while we were in Texas. Considering that we were there for two and a half weeks and saw Kacey's wedding, Christmas with both sides of the family, and numerous extended family, I think I did pretty good.

Our time in Texas started with both the kids being sick and rather shy. This is Beth playing hard to get with Papa.
Only a few days into the visit we had Kacey and Tyler's wedding. It was really beautiful. The time at the temple went great but at the reception Eric fell and skidded his face across the carpet for a "half time show." He was okay but got a fat lip and some rug burn. I got sick just before the reception so I don't have many pictures, but here are a few I have.

The boys "jumping for joy."Kacey, the beautiful bride, with all the sisters and sisters-in-law.
Eric always takes time to smell the roses, or flowers in this case.

Eric and Beth.

Because Eric was not feeling well, he fell asleep all over the place. Poor little guy.

On Christmas Eve we met up with the Jones' (My dad's little sister and her family) and with Gordon's family for a fun dinner. Here is Leslie, Aunt Carol, Mary, and Sam.

I was trying to get a picture with my Grandma Clines, but Ryan wanted to put in his two cents. Grandma came all the way from Wyoming and it was great to see her.

Here are the oldest Jones girls. (Miss you Natalie!)

Here are two of the cutest kids I have ever seen. Beth and Oscar really liked each other. I wonder if I should get into the kissing cousins story? No? Okay.

We spent Christmas morning and most of the day with the Alleman side of the family.

Beth and Grandma.

Beth really got into opening her presents.

"Thank you Grandpa!"

I loved that prior to opening the Wii, the family broke into the "Wee-wee" song.

It was also hilarious while opening gifts Eric got bored, stood in the middle of the room, ripped his PJ's off, swung them around a few times and took off running in his Thomas The Tank underwear. I promise, this behavior was nothing he learned at home!

Here is Eric as "Joseph" and Ryan as one of the Shepherd's for the Alleman family Christmas pageant.

Here is a little clip of the show.

That night we exchanged gifts with the some of the Clines side. I think this picture of Sam and Mary is just great! We gave Mary a fun chick-flick and I LOVE their reactions!

During the Clines gift exchange all the nephews decided to attack Uncle Sam. A real "you're part of the family" gesture.

Eric got a pack of "just-for-kid" tools from Papa but started to hammer and sawing everything in the house. So Dad took him out to the garage for some bonding time and to make him some stuff he could use his new tools on.

We also spent time at the park near my parents house while Mary and I were running our first 8K race. Both of us broke our personal records, thanks to our incredible trainer! You're the best Mom!

A few days later we went to Uncle Gordon and Aunt Coren's house to have a outdoor "heated" pool party for Josh's birthday. I wish I had more pictures but this is the only one.

The rest of our time was spent with one family member or another.

Beth loved playing with Lela's glasses. No wonder they were always smudged.

We had a great time eating lunch with Chris and Darlene and then dinner with Jeremy and Laura. (I will say nothing about dual dictatorships.) It was fun to see the kids playing together and having fun.

My dad also scored some tickets to the Cotton Bowl for Ryan and his brothers. Uncle KC also went with them, but I don't have him on film. They went to the new Cowboys stadium. The screen you see at the top is 70 yards (210 feet) long! (It would be a really bad day if that fell while you were underneath.) - I know, random observation.

Now I know where I get my portion control from. Thanks Dad!
At least as grandparents and parents we always have help to eat our food. Just look at our cute little vulture.

It was a wonderful, busy, crazy, sick, fun, vacation. Thank you to our families for opening up your homes and lives to us. We miss you all!

Random Christmas-ness

This is just a post of lots of pictures and a few movie clips.

I came home from shopping a while ago and Beth quickly grabbed my purse, gloves and hat. Ta-da!

Do ya like? Eric was very concerned that because we didn't have a fire place, Santa would not be able to get in the house. This was our solution.
At our ward Christmas party we had Santa come to visit. This is Eric waiting in line. No, I don't think he can get any closer to the kid in front of him.
When he met Santa, Eric was totally: overcome...
... and over-joyed...
... and speechless!
It was fun.

Of course, he cried for almost an hour that night. He insisted that he was on the "naughty list." You see, Santa had come to town and not stopped at our house. He was completely distraught! I think we were able to convince him, at last, that this was just a quick visit for Santa and not the actual Christmas visit.

This is a little clip of the kids and Ryan playing with their favorite Christmas ornament.

This clip is Eric showing what he has learned from our nightly stories. This is one of his favorite.

First Snow

I realized today that it really doesn't take that long to post a few pictures. Sorry it's been so long between posts.

Here are a few pictures of our first big snow fall. Beth was thrilled until she took one step into the snow and face planted. She was very "un-trusting" of all the white stuff for about 10 minutes after that, but soon her curiosity won out.

Eric needed no reintroduction and wasted no time. He loves the snow and would live outside if we let him.

"Ryan, you had better NOT if you know what's good for you!"We finally got a Christmas wreath. Ta-da!

If you look close under the tree you can see one of my favorite presents and one of Eric's favorite spots to play.Waiting for Daddy to come home.

Love of anything Christmas.

By the way...

...the dress is for Ryan's sister's wedding in December.

The Dress is DONE

I didn't know if this day would come, but it has. Oh, happy day! The dress is done.

Ruby Valley and WAY Too Much Cold

Two weeks ago we drove out to see Mary and Sam out in beautiful Ruby Valley, NV. Mary had the perfect picture on her blog to describe the valley where she lives. Home sweet home.

I don’t know why it didn’t dawn on me that if it was supposed to snow here in Provo we would also be getting some cold weather in Nevada. Duh, I know. We had plans to ride horses and tractors, to see the cows and play with their puppy Alice. But when the snow hit the first night it killed all my plans. Actually, I wasn’t totally opposed to the snow; it was the temperature of 2º that I had issues with. Yes, it got down to two degrees in the night and only a little better during the day.

Well, we still had a great visit, we just spent more time inside then planned. But it worked because Sam and Mary have a Wii. Here is Ryan not wanting to be interrupted from his game. Beth and Eric also loved playing with the Wii. Beth was entranced on many occasions. However, despite the fun of video games, the highlight of the trip for Eric was Alice. He absolutely adores her! He would have slept next to her if we had let him. While Beth gets thrilled out of her mind looking at pictures of dogs, or seeing them from a distance, she is so scared of them in real life. She did warm up to the point where she would touch Alice, but it was never a "comfortable" relationship.

I'm grateful for Sam and Mary opening up their home to be overrun with kids and guests. We had a great time, thanks guys!

Halloween 2009

Here's a quick recap of our Halloween this year. Beth was a very cute tiger.
Eric was going to go as Thomas but at the last minute decided to be a pirate. Luckily we had all the stuff we needed to make the change. He enjoyed the increased freedom of movement that this costume offered over Thomas.
This is Eric and Beth being cute. They were rubbing noses with each other but stopped by the time we got the camera out. So I asked them if they could touch noses again. They looked at each other and did this...

Beth was taken aback when some people opened the door. Eric would get so excited that he would say, "trick-or-treating" to everyone. It was very cute and when he finished up with, "thank you and happy Halloween," he gave everyone a smile.

Eric was thrilled with the quantity of candy and Beth liked to chew on the chocolate bars while still in the wrapper. It was a great year.

And a BIG thanks to Sam and Mary who came down from Nevada to spend Halloween with us. Sam stayed behind to hand out candy, and Mary came along and snapped these cute pictures. Thanks you guys!

Ryan's Note: Now that we're through with Halloween, I thought I'd list my top five Halloween flicks. Not necessarily the scariest movies, just the ones I enjoy the most.

#5: Ghostbusters. Classic, funny, quotable, old special effects that still look cool, and--of course--it's got Slimer!

#4: Ernest Scared Stupid. Endearingly dumb, with tremendous sentimental value. And also highly quotable.

"Hey booger-lips! How about a bumper sandwich!"

"Mee-akk?"

#3: Anything from Alfred Hitchcock. Shadow of a Doubt, Rear Window, Rope, Vertigo.

#2: Arsenic and Old Lace. Two words: Cary Grant. (Did you know his real name was Archibald Leach?) This movie has him, Priscilla Lane, Peter Lorre, the two aunts, poisoning, a towering homicidal maniac, and dead bodies stowed in every nook and cranny. Hilarious LOL moments.

And . . .

(Drum roll!)

#1: Garfield's Halloween Adventure. I know this is a TV special and not a movie, but it's tops in my book. Funny and frightening for all ages. It captures the sheer candy-avarice and ghoulish delight of the holiday. If you remember this from the eighties, you know what I'm talking about.

"Candy, candy, candy, candy . . . !"

Now it's your turn. What are your top five?