It's a Christmas Party!

Since my sister Dana and her family were coming into town after Christmas, we decided to hold off on the family Christmas party until they were here. Last night we gathered at my parents church and had a BLAST! There are a total of 12 adults and 16 grandkids, and what a party it was!!

Here is the whole group together!

Yeah, we have some cute kids in our family!

Baseball and soccer were played!

Sam is adorable!

Kahle loving the bat and ball!

These girls, best friends, having a blast!

Getting ready to do the nativity...puppet style!

The kids all had a different puppet or two, and Haden and Ethan read the Nativity! They did a fantastic job!!

He loved his freedom!

Waiting for the present opening to begin :)

Jack and Cole being silly!

Opening their presents from Grammy and Papa! A little bit back my parents took the kids to the Temple and took pictures of them. Then we created a book with the pictures and the words to 'I love to see the temple', the kids LOVED seeing their pictures and having these books. And the babies (younger than 2) were given a gospel ABC book! Fantastic presents!

After dinner, nativity and presents we turned on Despicable Me and the kids (and Papa) all settled down to watch it.

In the other part of the gym (divided off) the other adults played games!

More playing and running around!

Everett was pushing a chair and Delaney was walking beside him! It was too cute!

He makes me smile :)

Lots of yummy snacks!!

Haden and Max were pretending to do karate and were having a good time!

We definitely had a Blast! The kids LOVE being with cousins and so it was a great way to spend the night!

Gladys Mann (aka Granny)

A woman who raised 7 kids basically by herself, and did an amazing job. A woman who brought her family to the LDS Church and has always been a strong and faithful member. A woman who worked extremely hard for her family. A woman who is strong willed, sweet, kind, and very thoughtful. A woman who had a laugh that made you smile and laugh with her. A woman who fought until the end. Gladys Mann, or Granny as I know her, passed away this morning and she will be extremely missed!! She is now in a much better place.

I remember having her come visit and watching her roll her hair each night before she went to bed. I remember watching her lay in the sun and just loving it! I remember her birthday cards! I remember her sweet smile, her hugs and her kisses. I remember hearing stories of her kids growing up and what she was like. I remember going to visit her and talking with her. I remember the e-mails that her and I kept in touch with, and how she would update me on what was going on with her. I loved those e-mails!

Granny I love you and I am so glad that you are free from the pain you have had, that you are reuniting with your parents and your sister! I am sure the reunion was a great one! We are going to miss you like crazy, but know that you are in a much better place. Thank you for everything, you have been an amazing example to everyone who knows you!! I love you!!!

Merry Christmas!!

To say our Christmas has been Wonderful really is an understatement! It was Fantastic, we are SO blessed! I LOVE that we have 5 amazing kids to really bring the magic of Christmas to our family!!!

To start with the pictures :) Grant snuggled Sparty, and he was so Thrilled!!!!

Christmas Eve, we made sugar cookies, and it was so fun!!

Watch the kids decorate their cookies was quite entertaining!!

The final product :)

Jeff made this Yummy pizza, taken from my Daddy's recipe! It turned out fantastic!!!

After dinner and we got the house cleaned up, the kids opened the back door to let Sparty out. And to our surprise, the PJ elves left PJ's for all of us on our back porch! So we quickly changed into them, enjoyed some hot chocolate and cookies!

Then the kids settled down with their Christmas pillows (made by Grandma Trudy) to watch Charlie Brown's Christmas!

We left cookies for Santa, and a note! And headed to bed!

We woke up to the elves making sure the kids didn't go down without Mom and Dad! They blocked off the stair way and left a note :)

The kids went down, oldest to youngest (Kahle came down with Jeff)! They were SO excited!!

And Haden decided to 'over due' the excitement and act goofy! We love goofy :)

Enjoying the new Wii Sports Resorts!

Tinkerbell Delaney wearing a beanie made by Grandma Karen!

Cole in his lego star wars jammies and with his batcave!!

Grant loves his penguin!

Tinkerbell Pirate Princess!

He was excited for presents!!

And is adorable!!

We left Sparty in the kitchen area until we had all the wires and things cleaned up from opening packages!

Thanks for the beanies Jim and Karen!!!!

Messy face after doughnuts :)

He loves soft things!!!

After we enjoyed our presents, we got ready for the day and to go have lunch with Jeff's family!

These kids are good lookin'! I love them so much!!!!

Grandpa Bob got caught on camera :)

He's a good sport and the kids adore him!!!

Afterwards we headed back home to get dinner ready for Mak and Kristen to join us! The kids were Thrilled to have them there! Delaney really likes Kristen!! And Mak is a favorite person in our house :) It was fun having them over!!! I am so mad I didn't get a picture of Kristen, she is so cute and played with Delaney for a long time! Thanks for coming over you two!!!

Mak sword fighting with Kahle!

It has been a fun-filled day! We loved every part of it and couldn't have had a better day!!!