Our Belated Christmas With the Rest of the Kids

A couple of days after Christmas when Katelyn and Kira were back from their dad's in Texas and Colton, Bryson, and Chey were up to visit, we had the rest of our Christmas.  We love having everyone together.  Here's Colton with his Shakespeare book...

Bryson with his Big Bang Theory T-shirt...

Kira, Bryson, Maya, Me, CheyAnn, and Colton...

Chey in her monkey hat (Kira got a matching one)...

Bryson and his new drum heads...

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend Bryce and Chey came up for a few days.  Colton went to his girlfriend's dad's house in California for the holiday weekend...it was weird having him gone.  As time goes by and the kids move on and get their own lives, I know I'll have to get used to them all not being together, but it is hard.  When everyone else is together it is so fun, but the One that is missing is still missed...

Thanksgiving dinner would not be complete without Grandma Needles' rolls.  Yum!

The cousins had fun hanging out together...here are Josh, Kate, Chey, Kira, Scotty, Tav, and I think that is the back of Megan's  head.  I am pretty sure that is Alyssa napping over on the couch. :)

Bryce playing on the computer and listening to his tunes...

The cousins playing some game...can't remember what.  Scotty, I think you are a little to big for the rocking horse!! lol

Chey and Maya having some sister time...

We didn't get time to put the tree up while Bryce and Chey were here, but once they were gone, we got it out.  Maya had fun "helping" us put it together...

Putting up the tree...

The rush to get ready for Christmas had begun!

CheyAnn's Photo Shoot for the 2012 Christmas Card

We shot Chey's pictures while she was up here for Thanksgiving.  We did them in the big ol' tree that is in front of our house.

I think that she looks more like her mom every year.  CheyAnn loves art and is into archery these days...guess that came from The Hunger Games : )

Happy Birthday to You...and You...and You!

During the visit to Cedar City last fall we celebrated the August birthdays...Colton turned 20 on August 23, CheyAnn turned 14 on August 25, and Kira turned 14 on August 27.  We went to  a little park down there for a picnic...even though the weather wasn't great, it was fun to be together.

Maya enjoyed learning how to play croquet...

Colton's girlfriend, Kaitlyn came with us.  Of course the lovebirds wandered off by themselves for a bit...

But they came back :)

 Since we were celebrating 3 birthdays, I had to find a gender neutral teenager-type cake to make.  This is supposed to be a cell phone.  I think it looks like a calculator...lol

The birthday boy and girls...Chey, Kira, and Colton...

Sisters

OK...I have got to get this blog caught up.  Last fall we spent a weekend down in Cedar City...This is Chey and Kira spending all of their time beautifying themselves (which they don't need to do cuz they are already gorgeous!) in the hotel room's bathroom.  I just love how those two love to hang out together.  It makes our visits extra nice to see what good friends they are.

Cedar City

Thursday to Friday this week we were down in Cedar City for Colton's high school graduation and to celebrate Bryson's seventeenth birthday (which was a few weeks ago).  Since I had to come up with a cake to cover both occasions, here's what I came up with (yes, that is real popcorn):

We are so proud of our sweet boys and were so happy to get to see them.  Here is a picture of all of the kids together.  On the left is Michelle Gray, Bryson's girlfriend.  The smiles on their faces when they were together made me so happy : )

Maya was so happy to get to see Chey again.  

Colton's girlfriend, Kaitlyn, came to the picnic for a little bit as well and it was fun to meet her since we have been talking on Facebook for a few months (yes, I "friend" my kids' significant others).  Grandma and Granddad Needles were also there.  Like a dummy I forgot to get a picture of the kids with them.  Here's our whole fam, plus Michelle...

Ready to cut the cake...mmmm...

Bryson blew the candle out too fast for me to get a picture, so I had him pretend to do it again so I could get a pic.  Here is his dramatization.  Either that or he has to go to the bathroom really bad...lol.

There's that smile again...

Grandma Needles made a beautiful quilt for Colton's graduation present.  She is a quilting goddess!!!

Christmas 2011...finally

OK...finally gonna catch up from Christmas.  I need a personal assistant to keep up with all of the things I have to do!!!  So we started our Christmas celebration a day early so that we could open presents with all six of the kids and my mom and my sister, Becca.  Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve morning...

Maya loved opening presents......

Can't believe next year that Colton will be graduated and gone on his mission.  How is that possible???

Kira finally got the full-size violin that she has been wanting (and needing)...

It was a lot of people to fit in our tiny house, but we were so happy to have everyone here.

Just noticed I didn't get any pics of the photographer that day : ( 

 Sorry, honey!