Happy Holidays!!

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!  

Love - James, Mandy, and Ayden

Here's an update on our last few weeks:

SNOW - WE HAVE SOOOO MUCH SNOW!!  It was definitely a white Christmas!  The snow totals are more this year than they have been in recent memory!  And most of it came on Christmas Day!  Of course we took time to enjoy it!

Christmas was great!  Ayden got spoiled as usual.  (So did Mom and Dad. haha!)

Ayden asked Santa for Ninjagos (Lego Ninja People) and a BB gun.  Santa came through!  

     Ayden also received a LeapPad tablet which he calls a Laptop or an iPad.  He has been playing and learning on it a lot the last few days!  The rest of his treasures included clothes, books, movies, candy, Transformers, a Magic Track and car, a laser tag game, and MUCH MORE!  He was so happy!  It was magical!

     Mom got a spiralizer attachment for her KitchenAid and a carpet cleaner among other fun things.  Dad got a new coat, new pants, a back scratcher (picked out special by Ayden) and some other great gifts.  Butch got a bone and a couple toys and was happy as could be.

     Christmas was a great day all the way around.  We enjoyed the church Christmas program and family time until Dad had to go plow that evening.  We haven't seen much of him since Christmas as he comes home to sleep for a few hours and then is back at it with the snow removal work he picks up in the winter.  Poor guy has been working some CRAZY long hours!

          A couple days before Christmas we had a cousin sleepover party at our house.  The girls and Mom made cookies (the boys were too busy playing Star Wars).  We also had fun sledding and slept in front of the Christmas tree.  It was a great time!

     Before school let out for Christmas, Ayden had a school Christmas Sing Along.  His class were cute little reindeers and sang "8 Tiny Reindeer" and "Up on the Rooftop."  Mom was a little disappointed that she didn't get better pictures.  Sigh.

Grandma Susie spoiled Ayden with 12 Days of Christmas presents (as is tradition):

     Mom and Ayden watched Rogue One at the theatre.  Ayden loves Star Wars and even played Star Wars out in the snow.  Mom doesn't like Star Wars and that was actually the first, and only, Star Wars movie she has seen start to finish.

     Picking our Christmas tree was a little different this year.  We usually cut one down in the mountains.  But we had a snowstorm, and then a lot of rain, just before going to get the tree.  Because it was so wet and melty, we were afraid of getting stuck... so we went to Dad's work and picked out a gorgeous real tree.  It was a lot prettier than what we would have found, but we did miss the family outing of picking one from the forest.  

First Snowman of the '16-'17 winter:

     He only lasted for 30 minutes.  They day we built him was when it turned from snowy weather to rainy and warmer weather.  So, here is our lifecycle of a snowman in pictures.  Poor Frosty.

     The weekend after Thanksgiving, Ayden, Uncles Jake and Kurt, and Grandpa had a great time shooting skeet. They missed Dad and Uncle Lance, but I think Dad and Uncle Lance had just as much fun catching GIANT Steelhead fish instead!

3 Generations.

Ayden made this placemat at school for his school Thanksgiving feast.  He does love Butch!

Our Thanksgiving was great as well!  We had lots of yummy food, made graham cracker houses, and had a "Turkey Bowl" football game with cousins and uncles.  In the football game, Ayden wanted to be tackled over and over again - that was his favorite part of the game.  

 Happy New Year Friends and Family!  

❤☺