We love you Uncle J !!

Those of you who have met my big brother Jared (we all call him "J" for short), know how awesome he is. I know he will just die when he reads that I am writing about him, but he really is the sweetest man I know. He trys to act all mean and tough, but he's a big teddy bear when you get to know him. I have been so lucky to have him as a brother and as you can tell by the pictures, my kids think so too and are constantly crawling all over him. No one is more fun than Uncle J. Well, yesterday (New Year's Eve) was his birthday. To make it even more of a special occasion, J works in Alaska during most of the year and will be flying out this weekend, so we will not be able to see him again until November!! Sad, huh!! Needless to say we will miss him so much during that time and I know he will miss the fam too. So we all got together at the Spaghetti Factory (mmm- yummy!) to celebrate his birthday and for my little family, see him one more time.

Who looks happier, J or Sam, I think it's a toss-up!

After dinner, my little sis Erin and her hubby Rob watched my three kids while Chad and I went to the Jazz game. It was the first time Chad and I have left Emmi with someone, so it was so nice to get out! It was a really good game, GO JAZZ!! And they won too, yea!! Afterwards we met back at Erin and Rob's for some more food and little party! Again, it was fun to just see J since we won't for quite awhile. As you can see above, Keaton found the lincoln logs and J helped him build a couple houses. Unfortunately, by time midnight rolled around we were in the car and heading back down to Utah county. The kids were so exhausted, they were dropping like flies! We hope you had a good birthday Uncle J, we love you! And Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas with the Hunsakers

Christmas day we always head on over to the Hunsaker house in Orem to have a yummy lunch and open gifts with Chad's side of the family. We got spoiled with more than enough stuff as usual. Here's Chad's father, "Bumpa Hunsaker" as the boys call him, helping Sam opening one of his toys. As you can see, Chad got a tutu and a matching hairpiece for Christmas! Hee hee! Just kidding! Chad's mom Kim has been teaching dance for years and years and bought Emmi her first tutu, and leotard. It was so sweet. Hopefully Kim will still be teaching when Emmi gets old enough to take dance. Keek and Sam each got a Superman cape from Grandma and Grandpa. Very snazzy Sammers! Later on that day we all watched a movie. Here is Keaton and his cousin Mccall in their cute seats. Mccall is only 13 days older than Keek and they are really good friends. Well, that was our Christmas. I hope all of yours was just as great!!!

More Christmas...

Later on, Christmas Eve night little Emmi must have been so exhausted. I gave her to "Damma" for just a minute and in no time was fast asleep. Her little pouty face is so cute, even when she's asleep!
Keaton wanted a big scoop, (He's a backhoe loader on Bob the Builder for those of you who don't know) for Christmas. I had to get it off of EBay a couple months ago, because I couldn't find one anywhere. This kid is all about digging in the dirt and construction, just like his daddy. Sam is also all about construction, but he is more into tools at the moment. He was so desperate to play with tools that he has been playing with wooden tool puzzle pieces for the last few months. So, naturally, Santa would've been in big trouble if he didn't leave some play ones for Sammers at our house. As you can see, Sammers was very happy, he got a workbench and all sorts of power tools, just like Papa.
No, Emmi didn't get play dough. We got it for the boys, but this shot cracks me up. Emmi did however enjoy the wrapping paper very much. In fact, you can see some hanging out of her mouth. Who needs presents, bring on the paper!! One of Emmi's favorite gifts would probably be this Cabbage Patch doll from "Damma". Here she was trying to figure out what this thing was!

Christmas Eve means pictures with Santa

Every Christmas Eve since I was born, I have sat on Santa's lap. The family all gathers at Grandma and Grandpa Hess' house and "Santa" makes a special trip to see us that night. It is really fun because it is still the same "Santa" that I have seen all growing up. The only differences are now I know who Santa is and I am getting too old to sit on his lap so, we have to stand next to him for a picture. The loss of Grandpa this year made it a little hard, but the tradition must go on!! TRADITION.... TRADITION!! hee hee- a little Fiddler on the Roof! While we were waiting for Santa, we were trying to entertain all of the kids. The picture above is my two boys and a couple of cousins. Sitting in between Keaton and Sam is Carson, my cousin Nate's little boy. Behind him in yellow is Tanner, (my sister Abby's) and Faith, my youngest cousin.
I think they were playing row row your boat, but I'm not sure quite frankly! I was too busy taking pictures. It is my Mom on the left rowing with Sam. Santa arrived and always makes such a noisy entrance, that it scares the kids a little bit. My boys were sitting on the couch with my Sister Erin when Santa came in. What a cute Santa, huh!
I was very surprised how easy my boys took to Santa this year. Most years there are tears and more tears and we have to practically force the boys sit there. I didn't get a picture of it, but Sam kept bringing his hand up to try to touch Santa's beard, and was making Santa a little nervous. Sneaky little devil!! Emmi's first time on Santa went way better than expected! By the picture it looks like she's about to cry, but she didn't!! She was just fine. Like I mentioned before, both of my boys cried their first time on Santa's lap, so this was great! Chad and I didn't get a picture with him, well, maybe next year.

An Exciting Trip to Temple Square...

Last week Chad and I took the kids to Temple Square to the see the lights. Instead of driving all the way to Salt Lake, we decided to drive up to Sandy where we hopped on Trax for the rest of the ride. We did this because Keaton and Sam were so excited to ride a "train," but more importantly we did it for me. Those who know me really well know that I will do anything to avoid being in buses, airplanes, elevators, trains, or any other small, crowded space. I have been this way since high school. Well, as you can see by my little "ticker" above, Chad and I are going to Hawaii next month with Chad's company, which means I will be having to face these fears. (I know, I know, poor me is being dragged on a free trip to Hawaii with no kids), but seriously, going on this trip really scares me. To get myself ready, I have been trying to face the smaller ones to get my confidence up, and we thought a little ride on Trax would be perfect for that! It was FREEZING that night and to make it worse we got to the station just as the train left and had to wait out in the cold 20 min for the next one. Here is me and the kids while we wait for the next train.

The boys absolutely LOVED riding Trax. It was the highlight of the night by far! As you can see, they were mesmerized by all the lights and buildings that were flashing by as we looked out the windows. As fun as they had at Temple Square they kept saying to me, "We get to ride the train again Momma?" They couldn't wait to ride it back!

I wish I could say that I got on the train and rode it with no problems whatsoever, but that's not true. When we first got on and started to move I had a few moments of panic and my brain was asking me to run for the doors. However, I fought it and was able to have a good ride, with the way back having no panic at all! Yea Me!! I'm sure you all think I'm so silly, but it was a big accomplishment and I was very proud of myself! As a distraction, I had Chad take some pictures of us. Here is me and the "Emmster" chillin' like villains! She was such an angel, practically not a peep the whole night.

We were dropped off right across from Temple Square and were able to see the trees in all their lit-up glory! You can't tell by the picture, but for a weeknight it was SUPER busy!

The Salt Lake Temple was all lit-up as well, and looking so beautiful!

We took the boys through both visitor's centers and up to see the Christus, of course, but we spent the majority of the time at the Church History Museum, which is just across from Temple Square, on the west side (and is free admission). The museum is special to me, because I used to clean there at night to help with the income, back when Keaton was just a baby. I had met some wonderful people and had good times while working there, and it felt like home walking through the doors. We also wanted to take the boys because I knew that the Museum has a children's exhibit that changes every couple years or so, and I knew that the boys would love whatever it was. The exhibit that they have now is called "I Am a Child of God" and it is worth your time to take the kids! The favorite section for the boys ironically, was the little baby nursery where they have placed dolls, blankets, bottles, even birth certificates for the kids to take care of the little "newborns". I love this picture of Sam feeding one of the babies. He was concentrating so hard to get the bottle in her mouth and he didn't even bother to take his hat or gloves off!

Here is Keek, not ashamed at all to be having so much fun with the babies!

Keaton giving one of the babies a bath.

I was hoping to get a good picture of the boys in front of the First Presidency's portraits and this was the best that I got! Arrrggghhh!

This little window was also in the "I Am a Child of God" exhibit. Chad and the boys had so much fun putting the colored pieces up on the windows. How cute is that!?

It is such a fun idea for the kiddies to do! Here is Sam and Keek in action! Chad was showing Sam how to work the maze at one of the activity tables.
Sam is all about the tools, so naturally, he would find interest at the "Build a Temple" table. (He didn't build temples, rather, he searched the pile for a hammer and was very disappointed that it was only blocks!)
We watched the boys to see if they could follow the "iron rod" to the tree of life.

Strong work boys!
The final thing we did at the exhibit was dress the boys in the shepard's clothing for the cute nativity scene. This was the best picture we could get of Sam.
A split second later he was taking the band off! He had had enough of that!
We had to get one of them holding the cute little lambs!
Lastly, we had to see the reflection pond. It had tons of lit-up candles floating on top of the water and was very cool to see! You can see all the steam, it really was so cold that night, they had a heater in the pond to keep it from freezing.

Well, that was the end of our big outing. It was a fun night to share with the kids and to bring in the holiday with such uplifting and beautiful images.
We hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!

Elf Yourself!

I saw this on my friend Dawn's blog and thought I had
to do it too. It takes a couple of minutes to load, but
it is really cute! Check it out!
P.S. Notice that I'm not an elf. Well, I would've done
myself, but since there was only four spots,
I was the lucky one left out.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1502723180

I had so much fun doing my family, that I decided to
do another one, this time with my mom, dad, brother
and myself. It's pretty cute too!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1504084458

A Powerful Testimony...

This little boy named Logan is so brave and has the sweetest testimony. Since my family has just lost my Grandpa, it was especially comforting to me. I think it should help us all remember our Savior this Christmas.