Happy New Year

We welcomed in the New Year with food, horns, poppers, puzzles, hats, more food, and a really cheesy show on TV. 2010 has brought many trials and blessings - we are truly grateful for it all. We pray that 2011 will be full of joy and love. Happy New Year!

The Smith Farm

The Wrights (from the BYU game) invited us to come to have a tour at the Smith Farm the next day. We have toured all the church history sites many times, but couldn't turn down an opportunity to hear the stories from Bro. Wright. We are so glad we went. He spent a lot of time with us, shared some personal stories, and I think we all had a very special experience. It was a beautiful winter day and it always amazes me that people we tough enough to start lives on farms in these bitter cold places. I guess you can never visit these places enough. Every time we go we learn something new and feel something new. Thanks to the Wrights for making our day so special.

BYU Basketball

Jim got tickets for the boys to go and see BYU play at The University of Buffalo. They said that there were almost as many BYU fans as Buffalo fans. Apparently the Mission President let a bunch of missionaries come to the game. There are a lot of missionaries in the area due to all the church history sites. Ed went running down the aisle after he recognized someone. Jim Wright was Ed's bishop when Ed was a teenager and he and his wife are serving an 18 month mission in the area. It was a fun night for the guys and BYU won too!

Visit to Rochester

We decided we couldn't miss one last opportunity to visit Jim and Cheryl's family in upstate New York. They will be moving to Connecticut sometime this summer and we might not make it up there again. We have had many fun trips to their home - especially after Christmases.

We don't really plan a lot. We just love to sit around and talk and laugh. We watch movies, go to the mall, eat lots of delicious food, and sleep in in the mornings. The kids come and go and have the best time together. We really missed Reid this year, but are so glad he is working hard on his mission. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Cheryl loves her cat Trixie

They had a little too much fun making gingerbread houses:)

Haley and Jenna are Rubix Cube masters!

Cami has always loved Georgia the cat

The Blizzard

We didn't have a white Christmas, but the day after it started to snow... and snow... and snow! We went to church and were sent home after the first hour. We snuggled in while it snowed 12 inches and the wind blew at 50 mph. The wind was blowing so hard that we couldn't even shovel until the next afternoon. Cami ventured out to play but didn't last long.

Christmas Dinner

We had dinner with the Meise and Olson families. The food was delicious and we enjoyed watching everyone play Just Dance most of the evening. Poor Zoey was sick and didn't get to enjoy herself as much as we hoped, but she did give Ed some good snuggle time. We are truly blessed with so many wonderful friends and wish we could all be together this time of year.

Geocaching

Taylor got a geocaching GPS for a gift and we headed out around lunch to try it out. We figured the park would be empty (Christmas morning + freezing temps) so we took the dogs and let them roam around with us. It was so much fun for everyone and we actually found 2 out of 3. We will have many fun family adventures with this new toy.

Christmas Morning

After waking Dallin up several times to make sure his clock was right (Are you sure Dallin?), Cami brought her brother and sister into our room to encourage the beginning of Christmas festivities. We posed at the top of the stairs and then headed down to open presents. Everyone was happy and feeling very grateful. We enjoyed a big breakfast and worked it off with some Just Dance 2 on the Wii.

We have been reading the gospels as a family lately and have loved reading the Christmas Story several times. Reading Luke always brings the true Christmas Spirit into our home. We are grateful for the birth of our Savior and the love our Heavenly Father shows for us. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Night

We had a few things left to do before going to bed. Cheryl sent us a cupcake making kit with a cool tool that cores the middle so it can be filled with marshmallow filling - YUM! We also made our traditional reindeer cookies, but I used a new GF flour mix and it was a total disaster. Thank goodness for Cheryl's cupcakes or Santa would have left our house hungry:)

We had the famous Forsyth steak for dinner and everyone opened new PJs to wear to bed. The kids originally wanted to sleep in the basement, but changed their mind when they realized we wouldn't have the traditional Christmas-morning-at-the-top-of-the-stairs picture. I told them it was OK, but they insisted it would be better to sleep in Dallin's room. I like it that they enjoy this little tradition.