Shootin' Simmons Style

 On our break we also went out into the middle of no where - I know I know we already live in the middle of no where, but we drove even more out into it OK?!  Burke grabbed all of our sparkling cider bottles, the sling shots with the bb's and we headed out.

Kaleb decided he might even hit it if he got really close.  He was right!  It went right through it with a tiny hole left.

  

 The girls gave it a try too.

 They then decided it was easier to break the bottle by throwing it on a big rock.  DONE!

It was a beautiful day.  There were rain clouds coming at us from one side and beautiful sun shining on us from the other.  It looked really cool.

Cool gifts

My mom and Dave gave all the boys Lego sets.  Kaleb loved his Alien Space ship set.  He put it all together and brought it to me.  I had to snap a picture for Omi and Opa.  Thank you, he loves it!  :)

Burke's sister, Chanelle, had our family for Christmas this year.  She sent us the cute Fisher Price Nativity that I've always wanted AND this HUGE box of crafts for kids.  It had everything they needed to make a bunch of different things.  They were seriously in Heaven.  They loved it so much!  THANKS Chanelle and Family!

New Years Eve

We got home from Salt Lake at about 4:00 on that Saturday.  We hadn't even cleaned up from Christmas since we left right after church that day.  So we unpacked, cleaned up and then decided to party.

Burke surprised us with Just Dance for the Wii for our family New Years party.  We had a lot of fun.  There was a lot of laughing.  Katelin loves it and plays it a lot.  She's getting good!

We ALL made it to midnight!  It was actually really fun staying up together.  Then we all went to bed, woke up and started the New Year!  

More of Salt Lake trip

While in Salt Lake over the break we:

went to see Tin Tin with Juli and Ryan's families.  The kids took up a whole row.  All of us parents sat behind them.  It was so funny, the theater was getting pretty full, so people would walk right up to the kids row thinking it was all empty because they didn't see anyone there.  When they'd get up to it, it was FULL of kids.  Hahaha!    

 Out to lunch for the birthday girls, Omi, Sophie and Kaiya.  We went to Red Robin.  Kaiya got Mac 'n Cheese, silly girl!  :).

 Omi and Sophi's birthday's are on the same day, so they blew out the candles together.

 Sophie opening gifts, and the audience watching.

 We stayed and Ryan and Erin's while we were in town.  The kids and Q had a blast together, as usual.  They got the wagon and filled it with sticks from the neighbors, then made a hole to put it all in.  Quite a productive day, WHEW!

Then later we stayed with Juli and Arik's family while our car was getting fixed.  The kids played DS's, watched movies, played with each other outside - and with the dog, Ruby.  We took the kids to spend their money from Great Grandpa Simmons.  The girls got sticker books and Kaleb got some Squinky's.  They were pretty excited to pick something out on their own.

 

What a FUN visit!!!  Thanks everyone for letting us stay with you and for all of the fun.  We LOVE you!  :)

Christmas Day

When we went to bed Christmas Eve, this is what it all looked like.  I was so excited I didn't sleep very well.  I woke up around 4 and couldn't fall back asleep!  Katelin finally woke up at about 6 and we woke everyone  up at 7, come on!

Before we went out we gave them their first present, these slippers.  They were pretty excited.  Then we said our prayer (we always prayed first when I was little too, so this is something I wanted to keep going, I love it.)  Then they were off!!!  :)

 Let the happy faces begin...

 Katelin is in love with horses.  So we got her a rocking horse and a stick horse.  She loves them both.  They both make noise when you push their ear.  And the rocking horses tail and head moves also, so much fun!  She turned right into a cowgirl, I think she is saying "Yeehaw!"  And she'd put on h er cowgirl southern voice and say "You wanna rod?" (ride in a southern accent)  She made us all laugh.  When she opened the stick horse she was off down the hall riding away.

 Kaleb and Burke got the 3DS, with some games.  He was VERY excited!!!  Look at that smile.  :)

 Kaiya LOVED her new jacket and had to put it right on, and her new camera.  She takes it everywhere.  I am going to help her start her own cousin blog, hahaha, CUTE!  And look at that face when she opened her new diary.  She loves those things.  Oh, and we put her hair in all those twisties to make it curly for church, but it didn't work out.  Hahaha, but made for fun Christmas morning pictures.  Kaiya is taking a picture of me taking a picture of her, since we both got new cameras for Christmas.  Burke surprised me with a new small camera so I don't have to take my big one everywhere.  I had no idea, I seriously thought he got me a sticker maker I wanted.  Hahaha!  That was a surprise!

I also did a few homemade gifts for everyone this year.  The kids each got a rice warmer, they loved mine, so I made them their own and also a head rest for the car.  I made Burke a quilt and we filled each others stockings with fun stuff.   The funniest thing that happened what that Burke and I got each other the same game!  He pulled his out of his stocking first - it's called "You've got to be kidding me" and he kept saying that, I thought he didn't like it and kept explaining it to him.  Finally I looked in my stocking and pulled out the same game!  Then I had to say it back, "You've GOT to be kidding ME!!!!!!!!!!!"  So funny.

After all the fun, we got ready and headed off to church.  The kids looked so cute in their Christmas outfits and I forgot to take a picture!!!  Ahhhhh!  Burke and I sang in the choir for the program, that was fun.  The kids sat with the Thayne's, they behaved so well.  Then we headed off to Salt Lake to see family.

Here's some pictures of our stops:

What a GREAT Christmas, we had a wonderful one!!!!

Christmas Eve, party night

We bought this beautiful tray of dried fruit at Costco and saved it for Christmas Eve day.  It was a good snack to have throughout the day.  

We had a lot of treats from neighbors out also to snack on.

 An amazing sewer lady in our ward, Kalynn Fail, taught some of us how to make these stockings.  I hung them on the tree this day just for fun.  I had just finished them the night before and was super proud of my accomplishment.

 Here's one up close.  It's fun that they're all matchy-matchy, yet different.  :)

This was our Christmas Eve dinner - different, but YUMMY!!!  Salad, shrimp and salsa!  Burke made some chips out of tortilla chips with coconut oil for the salsa, delicious!

AND you can't have a party with out the Sparkling stuff.  Y.U.M.

It was all a hit.

Kaleb ate a few too many shrimp (24!!!)  He felt a bit sick afterwards.  Silly kid!


We played games, all sorts.

Opened up... 

...PJ's for the night!!!!

 And then opened up gifts from Grandparents and from each other that were under the tree.  This year the kids picked something out for each other at the Dollar Store.

Kaleb got the girls these piggy banks.

Kaiya got Katelin this cowgirl hat and I helped her glue on some cute ribbon and a bow, she loves it!  The girls also got beautiful dresses from their Grandma and Grandpa Simmons.  They looked so pretty on Christmas day - you'll have to take my word for it, cause I forgot to take a picture before we left for church!!!!!!!!!!

 Kaleb got this remote control truck from Grandparents also.  Love that face.

When the kids went to bed Burke and I started wrapping, filling up stockings and setting up the front room.  It was so much fun.  I think it's getting more fun every year.  I love Christmas!