Skiing

During our break from school between Christmas and New Years Yvonne and I decided to take the kids skiing for the day.  She is always a trooper and spends the day on the mountain with the kids and I spend it in the lodge feeding anyone that comes in hungry or babysitting when Memory is done skiing.  It was a beautiful - VERY COLD - day! The kids had a blast and it was the perfect way to end our Christmas break!

 Memory

 Laiklie and Sage

Dallin

Christmas Day 2016

This was our first Christmas in our new house.  What an exciting day!

 Rhett was dying to get a cell phone now that he is 12.  He got one!

 Laiklie got the make-up and rollerskates she wanted plus an ipod that didn't have a cracked screen. ;)

 Oakley got clothes, clothes and more clothes! Plus a mirror to see all the clothes in!

 And Dallin got his puppy! We were really good at keeping the secret and he had no idea! We wrapped up some puppy food, a collar and some puppy toys and when he opened them we asked him what they were and then proceeded to tell him that "we DON'T DO DOGS! so to take that crap out to the garage!" At that point you could see the light in his eyes and he ran as fast as he could to the garage to find this little guy! He has decided to name him Diesel.  Such a cute little dog! We've only had him for 2 weeks and I'm already over dog poop!!! :( It will be nice when the weather warms up and he can move out of the garage!

 This is the aftermath of it all! What a mess!! A good, crazy mess! My favorite kind!

 Then off to grandma Hawkins for more Christmas fun.  This year Christmas was actually on a Sunday so we were suppose to have Sacrament meeting, but we got hit with a blizzard so church was cancelled.  We had to bust some pretty big drifts in the road even to get down to grandmas house.  A white Christmas was perfect!

We are SO VERY blessed and so grateful once again to celebrate the birth of the Savior.  This year we tried to follow the churches theme of #lighttheworld and serve others.  It is always a great opportunity when we get the chance to share what we have been blessed with.  We are going to try to continue following the example the Savior set of serving as we go into this 2017 year.

Christmas Surprise

This year as we were trying to decide what to get the kids for Christmas and we really struggled trying to decide what to get Dallin.  We talked about guns and bow and arrows and a million other things I think he would have loved, but then it hit me that it was time to get this boy a puppy! He has been begging for years and I kept telling him when Remi dies we can *maybe* get a puppy.  I knew this would be a HUGE SURPRISE and that he would absolutely LOVE it!! 

So Ryan searched and searched and finally found one he wanted over by Twin Falls.  We had to enlist the help of my brother Cody who picked him up, paid for him and kept him at his house for a couple days till we could get there.  A giant favor!! He sent me this picture when he picked the little guy up.  What a cute little baby! We hid him in Stan's barn for the week leading up to Christmas.  It was such a hard secret to keep and the anticipation of it all about killed me!

The Cow Crew

Just a couple days before Christmas we had to wean and vaccinate calves.  Our cow crew consisted of Dallin, JD, Nick, Chase, Dale, Ryan and myself.  Everyone has a job on days like this.  I love this picture and what I love most is in the barn behind Dallin is hiding his Christmas puppy and he has NO IDEA! ;)

Piano Recital

Laiklie had her Christmas Piano recital on December 10th.  She played two songs and did a great job on both of them.  In fact, her piano teacher asked her to be the last one on the program with her second song because it was such a fun song and she plays it so well.  Sure proud of her for sticking with piano even though sometimes it isn't her favorite!

Ice Fishing

Ryan and the boys got to go ice fishing with the scouts one cold December morning. Ryan's new calling since being release from the Bishopric is with the 14-16 year old young men.  It will be a good calling for him.  Dallin was the lucky one that pulled in the biggest fish of the day! He had his eyes closed in the picture....it's probably from being tired from grandma's slumber party the night before. Hahaha! We cooked this giant fish up for Sunday dinner and not gonna lie, he wasn't the best tasting fish we've ever had.  Glad he was fun to look at because he wasn't great to eat! :)

Annual Hawkins Christmas Party

 Nativity....this year we have a whole crew to play all the parts.  

 We also played grandma's annual pass the gift present that ALWAYS makes the babies mad.  Hahaha! They totally don't understand if they pass the one they are holding a new one is given to them.  :) Ember finally caught on close to the end of the game.  She did love unwrapping each time she got one.  

It is always a fun night together that ends with a slumber party.  Oakley didn't stay the night this year because she had her ACT Test the next morning.  The other kids did the usual, stay up so late that they are cranky cranky the next day without her though.  Too fun! Thanks to grandma for another fun party!

Babies

Since baby Autumn was born in October we have seen alot of these two other babies at our house.  We love these two sweet little girls! They are a handful, but so much fun! They keep us hopping and giggling!

 Mem & Em

 My kids have had the chance to go over to their house and help Yvonne several times too.  Sometimes it is just holding the baby, and other times it is keeping the other two entertained.  We have loved having Chase and Yvonne next door and it has been so good for my kids to serve and learn how to care for littles.  Family is such a blessing!

Christmas Expo

Oakley and Laiklie got to dance at the Christmas Expo this year just a few days before their Christmas Dance Recital.  I was glad I got a few pictures of them dancing there, because I didn't get any at the recital.  I LOVE watching these girls dance!!

Ward Christmas Party

This year the church put out the theme Light the World and our ward centered the Christmas party around it.  They had services set up at the church you could do with your family, or if you were lucky like we were, you could go do service for someone.  I got to take my kids to decorate an elderly couples tree.  We had a few others show up after we were finished decorating so we just kept right on adding ornaments to the poor little tree.  Hahaha! Everyone loved it!

 Brother and Sister Clyde and Doris Hill are the ones we got to serve that night.  I was a visiting teacher with Doris for 3 years and then her visiting teacher after that for a couple of years, so I know her fairly well and sure do love her.  Her husband struggles with memory loss right now and so she was so excited to see all these sweet children come help her.  What a great service opportunity!

 And of course back at the church after dinner Santa arrived for anyone who wanted to see him.  I was just called that week to be the new primary president of our ward so they had me sit next to santa and tell him the kids names as they approached.  I was proud of myself for knowing most of them. :)