A Winter's Hike (Arizona Style)

 We love Arizona in the winter. It is beautiful! Nice weather to send all the kids outside! Over our Christmas break Michael and my brother Kyle, took Logan and Jillian down to Sara's crack for a hike! They had a blast!

 Jillian loves hiking...especially in her brand new boots that she got for her birthday! Little TURKEY!

 This is a bit tricky for the little kids, but they love the rope part.

 Jillian made sure to take her notebook to write down all sorts of stuff...not really sure what?

 The end of the trail takes you right down to the lake. Fun!

 Heading back! They had a great morning, as did I!!! Cleaning without the entire circus to mess it all up!

Christmas Morning

 Christmas Morning was a little different since my mom, Logan, and I threw up all night. We started feeling sick Christmas Eve while eating dinner. So, the kids waited until 9:30 to come out. My poor brother Kyle had to hold them off for hours!

 But it was well worth the wait! We had so much fun watching their expressions as they came out and tried to act surprised! Mallory is going to the Taylor Swift concert (in August) and is so excited!

 Jillian looks pretty stoked too! She got a little DVD player all to herself. This has already proved itself in worth. Why she didn't get this earlier??? I don't know.

 Santa had a rough night with the cricut and the vinyl! Oh well...it's cute!

 Logan loves his dinosaur's!

 And for little Hallie...she was so cute. I think she loved her stocking full of fruit snacks the most!

 I love these random pictures of everyone with everything all over! Christmas morning is the best!

 Logan was a little put off by this big bike, but her came around to liking it! It is awesome!

 Hallie loves her little chair!

 Taylor Swift Poster...She loves!

 And for Jillian...she got to open a big present early!

 We got her her own bow and arrow set! She secretly thinks she is Katniss!

 Uncle Kyle even made her a quiver. She looks so cute!

 and tough, right?

 Getting her first lesson...not to shoot Logan!

 Kyle giving it a try.

 and Mallory

 But Jillian is a natural, she shot right in the bulls eye!

We had a blast Christmas morning, even though we were not feeling great. My Dad came over for a bit in the afternoon, then my mom felt ok to come at night. So we waited to open present until nighttime.

St. Nicholas Day!

 The kids are always excited for St. Nicholas day to come around. It is sorta the beginning of all the Christmas festivities at our house. I do love that it is one morning that I don't have to drag the kids, kicking and screaming, out of bed! Instead, we wake up to eating chocolate and then more chocolate, which made for a fun morning for Hallie! Logan got a cute Hallmark ornament with Buzz and the little green monster.

 Jillian got the Merida ornament from the movie Brave.

 Mallory got a silly tropical fish, since it was her Hawaii vacation year!

 And for lack of better stores here, Hallie got a pacifier ornament. She thought it was a real one and kept trying to suck on it.

 She loved loved LOVED waking up to chocolate in her shoes! And she loved even more that her sisters left all of their candy down on the ground while they were at school. Hallie's new favorite day!

We have celebrated this holiday tradition since I was a little kid. It is my favorite tradition that we have carried on, even if the scrooge of a husband doesn't like it...I LOVE IT!

Garbage Truck Birthday Party

Logan had his little heart set on having a garbage truck birthday party for his birthday this year. I loved the idea and immediately  started thinking of things to do! I stenciled these cute shirts for the invitations! Logan loved them!!

We played some garbage games. We saved our soda cans and used "garbage grabbers" for a relay race. It was fun!

We have a perfect backyard for "garbage games."

I found these cute tins at Target (in Vegas), and vinyled their names! The kids loved them!

Then we played another garbage game. We got a bunch of paper shreddings, put them in buckets and added tons of candy to it. The kids had to dig through it all for the candy. It made a huge mess, but was way fun!

Yep...HUGE mess, but I have a Dyson!!!

Garbage Truck Cake! Love how it turned out! Logan looked at it all afternoon.

The boys were so hyper, I couldn't get them to sit still long enough for a good picture.

Then we raced our garbage trucks ( I ordered little trucks for all the boys)

Then we had hot dogs and cake!

I love Logan's HUGE happy smile!

I was so worn out after this party, but loved having it! I love parties!!