DECEMBER

December was a busy month again. By the time the semester ended Ches and I had only a few weeks to get everything ready. But we got it all done and had fun together. The kids enjoyed their time off from school, and we did many fun things together.

To start the season off right, ISU-IF had a Holiday Carnival.

Kimmie had her picture taken with Santa and Mrs. Clause
Ches and his fellow elves

We got a new kitten as an early Christmas present

Kimmie is loving on Timone

Ches loves having a kitten around

The kitten loved the Christmas Tree. It was cute at first then it started playing with the ornaments so then we had to try and keep it out of the tree.

Santa came to Kimmie kindergarten class. I helped with the class party, we played Hot Santa (like Hot Potato) and Christmas BINGO.

And then there were two kittens.

Timone had a twin brother and Ches really wanted to keep the brothers together,

so now we have three cats. The newest kitten is named Tiger

Ches and the kids Love it

(me not so much)

Christmas Eve dinner ~ ready to turn off the lights and eat by candle light.

This year we tried something new on Christmas Eve, we went to a movie.

We saw Despicable Me.

We had such a blast at the movies, this might become a new tradition for us.

All the presents are ready!

Christmas Morning

The kids can't wait to break thru the wrapping paper and get to their presents.

Santa Came!!

Posing for a picture before the unwrapping begins.

Lee was so happy he got Inception

because it's the "best movie EVER!"

Kimmie got a Barbie House

(and lots of other Barbie stuff too)

Robbie and his AT-AT

Rickie got Boba Fett's ship

The kittens had fun playing in the paper and boxes

For dinner we went to China Supper Buffet.

The Johnsons joined us.

Kimmie, JJ and Bryce hanging out after dinner.

Bryce and Kimmie, best buds, later that night

Daddy's and their Girls

The day after Christmas the kids and I left for a visit in SL.

The night we arrived Granny passed out gifts

The next morning all the families came over for breakfast. We gave Mom and Dad a combined gift this year. It was a photo album of our Family Reunion in Disneyland.

We also celebrated Mycah's and Kimmie's birthdays.

We stayed the week in SL and had a fantastic time being with family and seeing some friends. I had a blast at the Frausen game night, the cousins had fun and stayed up way to late at their sleepovers. The moms got together for lunch and a movie. And the kids 12 and older went to the temple with their moms, Uncle Jake and Granny and Gramps.

The week flew by (as it always does) and we left for home on the 31st.

We needed to get back for New Year's Eve parties with friends.

The Holidays were joyful and busy.
We are so blessed to have friends and family who love us.

It truly is a Wonderful Life!

November

Compared to September and October, this month was pretty uneventful. But it was nice.

We had some friends from South Korea over for dinner on a Sunday afternoon.

The kids with Suy Ang and Juhee. These gals were so nice and loved

talking and playing with the kids
Kimmie and I with Juhee

Kimmie had her first dance recital this month.

They danced at the Festival of Trees and she did a fabulous job.

She looks so grown up in her costume.

Kimmie and her BFF Isabelle

Lee was awarded Citizen of the Month

He is such a good student

We celebrated my birthday. Once again Ches spoiled me with gifts and a delicious dinner of salmon and fettuccine. I also went out with some girls friends the day before. We went to the Bonniville craft fair and out to lunch. Super fun weekend.

I didn't take any pictures of Thanksgiving this year, but it was a perfect weekend. Ches and the boys had several Battletech battles and we played other fun games as a family. We rented movies and enjoyed a quiet day together as a family. I made a big turkey dinner,but there was no pressure because we had no company. I didn't get up early to shop on Black Friday but Ches and I went out later in the morning and bought a bunch of Christmas presents.

I loved how relaxing the weekend was. It was needed.

October

This was a busy month. We arrived home from California the first weekend. Then we drove down to SL the next weekend for Olivia's baptism. Ches stayed home to get caught up, so the kids and I had a great visit.

Becky, Gramps, Olivia, Granny, and Weston
Good looking group of cousins

The next weekend the family came to IF for Robbie's ordination. It was a beautiful fall weekend. We had a BBQ at the campus and it was nice enough for the kids to play outside. It's a good thing too, because our house is just not big enough to hold everyone.

Robbie with Granny and Gramps after his ordination (forgot to get a picture in church clothes)

Enjoying lunch outside

Lovin the time together

Robbie looking sharp.

So proud of this Deacon

The next weekend we went to SL again. This time our good friends the Johnson's came with us.

It was Todd's birthday weekend and we decided to celebrate.

We took two cars, the boys truck and the girl truck.

We stopped at Outback Steak house in Ogden for dinner.

We had such a fun time, and the kids loved going out for steak.
Saturday we enjoyed a nice restful morning, then we drove to IKEA for some shopping and lunch. We just love that store, so much cool stuff to look at and the kids had fun too.

The main event of the weekend was the Utah Grizzlies Hockey Game

Ches and Todd are ready for the game

Tanya and I are ready too

We had an extra ticket so my Dad joined us at the game.

It was fun to be at a game with Dad again.

In our seats

It was Breast Cancer Awareness night so the Grizzlies Team all wore pink.
The girls thought it was the greatest thing ever.

At intermission a big Happy Birthday Wish for Todd was displayed on the jumbo tron.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed south to Cabelas for one more fun afternoon shopping. The kids loved the animals and the biggest kids loved looking at all the gear.

After a delish lunch at In and Out Burger we headed home.

It was such a fun weekend. Road trips with friends are the best!

The next weekend was Halloween. On Friday night we went to a carnival at the school. I was working a booth so I forgot to take pictures,but it was fun and the kids loved running around without Mom watching over their shoulder. Saturday morning was the Carnival at ISU-IF.

Here is princess Kimmie with Bennie the Bengal

Isn't she gorgeous?!

Benny and Chrissy the pirate

Kimmie getting a poodle on a leash balloon from the clown

Calvin and Hobbes

(aka Rickie and Benny)

Rickie helped out at the carnival this year and had a blast. He worked at the fishing pond. Lee and Robbie had a Merit Badge PowWow that day so they missed out on the fun.

Later that night the kids had a Halloween Party. They each invited over a few friends. There was lots of junk food to eat and movies to watch.Kimmie and her friends watched House of Mouse Villains while the boys watched Arachnophobia. It was SO much FUN listening to them scream. They all claimed they were not scared once the movie ended, But I heard many of them had to check their rooms for spiders before they went to bed that night. Hahahaha

I love Halloween and Love watching scary movies with my kids.

This month was so busy and so fun.

Friday, October 1st

Today was a relax day, for most of us. Ches had homework to do, so I took Kimmie and Kenz over to play with the Watkins. The girls had so much fun playing dress up and being together.

For lunch the Watkins and Frasers ordered a giant pizza.

The kids got a kick out of Ali and Erica carrying it in from the car.

It was yummy 30 inch pizza!

The boys still had one more day left in D-land so they joined the Poulsens in Disneyland.

They were excited for one more day

They went on a bunch of "big" rides

Looks like Robbie is liking the fall this time around.

Say cheese boys =)

Look at Rick smiling away, he loves these rides

After a morning of fun they kids relaxed and watched tv in their room.

This is why we don't have tv in the kids room.

They can't even look away from the tv to smile at the camera, hahah

Ches getting his homework done.

Taking homework on vacation really sucks!

The whole family came over to the Flippen house for a bbq swim party

and to celebrate October birthdays.
Jake and Maya are ready for the fun to begin.

Loading up plates of yummy food

what a goof

Erica's not thrilled to have her picture taken

Lee telling stories

Dad having fun at the BBQ

Love this picture of Cass and Andy

Cousins having fun in the toy room

After everyone ate it was swim time

The pool was really deep so all the little kids needed life jackets.

Luckily, the house had a lot.

It was totally chaos with all the kids swimming. It got really loud. The neighbor even called and complained, but seriously, it wasn't even after 9pm on a Friday night. I think they were just trying to cause problems for the renters. So we just ignored them, besides how can you keep 20 kids quiet in the pool?

Kimmie and Emma on the slide

After swimming we got the kids ready for bed and Olivia and Robbie opened presents

Some kids started to fall asleep while others were still bouncing off the walls, typical

We found a fun birthday hat in the house and made Robbie wear it.

He loved the nerf gun present

After presents we walked over to the neighborhood park and watched the fireworks from Disneyland. Then every went home to bed.

Actually, only the kids went to bed at our house. We were leaving in the morning and had to be out of the house by 11:00am, with everything cleaned up. That was they only drawback to staying in the rental house. We had to have the laundry done, the dished done, the beds cleaned, and a bunch of other things cleaned and all our stuff out. So the adults stayed up most of the night packing and doing laundry. We made it out of the house just in time.

Our plan was to drive to Beaver UT, which was the half way point. It was a good drive, but everyone was tired and a bit more grumpy than the drive to CA.

We stopped in Barstow to have lunch at the Train Station McDonald's

I remember stopping here when I was younger on our family trips to Cali.

I thought it was the neatest place, my favorite was the giant candy counter.

I loved being able to pick out a piece of candy to enjoy on the drive.

We made it to Beaver around 9pm, a bit later than we planned. But the hotel was nice and we got the sleep we needed. We got up early to drive home to Idaho.

We arrived just before dinner, exhausted and glad to be home.

This was definitely a wonderful family reunion. One we will always remember.