Christmas morning!

 Merry Christmas everyone!!!  Look who came and woke me up this morning!  

 So every year my parents put up a sheet so we can't see what Santa gave us until we go into the room, this was funny because Matthew was pulling on the sheet and making it so he could see in and Kaitlynn was getting really mad because he wasn't allowed to look in!

Look at this cute boy, already learning how to tease his big sister!

Another family tradition is that the youngest gets to go in first so we always have to line up from youngest to oldest to go in.  Here's the clan that was at my parent's home this morning!

We always have someone wear a Santa hat and they hand out the presents to everyone so that there's some sort of order to things.  Then we get to see what everyone got!  This year I was Santa!

Ho Ho Ho!!!

Kaitlynn really likes Toy Story 3 and Woody and was sooooo happy when Santa got them for her!

Later in the afternoon all of my nieces and nephews came over and wow this place became a zoo!!!!

My brother-in-law got a bow for hunting for Christmas and my brother's where trying it out out in the backyard, I asked if I could try it out.  They didn't really think that I could do it and my brother-in-law did have to help me pull it back, but then I aimed and shot it myself and BAM right in the middle of the target!  All of my big brothers were so impressed!  It was awesome!

The cute newlyweds :)

My sister-in-law Jamie and her cute daughter Gracie

A book that will help Jason out greatly!

We had such a great Christmas!  It's so fun to have the kids around to have the excitement of Christmas and to have all of my siblings around to remind me that the true meaning of Christmas is Family, Love, and most of all about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!

Christmas Eve

I LOVE THIS LITTLE GIRL!

I have no clue what we're looking at in this picture, probably my iPad or something but I just love having this little girl in my arms!  I'm going to miss her when I'm back in CT!  Thank goodness for Skype!

Here we are all dressed in our nice clothes after singing at the temple and I guess Kyle didn't like me laying next to Katie so he laid on us and then Jason laid on him and then Kaitlynn was somehow placed on top of us but she didn't really like that... what a cozy little family we are... and sooo cute!

Every year on Christmas Eve we get Pajamas and this year several of us got Footie Pajamas!  They're pretty dang awesome!

Me and my Beautiful sisters in our footie pajamas!

 Haha it must be hard to be so loved Kaitlynn!

Showing off our PJs!!  Now we've got to go to bed so that Santa will come!!!

Temple Lights Performance

So tonight my mom got something for Christmas that she's always wanted!  Her family sang at the Mesa Arizona Temple Lights!  See for yourself!  Look at December 24th!

 We sang to a sold out crowd (ok ok it was just packed full of people!) and of course my family was amazing :) I was just in the choir and there to look good, but several of my family members had solos, duets, etc... Even the grandkids sang!  I'm so lucky to be a part of such a talented group of people!

At first I was upset that I would have to perform in front of so many people and on Christmas Eve at that, but then when I thought about it I realized that there was no better place I could be then the temple, the house of the Lord, to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ!  What a wonderful spirit there was there while we sang and recited scripture about the true meaning of Christmas!

Tonight we sang the songs we're going to sing at the Temple tomorrow night at the home my Grandmother is staying at.  The people there loved it especially when the little kids sang!

Here's the little kids beginning to hold up their letters that spell Christmas!

 You couldn't find a prouder Grandma anywhere then ours tonight!

 The boys found a wheelchair outside and had Uncle Josh push them around!  Who knew you could have so much fun at an Assisted Living home?!

Gingerbread Houses!

Every year my family makes Gingerbread houses (well technically Graham Cracker houses) and this year to save some time and pain I decided that instead of using frosting to stick the Graham Crackers together I'd use a hot glue gun!  Best decision EVER!  My brother Chris and I made this Tower from Tangled and then Chris's wife Maria helped us decorate it!  It was funny because my niece Kaitlynn had taken the clothes off of that little man climbing the hair and I couldn't find the clothes so I just stuck the naked guy on there... oh well...

Here's Rebecca and Rob's and that little stinker Kaitlynn was supposed to be in bed!

Katie and Kyle's first creation together!

Jason and Erika's creation!

Here's our little town!  (Mine's the best!)

Visiting Sandy Hook

There's a group on Facebook named "Red Hearts for Connecticut" and they are putting hearts up on their front doors to show Connecticut and Sandy Hook how much they love them.  I love what they are doing and so I made a heart for my door and some to take to Sandy Hook for the people who are doing this all over the country.

Here's the one I put on my door

Sandy Hook is only a few towns over from me or twenty miles away, it was a sobering experience driving there today because as I drove through beautiful, quiet Connecticut I went through a few small towns and each of these towns had some sort of remembrance for Sandy Hook, their neighbor's whom they love, it was sooo touching!

These pictures don't do justice to the amazing magnitude of love that has been shown in Sandy Hook; there are thousands of gifts, teddy bears, flowers, cards, candles, crosses, hearts, etc that line the corner right off of the street where Sandy Hook elementary school is.

 I put this heart there so that I could add to everything, it's not much, but I needed a way to show them that I love them!  That something like this should NEVER happen again!

Stockings for each of the victims that would miss Christmas this year :(

As I was leaving town I saw this truck, this truly shows how the nation mourns for the loss of such precious souls!

It's times like this were I think about all that goes on in the world that I don't pay attention to, but now that it's in my own backyard it scares me so much that this kind of thing happens!  I hope that through this things can start to change!  No child or teacher should ever be afraid to go to school.

Today the movie Pitch Perfect came out on DVD!!!!!

If you don't know why I'm so excited that this came out then you should get off your tushie and go watch it RIGHT NOW!

I'm not joking... go...NOW!

Christmas in NYC

Now I've always known that New York City was a little crazy, so riding the subways with Santa and his elves should be pretty normal right?!  #neveradullmoment

You can't really see them because of the reflection but here's a couple pictures Macy's window display's, they're pretty dang awesome!

Macy's has wooden escalators, they were pretty awesome.

I wanted to wait in line for santa so I could sit on his lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas.  I wanted to have a whole "Miracle on 34th St" experience, but sadly the line for santa was over an hour long, luckily there was a tiny line for a window so that you could see santa with the poor shmucks who actually waited that long!  So here he is with some random kids :(

Here's the huge tree in Rockefeller Center!

This billboard is up in Times Square.  It says Christmas is Family, Service, Love, Jesus Christ!

Can you find what's wrong with this picture?!