Christmas, family, friends and New Years...

Okay, so I am taking a break from packing to update everyone on Christmas and New Years. We had the best Christmas present this year in getting Ty. Having Jan's parents and his brother Sam come for the Christmas break was also wonderful. Here is a picture of our Christmas tree on Christmas morning. Can anyone guess what time Kaile got me up?



I think these pics were taken about 5:30 or 6. Here is the LR with all of the things that Santa brought.

Kaile woke up at about 2:30 a.m. and wanted to wake everyone up. Jan told her to go back to bed. She finally woke the other kids up at about 4 a.m. Jan told them they weren't allowed in the LR until 7. I finally got up to be with them at 5:30 to help them keep quiet so everyone else could sleep. We read Christmas stories in Garrett and Claire's room until 7. Whew!

Santa always leaves a nice letter to the kids telling them all the wonderful things that they have done that year. He also left a special note to Kaile this year because she left a very special note for him. I need to try and see if I can take a picture of it. It asks Santa to take some of her presents to other people who really need them. It was so sweet and made her Dad cry. :)

Kaile got a hoola hoop. She can hoola hoop straight for atleast 20 minutes and is learning all sorts of tricks. She can already make it go up to her neck and back down and can do the macarena (sp?) while hooping. She is quite the girl.
I think this was Christmas night. We sure enjoyed having everyone here. Several days before Christmas we also learned that we would be moving home, so we had lots of planning to do. (Christene will be lots better after Saturday, Kaile will have a rough time for awhile.)

I don't know why we didn't get any pictures with Ty and Papa (I wasn't very good about taking pictures this year), but here is Ty with Nana!

And we caught a pose with Uncle Slam before he left for central California.

Garrett and Daddy got a pair of Nerf guns for Christmas. This is Kaile and her friend Ben having what Nana Peterson called "the most friendly battle" she had ever seen. They would wait for the other person to load if they ran out, and would make sure that each had an even number of bullets. They would make sure no one got hurt after each shot. It was fun.

Here is Jan and his friend Spencer playing the wii. No doubt our families new favorite. (I have to admit it is quite fun.)

This is Spencer's wife, Paige. I have really enjoyed getting to know Paige. She helped me knit my first baby hat. As you can see she is expecting and has a c-section scheduled for Jan. 6th. We've been hoping her little girl Avery would come early so we could see her before we left. Hurry up Avery! Only one night left!

Jan has been the brownie and cookie master over the holidays. I love it when Jan cooks with the kids!

Nothing like a good old brownie batter kiss!
This is Jan and his friends Dominic and Spencer. He met them in his communications class this last semester, and they have become good friends of our family. We had them over on New Years day for some fun.

the Peterson's and the Marecle's (Spencer, Paige, and Briella[did I spell that right?])

The Peterson's and the Bailin's (Dominic, Rebecca, Stephen, Joseph, Jennifer, Sarah, Jessica and Sadie.)

And here is Garrett playing the wii. We have enjoyed our time in Idaho this year and we are sad we are leaving so soon. Thanks to all those who have touched our lives! Happy New Year!