Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents in Horseshoe Bend, ID. Justin and Kelsey and their kids were there and we put on a real nativity - inspired by President Eyring's talk. Luke got to be a shepherd and Jensen got to be the baby Jesus.

Aunt Ashley is a pro at taking care of kids! She has been so helpful with taking care of fat little Jensen. She says, and I think it's true, "a baby isn't cute unless he's fat." Jensen is also in agreement. As you can see, he's been working on his look lately.

Dad read the grand kids "Twas the Night Before Christmas" - it was really neat.

Miles is usually giggling or making the rest of us smile - by the end of Christmas Eve he had passed out.

In the nativity, Cassidy was the angel - the role fits her personality perfect (ha...ha)

Here's the full nativity with Jude as Joseph, Eden as Mary, Luke as a shepherd and Jensen as the baby Jesus.

Luke LOVED it!

Pretty sure this is what a wise man wore back in the day

A few days before Christmas, we decorated Gingerbread houses. The kids had so much fun! We will definitely be making this a tradition in years to come. I was so surprised ate how little candy Luke at versus how much he enjoyed decorating the house.

All the guys get a kick out of Luke's new ATV.

Christmas always seems like the longest day of the year to me.

Luke's bedhead and Jensen's fat cheeks makes it look like they're going full speed against the wind

Go Rays! Thanks Shawna

These guys really do love each other. Would you believe that Jensen weighs more than half what Luke weighs? When Austin makes them "wrestle" Luke screams uncle every time. Wouldn't you if some giant baby was flattening you?

We had such a fun Christmas - minus the throwing up, etc. Thanks to mom and dad Flake for inviting us to everything and taking care of us when we were sick. Poor Luke didn't get it till Christmas morning at 1:30am. Makes Christmas not quite as fun, but he was feeling a little better by 9am so we opened gifts for an hour in between frequent trips to the bathroom for him. He was pretty sick but we are all well now. We hope you all had a great Christmas too! Happy New Year.

O Christmas Tree

Yesterday we went to cut down our Christmas tree in Boise National Forest. It's a tradition we started last year and have SO much fun doing with Joel and Melanie's family. I have seriously never seen an adult that enjoys the snow as much as Austin. He could play in it for a job - he loves throwing snow balls at people (no matter if they are his wife or his 2 year old!) and the whole bit! It's funny to watch him. He is from Floirda so maybe he's making up for lost time.

Jensen didn't play in the snow too much - he just mostly slept in the car.

It was so pretty up there - minus the two cars!

One big happy (cold) family

Austin about to pelt Ammon in the face with a snowball

Austin pulling Emery, Luke and Wesley in this sled - so much fun for only $5!

Ammon pulled these three kids down the "hill" for an hour. They loved it and laughed and laughed. Emery got a little sick of it after a while - being in the middle he had a lot of weight on him I guess. You can see in this picture he wasn't that happy.

I couldn't get Luke's gloves to stay on - he kept throwing so many snowballs they kept flying off.

One of Santa's helpers - eating his breakfast

Fat and Jolly

Chubby cheeks and all

Luke looked a little like that kid from "The Christmas Story" in all his snow gear

Luke's favorite part about the snow was throwing snowballs at his mom! He got such a kick out of it! Of course, the sledding was pretty dang fun too!

Florida Fun

Luke at the NASA shuttle launch. We staked out our seats (and sat in them) 5 hours before it took off.

About the closest seats you can get to the launch (unless you're VP's - which we're surprisingly not) are about 10 miles away.

This is what we saw at night until it took off - then we were too much in awe to take pictures or videos.

Jensen loved the beach - but it was so hot and sunny in mid-November that we didn't want him to get burned so we kept him in his car seat most of the time. He didn't seem to mind.

He's such a cute and happy baby - not to mention so dang fat!

It was a beautiful day for a trip to the beach in November! Luke LOVED it!

The water was pretty cold so Luke would run in and out of it.He practiced his swimming skills too.

Austin was the hottest guy on the beach - and he knew it! What a hunk...

The beach was perfect white sand and we buried Luke in it.

What a cutie!

Austin took a liitttle bit longer to bury.

Before we went to the beach, we stopped at the dollar store to get some beach toys - they had none! In Florida?!! Anyway, we got some tupperware and serving spoons and they worked just as well. Luke helped to bury his dad with the tupperware.

We had a lot of fun going to the Lowry Park Zoo. This monkey nurses for a few years - yikes!

This tiger LOVED the red ball he had to play with.

Luke thought it was so funny when the tiger jumped on the ball and floated in the water on it.

Austin wanted to leave Luke in the cages with the animals, but I wouldn't let him.

Luke and the bearded pigs at the Lowry Zoo park - really fun place, you could spend days there.

Mom Kramer loved to show off the boys when we visited her at work.

Luke loved it one morning when Dad Kramer took him on a riding lawn ride!

He even let him drive - Luke had the time of his life!

Jensen on his first plane ride. He was good one all 5 flights! Of course, we were so lucky that on 4 of them we got free seats for Luke and Jensen!

Thanks Walls

This is what goes on at our house when we check the Wall's blog. Thanks for the party!

Family Photos

When we visited Sarah and Matt in Moses Lake, Sarah was kind enough to make us take our family pictures. She is so talented - so many skills. These are some of our many favorites! Thanks Sarah!