Easter

Yes... I have to go back to Easter! It was a nice quiet, Easter. The boys slept in a little. They found their Easter Baskets, then we had an indoor egg hunt.



Aryk hunted for a little while... until he found out there was candy in the eggs, and that he could just wait for the brothers to come dump their baskets. So he snuck their eggs, and ate candy, while the brothers finished the hunt!



We went to Grandpa and Grandma Likes for another egg hunt and Easter dinner. Grandma and Grandpa put candy in some eggs, and money in others. AJ struck it rich this year, he got a $1,000,000 bill! Wahoo!! Grandma and Grandpa also hide one toy for the boys. Aryk got a collection of books, and the big boys got Nerf Guns. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!!

Holbrook Christmas

After Family Pictures, we had our Holbrook Christmas! Everyone was ripping open packages and laughing and smiling. It was GREAT!! I love it when we can all get together.

Aryk LOVED opening presents AGAIN!! He really got into it this year. Grandma Holbrook found matching Star Wars Pajama pants for all three boys. Aryk wanted them on right then. So... well I'm sure you can see... SO CUTE! So SPOILED!

Ashton and AJ asked Santa for a Skateboard for Christmas. Mom and Dad wrote a letter to Santa, telling him that Ashton all ready has a rip-stick and the boys have their Uncle's long board too. So... Santa was sneaky! Instead of bringing it on Christmas morning, he told Grandma and Grandpa Holbrook. They were happy to help out Santa. They even bought the safety pads to go with the skateboards too! LUCKY boys!

Ashton and AJ REALLY enjoyed having their cousins here! They get along so well and always have fun playing together!

This year all the siblings pitched in and purchased Season Tickets to a Playhouse in the Orem area (sorry I have forgotten the name), for Mom and Dad's Christmas gift. They love to go out on dates, and thanks to our older sister, we were able to send them someplace they enjoy!

Here are some random pictures I took of everyone else during the fun craziness. I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!

Christmas 2009

I know... I'm way behind. I'm getting lazy and busy all at the same time.

Ashton's School Christmas Concert

Family Home Evening- Building a Gingerbread House!

Family Christmas Concert

Ashton learned how to play Jingle Bells on his guitar

AJ learned Jolly Old St. Nicholas on the piano

We invited Grandma and Grandpa Likes and Aunt Nicole over for Christmas Music and Dessert. It was fun to show off the boy's talents, and Aunt Nicole even played some songs for us to sing along to. We enjoyed the evening.

Christmas Eve was spent at Grandma and Grandpa Likes'. We read stories, ate food, watch movies, laughed A LOT, and opened PJs. Ashton read The Polar Express this year. It was noted that it wasn't the same as Uncle Cam, but he did a GREAT job.

Christmas Morning

Smiles all around. Star Wars, Trains, Dinosaurs, Fishing Poles, Movies, Hunting equipment and Jewelry. Everyone got EXACTLY what they wanted for Christmas!

Fall Programs

Both Ashton and AJ had fall programs this year. The Kindergarten Classes did a big production in the gym. They sang some really fun songs and recited a couple Thanksgiving poems. AJ LOVES to sing, but gets really shy in front of other people. But he did a wonderful job and we really enjoyed seeing him perform.


A couple days later Ashton's class did a small presentation in their classroom. All the parents were asked to come and bring a dessert to share. The kids shared some fun things about Thanksgiving, then we ate and looked through a book they each made about the Pilgrims and Native Americans. It was nice, and we always like to see Ashton's hard work.

Ashton and His teacher, Mrs. Telleria. She's GREAT!!

Halloween 2009

Who doesn't love dressing up and having a night of make believe and goodies?

Jeff was a hunter. Yeah... he had to try pretty hard. Alyson was a witch. Ashton was Harry Potter (Ashton's friend, Jacob, was the 'unknown phantom'). AJ was Anakin Skywalker. Aryk was SpiderMan.

We had yummy, fun food too. Check out the menu at My Kitchen To Yours. Hope your Halloween was full of fun and goodies too!

Cooking, Halloween, and GIVEAWAYS!

Have you checked out my cooking blog lately? My Kitchen To Yours is better than ever! I've been posting some FUN Halloween recipes. And doing some food investigating. And best of all some GIVEAWAYS! I signed up with MyBlogSpark, and they send me products, recipes, and goodies to try, for FREE! I try them out, write a review about it on my blog, and they will give one of my readers the same package! It is so fun, and I am so excited for you to win these fun things too! I have my blog linked in this post and on my sidebar. Check it out! Tell your friends and family and leave me LOTS of comments. Thanks!

Our 4th of July

We stuck around home for the 4th of July. The boys and Jeff went shopping for fireworks. I prepared a fun 4th of July meal. We went swimming, did some eating, then came home for fireworks. We let the boys stay up until 10:30! WOW!! Aryk didn't make it that long.

The boys doing sparklers.

Mom holding the sparkler for Aryk. He really wanted to hold it, but...

Since Aryk was only a month old, last year. We put him down to sleep, then did a few fireworks with the older boys. So this was his first time seeing fireworks. He had fun. I kept trying to catch his face while he was watching, but he wouldn't stop moving.

This picture reflects what he did all night. His head was looking every which way. He wanted to see what Jeff was doing, he could hear the pops of more fireworks in the distance. He kept looking at me to see what was going on. No wonder he got worn out so quickly.

This is such a goofy face. I love the things we catch on camera!

Aryk kept trying to grab the fireworks. So I handed him an unopened box of snaps. This is where they ended up.

Aryk watching fireworks through all the smoke.

The boys watching fireworks

Aryk got tired and laid on my shoulder for a while. Then, finally, I gave up and let him go to bed. Not a sound, not even a tear. He went to sleep and we cleaned up.

Jeff and AJ watching the fireworks.

Our coolest firework. We had a coupon to get a FREE $6 firework with any purchase. So we bought the cheap ground flowers and received a fountain we wouldn't have paid the price for. We really liked this $6 fountain.

Ashton watching fireworks.

The neighbors REALLY cool fountains.

We had a fun and relaxing Independence Day. And we would like to thank all the men and women who are serving our country and giving us the opportunity to celebrate our freedoms!

Easter

I hope you all enjoyed your Easter. We did, I think. I feel like we have been going so fast, and it didn't slow down for Easter.

Aryk loved his first egg hunt. He was picking up the eggs and shaking them. The sound of candy in a plastic egg, what fun!

Ashton and AJ made out pretty good, boy will the dentist be mad!

When the boy's baskets were full they dumped them into this storage bin. Aryk caught on REALLY fast. Who needs to sit and pick up eggs when the brothers are bringing them to me! Oh yeah. This is how it's done.

We were able to go to Grandma and Grandpa Likes' house for dinner and another egg hunt. We made this Easter Egg cake. Check out more at My Kitchen to Yours. This hunt is the best, 'cause they give loose change in the eggs! And some candy.

The boys received a few Star Wars toys from the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny also left a couple video games at Grandma's for them. Lucky Boys! I think we even managed to get in a small story about The Resurrection. We did go to church, so they heard it there too.

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day was fun. We celebrated as a family ALL DAY! The boys (including Jeff) woke up to valentines. They were taped to their doors, and the bathrooms had lip stick messages on the mirrors. I made Belgium Waffles for breakfast. Most of our day was centered around food. Check out What's Cooking? for more menu details. That night we had a family candlelit dinner with this yummy Velvet Chocolate Cake with Strawberries (Pampered Chef, of course!), for dessert.

I Love my family. I think I am so lucky to have 4 Valentine's! Jeff is the best Valentine and Friend. I appreciate how hard he works to provide for our family. We all look forward to him coming home each day. He always makes us laugh and family time is so much fun. Jeff is so kind and loving to me, and I enjoy our alone and quiet times together. And hope to get more!!! I LOVE YOU, Jeff! Thanks for being my valentine!

We hope you all had great Valentine's Day(s), and want you to know we love you too!!!

Happy New Year

Here is our trip to Utah! We really enjoyed our visit. It has been a whole year since we went to Utah! I can't believe it! We've never gone that long between visits. And I hope that never happens again!

We had dinner and Family Home Evening. The boys love playing with their cousins!

Grandma June and Grandma RaNae joined us! The babies are Aryk and Cousin Addy.

We got together with everyone and exchanged Christmas presents. Who doesn't love a second Christmas?! We were spoiled!

We were able to go visit our friends who recently moved from our ward, to Mapleton. This is Abi, Jonny, Ashton, and AJ. AJ and Jonny are best friends! It is hard to have them move, but we will visit often!

On New Year's Eve the family went snowmobiling. We had a lot of fun! Jeff REALLY enjoyed driving the sleds!

The boys enjoyed the tube! They liked flying across the snow and screaming. And boy did they scream!

While waiting for lunch, the boys tried snowboarding. This was fun, especially since it was small hill.

Aryk and I even went for a ride in the trailer. Aryk fell asleep!

Grandma Ashton was a BIG help with the babies!

Dad made the big girls ride on the tube while he drove. He was nice at first, then slowly we hit more bumps, rounded more corners, flew threw the air... but alas, no one fell off! Erika, Kendra, and I proved we are tough! Until the next day, Kendra and I were complaining of sore muscles! Time to hit the gym, I guess.

Here is our most recent family photo.

That night we got together, and Grandma Ashton made us enchiladas. They were yummy! Thanks grandma! After dinner the cousins ran around and played, and watched a movie, stayed up until 12:30, then all four of them crashed on the floor. The BIG boys played the Wii. And the girls played a card game.

The babies even found some fun with each other.

Grandma and Grandpa Holbrook with Aryk and Addy.

The four boys- Zach, Ashton, AJ, and Tyler.

We love visiting my family in Utah! And we always have good food, good fun, late nights, lots of laughs. I must admit, it is nice to be back home to our regular schedule! Here's to 2009! May it be prosperous, fun, and full of Family and Joy!