Christmas 2015

These pictures are terrible out of order. I just had the hardest time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. Most traditions we have were not done. But we did have the annual gingerbread house decorating provided by Oma and Poppy.  My kids LOVE doing this. Oma always makes it special and super fun.

We had a photo booth at the ward Christmas party. Dallin did not care to participate and is hiding behind David.

We had some friend over Christmas afternoon for dinner. The had the Elders, Nan Mosley (and her doggie Emma), the Workmans and the Syveks. I was pretty tired and I'm not sure I was the greatest host. But it was nice to have friends over, and see the missionaries excitement anticipating their call home.

This was our first Christmas without Grandma Teerlink. But her traditions still remain. The great grand kids acted out the Nativity this year. Our numbers are dwindling though!  

 Poppy was the Star

 Dallin was thrilled to finally get his Dino Charger toy.

Christmas Eve at Oma and Poppy's house.

 And Christmas morning at our own home. Boy, Christmas is sure exhausting. But it's always a delight seeing the kids faces as they open presents and give presents to each other. This was the first year I had the kids draw names and buy presents for each other. It was so neat to see how much thought they really put into each others gifts. It was a success!

SOCA Soccer

The Fall season of soccer kept us really busy and running in every direction most Saturdays, and during the weekly practices. But I never realized how much I was going to enjoy watching my girls play soccer! It was so much fun to sit on the sidelines and cheer for them!

Carmen played for the Purple Pop-rocks and her team went on to play in the Frostbite tournament. Her team started out kind of rough and with a few girls who really wanted to control everything and be ball hogs. But by the end of the season they had great communication and really learned to work as a team. Carmen mostly loved playing goalie and defense, but she did manage to get a couple of great goals! It was amazing to see how much she improved from last season and how much more confident she was this time around.

Charlotte moved up a level in soccer and played for the Maroon Tigers. This season she got to play real games! She was on fire during her first game and make like 10 goals. After the game when we congratulated her on so many goals, she said "I just pretend the ball was a dollar bill and I kept chasing after it!" HA HA HA!!!! We all loved her train of thought.

She also played in the muddiest game ever! I couldn't believer they didn't cancel the game because it was raining pretty hard and the field was a mud pit. But I honestly think the girls all had a blast getting dirty in the mud. There really wasn't a lot of soccer going on, mostly just everyone sliding around the field. I made Charlotte put trash bags on her legs over her shoes to drive home. And Oma game and braved the rain to support her!

 

While I didn't get a ton of action shots, I did get some cute pictures of some amazing cheerleaders! And Aliza is convinced she wants to play next season.... Heaven help me as I get 3 kids to 3 different soccer practices and games during the week!!

Thanksgiving in Utah

For Thanksgiving we took off on a jet plane for Utah! We were off to visit the Bean Family for the holidays. Everyone was so thrilled, especially the girls, who got to miss 3 days of school.

I caught the beautiful picture of the majestic Rockies from the airplane. 

 Immediately upon arriving the cousins were playing games and loving on each other! Sorry was the game of choice for the week.

 We all went to a nursing home to have an FHE with the adorable Grandma's and Grandpa's there. I was really not looking forward to this. We were tired, having just barely landed in Utah. And I have a general fear of old people. But these people were so much fun and loved playing Head Bands with the kids. And they each shared some pretty amazing life stories, some involving encounters with Apostles.

 More Sorry

 We took a quick trip down to Provo to visit BYU. It felt like going home. I sure hope my kids will want to go there!

 We had our own little Turkey bowl. Some wanted to play soccer and other wanted to play football. So we divided up and played our own games. Then we all combined for a BIG football game. I think everyone was pretty sore the next day.

Upon Dallin's request, we made many stops for slurpees!

 ...more Sorry! (there pretty much was a game going on at all times)

 This was a pre-Thanksgiving dinner at Tim and Kathy's new place. They just moved to Utah from California. I loved seeing all the cousins sitting together at the table. It brought back some great memories of my own cousins. I never got a picture of the actual Thanksgiving dinner at Jeff and Carrie's, but it was just as great!

 Dallin fell in love with Sean and Kelly. And they were super sweet with Dallin.

 The girls all really bonded together. They pair up perfectly with their ages.

 They spent quite a bit of time secretly planning some amazing dance shows.

 There was also a lot of singing and piano playing.

 Despite the bitter cold temperature, we ventured into Salt Lake City to see the temple lights. It was gorgeous and I'm so glad we didn't pass up that opportunity. We enjoyed the lights and then all got hot chocolate, thanks to Grandma Bean.

 And it finally snowed! It was just enough to play in and have a good time.

 We spent one day at a trampoline park. It put our little Charlottesville park to shame. This place was huge and so much fun. Aliza got pretty good at her back flips into the foam pit.

And Carmen hung on for dear life on the ropes.

 

 Have I mentioned we played a lot of Sorry?

 Charlotte with Harley - they both are in first grade.

A cousin group picture. We sure wish everyone could have been there! It was hard to say good bye. We sure do love seeing everyone and being with cousins.