Christmas Day!

Santa is so quiet!  

He comes all stealth like in the night, 

leaving a gift and a stocking full of goodies!

 Before the kids came down and tore through their presents 

everything was laid out so nice and neat!

Bradon got golf clubs and Ethan a helmet!

 Talan got a mini cooper car!

 And Carsten got a shotgun!

 

And Reagan got a little scooter!

 And the Christmas tree was overflowing with presents!

 Talan and Carsten were the first to wake up.

 They checked out their stockings and then with every new thing Talan discovered, he came in to report!  "Mom I got a candy cane!"

 Checking out Talan's new ride!

 Uh Oh! What was Santa Claus thinking!

Reagan woke up next!

This is one present she certainly didn't expect!

 And last but not least, the teenagers!

 Not a lot of emotion is expressed in the cool teenage years 

but I know they are jumping for joy on the inside!

After everyone was awake we all took turns one at a time 

opening all the presents from underneath the tree.

 Cam Newton shoes!

 Her very own luggage with winter boots hiding inside!

Funny thing is that she didn't notice the boots until way later!

 A remote controlled snowmobile!

 A warm house coat!

 Carsten wrapped a dollar bill for Ethan.  Ethan couldn't wait to see what gift Carsten could have possibly gotten for him.  A DOLLAR BILL!

 And Talan got mask after mask after mask!

 Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without a Christmas puzzle!

 This year we put together BYU's Levell Edward Stadium.

And Christmas was complete!

You might already know this but I decorate my Christmas tree with just about everything.  I don't have a theme unless EVERYTHING is a theme!  I put old Christmas decorations in my tree.  I put things the kids make at school in the tree.  I put handmade and store bought ornaments in the tree.  I even put cute little lesson handouts that I get at church in my tree! Ribbons from gift wrap... yeah, just about everything!  And I have to say that one of my most very favorite ornament is this here picture of Christ!  I got this from a ward party a few years back.  They used them as centerpieces and then told all the families that they could take one home.  I LOVE IT!  It helps me remember the true meaning of Christmas!

Christmas Eve

This was the 3rd time we have done Christmas Eve at home with just our little family.  It's funny because I have always wanted to have our own little family Christmas Eve traditions, but at the same time we have always joined in other families Christmas Eve traditions so I haven't ever had to really think of what traditions I would want to have for us.  So each year I try to remember what we did the year before.  It's like trial and error!  If it went off good, then we do it again!  If it was a flop, we ditch it!

So far this is what we have come up with...

 

We eat a candle lit Christmas Eve ham dinner.

We open our Christmas pajamas.

We open our sibling gift exchange gift.

We watch a Christmas movie together as a family.

We sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, 

blow out the candles and eat Birthday cake.

And last but not least, we read Luke 2, 

we have family prayer and then we go to bed!

TALAN

 REAGAN

CARSTEN

BRADON

ETHAN

STEPHANIE

DAVID

Ethan gave to Talan.

Talan couldn't be more into superhero's this year.

He wanted every superhero mask under the sun!

 Carsten gave to Reagan.

When she opened her present she was so overjoyed!

 I think Carsten was pretty excited too!

He knew that she was going to love her new slippers!

Bradon gave to Carsten.

Carsten loves Oregon!  

Well really he just likes Nike,

 and Oregon's sweet jerseys and apparel and stuff!

Talan gave to Bradon.

 Bradon loves summer sausage and mustard. 

This was not the present Bradon was expecting, but very appropriate!

Reagan gave to Ethan.

 Ethan can be tough to buy for.  

He doesn't ask for very much!

Well, let me take that back.  

He asks for stuff, 

just very large expensive stuff! 

 Stuff that Reagan couldn't go out and buy for him. 

 But Ethan has been lifting weights for football 

and so she thought a pair of lifting gloves would be perfect!

I love to see when my kids are sweet with each other! 

 I love to see them think about each other and 

try to figure out what the other one would want!  

I love to see the sweet look of joy on the givers face 

as the receiver open's their gift!  

I love to see the love they have for one another!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

Salt Lake City Temple

 We went to Salt Lake City to see the temple lights.

We rode on the Frontrunner train.  Unfortunately we weren't the only ones that had such a fabulous idea!  The train was packed and it was standing room only!  

 It wasn't until I took this picture that I realized that

we were a family representing Under Armor!

 The lights were beautiful!

 We stopped to watch the nativity.

 It's always nice to remember why we celebrate Christmas!  Christmas sometimes seems to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the season.  But CHRIST is the reason for the season!

 Cute pictures of the kids!

 And my big boys! 

It's not very often that I get a snapshot of Bradon.

 I love this picture of the temple!

After seeing the lights, browsing around at the City Creek mall and having a bite to eat, we headed back to the train and headed home.  It was a good family night!

Ornament Exchange Party

  We had our 7th annual 

Haws Girls Ornament Exchange Christmas Party!

It's always fun to get together with everyone!

We had a nice dinner and then did our traditional ornament exchange.  I love that the little girls are all getting older now and really seem to enjoy it!  They get so excited about the ornaments!  Well to be honest, I get pretty excited myself!

Christmas Sing 2012

 Reagan 

 As cute as can be in her elf hat! 

Carsten

 Carsten secretly likes to perform!

But shhh!  Don't tell anyone that I told you that!

For my dad!

Okay so I'm going to make an attempt to blog like a crazy woman until I get caught up!  This past year has been insanely busy and blogging has definitely gone by the wayside! However, I know how much my dad likes reading my blog, so dad, this is for you!

Idaho Potato Bowl take 2!

 Last year David and I went to the Idaho Potato Bowl just the two of us.  This year we decided to take the whole family!  Well sorta!  We took the whole family on the trip, but didn't exactly buy tickets to the game for Reagan and Talan.  Luckily I have a cousin, Stephanie Bradbeer that lives in Nampa who could watch them for us all day!  And it was a good thing, because the game was COLD!

We got to the game early to party with all the Aggie fans!  

Notice our shirts all have Eric's number on them.  

#66!

 We all ate baked potatoes, Aggie ice cream, 

and then bundled up for the game!

 

 It's always a party when you can hang out 

with the Schultz family!

 Nancy and Wade

 At the game we sat on the 2nd row.  

We were really close to this guy!

 And really close to some pretty sweet touchdowns!

 We sat by potato hats in all varieties!

Mashed, fried, chips, tots, and hashed!

 We held up our homemade poster and cheered our hearts out!

 We got to see Mr. Idaho Potato!

 But mostly, WE FROZE!

 Eric played great!

We scored lots of touchdowns!

 And we won the game!

 When the game was over we all rushed the field.

 We took pictures with the winner winner!

 

And then we all went out and ate a chicken dinner!

Well Actually we went to Fudruckers, 

and I don't think that any of us actually ate chicken!

But it was a good time!