A Wonderful Christmas!

Since Rylie was about a year old, we have started a tradition of going to Ryan's mom and dad's for Christmas Eve, spending Christmas Morning at our house, and then going to my mom and dad's sometime Christmas Day. It makes for a very crazy couple of days, but we are so blessed to have family so close and to be able to spend the holidays with both!

Christmas Eve at Grandma Shirley's.

On Christmas Eve, Santa usually comes to make sure everyone is still being good and to double check on any last minute details before the big night. He also tells everyone to make sure they go to bed real early. (Yeah, Right!)


Rylie with Santa.


Sydnie with Santa. This is the first year that we had "Happy Faces" the whole time. Usually they are both a little hesitant and one of them ends of crying when they have to sit on his lap. They both did very well this year!!


Christmas Morning at our house!

The tree before all the craziness! Ryan eventually had to wake the girls up at 8 o'clock that morning. They were out cold, from the late night.







Christmas Day at Grandma Joy's

Once we had opened all of our Christmas at our house we packed things up and headed for Idaho.


Rylie and Sydnie with Papa G. (Waiting very patiently for Uncle Jeff and Aunt Kristin to come.)



Avery and Sydnie opening gifts from Grandma and Grandpa.


Ryan just loves this time of year...can you tell?


Alexa and Rylie showing off pajamas that Grandma Joy made for them.

We spent two days in Idaho. On the last day that we were there, Papa G got his Razor out and pulled the girls around on the sleds. They loved it!


Papa G and Sydnie waiting to go for another ride.


Rylie is in the sled waiting to go. She could spend all day being pulled around. Ryan is on one of Courtney and Nate's Snowmobiles. Maybe he should of asked Santa for one of those instead of a 4-wheeler.


Off they go, down the road!

While we were gone, the weather reports said that it had snowed quite a bit in Logan. I was a little nervous to come home and see what the drive way looked like. However, when we got home, our wonderful neighbors had cleaned the drive way out. We have such awesome neighbors!! When I finally found out which neighbors it was for sure, she said that there was about a foot of snow that had come on Friday, plus whatever was drifted across the driveway! We definitely had a Wonderful, White Christmas.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

For those that don't know me...I love it when it snows!!! We woke up on Saturday morning to lots of wonderful snow! The girls were so excited that they wanted to go out and play. They also wanted Ryan to hook up the 4 wheeler and pull them around in the sled. I think he enjoyed it as much as they did!!



Sydnie


Ryan and Sydnie on the 4-wheeler


Ryan pulling the kids around the circle. By the end, we even had some of the neighbor kids over to take a turn.


Rylie and Sydnie trying to shovel the sidewalk to the front steps. Rylie actually wanted to shovel it....I don't think she will think it is as much to shovel by the time February rolls around.

Christmas Dance Revue

One of the perks of having 2 girls is that we get to go to Dance Recitals. Rylie and Sydnie had their Christmas Dance Revue on Friday, December 12th. They were both very excited. This was Rylie 4th year in dancing and Sydnie's first. I think Sydnie was more excited about it then Rylie was. Grandma Joy and Papa Galen, as well as Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Von were all there to watch.


They wanted to get their picture taken by the Christmas tree before we left.








They both did a great job and were very brave to dance in front of all the moms and dads. They had a great time!!

USU Game & Lights at Temple Square

We were able to go to the USU Boys Basketball Game against BYU on December 6th. It was at the Energy Solutions Arena, in Salt Lake. Rylie and Sydnie love going to the USU basketball games...well they love the thought of going to the ball games. Usually about half way through the first half, they are board and looking for treats, or they are climbing all over us. They also spend most of the time looking for "Big Blue".

This was a great game. USU actually lost by three points, but it was a fun game to be at.


Rylie and Sydnie at the beginning of the game. Sydnie didn't want her picture taken. I think she was still taking it all in. It was really loud, and I don't think she knew what was happening.





Once we got the treats, Sydnie was a little more comfortable and was okay with getting her picture taken.

The end of a great game.


After the game we walked to Temple Square to see the Christmas Lights. The girls had a great time, other then all they could talk about was going back to the hotel to swim.





After we were done looking at the lights we went back to our hotel. This is looking out of the window in our room, looking down at the Gallivan Center.




Rylie and Sydnie looking out the window at the ice skaters.


During the same trip we also ended up going to Cabelas. (You can't go to Salt Lake, without going to Cabelas!!)




The girls had a great time seeing all of the animals and the fish!!

Fishing with Dad

When Ryan found that he would be in charge of the girls while Kristin and I went shopping on "Black Friday," he & Jeff decided to brave the elements and take the girls fishing at Chesterfield Reservior. The fishing was slow, but the shopping was great!



Avery, Alexa, Rylie, and Ryan. Sydnie was MIA... they did end up bringing all four girls home.

All Dressed Up and No Where To Go

After Thanksgiving Dinner, the kids (with a little help from Aunt Courtney) decided to get dressed up in our old Prom dresses from High School. Oh the memories!!

Rylie in Courtney's dress, Avery in Kristin's Junior dress, Alexa in Kristin's Sophomore dress, Sydnie is my Junior dress, and Grandpa Burke with his hot babes.

Alexa and Rylie

Aren't they so beautiful.

Pretty Woman....

3 Year Old and Scissors

So what happens when you mix a 3 year old with scissors???



You get a hair cut!!



Sydnie just after cutting her very own hair! I was in the kitchen and she came down and told me, "Mom, my hair was in my eyes." UGH!!! She had cut the middle section of her bangs. After the initial shock wore off and I had time to think...I thought I should take pictures and add it to the blog.

I am truly surprised that she has not done this sooner. Rylie cut her own hair when she was 2, and hasn't cut it since. I keep telling both of them, especially when I am trimming their bangs....."Who cuts your hair? Mom and Peggy (the hairdresser we go to)! Apparently I haven't said it enough!!




Once I started playing with the rest of her bangs, I discovered that she had only cut the under layer. There is a little of the top layer left that will hopefully hide it....I HOPE!!



You gotta love them!

Happy Halloween!!

Rylie and Sydnie have been sooo excited for Halloween. They finally talked Ryan into getting the pumpkins carved. They were able to use pumpkins that they helped plant in the garden this past spring.




Sydnie carving her pumpkin. She wasn't so sure about sticking her hand in the pumpkin. Once she did, she didn't think it was too bad. Every once in a while you would hear her say "Yuck!"


Rylie and her friend Karissa also got in on the action.




These are all of the pumpkins that Sydnie carved. She carved the two smaller ones at Becky's house (the babysitters) earlier in the day. She was so proud of them.





Posing with all of the other pumpkins that we grew in the garden. Last year we had a lot more pumpkins that grew. We are not quite sure what happened to the little pumpkins that we planted.





Rylie in her costume. She loves Hannah Montana.


Sydnie as Tinkerbell's Friend "Rosetta." She didn't care who she was as long as she got to wear the wings!




It's going to be a LONG night!!