Family Ski Day!

Grandma Haas was in town, so we headed up to the "slopes" in Weston for a great day of skiing!

Photo shoot & Utah Trip

The trip all started when my mom fell in love with the work of an artist, Annie Henrie. She ended up commissioning Annie to paint the girls in our family--the 5 "prepared" virgins from the parable. Annie wanted Mom in it too, and I think it fits perfectly, after all, a good mother prepared those virgins! So, we all traveled out to Utah for our photo shoot! (Rob was on call, so his mom came out to tend the kids--a huge life-saver!

To be honesty, the trip was chaotic. Aricka had just come back from the Dominican Republic, so we had to move her into her apartment; my mom was SUPER sick--even went to the ER because she couldn't breathe. Chelsie had her children, and they, too, they were sick. Janessa had to work and when she was home, she had horrible migraines. 

BUT...it was still amazing!

My highlights:

Snowshoeing at Wasatch State Park with Sarah, Daniel, and my dad!

I totally ate it in the snow...my dad snapped this shot just in time! haha

One night, we just sat on the couch. We listened to our favorite versions of Nessun Dorma, Chopin, and random YouTube videos. (This is my mom, totally sick, and my dad "feeling the music"--his hand directing the whole symphony! Haha! He's done this as long as I can remember when he hears powerful music.)

I got to spend about 5 hours on Saturday with my dad--all alone. I haven't done that in forever! He took me around everywhere--on errands, moving Aricka, grocery shopping...and I just got to talk to him. He's a great listener. He qualms all my fears and brings out the happy and positive to every situation. He has a gift for remaining calm, even with things are stressful or hard; and, he doesn't let things get to him. He's a great example to me.

And then... the photo shoot!

Christmas!

 Rob and I ordered these awesome trapper's hats for ourselves...Merry Christmas to us! We walk around the block at night--these are perfect for keeping us warm!

 Christmas Eve Fondue!!!

 Ty's jammies were a little long!

 And...the big surprise...A PUPPY!

 Honestly, it was super stressful finding this guy! I wanted a black Yorkiepoo, (okay, actually, I didn't want a dog AT ALL, but Rob is the so persistent, I basically did it just so he'd stop bugging me!) but I found this guy from a breeder a few hours away. I dropped the kids off at school and Jimmy at preschool and rushed up there! I got home two minutes before school got out! Phew! He's a Morkie (12 weeks) and the kids LOVE him! My angel neighbor, Lori, took him in her house for a WEEK so that the kids would be surprised! The first two nights were tough, but once we realized he just wanted to be with the kids, he slept all night. Potty-training in the works...

 The boys named him HULK...totally fitting for a dog that will only be about 12 lbs!

 Jaron and Sarah came Christmas Day! The big kids were so cute and responsible--taking it upon themselves to play with Hulk and take him out etc.

 We Elfed people this year. Best part...Ty totally dropped it off at the wrong house! A stranger was pretty stoked!

Family Movie Night

Random

 Wednesday night is 99 cent night at the skating rink, so while I'm at mutual, Rob takes them over to rock out on the floor! So cute!

Rob will randomly come upstairs like this...random costumes to fight the boys. He's a little boy in a man's body!

Robbie

This kid is getting hilarious! I opened one of this notebooks, and found this on the front cover!

"This book is the property of: Robbie the Awesome!" Wow.

Since he's in STUCO this year (student government), he has to wear this shirt on certain days. I think the back is cute!


And, finally, this is his RIDICULOUS Christmas list! He told us later that he figured if he asked for crazy big stuff, we'd get more little stuff. Not a bad strategy, actually, but kind of frightening when he first handed it to us! Seriously...a WATER SLIDE? Nice try, Robbie!