Seriously Overdue Post

Why oh why is it so hard to find the time (or sometimes even the motivation) to keep up with my blog? And where oh where do people with kids (especially more than one or two) find the time to blog? I have sat down so many times to work on it only to be interupted by requests for food, drinks, screaming, ringing phone, or just the simple "Mom, come play with me" which is much more fun than blogging anyway.

So here is my attempt to catch up on the last few months of our crazy lives. I have to note the awesome COLDPLAY concert that we went to at the end of November. It was a great concert, we had great seats, and it was SOOO fun! That was the 2nd concert that Jaren and I have been to together (the first was Tim McGraw and Faith Hill at which Jaren had never even heard ANY of their songs, but at the beginning of each song would say, "Oh this is my favorite song!") We of course didn't have our camera which we seem to forget on a regular basis. Chris Martin is adorable and I love how he acted like they were some small-time band. At the beginning of the concert he said, "Hi, we're Coldplay and we're from Great Britain. We're so glad you came out to see us tonight. I'm sure you had other things you could've done, but we're glad you came to hear our band." I'm thinking, yeah, I bought tickets for your concert like 6 months ago! They put on a great show and they even had a little platform built over some of the seats in the middle of the crowd and performed a few songs there about halfway through the concert. It was pretty cool.

Another big event happened recently called CHRISTMAS! Part of Jaren and I's gift to each other was a new digital camera and a new video camera, so instead of taking many pictures, we mostly did video. I'm a little sad about that because I wish we would've gotten more of the kids opening their presents. Noah really loved Christmas this year--he loved Santa and got to sit on his lap several times. Really all that he wanted was Wall e and Eve and he would've honestly been happy with just those things. When he opened his Wall e movie he screamed, "I LOVE IT!!" Every present he opened was in anticipation that it was a Wall e figure. I have to say I wish I would've spent more money on getting him a really cool Wall e and Eve figure than I did and spent less on other things. I always forget how many other people he gets presents from too, and that I really don't need to get him that much. I feel like there are toys everywhere! Anslee got a doll set with a stroller, pack-n-play, diaper bag, and bouncy chair. She loves pushing the stroller around, but isn't so crazy about the doll. She replaced the doll with Buzz Lightyear in the stroller and pushes him around instead. It's actually pretty funny looking. She is really into Toy Story lately.

I love that Noah was a shepherd with Ashton this year for the Rydalch Christmas Party

Anslee cruisin' around at the party

Opening presents with the Larsens. I love this picture of Jaren's mom! Kelli and Loni (Jaren's sisters) put together a book of letters that Diane's dad had written home during World War II. Letters that Diane never really even knew existed--long story, but a good one. How cool is that?

Opening presents from Grandma Diane and Grandpa Wally

Christmas morning at our house. Anslee playing with a huge bucket of blocks she got
Noah and his favorite presents of all time: Wall e and Eve


Christmas Day at Jaren's Grandparents house

Anslee "filming" all of the excitement I love this picture of Grandma Ruby (Jaren's Gma) She started crying when she opened this laptop from Jaren's parents and aunts and uncles. It was so sweet!

Christmas was especially wonderful this year because we got to spend it with both families. We were able to go to all of Jaren's family's parties and then my family came here on the night of Christmas day and we rented this AMAZING house in Heber and they stayed for nearly a week. I was so happy that they all came! It's been a long time since my brothers and their families have been to Utah. Because of the expense of everyone traveling and renting the home, we decided that instead of exchanging gifts, we drew names and told of a memory and something we admired about the person's name we drew. I loved that we did that--there was a lot of laughing and a little crying. I have to say that one thing I love about my family is that we are all so quick to laugh! Seriously, if you spend a little time with us, even if you are only semi-funny, you will leave feeling like a comedian! One thing I don't love is that we always seem to get sick when we're together! Noah kicked off the puke-fest and about 6 others got sick too! On a positive note, Noah went to ski school!! He has been dying to go skiing since before it even started snowing this winter, so he and his cousin Jake went to ski school together. I love these pics of them.

Anslee freezing to death at BYU--we visited the campus since most of us went there.

Having lunch at Brick Oven

I have more to post, but I'm going crosseyed from staring at the computer for so long. BUT, we took a fun trip to Bear Lake over MLK holiday and we got a NEW PUPPY! I'll post about that soon!