Christmas Day

 Christa with her presents

 Charlie digging in his stocking (he smells the treats!)

 Bryce with all his stuff!

 Christmas morning is so fun!  Even for big kids!!

 Snow shoes! 

We don't usually make Bryce sit in the corner!  But this

was his corner Christmas morning, he liked it!  Bryce got 

snow shoes also.  The boys want to snow shoe up the mountain

next to our house and then snowboard/ski back down!  

We didn't have snow Christmas morning, but I am posting this

at the end of December and we definitely have enough snow now!

Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve

 Christmas PJs

 Charlie with his Christmas bow  (So cute!)

 Excited about the Christmas book!

Mom reading the new Christmas book (The Candle

In the Window).  Mom almost always cries!  This year

was the first year without Breeann.  She and Brandon

went to Alabama to spend Christmas with his family.  We

missed them, but I guess we have to learn to share!  Breeann

decided this is a tradition she wanted to share with Brandon's

family so she got them a Christmas book.  I thought that was a

nice idea!

Christmas Eve Day

 It was a beautiful day so we drove up to Hardware Ranch

to see the elk.  They offer wagon rides so you can get right in

the middle of the herd while they are eating.  

 Waiting in line for our ride

 I think there were atleast 500 head of elk

 Isn't he beautiful?

Huge rack!

Gingerbread house

 Traditionally we build a gingerbread house on Christmas Eve.

This year, we did it early because Breeann and Brandon

were going to Alabama to be with Brandon's family for

Christmas.  Dotta joined us (Christa's best friend).

I think this was Brandon's first ever gingerbread house!  

We are having fun giving him lots of "first" experiences!

Decorating Christmas Cookies

 We went to our friend's house to decorate Christmas

cookies before Christmas.  This is DeeDee (mama Chantry)

 Creativity!

 Everyone busy making their master pieces

We decided this needed to be a tradition with our families.

This was our second year to do this and we have a lot of fun

visiting and laughing.  The Chantry's have a very large family

and we love them!

Ping Pong

Both of Bryce's Young Men leaders were gone this week and

Bryce is the Teacher's Quorum President.  So he decided

that instead of cancelling Mutual they could come to our

house and play ping pong.  They had a lot of fun!

Tanner, the Engineer

 Tanner built a robot from legos.

He is programming him to walk.  He has plans to build 

one who can sort colors and one who can shoot out balls.

Tanner is an Eagle Scout!

 There were six boys from our ward who received their Eagle

Scout award.  From left to right there is Tyler Conley, 

Conner Mantz, Garrett Mantz, Nathan Moser, Ryan Egbert 

and Tanner sitting in the Eagle's Nest.  

 There were refreshments, of course!

 Greg spending a few moments "bragging" about our son.

Each of the dad's were given an opportunity to give a 

tribute to their son.

 I placed Tanner's award on him then he gave me a pin and

Greg a pin.  I told Greg that I should not get any credit for

this.  Greg was so wonderful to always be there to help Tanner

with his Scout merit badges.  I am so proud of Tanner and my

husband for this achievement!

This is one of Tanner's great scout leaders, Todd Orme.  

Tanner chose him to give a leader pin to.  It was a great

night to celebrate this wonderful achievement with 5 other

boys from our ward.  

Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving dinner with our family, Brandon & Breeann

and Brandon's grandparents, Chip & Cheri Lyon

 Tanner & Brandon outside building an igloo

Brandon's first time playing in the snow

Jazz Game

 Greg was given tickets to the Jazz vs New Orleans game.

Fun night!  These tickets also include free parking and tickets

to the sponsor room for dinner and then during half time for

treats, dessert and drinks.  

 This was the "New Orleans" fan sitting behind us.  Yes,

he got cake in his face by the Jazz Bear because he messed

up the Bear's fun he was trying to have down the aisle next

to us.  It was pretty funny and I really tried to get a photo of it

but too many people were in the way.  The Bear came up behind

him and snatched his baseball cap and attached it to a large 

helium balloon then released it into the air.  Then a few minutes

later came back and shoved a cake in his chest.  Greg and I kinda

think it was staged, but who knows.  It was entertaining.

 My boys watching the game

 This is why the boys really wanted to come.....

 These next photos are for Brandon.  I should have

given him my ticket, if I were a NICE mother in law.

 We had great seats!

 Coaches across the floor

Jazz Bear after he grabbed the guys hat and attached

it to the balloon.  He's just about to release it here!

Our BLIZZARD

 Right before Thanksgiving, the weatherman issued a 

"blizzard" warning for Cache Valley.  The kids all got

released from school early that day and pretty much the 

whole County shut down.  The blizzard was forecasted

to start at 3 pm and it actually DID!  How often is the

weather man right?  Wow!  It really didn't snow a whole

lot, the problem was it was VERY windy so we literally

could not see our neighbor's house across the street.

 Oops, this picture was actually from BEFORE the blizzard.

Its the first snowman my boys have built in YEARS!  So,

I had to record it.

I really wish I had been brave enough to go take a picture 

during the storm because the whole front of our house was

covered, it had disappeared.  It was pretty cool.  We are 

blessed to live in a warm house with a fireplace.  We were

able to stay inside with our hot chocolate in front of the fire

and watch a movie during the storm.  We are thankful for that!

Since then, we got another really big storm (it snowed all day

Sunday).  We probably got atleast a foot of snow and its 

forecast to snow several more times this week.  

It is definitely a winter wonderland outside now!

Brooke is growing up!

This is my friend's baby Brooke, who thinks I am her "nana".  

She is 2 and very tall for her age.  So cute.  She actually

starting calling me, "My Tammy" and was so excited to

come to my house the other day to play.  

Missionaries

 Elder T'Ala (I can't remember how to spell his name) and

Elder Francisco came to dinner the other day.  We had a lot

of fun.  This is where they are singing for us.  

Elder T'Ala (from Australia) singing and playing the Ukelele

and Elder Francisco (from Hawaii) playing the fancy

shaker (my peppercorn bottle).  Super fun guys, we hope

they will join us again soon!

Mini flight

 We won a mini flight at an auction that we went to awhile back.

Finally had a chance to use it.  Just happened that the Aviation

Company was having an event where pilots would fly in from all over

and have breakfast together.  So, before the flight we enjoyed a 

really nice breakfast.

 The flight was for 3 people.  Greg and I wanted the boys 

to have this opportunity.  Bryce got to bring a friend (Conner).

 All the boys with their pilot and their cute plane

 Yes, Tanner is in the front, he gets to fly the plane!

The pilot allowed Tanner to take off and fly the plane the 

whole 30 minute flight.  He didn't allow him to land--which 

was totally ok with Tanner!  And Mom!  They had a 

great time and now they think they might want to fly planes...