Christmas Eve (the real one!)

Since my mom was so sick on Christmas Eve, we hosted a little party

at our house.  My brother Cody and his family were going to come down too

but it snowed hard all day and it was too scary coming down from Salt Lake so

it was just us and the Heals!  We had a great time!!

We played games and ate until we were sick.  They left to go home around 7:00 because,

even though we were tracking Santa on the internet, Dallin was afraid he was going to

miss him so he had to get home to bed!!

Thanks for partying with us Heal family!

Santa!

Santa made his annual appearance at the Heal's house this year!

This is our favorite thing to do!

About 4 years ago, Dave bought a Santa costume at Halloween time and that

was the first year we did this.  Now it's something we look forward to every year.  He

even tries to hit a few of the neighbor's houses too.

 Boston wouldn't get off Santa's lap the whole time.  He had to share it with

everyone else who wanted a turn :)

 Always hard to see Santa leave ;)

 Next year we decided that we will invest in a more

realistic suit and "stuffing."  We also need a more reliable beard :)

More Presents...

On Sunday (the day before Christmas Eve) the kids were getting ansy

and wanted to open the presents that they had gotten for each other.

Next year we will have to draw names because Maddie and Talbie spent

too much money on everyone this year by buying a present for everyone!

 Talbie got darling boots from Maddie

 Soccer gear from Maddie

 DS game from Maddie

 Maddie gave me Season 1 of Downton Abbey.  I already own Season 2 :)

 Maddie got Dave some awesome boots but they were on back order.

Talbie gave Dave a gift card to Tucanos ;)

 Talbie gave Maddie some cute leggings

 An Iguana leash for Bronson :)

 Look at the cute coat I got from Talbie

 Notepads and pencil box from Bronson

 Cute charm necklace from Emmie

 And the mess...

Bronson gave Talbie and Emmie some lotion and made Maddie a pen like

he made my dad in his woodworking class.

I got an awesome snowflake from Emmie too :)

Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's (Dec. 21st)

We held our traditional Christmas Eve celebrations at my parent's house

this year on December 21st because my parents were leaving the next morning for Texas

to be with my brother and his family.  Unfortunately, my mom got sick the

next day so they had to cancel their trip.  I'm glad she got to celebrate with us while she

was feeling well.  She's still sick :(

We took our annual picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree in

their Christmas PJs.  Not the best picture of Bronson, but the only one I have!

 Pretty grandma with Emmie and Ally

 Boston with Uncle Cody

 We have a little talent show every year.  This year my family practiced

"Pine Cones and Hollyberries/It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas"

We sounded pretty dang awesome!

 Ally getting ready for her number

 Dustin stole the show, as usual.

 Emmie made this awesome snowflake for grandpa for Christmas

 We kept with the homemade theme this year for my parents :)

Bronson made my dad a pen in his woodworking class at school.  

He also did a woodcarving of Santa for my mom.

Talbie made homemade chocolate dipped marshmellows for his hot chocolate

and that cute painting with buttons on it for my mom.

Maddie swayed from the theme and got them movie tickets :)

 Emmie made this scrapbook for grandma and put old

pictures of the kids with Santa in it.

 Now it was our turn to open presents!!

 Maddie got a ticket to the George Strait concert next month!

I was pretty jealous of this one!

The kids got gifts and money from my parents.  Thanks so much

mom and dad for all the great gifts!!

Emmie's favorite present - a bow and arrows :)

Maddie Graduates from AVEDA!

Maddie did it!  She graduated on December 17th, 2012 from the

AVEDA Institute!  18 months of hard work has paid off!

 Maddie's fan club...

 Receiving her certificate/diploma

 Her class started out with almost 30 students 18 months ago.

Only SIX graduated.  Gives new meaning to

"beauty school drop out!"

 We took some pictures from the slideshow they did.

This is Maddie's BFF, Maddie M.  She was her model for

a lot of her projects.

 Maddie with her biggest fan, Aunt Brittany :)

Weekend at the Gee's!

Our family had the best weekend!

Steven Perkins got married to Katie Hepworth in the Rexburg Temple.

We were invited to the sealing and the Gee family was nice enough

to let our entire family invade their beautiful home.

I can't remember when we had such a good time!

Starting our road trip...

 

 Dave and I played "80's Name That Tune" with Maddie 

on the ride there.  I pretty much rule at that game!

 

This is the Gee's beautiful home.  Isn't it darling?

 It didn't take long for Emmie and Maddie to become

best friends.  This picture was taken just before we left for church.

 

 Dave and his girls at the Rexburg temple.

Abram and Nolan

 I fell in love with these two!  I miss them so much :)

 Nolan and Dave before church

 Maddie and Emmie putting on a magic show for us

 Isabelle, Nolan, and Talbie

 Me and the girls at the temple

 As you can tell from this post, I failed miserably in the picture department (surprise, surprise!)

I only had my phone with me and I didn't think to take pictures as often as I would have liked.

I don't even have a picture of the wedding at the temple because it was such a blizzard.

Thank you Amy, Shawn, and kids for such a fun time.

We love and miss you already!!