Hope you all had a great Christmas

Well we kicked our Christmas off by going to my mom's house on Sunday Dec. 21st. We always go to my mom's house the Sunday before Christmas and eat a crown roast with lots of yummy fancy stuff. Then after we eat the kids get dressed up and act out the birth of Christ. It is so cute and very funny. I enjoy this every year. We seem to always have a baby in our family that can play Jesus. However I think that this year with Jillian(4months) it might be the end of the babies. So we just might have to start using a doll.

Then on Christmas Eve we spent it with Bret's family. Bret got it all organized this year and we did dutch oven pizzas. IT ROCKED! We did 10 personalized pizzas and everyone got to participate. The best part was the men did most of the work. The pizza was amazing, and the kids just played with each other outside while we baked them.
Then after the pizza the kids decorated sugar cookies and we did a nice program. Another cool thing is that we didn't have a large mess to clean up. YAY!
Then we rushed home to open one present that mom picked out for the kids to open. SURPRISE it's pajama's. Don't they look so cute. Off to bed they went.

Then Christmas morning we opened presents. The kids got Bret and myself something this year. Bret got this bow and arrow from the dollar store and I got a stuff wiener dog from the dollar store. It totally rocks.

This is Mallory trying to get the presents with out us knowing. She is such a weasel. The twins had so much fun this year. It was fun watching them open things. The older kids thought this year was the best. YAY Santa Claus.
That morning we went to my mom's house to open cousin presents and gifts from my parents. All the grand kids got a curious George monkey. It was so funny cause all the kids starting singing "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed". Later that night we did the traditional money grab. It's where my parents have a huge jar full of different coins and we all get to reach in it with one hand and see how much money we can get. Bret normally does really well at this. This is the adults counting the money. It gets pretty intense with the big kids.

BRET GRADUATED!!!!!

Well I can't believe that we are finally here. Yesterday Bret graduated from ASU with his bachelor degree in "Exercise and Wellness", and the kids and I barely made it......
I thought that graduation started at 5:30 so the kids and I get there at 4:50 so I thought I would take everyone to the bathroom before we went in. So we go to the bathroom and take our sweet time since it didn't start for another 30 minutes. Well we all start to leave the bathroom and all of the sudden I hear the music they play when the graduates start to walk in and I yell to the kids "RUN". So I start to run as fast as I could in my hills while yelling to the kids to run, and run fast. Well we just barely got in the room, found our group, and sat down when all the sudden there he was. "YAY DAD" we all yelled. The twins just kept pointing to Bret saying "that's my daddy, hi daddy". It was so cute. I just started to cry when I heard our 5 kids cheer for there dad who was graduating.

Each and everyone of us have been by Bret's side during this and we all understand the sacrifice that was made to get him there. We all are very proud of him.

NOW IT"S TIME TO PARTY! After the graduation I wanted a really big party. When I told Bret that I was going to have a party he said that he didn't need a party. So I then told him that the party wasn't for him. Boy was that party fun. We invite a lot of people who Bret has known for many years and that have influenced him in one way or another. I want to thank those who were able to come and support Bret. It meant a lot to him. The night was field with amazing food, amazing friends, amazing family, and one amazing man. I cant' believe we are done with this chapter of our life. Now we are all a little nervous, and a lot excited to see what is going to be the next chapter. Congrats Bret! WE LOVE YOU!

FHE

So for FHE we went to my friends 3rd annual FHE Christmas Party. It was a blast and the kids had so much fun. They have a really good Santa come and the kids sit on his lap and tell him what they want and then he has them look at the camera so that the parents can take a picture. What a great Santa. For some reason I couldn't find the picture of Corbin with Santa so this one will have to do. Thank you to my wonderful friends for having us over.