Rockin' in the New Year!

Here's what "Wii" did for New Year's Eve! Even the kids were up past 1 AM, enjoying our Guitar Hero World Tour game.

Goodbye 2008! It's been grand--

Happy New Year!

Kaylyn & Andrew Horrocks

Meet the Happy Newlyweds! Kaylyn and I have always been close, I was 11 when she was born and she is like a little sister to me. Her mom is my aunt Melanie, who was 11 when I was born and has always been like a big sister to me!

Here is Melanie's cute family:

Carey, Alexa, Jordan, Andrew & Kaylyn, Carson, Melanie, Randy and Sara. (Dylan is missing from the pic.)

Fun highlights from the wedding day: Getting ready!

Cutest Flower Girl ever, Lily Jane Barnard. She was pleased as punch that it was also her birthday and told everyone that fact.

Drew carried out his ring-bearer job flawlessly!

The would-be ring bearer #2, who chickened out after coming partway down the aisle..silly Jack!

Beatiful sisters

My BFF Stephanie Stowell came down and helped out a ton--doing hair and flowers. She always seems to save the day when we need her most! Thanks Steph!!

John's buddy Russ Mayo came and did the filming, which was so awesome of him! We both have great friends. And they are both available!! hmmm...

The snow pics were so gorgeous, and sooo chilly!!

Wedding party girls: Sara, Kaylyn and Lily Jane. They all looked great!

Drew hits the dance floor with the bride!

...and with his little sister! awww!

Display table-tons of pics of Andrew & Kaylyn

The cake was really pretty--they even got a special topper with a Marine & Bride.

Steph did a great job with the flowers!

Everyone enjoyed the yummy lunch!

Even Drew "signed in"!

My cute family

Our kids were really good and had a great day at the wedding, being adorable!

Yowsa!!

And then the bride and groom took off for their Honeymoon in Park City, and their Happily Ever After!

Congratulations Guys! We Love You!

Man alive, she is already FIVE!!

For Lily Jane's 5th birthday, she decided to take the plunge:

Get her ears pierced! The day before her brithday the two of us went to the mall together and had a mommy/daughter day.

Here she is at the store, Icing, waiting for her turn.

Here are the pretty pink flower studs she picked out...

Ears BEFORE....


Being so very brave...

AND...AFTER!!!! She did cry for a minute, until someone told her how pretty her ears looked. Then she stopped short and looked in the mirror and has been totally happy ever since.

She is thrilled with her "new look"! She shows everyone who will listen.

She woke up the morning of her birthday to a new bike! This is actually her first bike!

She was really excited!

It's a long wait 'til spring when she can try it outside, but she has been cruising all over the basement.

She also got to be a beautiful flower girl on her birthday, because Kaylyn got married that day!

She was a perfect flower girl, and thought that was a fabulous way to spend her birthday.

Our precious Lily Jane! You are so spunky and sweet! You are very social, and always notice people and details about them. You remember people's names from months ago. It always surprises people, it is so funny and cute.

You are friendly to everyone and very affectionate with your family. You are ALWAYS up for a hug and/or kiss. You adore both of your brothers and play with either of them equally well. We are especially delighted with how you pal around with Drew. The two of you are like peas in a pod when you are together.

You are such a sweet tooth! You ask if we can go get donuts about twice a week. (The answer is almost always no, but you ask constantly anyway!) If there is candy in the house, you find it! The #1 effective discipline for you is to reward you with treats or take away the treat for bad behavior. No punishment could be worse to you! You would rather take an hour time-out than part with a twizzler.

You are a snuggler. You love to cuddle up in a blanket with any of us, and often ask to have your back tickled too. It is so cute. We love you so much, and you are such a sweet 5-year old! We are treasuring every moment, because you are growing so fast.

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful day with my parents and sister, and enjoyed watching the kids revel in the magic of it all. I hope everyone had a MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Jack was thrilled to find a banana in his stocking right off!!

Boxes always make such a great gift...to a 2 year old!

Santa delivered a dolly "that will open and shut her eyes"!

Jack loves his bowling set!

As you can see, Drew was quite pleased with this one...we found it after all the other presents, in the basement by the chimney! Drew says Santa was watching to see if he would still be happy without the wii. Since he was totally fine without it and grateful for what he had, Santa sneaked BACK down the chimney and left it for not just Drew, but for our family. Amazing!

Christmas Eve Traditions

Christmas Eve is such a busy and wonderful day for us.

We have a lot of traditions going and we love them all.

Christmas Eve Tradition #1:

We cook a Christmas Eve dinner--Prime Rib with homemade sauce, baked potatoes, rolls and "tasty" carrots. Here is my lovely table, all ready to go--we even break out all the nice china and crystal goblets. Oh and please notice my new Christmas table runner--I got it a few days ago at Robert's (and a cute matching pillow) for 75% off!!! Love it!
We of course invite people over for dinner, my parents and sister came this year.

Toasting "to Jesus Christ's Birthday."

I thought that was pretty darling.

Jack just ate a ton of oranges!

I even made mini individual banana cream pies!

I am sorry, but sometimes I just amaze myself with my own domesticity. Once a year.

The pies were yummy though!

Christmas Eve Tradition #2:

Open the first present from mom and dad...

Surprise!!

Matching pajamas, just like every year! :)

Except this year they came with these awesome little backpacks!

All for only $11 each at The Children's Place. I love that store sometimes!

Christmas Eve Tradition #3:

Gather as a family and tell the story of the night Christ was born. This gets sweeter every year as they grow and remember parts of it and iterject their own thoughts.

Christmas Eve Tradition #4:

Open another present or two from mom and dad-always things to read, do or enjoy before we go to bed.

Drew opened....

Pictureka! A new game for the family. I love this game because the whole fam can enjoy it. (Except Jack was in bed by now.)

Christmas Eve Tradition #5:

Make a treat for Santa

This year we did some little hand-dipped chocolate pretzels. A new adventure for the kids! Messy and great fun.

Our finished product!

We left Santa's treat out downstairs in the playroom, because that is where the chimney/fireplace is. So we figured he would see this little table first. Drew put out his gingerbread house with a little message for Santa too. "Hi Mr. C!"

The kids also left a note for Santa on their whiteboard, which they placed near the treat.

Everything is almost ready for Santa to come!

Christmas Eve Tradition #6:

Hanging the stockings by the railing with care.

Even the dog has a stocking of her own!

Christmas Eve Tradition #7:

Read a story before bed (one of the presents is always a new Christmas story.) See how tired they are getting!? They went to sleep in no time.

We had another wonderful, busy, blessed Christmas Eve!