Merry Christmas....

I know, I know lots of pictures and I think Steph and Shel are the only ones who really look at my blog but I'm planning on getting one of those blog books printed out so I need to keep up with our life.   So here are some pictures from a few days worth of events. We started out the year with the Udall party which I already posted. Then a party with Shauns families, the Martineaus, and my family.  Lots of things going on but so much fun.

Good Morninng everyone, lets see what Santa brought us.

Ryker got a cool green and blue bike from Santa. He asked for a "Sharp-tooth" (which is a T-Rex) and I guess he was a good boy because Santa brought him one.

Millie got a dollie and stroller. She is having fun learning to walk and I think after a few weeks of pushing her dollie around she will be walking in no time!!! 

A few days before Christmas at the Rowley family party Santa came to visit. Amelia looks so cute but Santa, well you're a little creepy looking =)

Ryker and Santa!!

We had our Martineau Christmas Dec 23rd because of fireman and police man schedules. Amelia was is bed when we finally took this picture.

Classic Christmas picture. All warm and fuzzy in front of a fire. 

Opening presents. Such spoiled children.

Then after we opened presents Christmas morning at our house we came over to Gama and Gandpas for yes more presents and a fantastic breakfast!!

Abeos and Ryk playing their new game "Buckaroo"

Thank you families for such a great Christmas!!!  I'm already counting down till next years.

We're going to party like it's 1999... oh wait I mean 2009

Happy New Year!!! I hope everyone had a great New Years.  Ours was simple and yet so much fun. We had some friends come over with their cute kids and had an eventful night. First we had a nummy dinner, little ham sandwiches, chips, dips, and the list goes on. Then the kiddos played toys, watch a little of a movie, Ryker had to go to time out 3 times while the other kids were angels.  Then the Porters busted out their illegal stock of fireworks and Lee put on a little show for us.  Don't worry they were not crazy, just fun little ones that were sparkly. Then we went in a geared up for the count down. The kids had hats, blowers and balloons on sticks full of confetti. I turned the TV on right when they were saying Happy New Year and I ran around popping most of the kids balloons so confetti was everywhere, I LOVED IT!!!!!!   I should have warned the kids first because I made half of them cry because they wanted their balloons. Whoops, sorry kids!!!   Well Thanks you Liddells and Porters for ringing in the New Year with us.  I hope everyones YEAR is better than ever. Don't forget to make those resolutions. 

First comes love, then comes marriage.........

Then yup, here comes the baby in the baby carriage!!!!!   One of my favorite cousins/best friend/ people in the whole wide world is expecting her 1st!! She is here visiting from Buffalo where she will be living the next 3 1/2 year =(  but we had to throw her a shower of course!!  So between Shelley, Aunt Sharon and I we pulled off a yummy baby shower. Really besides Steph getting mostly gift cards and cash (remember she has to fly back home and who wants to pay for extra luggage these days)  the food needs to be amazing. Thank you to all who helped bring things.  

Ok can you even tell who is 7 months pregnant here!!  And don't say me!! 

Marcie, Shelley, Steph and Me

Oh there is the baby bump!!! Hello little guy. (he has no name yet)

Ok now we see the little prego belly!!! Steph you look amazing and I had so much fun being with you again!!!! 10 days was not enough time to come visit.  I'm saving my money and hopefully sooner than later I will fly out to see you and meet my new little cousin even though I will make him call me Aunt Leah =)   Stay warm, love ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uncle Olan the Police Man

So I still need to get some of our Christmas pictures from my dad in law before I do a Christmas post but I thought I would share these pictures. Since my father-in-law is a fireman and bro-in-law  Nolan (ryker called him Olan)  is a Police Man we just have to get together when we can because they both have crazy schedules. We had the Martineau Christmas Dec 23rd in the evening. Amelia had to go to bed so the rest of us got in our PJs and waited for Olan to get off Duty. He shows up in his Police Man gear and Ryker was in Heaven. He always talks about how he is fighting the bad guys. So of course he had to arrest someone and Fishy (that is what Ryker calls Missy- yes he has weird names for our family members) well she looked guilty of something =)   

You have the right to remain silent!!

He read Fishy her Miranda rights.

Lets hope this is his first and LAST time with handcuffs on =)

I Can Kick, Stretch and Kick again!!! I'm 50!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!  For all you die hard SNL fans this is Sally O'Malley, a hilarious skit they had for a few years.  She came out and  always said "I can kick, stretch and kick again, I'm 50 years old!!!    I though this was PERFECT for my mom who is 50 years old today.  My mom looks amazing for being 50 years old and doesn't look old enough to have a daughter who is 26 years old!!  She is also alot like Ms. Sally O'Malley, my mom was a "bunny" at Mesa High (that is the best cheerleaders for those who don't know about Mesa High) and she has always been very flexible, she can still do the splits to this day!!!!  We had her birthday dinner last night so here are a few pictures of the fun event!!!!

Sally O'Malley

Abe, Shannie and I made some yummy soup and Sarah went and got these festive bread bowls. Yes they were dyed BRIGHT green and red.

My mom and her 5 pride and joys. Thanks Sarah and Wugs for the cute faces.

My mom is a wonderful Grandma. She helps us out so much!!

This was Amelia going CRAZY with the napkins. We were laughing so hard because she was attacking the napkins and throwing them all around. It was like a mini snow storm with napkins.

My sister and I made my mom these gifts. Sarah made the frames and I made a set of blocks that say Sellards.  We also got her a really cute shelf to put them on.  

Well mom I hope you know how much we love and appreciate you!!!  I hope I look as good as you do when I'm 50 years old!!  Here are a few random facts about my mom:

*she can out cook anyone in the kitchen anyday

*all growing up she made everything from scratch- even our Friday night pizza

*she is a little absent minded but was love her for it

*she NEVER yells, seriously to this day I can honestly say she has never yelled at me or any of my sibling for that matter.  I wish my kids could say that about me.

*she has a boyfriend named Joe...... Trader Joes that is. We always tease herthat she is at her "boyfriends" because she is always at Trader Joes. 

*my mom knows everyones genealogy. Seriously she can meet people and if you tell her your last name she will find a connection to you some how "oh your great great grandpa is my great aunts cousin" 

*my mom is more handy than my dad

*she can sew anything and everything

*she had all 5 kids with no epidural, and tried to convince me to do the same. Yeah right. I think she was meant to be a Pioneer. Sewing, cooking from scratch, popping babies out in bushes. Yup she could have done it

*and last but not least. She has been the rock in our family!!!  She has a strong testimony and has always taught us what was right!! Thanks mom you are an amazing example to me!! 

Oh the dreaded family Pictures!!!!!!

Saturday my dad was going to take our family pictures. Yeah nice it is 10 days before Christmas, but whatever. So we have never taken a traditional family picture so I thought we should. So mind you on a stinkin Saturday we got all dressed in our Sunday best and this is what we got. Ryker not working with us very well and Amelia was even worse. She wasn't fussy BUT the girl WOULDN'T SMILE for the life of her. We tried everything and still she sat there like a Gloomy Gus .  So here is our last shot of us bribing Ryker with M&Ms. Didn't work. 

And all Millie really wants for Christmas is her 2 front TEETH. This is why the girl doesn't feel like smiling. Can you see her puffy, swollen top gums. The teeth are like right there, I don't know why they won't pop through. So this is a lovely shot of Millies under-bite chomper teeth.  One day we will get a good family picture.

HAppy Birthday Nattie!!

So this morning I was going through my box of old pictures trying to find something and saw some old Highschool photos!!!  Since it is Nat's birthday I thought I will give each of my girls their own special post for all their birthday's.  hehe   I loved my highschool years and it was all because of them. We had so much fun and have way to many memories!!! I'm so grateful we are all still great friends!!!! Happy Birthday  

"Puff Nattie"  (remember that nick name) 

Nat, Meg, Leah and Heather

We were so gross

We were so attractive

Leah, Heather and Nat on our snowboarding trip!!! Holy Cow we had do much fun. Remember how sore we were the next day =)  Let do it again!!!!

Ok since it is christmas time I had to put this picture in.  Remember when we went and got our pictures taken at a studio!!!!!  I have them all and they are great!!!! 

Merry Christmas Girls!!!! 

Remember half of us wore over-alls and the rest just wore jeans. We were so creative =)

Udall Gift Exchange

As we all have many family traditions this is one of my FAVORITES and we have done this as long as I can remember. All growing up it was so exciting to have one of the cousins who you give a present to and then another one will have a present for you!! We have continued this even though every year or family grows with all the great-grandbabies. So now all the kids from 18 months till married have a gift giving exchange and a  few years back we started a "white elephant" with all the married couples. (I didn't get any pictures of that though- shelley I hope that step ladder is coming in handy...lol)

These are my sweet Grandparents, Bompa Jess and Granny Annie

(so cute they dressed in red and green)

Here is one shot of half the family

My cousin CJ gave to Ryker this year, he gave him a marshmallow blow gun. Boy was Ryker in Heaven.

Ryker then gave to Addison.  He gave her a Sleeping Beauty dress and wand 

(sorry Lisa it was a size to small) But that didn't stop Addison from wearing it the rest of the night.

I love my cousins and I'm so grateful we are still so close. it is so fun to now have our kids young and playing with each other like we use to do.  Oh course a little shout out to Steph and Travis who we missed this year!!!! Can't wait to see you guys in LESS THAN A WEEK =)

Also sorry Shelley for not sending you pictures, this past week was a blur!!!

Child Bearing!!

*warning* this is one of those cheesy post that some people roll their eyes at. So if you are one of those people turn away!!!

I was flipping through the channels during my rest time. Amelia is sleeping and Ryker watching his show so I need to have a little down time for myself right? Well A Baby Story was on and I haven't watched this show in awhile. But EVERYTIME I do watch it I end up crying as I hear the sweet sound of a new baby being born. All babies sound the same when they take their first breath and start to do their newborn cry, I can't help but be taken back to when I had my own kids and the AMAZINGNESS (not a real word) of it all.  I've also been think alot about Mary this Christmas season. I can only imagine what she was thinking when she held her sweet baby in her arms for the first time. I love this time of year and I can't even express in words how thankful I am to my Savior. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Mommy so happy to be holding her precious baby girl!! -This is one of the BEST feelings in the WORLD.

Late Thanksgiving Post

We had a laid back but yummy Thanksgiving this year. We went to my parents house and stuffed our faces. My mom made most of the food, I brought mashed potatoes and dessert and Shannie brought a green bean casserole. 

This was the "Not married- 20 and younger table"  Poor Sarah, she is a good sport!! 

I just love Amelia's cheesy smile, not the best shot but so cute!!!

Homemade Pazookies!!! We are not big pie eaters in my family so I made white chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. They are big, soft and cake like. So good with the big heap of ice cream on top.  (that is peppermint ice cream MY FAVORITE!!!!!)

They we went home and put our tree up.  We never had a star on top, I usually just put a big bow on but Ryker was so upset that we didn't have a star. So to Hoggly Loggly (as Ryker would say Hobby Lobby) the next day to find a star.

You can't beat $4.99 for a big glitter star!! 

Ryker had the honor of putting it on (we had to fix it when he wasn't looking)

Then Saturday night I really wanted to go to the Light Parade in Tempe so I hood-winked the Porters into join us. It was so much fun and next year Amanda and I want to make our own float for the parade! Who is with us??? =)

Delie-Willie, Ryker and Eden   Oh and we can't forget Lee

So we sort of found a spot on the wrong side of the road so we had to go stand behind other people. So the kids weaseled their way to the street and we left them to fend for themselves. Ok we really didn't leave them but, we were sad we couldn't sit with them.

After the parade they have a tree lighting and some lame bubble snow.  

So all in all we had a great Thanksgiving. Such an wonderful time of year and so much to be thankful for!!!!