post christmas

 Lego sets are all put together!  What awesome star wars ships!

 We took a short trip up to visit Dad in Idaho.  Quite a few of the Brady cousins were there and my boys love it when they can get everyone together for some basketball.  The kids - big and little- had a great time playing.

 This little munchkin - Matthew Soderberg - wasn't up for the competition of basketball, so I let him use my camera and take some pictures.  After about 200 pictures, I told him I thought he'd had enough camera work for the day :)  Thank goodness for digital and the ability to erase!  He had a great time though!

 Before we headed home, I wanted to make sure to get a picture of each of my boys with their Grandpa.  Here they are:

christmas afternoon

We headed over to G&G Vawdrey's house for Christmas dinner, cousin time, and more presents!  Matthew got his much desired double-bladed lightsaber!

 New clothes!  Love the facial expression!

 Jared LOVED his new jersey!

 Ryan was excited to get a new basketball with grip and bounce!

 Hey -- what is this??  Jacob got camping gear -- a mess kit and utinsels -- clothes and a simon game.

Ryan was glad to get a new Nike sweatshirt.

 This new lightsaber is enormous!

 Mark put the grumpy cat puzzle together!

 When we got home from G&G's, Jacob put on his favorite fedor hat and tried out his flying skills with his new helicopter!

A wonderful Christmas day!  We are so blessed!

christmas morning

The boys got us all up at 7 am to check out what Santa had brought! Lots of new Legos for Matthew!

 Ryan got a new soccer game for the xbox.

 Jacob got a ski helmet.

 

He also got a big Lego set.

 Jared is looking kinda tired!  He got a new iphone (that he started using a couple weeks ago) and a huge box of his favorite popcorn.

Mark got a Grumpy Cat puzzle -- it says, "if you're happy and you know it -- Go Away!"

After the "Santa" gifts, we passed around the presents from under the tree.



Matthew got a remote control flying helicopter! 

And so did Jacob!



What a silly smile -- another Lego!

 

 

Matthew gave Ryan a new water bottle.

 

Jared got a new Nike sweatshirt.

 

Each of the boys got a little remote control car in their stockings.  Ryan and Matthew tried their cars out before breakfast.

We worked up an appetite opening presents, so we had a traditional Christmas breakfast with eggs and link sausage!  Yum!

christmas eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve by having a fun and delicious taco dinner with our neighbors, the Muellers.  We ate and played a couple games of Wits & Wagers before coming home to open our new pajamas and read the Christmas story from the Bible. (Our stockings were already hung and ready for Santa to fill!)  Here's our new pajamas:

 Matthew was loving the Lego Starwars pj's and Mark was making a face to go along with his Grinch pj's!  I love this photo!

 The boys can never be serious when I tell them to gather for the "traditional" pajama picture in front of the tree!

 This is as serious as it gets!

Can't wait to see what Santa brings tonight!

christmas dance

Jared's first date!  He was asked to the high school Christmas dance by this gal, Idun (pronounced "Eden") Bakken (she is an exchange student from Norway).  Jared didn't know her, but knew a couple of her friends.  Jared & Idun, along with another couple, went bowling the night before the dance and got frozen yogurt afterwards - a good opportunity to get to know each other a bit. The next night they ate dinner at one of the girl's grandparents homes and went to the dance. Afterwards they gathered with a larger group of friends at another home to decorate gingerbread houses and watch a movie.  A fun date. 

family photo shoot

We spent Thanksgiving Day at the Vawdrey's.  We had a delicious traditional dinner of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, veggies, rolls and pie.  Alan & Heidi's family, Eric & Laura's family, and Aunt Colleen were also there.  Before we headed over for dinner, we stopped off at Daybreak so Heidi could take a bunch of photos.  Here's a few:

 Love these boys -- so handsome!