We had such a great Christmas season! The kids are all at such fun ages and we did lots of fun Christmasy things, lots of service, Light the World, and enjoyed the Christmas season.
We love that Josh and Mandy drive to Utah for Christmas because it means they have to stop in Vegas! They usually spend the Friday and Saturday before Christmas with us and we always have a good time! We met them at Downtown Summerlin for dinner Friday night. We weren’t sure if we should brave dinner with all of the kids but we put our name in at Red Robin and Poncho’s anyway. Red Robin was ready for us first but Lexi wasn’t feeling too good and Poncho’s was ready for us right as we were about to sit at Red Robin. Poncho’s sounded better so we used the Lexi’s sick excuse and went next door. We got all seated, ordered our chips and guacamole and drinks and then Lexi reeeeally wasn’t feeling good. We decided we better leave but by now it was pretty late at night and the kids were starving. Some of the kids wanted Panda Express next door but poor Beau was pretty upset he didn’t get a Red Robin shake that Kenny owed him or food at the next restaurant and he hates Panda Express. We told him we’d stop somewhere for him on the way home. Mandy ran to Panda, we got Beau Chick-Fil-A and then grabbed Cafe Rio for the adults and met Josh and Mandy at home. We hit 5 restaurants in one night! By the time we got home, Lexi was feeling so much better, just had been carsick. By now it was like 10:00 at night, kids were still awake, and we were all just sitting to eat. While we were driving to Chick-Fil-A Kenny had the kids tell funny stories to try and get Beau’s mind off of being hungry and grumpy. He didn’t want to participate but then finally grumpily said, “I have a story! Once there were 2 families, 11 people, and they were hungry and went to 2 restaurants and DIDN’T EAT ANYTHING! THE (pause) END!” It was hilarious to us. By the end of the night, though, everyone was happy and we stayed up late laughing and catching up. Kenny, Josh and the older kids went to see Star Wars the next day. Trey and Avery played animals all day and they are two peas in a pod. Mandy and I just hung out and chatted all morning. The babies are cute little buddies now too. Later that afternoon we went to FLIPnOUT in the bus! Chase had the bus that weekend and came and picked us all up for a ride around the neighborhood (we surprised the Poulsen’s and they thought it was awesome). We sang Christmas songs and the kids loved the ride. Then Chase told us to take that to FLIPnOUT which made for a fun outing!
One of the best things about Christmas is that Taylor comes to town! He surprised the kids when he showed up for our ward’s Christmas program. The kids were singing and really loved the songs they were singing. Beau especially loved “The Shepherd’s Carol” and would sing it all the time (which is unusual for him). Trey knew all the words and Kayli always loves learning and singing primary songs. They couldn’t contain their excitement during Sacrament Meeting when he showed up and they loved singing for him. We were dying watching Trey sing. He couldn’t decide which music leader to watch during the round. You could tell he had one he was supposed to watch but he couldn’t help his eyes from stealing a glance at the other leader. He’d watch his, look at the other one really quick, look back his leader, and do it all over again. It maybe doesn’t really sound like anything but man, it really was so funny that Taylor and I were in tears.
That night we we had the Taylor family Christmas party at Grandma Taylor’s house and the kids did the nativity. Trey was so excited to be the camel!
Kayli had her first piano recital! They performed at a rehabilitation center a couple of days before Christmas so everyone played Christmas songs. Kayli played “Deck the Halls” and her and I played a duet, “Away in a Manger”. Her teacher asked them all to state their name and what songs they would be playing and we joked that Kayli would be more scared to do that than to play the songs! Luckily she didn’t know this until her teacher announced it so she had no choice but to just get up and say it-and she did! She played her songs well and she practiced so much! She pretty much had them memorized by the time of the recital. I’m proud of her for doing something that was hard!
Christmas Adam has become a fun tradition while Taylor is home for Christmas. The kids got to go over early and have fun with Grandma and Taylor. The kids have been begging for a tea party with Taylor. We got there and I was saying bye to the kids when all of a sudden, the Christmas Mad Hatter showed up! They had quite the hilarious tea party! They made some Christmas crafts and then the adults came back for pizza. Kayli played her Christmas songs and we did the bells. They are so much fun! Trey really loved them.
We headed to Grandma and Grandpa England’s house for Christmas Eve. We got to see Austin finally and Scott and Emily came too. We had a Christmas program and we were dying listening to Trey sing the Pentatonix version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”. It’s really fast and he tries to keep up but sings it so seriously too. It’s hilarious and we were all in tears laughing without him seeing we were laughing. He also sang his Christmas Trees song and kills us when he sings “their hearts were sad” as he acts out being so sad and when he shouts “CHOP went the ax”. The kids and uncles did the Nativity and we laughed through that too. The kids all got their pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa and we all exchanged presents. Trey got a stuffed Racoon from Evelyn that he named Racoony and has not put down since Christmas. A stuffed animal is the way to this boy’s heart! Then it was home to wait for Santa!
Christmas morning was so magical. I love it so much. The kids were so excited for everything and I loved watching each of them open their presents. They all got what they asked for and the boys even got bikes which they didn’t ask for but needed. Kenny redid Beau’s old bike so it was a new one for Trey. It looks so cool. Beau got a big bike from Aunt Keli that apparently Kenny helped pick out for Braden a long time ago but then he didn’t ride it much so it’s like new. Kenny didn’t remember helping Keli but it was kind of cool that we ended up with the bike. The kids loved watching each other open the gifts they had picked out too and it was fun to see what they picked out for us from the Santa shop at school. They are very thoughtful! Trey was so excited to give me my present. One day at Target I had looked at a new planner and so a few minutes later he told me he had to go get a present for me. He snuck it in the cart and then at self checkout he scanned it when I wasn’t looking and put it in the bag. Then he ran it upstairs to hide from me until he wrapped it. He couldn’t stand keeping it a secret though and kept telling me he got me a book but I wouldn’t know which book! He was so excited when I could finally open it at Christmas! We spent the rest of the day at doing Christmas with the Eliason’s and then we did FLIPnOUT with all of the extended family that night. We had a great day!
We had a really fun Christmas Break. The kids went to the park lots and Gravady and more. Mom and dad came over to see what the kids got for Christmas. Right after they got here there was a knock at our door. I wasn’t expecting anyone else but when we opened the door it was Kelli and Ryder! We had no idea they were coming! She surprised us all. Ryder and Sami played and it was fun watching them. We got to see her lots while they were here and it was a good surprise!
We went to Crystal Palace with the Cahills. Beau and Kayli won the races for their age groups. Poor Trey has to race in Beau’s age division but he always races and always finishes!
We met mom, dad, Kelli, and Emily and the kids at Springs Preserve. It was still decorated for Christmas and we rode the train out to Boomtown which we’ve never done. It was so cute and the kids loved it! It was empty and we had lots of fun!
I had heard that Little Women was a cute movie and both Haley and Erin had told me to try to see it with my mom and sisters while Kelli was in town. Well it worked out and we all went and saw it and loved it!
We got to see Dawn, Michele, and Elizabeth while they were in town. We went rock climbing with them (they are pros) and the boys loved it! Trey loved Michele so much and didn’t want to leave. We met up with them later at Yogurtland and he was obsessed with her. I ended up staying out later with them just to hang out more and we laughed so hard listening to Michele’s stories. We planned our trip to Sacramento in August/September too!
A few off-roading trips over Christmas break…
Trey got to go to the Springs Preserve Parrot Show today with Rachel and her family and mom. He has been looking forward to it for weeks. He told us it was amazing. While he was there we took the big kids to the Discovery Museum since they miss out when we go during school.
Kayli got sewing stuff for her birthday and Christmas from Grandma Eliason and then spent a few days with her making her very own quilt! And she did it! She is working really hard in school and at playing the piano. She sits down and just figure out how to play the songs she wants to learn. She has also transformed our whole upstairs into a school where each of the kids have their own classroom, there’s a nurses office, lunchroom and everyone has really cute and creative classrooms.
A few pictures of Beau Beau who loves playing outside with his friends, playing Nintendo Switch, and is looking too old with permanent teeth…
losing lots of teeth 
Trey is becoming more and more interested in letters and how they make words and he’s recognizing more letters and is getting better and writing his letters too. He still goes to speech and he is improving a little bit. He loves preschool and can’t stand when it’s not a school day. He loves to say hi to our neighbor across the street, Adelle. Whenever he sees her he runs over to say hi and always comes back with his helmet full of candy. He even goes under her garage if she has it cracked a bit to go say hi to her. Sometimes I’m embarrassed that he does that but she loves it. Yesterday our neighbor came by because she was selling chocolates for a school choir trip. We bought some but then Trey wanted to go sell chocolates with her. He rode is scooter up and down the street with her while she sold to all the neighbors. It was pretty funny.
Sami always wants to take a shower and always sings in the shower. Her go-to song is “The Shepherd’s Carol” (Mary, Mary Hush she the CHILD) She always emphasizes the words child and mild and it’s so cute to me. I have recorded her singing it because I never want to forget! She just picked up the song when the older kids would sing it a lot in December while they were learning it in primary. Her new chore is putting the utensils away. She loves to do it and she does a good job! Her new word is “anything”. What do you want for lunch, Sami? “Anything!” But she doesn’t really mean anything. Haha. She loves to read her book “Good Night Texas” that we brought home for her from our Waco trip and she asks for it every night. She also has memorized “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” and always sings “what do YOU see?” She likes to read that one to us. Lately she is always carrying around a Barbie in each hand and makes them talk and it’s pretty cute. She gets into stuff a lot. She somehow gets toothpaste and lotion and likes to squirt it all out. Tonight she told me, “one more chapter” when I stopped reading to Kayli. Sami doesn’t really listen, she mostly just plays while we read, but she knew that would delay bedtime! She thinks it’s funny to say “oooo, lalalalalala” and say it’s Spanish. You can see by some of the pictures that she doesn’t have clothes on half of the time!
More pictures…
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