Going Out With A Bang

Most of this week was spent sitting next to my big boy who is learning to use the potty.

Lets just say its going to be a very long process but we're very proud of him. Hes growing up so fast! New Years Eve this year was pretty fun. We headed over to the Burnetts for dinner and football then later everyone headed over to our house to play games and ring in the new year. Ashlee brought stuff to make Italian Soda and I had way too many of those.

They're addictive! I can't believe we all made it to midnight. I don't know how many more years we're going to be able to do that. It seems to get harder every year. Probably because our kids have a thing against sleeping in. They think that making it to 7 is sleeping in. Its sick really. This last year really was amazing and quite an adventure. Cody is over halfway done with med school and he turned 30!

We moved to Scranton.

We got to spend lots of time with our friends and got to see our families.

Cody got to go to AZ for the first time in over 2 years.

We went on a lot of fun trips:
Washington DC in April

Allentown in June

East Hampton, NY in June

Palmyra, NY in July

Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA in August

Sleepy Hollow, NY in October

Arizona in November

I ran my first marathon.

Rilyn starting going to a big kid school.

Shes getting so grown up. She loves to pick out her own clothes and she has quite the fashion sense. Casen gets bigger every day.

He can run, jump, climb, talk, and throw a massive fit. I hope that this next year is just as great as the last and can not wait for the adventures that lay ahead of us. There are a few things that we know we can look forward to this year: Cody starting 4th year!! Cody applying to residency and interviewing. The kids and I spending our last year in Scranton (this is a sad thing because we will really miss our friends and will really, really miss not living with Cody for the months he'll be gone but we're excited to spend a few months in AZ). Ashley running another marathon in Feb. Rilyn starting Kindergarten. And many more things to come. Happy New Year everyone!

CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas day at our house was pretty low key but it was still so fun. Every year it seems to get more fun as the kids get older. Rilyn and Casen had to wait at the top of the stairs for me to get all the cameras on and the lights on.

They were so excited to see what Santa had brought them and if he liked his cookies and milk. At our house Santa only fills our stockings.

We get new jammies and a movie and some treats. Check out their cute slippers from Santa.

They're Casen's first pair. The kids got so many present this year! It was crazy! Rilyn got Polly Pockets galore and Barbies. Casen got tools and cars. Both were so happy. Rilyn was super excited because she got to open every present because Casen could have cared less about that part. After we opened presents we went to church which was luckily only Sacrament meeting this week. I don't think my kids could have stood being away from their new toys for the whole 3 hours! We took some pictures in their Christmas shirts that we made the night before since Casen was asleep by the time we did our group pictures.

Casen's had the Mifflin St. sign and Rilyn's is a picture of Santa. We spent the rest of Christmas playing with our toys, watching movies, and relaxing. We had an awesome prime rib dinner and then headed off to Mike and Cassidys for games and birthday brownies (Mike is a Christmas baby). We hope that everyone had an amazing Christmas too. Rilyn is totally loving the holiday season and has been telling everyone that we see Merry Christmas. She is such a sweet girl.

Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

We're working hard to get things ready for Christmas around here. The kids have been helping me bake goodies for the neighbors and Santa. We also spent a lot of time with friends. The girls and I finally got together to take a picture of our halloween costumes.

Better late than never right? Rilyn's class did an amazing Christmas production! She was an Angel and I loved watching her sing and dance.

Casen loved it too. Afterwards the kids enjoyed cookies at the school.

We also went on a ride on the "Marge Express" to go see Christmas lights at the park. We bundled up in our jammies and grabbed some snacks and we were off.

The kids loved the lights.

Rilyn kept asking us where the train was because she was expecing a ride on the Polar Express. We had to keep explaining that it was a pretend train ride and that we had to use our imagination. Christmas eve was awesome. We woke up to find that Skippy had wrapped the potty!

Silly little elf. Then, we had some friends and the missionaries over for a fun Turkey dinner.

Ashlee made these adorable penguins out of olives.

After the missionaries left we followed Cassidy's family's Christmas Tradition of decorating t-shirts.

It was a lot of fun. Its fun getting to share traditions and spending time with our friends that are like family. I can't believe that we only have one more Christmas together. After the t-shirts were done Rilyn spread her magic reindeer food in the front yard and ran off to bed to wait for Santa.