Merry and Bright

Mia

 Caleb, Marci, and their boys joined us on Christmas Eve.  It was a lot of fun.  We started the evening with some sledding.  First, at a hill in Eagle Mountain.   Since it had gotten warm and rained a bit, the hill was straight ice.  After some major collisions and crashes, I was grateful they decided to relocate the park near our house.  Much more tame.  I think they had fun too, and no one had to be life-flighted to Primary Children's. Ha ha.  The somewhat sad picture are taken from the car where Tyce and I were hiding from the cold.

 Libbie

 Claire

 Mallory and Gavin getting a push from Caleb.

 Caleb and Henry

 Love the lake and the mountains in the distance.  Oh, and all the people on the hill too.

 Mals and Henry taking a ride on the Nathan sled.

 Back at the house, the kids decorated cookies for Santa, we ate soup, then opened new pjs.  Next, we attempted to share a spiritual message about the Savior and sang some songs.  Sometimes the Spirit is kinda hard to feel with little people running amuck.  I think we get an "A" for effort though. 

 All my little ones ready for a long winter's nap. Or is it that I'm ready for them to have a long winter's nap?

 Some of the cutest mugs in town.

 Tyce is a super fan of wrapping paper!

 And FINALLY the big day came.  Mia with her new camera from Santa.

 Mallory with her new robo pup Zoomie.  The best dog there is.

 Libbie got brave and requested a unicycle from Santa.  I can't wait until she can ride this thing.  It's harder than it looks so it might be a while :)

 Jaren got a little Octonauts set.  He LOVED it.  The first day he played with it for hours.

 Tyce got a puppy too.

 Claire got a trundle bed for her American Girl.

 Jaren with his Thomas Pillow Pet from Grandma.

 Mals with her horse.

 Mia with a craft.  She loves her some crafts!

 Claire with her new Barbie Slug Bug.

 Libbie being quite excited by her new book from Grandma.

 Libbie and Mia immediately went to work on their new Lego sets.

 Jaren and Dad playing a mean game of Mario matching.

 I just had to show these two shots of Jaren modeling his new Lightening McQueen shirt. Strike a pose little man!

 All my angels/devils on Christmas morning.  And because I'm a ding-dong and forgot to get my camera out Christmas evening, I'll just have to tell you about it.  We had all the Oyler family gather at our house for a yummy linner.  It was so great to have everyone here for food and fun.  After dinner, we played some fun Catch Phrase, opened a few gifts, visited, and played ping pong on our new table.  A highlight was also watching Jake and Uncle Nathan attempt the unicycle.  Not kidding, it really is harder than it looks.  Merry Christmas Everyone. 

Christmas Recital

Claire had her third Christmas recital.  She did a great job.  I couldn't believe how grown up she looked!

Winter Fun

 The day after we got back from Iowa, we had to get the tree set up.  Our pre-lit tree has decided to only be a partially-lit tree so Nathan and I spent waaaay too long trying to figure out a solution to that problem.  Our fingers were nearly bleeding by the end.  Bah so annoying.  Anyway, we got the job done, and seeing the finished product always makes me happy.

 Tyce is a full-time sitter these days.  He loves to look around at his siblings and play with toys.  Still such a good baby.  I count my blessings with this boy everyday!

 Doesn't Jaren look sweet in these glasses from Grandma Cardon.  Geek-chic for sure.

 Jaren with the nativity.

 Kisses.

 Claire helping Mom out again.  I have such good helpers at this house!

 We had a fair bit of snow for a while.  The kids love our little hill in the front yard to do some sledding. 

 Tyce in his cute little beanie.

Thanksgiving in Iowa

We were lucky enough to make it to Iowa for Thanksgiving this year.  We had great weather both ways for travel - no storms to speak of.  This is almost unheard of, especially in late November.  It was quite frigid, but all in all, we can't complain.  Our kids were troopers in the car as well.  So, we started and ended the trip quite well.  How did the middle of our trip end up? I must say quite well.  We relaxed a lot, ate a lot, and spent a lot of time with family.  What could be better?  When I asked the girls what their favorite part about the trip was, their list was quite long.  Ha ha.  I guess they had lots of favorite parts.  I was terrible at remembering to get the camera out, but we actually did quite a bit. We played games, went to play tag at Papa's work, played some basketball at the church, went Black Friday shopping, bowling, some ventured to the park in sub-zero temperatures, had sleep-overs, Papa and Grandmas watched the kids while the parents went to the movie, and much, much more I'm sure.

 Claire and Mals loved playing Pollys at Grandma's house.

 Jaren loved sneaking Grandma's IPad.

 Playing games on Thanksgiving day.  Look at Brennan being a bomber.  I'm glad he did it though since I might not have captured him otherwise. 

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 I was worried that with these two's strong personalities there might be some major tension.  Thankfully, they got along quite well.  Or at least they avoided each other so we didn't notice the tension. 

 Jaren loved baby Declan!  He was however quite surprised to learn he came out of Rachel's tummy.  He exclaimed, "You mean she ate the baby?"  "Her mouth isn't big!"   I guess we have a little explaining to do in this area.  Here he is having Papa lay Declan on his back.  Jaren is one interesting character.

 Snuggling with my baby.  Photo courtesy of Brennan.

 Uncle Rich is by far the "fun one".  He is always waay to willing to give in to these crazy kids' ideas.  He hosted a "Chopped" challenge two times this vacation.  Here are some of the kids with their final creations and some shots during all the action.

 Thanks for allowing us to invade your homes and your holiday.  We love you all and miss you.