Christmas: Week Three

While in Idaho, we had to stop by BYU-I and check out the updates.

We also stopped by the Fennel's. I wish we lived by them! Kaylee and Kenzie are just a week apart and played so well together. Kaylee is the sweetest girl and was so willing to share her new toys

I had to go back on Meagan's blog to find this picture of Kenzie (left) and Kaylee when they were just a few months old.

We bribed them with a movie so we could play a few rounds of dominoes like old times.

We spent a night at Kirk and Joy's and I peeked in on the girls and saw Sophie doing Kenzie's hair. She doesn't let anyone touch her hair so I thought it was really sweet.

We snuggled a lot in Grandma Lovell's old bedroom

 We threw a surprise party for Keith's mom while we were still in Utah. It was a day early so I think she was genuinely surprised. The kids couldn't wait for Grandma to show up

Surprise!

Keith flew home a day before me so I was really anxious about flying home by myself. Kenzie was having a really hard time going to the bathroom (because they scared her) on the trip out so I didn't know what I was going to do with a tantruming toddler and a baby on my hip. Joan walked through security with me in SLC and took Kenzie potty so that flight went great except for Clara's half hour crying spurt. When we got to the Denver airport for our layover, I happened to see an old friend from High School who was on my flight to Louisville to interview for PT school. He was gracious enough to hold Clara for me so I could take multiple bathroom trips with Kenzie until she would go. Talk about tender mercies, he made the 2 hours go by fast as we caught up and talked about old friends and families. 

In the end, we made it home safe and were glad to be back in our own beds. We had a great trip and have really felt the loss of having the constant companionship of family members. Hopefully, we will end up out West so we can be closer to our families!

Christmas: Week Two

This picture is actually from the Saturday we arrived in Utah. Heath and Rachel picked up some BYU tickets so we could go to the game. It was fun but I wish we could have left Clara because she hated it!

We celebrated Heaths' Birthday

Kenz and Taft watching the Grinch

We played a lot of Wii games, including Rock Band. Mackenzie and her cousins had fun dancing to the music

Paisley is still the sweetest little girl. I just loved her face after her PB&J

Christmas morning

Poor Kenz was not feeling well. She turned as white as a ghost, started shaking and I was afraid she had caught the stomach bug and that we'd all come down with it that week. Luckily it passed quickly so she could enjoy opening presents

Clara loved Luca's saucer

Cousins before church in their Christmas dresses and princess necklaces

Cute Luca

Rachel documented us cleaning up a messy diaper. I love her rolls!

PJ's from grandma

These are out of order, but on Christmas Eve, we took the church keys and played some basketball

...and back to Christmas morning

Kenz was so happy to have her own bed to sleep in later on in the week

My mom with Luca 4 mo. and Clara 3 mo.

Christmas: Week One

Kenzie, Sophie and Eva enjoyed painting Keith's nails

These three played so well together

Not the best picture but I had to get one of Clara and her cousin Annabelle

Keith's mom Joan is wonderful with the grand kids. They love her stories

Clara wasn't sleeping very well the week before we left for Utah. During the long plane ride I realized her two bottom teeth had come through...at 3 months. I wasn't so happy about it and I don't think she was either, poor thing

We loved playing on Grandpa's Ipad. In fact, I think they should send every new mom home from the hospital with one to encourage breastfeeding

Holding their heads up high

Clara loved napping with baby Melody in her Aunt Joy's tummy. Joy really does have the magic touch though that's why she's been blessed with 4 girls

She was all smiles for Grandpa Shaw

Kenz misses her cousins so bad!

The Shaws have quite a bit of personality

The girls dressed up in nativity garb

Keith and I at a shopping area in Orem somewhere. The lights were beautiful and we (by we, I mean Keith) enjoyed Sushi with his siblings and their spouses. Sorry sushi lovers, I just can't get into it

I have way too many pictures from Christmas break so I'm breaking it up into several posts. We had so much fun going to Utah, Idaho, then back to Utah. We really appreciated our families for letting us stay with them, feeding us, watching our kids, letting us borrow cars, giving us gifts and taking time off of work. This is our last Christmas we'll be traveling from Kentucky, hopefully 2013 will put us a little closer to home.