...Happy 2011...

I love celebrating New Years!
This year we threw a party at our place and had a total of 31 people!


We all went to dinner first so we didn't plan a ton of food for the night.
Just some simple chip dips and an awesome hot chocolate bar!


We got our groove on with some Just Dance.
Seriously, funnest game ever (to play and watch)!

These two entertained each other all night long. Love these boys!

Adam and Jessa...and Arass in the background...

Alex, Melanie and baby Jaci...

Josh and Brooke...

Bracken and Jasmine...

Bethany and Jeremy...

Jake's girl was in Cali so he toasted with the boys, who stayed up all night!

and this one woke up for 10 min just to ring in the New Year!...


2 days after New Years, this little man turned 6 months old!
He is already close to 16 pounds and says DaDa all the time.
He is growing way too fast!


Happy {late} New Year!!

...Christmas Vacay...

Here is a run down of our Christmas Vacation...

{Christmas Eve}

We spent Christmas Eve at the Wilson's.


We enjoyed a HUGE dinner, a Christmas program and opening presents.


That night we went home and opened our Christmas jammies, put cookies out and read stories about Santa.
Tatum went to bed to the sound of reindeer on our roof, compliments of Uncle Jake.
Its so fun to re-live the magic of Christmas through your Children's eyes!

{Christmas Day}

This year we woke up Christmas morning alone in our home, which was a first.
We had a nice relaxing morning with homemade cinnamon rolls and we stayed in our jammies almost all day long.

Ahh the joy of Christmas!

I gave each of the kids their own homemade gift.
Tatum's was a batman blanket and pillow...

and Trey's was a wobbie...

Santa was also very generous this year.
He brought us a 3D TV!! Pretty much the coolest thing EVER!


Christmas Day was spent with Eric's family.
Lunch at Uncle Steve's house and then dinner at his parents.
Then the kids stayed at Grandma's house that night for a sleepover.

The day after Christmas my family came in town.
It was so nice to spend some quality time with both sides without feeling rushed.

The whole time Logan snacked on Tatum's gingerbread train. Funny kid!

These next pictures explain why our kids are spoiled!
(It was probably the most foggy night we have ever had, so the pictures aren't great.)

We took them outside in front of the garage and told them their present from Grandma and Grandpa was inside.
Then we opened the garage and their reaction was priceless!!

Yup they each got a....

POWERWHEELS!!


What did I say? Spoiled!

...[Pre] Christmas Festivities...

Wow I can't believe how fast this Christmas has come and gone.

We started our celebration with our ward Christmas party.
Santa came to visit and Tatum was thrilled!
He wrote Santa a letter and got to personally hand it to him.


We then had our Polar Express night at Grandma Mary's house.
We made gingerbread trains and our very own Polar Express train with all 7 grandchildren.


Trey was the caboose...


Next we celebrated with the Larsen's where we enjoyed decorating cookies, singing carols and the nativity.


The next morning we woke up to this...

The perfect snow before Christmas!

..Merry Christmas..

I had every intention of getting these Christmas cards out this year,
but in all my chaos it just didn't happen!
So here it is for all of you....


Love,

The Larsen's
.Eric. Elyse. Tatum. Trey.

..Christmas Tour..

We officially ready for Christmas!

Christmas decor is up, and presents are bought, wrapped and nestled nicely under the tree.

Now the partying can begin!

I love the feel of Christmas!

My home feels so warm and cozy and I seriously never want to take the decor down.
Here is a tour of our Christmas home.

{The Stockings}
This year we needed to add one more stocking to our mantle and I thought instead of buying a miss-matched stocking that I would make all new ones.

They turned out perfect! So simple and classic, just what I wanted.

{The Tree}
Every year I add a few more ornaments to the tree.
This year I got these adorable candy cane balls.

And fun wrapping paper to match.


{The Loft}
This year we added some more decor to the house.
Eric got this tree for FREE at a yard sale this summer. I could start a blog with all the deals this guy finds...its out of control! But hey I'm not complaining!


This tree will be the home for all of our kids home made ornaments.
I love that they will have a special tree all to themselves!
This is Tatum's first ornament, Eric helped him make it!


My favorite part is that we have great way to display the boys' nativity and Christmas books.

..Thanksgiving..

Thanksgiving this year was spent with the Larsen's. 

We had a huge get together up at Eric's parent's house and had such a blast.

Eric and Kai napping while we waited for dinner.

I think just the smell of Turkey put these two out!

Trey had fun playing with toys...

Can he get any cuter??

Everyone got to talk to Bethany and Jeremy in Seattle via Skype...

We miss you guys!

We played some fun games.

{Holiday Pictionary}

 and our own form of apples to apples. 

We replaced the green cards with family members names...

it sure made it more interesting!

 and over the weekend we gave Trey his first taste of rice cereal. 

He is now 5 months old and the Dr. gave the ok to try it out.

He wasn't the biggest fan, you can see his eyes are red from crying...

maybe 6 months will be better!