To Cap It Off......

I am SO excited!  I worked for 4 days straight to get my first Blog Book printed.  It came last week, and it has been so fun to look back over!  2008 is finished and has turned into a fun coffee table book!  Only 4 more books left to make.......maybe by the end of the year!

So, to finish off 2012......

We had a fun and busy Christmas!

Aunt Jen hosted the Burke Family Christmas party at her beautiful new home in Morgan.

We are all very rarely together at once, so we planned ahead to get a picture of all the grandkids.....happy to say we pulled it off in less than 15 mins! 

We were all freezing!

 Grandma shared some thoughts with us, we read the Christmas story and

 finished off by handing out our gifts to the names we had drawn.

 

 Mr. Potato Head got a lot of love!!

Next came the Randle/Davies Family party!

Every attempt to get a good picture of Gma with the Great-Grandkids failed.....

best shot we got!

Garrett had a choir concert....he was thrilled about it!

Julia's class performed their first Chinese Program.

I am completely amazed that they are Kindergartener's in their 6th Month of school

and already have grasped so much of the language.

It was awesome to witness!

 

 Finally.....the big day we all waited for -

Christmas!

 Our annual Christmas Eve Snowshoeing party got thrown off this year.....

not super easy to snow shoe in the rain, with the Mountain Road closed off,

with a Sis-in-law who is expecting and 2 infants!

So, we went for the next best route - Boondocks Fun Center!

Grandpa treated us all to Laser Tag, Games, Climbing toys and a round of Bowling!

Grandpa and I may, or may not have, gotten a bit competitive when it came to Ski-Ball.

 

 

 

 

Later that night we went back home, just our little family to exchange gifts

and prepare for Santa to come.

Earlier that week, I was feeling all sorts of emotions over the horrible shooting in Connecticut.

Trav and I decided that night, we would drop everything we were doing 

and spend the night as a family.

We put names in a bowl and gave each person a 10$ spending budget.

We then headed off to the mall.

I took Garrett and Ty with me, and Trav had Julia and Austin.

We gave ourselves close to an hour to shop for our name and meet back up.

We had such a great time.

It was nice to just be together and focus on doing things for one another.

So, Christmas Eve, we each opened those gifts we bought that night.

Julia gave me a bracelet with heart shaped beads.

I gave Austin a BYU mini-basketball.

Tyler gave Trav a safety horn and red fishing eggs for our boat.

Garrett gave Julia a sparkly J necklace.

Austin gave Garrett a new shirt, and Trav gave Ty a mini-BYU helmet.

Some of us clearly did not stick to our budget!

Austy got a little extra.

Ty's heart melted when he saw this ball popper.

He unselfishly gave his Birthday Gift Card up to buy it as a surprise for Austy.

It was a hit!

A noisy, loud hit!

Everyone wrote their wishes on our Santa Cookie plate, Got their new jammies,
put the key out and headed off to bed.

 After being begged to wake up around 5:30 a.m.,
we finally gave up and ran to see what Santa brought.

 All of Sister's dreams came true!
FINALLY.....an American Girl Doll -
Caroline!!!

 Garrett got his Baby Blue, Nike Hyperdunk Shoes!

 Austin got a little rest.....

Before opening his toys.....

 And Ty got his .22 rifle to shoot with Dad near the Cabin!

 And last but not least.....
Garrett's Wildest Dreams came true on his 13th Birthday, Dec. 28th....
when he opened his gift to find??????

THE LONG AWAITED CELL PHONE!!!!

We struggled over this gift more than any other before.
We were hoping to hold off a couple more years.
But, after he and Mom mooched enough off of other friends phones,
being left after Basketball Practice in the cold/dark,
walking alone in the dark and snow to a friends house,
and wanting to leave a party, but couldn't cause he didn't have a phone...
we relented and realized it was time.
I won't say we haven't had our fights over it already,
or that it hasn't gotten taken away so we could focus on homework....
but it has been a blessing.
I truly love being able to get a hold of him now at any given time -
 as he is away from home more now.
I'm grateful that for the most part....he's been really responsible with it!

Happy Birthday Bubba!
Amazing to think that just 5 years from now you could have your call!
We love you!
 (Funny......3 hours after writing this.....he may just have the phone taken away again!! 
AHHH!  Teenagers! Heaven help me get through this age!)

We had a wonderful 2012.
Lots of ups and downs.
Lots of memories and fun!
We are truly blessed.
Here's to an awesome 2013!